Our school has only one recess (lunch time). But the teachers may take their children outside to play when they choose. If the kids are particularly restless and the teachers sees nothing is getting accomplished she takes the kids outside for 15 minutes to let them burn off steam or even takes them outside to work on an assignment. It seems to work well not having more formal recess times, because the kids would be watching the clock in preparation for the time. By giving the teachers more control the class seems to get more done for instance if a class is working on an assignment and doing well on it and the interuption of recess occurs, the kids might not be as able to get back on task were they were.
My son's school also limited recess a few years back and also uses this time for discipline. I believe my boys need time to exercise and burn off some steem in order to fully concentrate in the class room I don't know about private schools but they must have PE or some similar substitute. It's funny though because then there are all these things like ADD that someone can earn money off of children when a bit of fresh air may be all that the child needs. Problem I am having with my son is Bordom and I am going to go and Observe the classroom tomorro to see what goes on in there.
Hello, our school district also eliminated recess. The teachers in their wisdom knew that the repercussions of not allowing children time to physically blow off steam would be quite negative. Knowing that euphemistic language seems to satisfy many a problem today, they simply renamed recess "socialization time" and continued on with recess uninterrupted.
I like your idea of a survey instead of a petition. You could then take the results to the school board, where I'm assuming this policy came from. Of course, it would have more impact if the other schools also did one and, as another poster said, you did some research into the benefits of recess.
It seems to me that there was poor communication if you don't know why it was cut out. I would also guess that there was some study done or a push by the administrators and/or teachers that made it happen. I would want to find out the reason before I did anything else.
I'm with SkoolMom on this. Wait this one out. I agree with her thoughts, but would also offer this piece of info: It really isn't up to the PTO to make (or break or even agree with) policy in any school or district. You have other channels if you don't like something, like going to a school board meeting, addressing your Site Council, etc. As a parent group you have so many areas to make a difference in. Take note that this really isn't one of them. Whereas I agree that children do need that time outside, there may be underlying reasons why the recess is being removed, reasons you don't know or simply don't understand. Private schools have very little recess time, yet the children survive and even thrive in most cases. My personal suggestion? It won't last. I've always been a big fan of the saying "Kill them with their own rules". When they see that the children NEED that time outside, they will cave and give it back to them.
I suggest you wait this one out. Last year our school eliminated the morning recess. This was done because of a new reading program that all the kids were involved in for 90 minutes each morning as well as a trend to move in this direction by schools in our area. What we found was that the teachers needed that break. It gave them no time to run to the restroom. So, an educational assistant stopped by the room to allow the teacher a restroom break and the teachers allowed their children on a rotating basis to use the restroom and get a drink. They still didn't get to go outside and play, but something is better than nothing.
So, my point is to let them work through this. As a parent if you still see a problem with this then you should voice your concern
