It makes you wonder if there is away to do this smarter. We all know our kids can eat a taco lunch in a few minutes giving them extra time to "mess around". On these days why couldn't a teacher be smart about it and say "Your done? Let go outside for a few extra minutes." On the days when the kitchen serves chicken pot pie and it's cold out "It's so cold lets take our time to eat so we have a few minutes to take a quick break outside."
See I'm thinking in some way wouldn't the teacher have some say in how long their class needs to eat and play as long as it doesn't interfer with the rest of the schedual of the other classes?
OH that felt good to think outside the box [img]smile.gif[/img] . anyway, it's a thought.
In our school (grades 1 through 5) the kids have 1 recess. They have 15 minutes for lunch (not enough time!!) and 1/2 hour for recess. When the weather is too cold, the kids have indoor recess..I think the rule in our district is anything below zero, kids are indoors. They also have a program in our school called d.e.a.r, (drop everything and read), so they do that throughout the day. The teacher will announce it's d.e.a.r. time, so the kids all have to read for 15 minutes or so. Certain times of the year kids get "extra" recess...after the state testing, for good behavior, etc. My kids have never complained that the recess wasn't long enough, I think having the d.e.a.r time breaks up the day, plus all the other times they are out of the class (p.e., art, music, library).
Regarding it being to cold or hot for the kids, here in the North East it gets really cold, but the kids are still outside in the winter..unless it's below zero. If the kids have snowpants and boots they can play in snow, if not they have to stay on the blacktop. The nurse has a collection of cold weather items in her office for kids who don't have mittens, etc. When it's hot, kids are still outside..cooler then in the school!!!
We are a K-5 public school with about 750 kids. In our school, the 1-5 get 20 minute lunch and 20 minute recess. That's how I remember it when I was in school too. Our K don't get a lunch or recess as they are only here a half a day.
We get 2 10 min. recesses and 20 for lunch. Keep in mind, even though they do not get the physical release some may need, most teachers do give some down time for them to talk, read, watch a t.v. program, etc.
Thanks so much for all the replies. One of you even sent me a e-mail and I am sorry I can not reply because my e-mail is not sending for some strange reason.
I talked to my school Principle today and she said nothing is going to change for now. Unles something changes over the summer. Big change from what I heard yesterday. They are discussing how to change the lunch times around and make it shorter. Possibly making lunch time 18 minutes instead of twenty minutes. Not sure how that is going to work either because so many parents complian that is not enough time. I know I am there with my two kids at lunch everyday and I see how much food that I pay for is not eaten because they do not have enough time. Many wonder why change it at all. Good question. I personally think they need a few minutes more most days. But other days they do not have much to eat and sit there in the lunchroom getting louder and playing. So how much time should they get? We are talking about around 80 kids per grade in the lunchroom at a time. I wish they would just leave it alone.
