Lunches are staggered in our school and since the gym is the cafeteria, there is no way to exercise on indoor recess days. The kids, instead stay in their classrooms and have free time for reading, games, puzzles, drawing, etc.
If it is possible to have indoor recess in the gym, this sounds like a great place for volunteers to get involved. The kids will thank you for it. And probably the teachers, too. There has to be a way for this lil folks to get their energy out.
I am so discouraged by the spike in childhood obesity in this country while PE is being cut to a bare minimum, children are punished by having to stay in from recess (the only exercise they likely get all day) and school staff think watching movies and being quiet at recess is a good alternative....
At my son's current 7th/8th school there is no recess. At his last school, indoor recess was in the classrooms. The kids had to be quiet because the lunch times are staggered and other kids are still having class time. The playground aides walk the hallways to keep an eye on the students.
I agree that two aides is not enough. Is this an area where the PTO can help draft volunteers?
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Star...Your right it seems your issue lies in only having 2 aides outside to watch them at reccess. Is the problem because they don't want to hire anymore aides or they have tried to hire them and can't find any. I ask because at our school in the past we have had problems hiring people...no one was interested in the job.
You should voice your concerns with the principal and find out what all the problems are and offer your solutions and volunteers on bad weather days.
If the problem is because the district does not want to hire more aides then you all should take it to a BOE meeting and ask them to hire more aides.
It should all be non threatening...You have legitimate concerns and want something better for the kids. The first step is communication and finding out what the problems are then you take it from there.
During bad weather and winter months, our students rotate between the gym and the auditorium. When they are in the auditorium watching a movie, they are not permitted to talk. I don't agree with movie watching during recess because the kids watch too much television at home as it is.
Where are the aides? I guess my response would be that's another problem. There are 6 adults who supervise lunch but only 2 aides who supervise outdoor recess. In my opinion that is not nearly enough. There are 3 classrooms each of 3 grades on the playground. That is a fairly large number of students. As you can see...there are really large issues all around here! My problem is addressing them in a non threatening way but getting something accomplished, you know!
