Recess for success, not punishment

One of my daughter's favorite activities at school is gym.  She loves her recess, also. I was surprised and discouraged, after she had been in kindergarten for a month or so, and her teacher gave the class a lecture.  If students were late after today, they would lose their recess and have to sit in the library.  This policy was the school's, I believe. One little boy spoke up and said, "But what if we get stuck in traffic." Nope.  Tardy. No recess.  Sophie took this new school rule to heart and was very nervous that week and afterwards about getting to school on time.  

Sophie's school is a charter school here in Pueblo and many parents drive their students to the school from all over the city.  So, a 5 or 6 year old's punctuality is not really dependent on the child alone, but rather is heavily reliant on the parent that drives the car.   Not only are we punishing the child for something which often they don't have control over, but taking away physical activity, like recess, has a negative impact on children's learning.  Sadly, my daughter's school is not unique. Unfortunately, taking away recess is common practice in other Colorado schools and others around the nation.  Does your child's school take away recess as a form of punishment?

In Colorado, we do have some legislation that helps to assure that our students get 30 minutes of physical activity daily at school.  In April of 2011, our governor, John Hinkenlooper, signed into law HB 11-1069, which established a minimum requirement of 30 minutes of physical activity in elementary schools.  The law is now in effect. 

Why is physical activity important and how is it connect to learning at school? Physical  activity, like kids running around at recess,  improves a  child's  physical,  mental  and  cognitive  health.  On some days, my daughter does not have gym class, so the time she gets outside playing during recess, is extra important and impacts her learning when she goes back into the classroom.  According to LiveWell Colorado research, "currently,  only  48%  of  Colorado's  children  ages  5‐14  years  meet  the  recommended  60  minutes  of  daily  physical  activity."

Here's a list taken from LiveWell Colorado  about the importance of physical activity and how it connects to students academic achievement, classroom enviroment and physical health:

-Physical activity can help improve academic achievement, including grades and standarized test scores.

-Physical activity positively impacts cognitive skills, attention, and on‐task classroom behavior.

-Students who are physically fit are likely to have stronger academic performance, better school attendance and fewer disciplinary problems. 

-In students with attention deficit disorder, greater moderate to vigorous physical activity is associated with improved attention, memory, information processing and decreased impulsivity.

-Daily recess of 15 minutes or more is associated with better teacher's rating of classroom behavior.  

-Physical activity improves cerebral blood flow, capillary growth, nerve cell growth, nerve connection and neurotrophins.

Today, many of our children aren't healthy. Here's Colorado's Health Report Card. Our children are getting a C-.  Colorado's 23rd ranking in childhood obestiy was significant factor in our low score.  

My hope is that as parents, teachers and administrators become more aware of how critical physical activity is to a child's learning, taking away recess will become a thing of the past.  We would never consider taking away the daily reading or writing lesson if a child was late.  Now we need to carry over that same mentality to recess.  Recess, physical activity in it's simplest form, needs to be considered just as important and vital to a child's learning and academic achievement.  Sure, parents need to bring their children to school on time.  I konw we try, but are occassionaly late.  Instead of taking away recess, however, administrators need to implement new ways of communicating with parents.  Maybe it's just an old fashion parent-to-prinicpal sit down meeting in the office.   I know that would have worked for us!  Or perhaps teachers would have more ideas.  As LiveWell Colorado says, recess for success, not punishment.  

   

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

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[Megan]

Wow. I can't imagine a teacher taking away everyone's recess. As a parent, that would drive me nuts. As a first grade teacher (in my previous before-kids-years), I couldn't imagine the behavior problems I would have if I kept kids inside all day. I remember observing one teacher that routinely kept kids inside or as she said, "owed her their recess." Now as a mom, with a child that has sensory processing needs, I have come to learn how physical activity helps Luca to settle down and work. I wonder if NY is working on legislation on getting schools to require a mim. amount of recess/physical activity time? I believe Sophie has two recesses, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, plus a short lunch one.

Thanks for sharing, Leah!

[Leah Lefler]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. We're in NY state, but KINDERGARTEN runs from 8:50am-3:15pm with only one 30 minute recess for the entire day. Recess is often removed as a blanket punishment for some slight infraction - a child talks in line, so the entire class loses recess. It is insane - there are better ways of handling a single child's "misbehavior" (remember, we are pushing down rigorous academic requirements to children who are merely five years old) than by removing physical activity.

Punishing a child for a parent's tardiness (in elementary school, the fault is not the child's) is ridiculous. It can't bring around any results, since the person being punished has no control over remedying the problem.

[Megan]

I think principals and other administrative personnel need to have more face-to-face communication with parents, be it one-on-one, a formal or informal hallway meeting or in large group formats.

Unfortunately, recess is viewed as students "free time" and is often the first thing taken away. Disruptive in class. No recess. Forgot homework. No recess. Late for school. No recess. (This does not happen in kindergarten at our school, but I know it does at others.) Kids need the down time, the time to work off stresses from the day and the healthy benefits of physical activity.

Also, we now have an epidemic of obesity on our hands. Yes, kids need to be to school on time, turn in home, work in class, I just feel there are more effective ways of teaching those things than taking away recess.

[brittany]

Do you really think it's practical for the principal to sit down with every parent who brings their kid late to school?

I agree with the importance of physical activity on a child's learning, but arguably more important is simply being present at school (which is the whole reason why being tardy is a big deal).