As a 3rd grade teacher this year I used free time to motivate student to do and finish their work. It was tricky and I was anxious to give that time when I only have about 4 hours a day (excluding their music, PE, recess and lunch) to teach a detailed curriculum. Also many interruptions to instructional time. But I did see the positives of free time too - creativity, problem solving, what types of activity or tasks students gravitate to. My students got very interested in puzzles and completed a 2000 piece puzzle by the end of the school year! One solution I saw and tried to do was make their learning tasks have choice, hands on, room for creativity and socializing part of it. Those were the most successful academic moments. I brought a kite outside for recess which was a big hit also puppets were popular too. The alternatives are not binary, I realized.
The very best friends our daughter made in her all too short life (we lost her at age 33 from a catastrophic seizure - she had been treated for epilepsy and right side CP since she was an infant).were at an overnight (non academic) Y camp for girls in Becket, Mass. She was a camper, a CIT, and a counselor. Our 9 year old granddaughter is there now. Older girls as models, broad choice of mostly outdoor activities, cabin talks, no phones, time every day for free play, sing alongs, non sectarian services on Sunday mornings, children from a variety of backgrounds...what could be better? Her comment to her parents as she finished moving in and had begun to greet old friends and make new ones, said with a big smile, "Why are you still here!?".
I co-signed this. When i was in my 20s and 30s, i started and operated afterschool programs. Later, I worked in schools as a teacher and administrator. Now, I am a pastor in my late 50s and I can see grade school children in the U.S. are encouraged to become sedentary.
I started a program at my church 4 years ago on Friday nights for middle school kids. Smartphones are disrupting natural socialization patterns, motor skills and agility mastery and furthe encourages a sedentary lifestyle.
For 1.5 hrs, we do competitive team building and strategy activities to appeal to the natural athletes and natural thinkers in the group. They are placed in teams guided by high school volunteers. Once we get to a short 7 min. message at the end, every kid is sitting and quiet. We also provide free time. We recognize that the kids often come home still full of stress.
My point is although we are in a controlled environment, the games they play are not designed to educate them. They are the kinds of games me and my friends organized ourselves to play outside that kids dont do anymore. Interacting this way teaches them socialization skills, emotional regulation and resilience. The heavy use of smartphone is taking this away from them so we ban them.
Incredibly useful review of recess research Peter. Another bulls-eye! All supportive of my campaign for 20% of curriculum time for self-directed learning around the interests, concerns, questions, talents of the students
I used to teach a small class of 9 pupils in a specialist SEMH setting. The children were between 12 and 14 years old. We had four 15-minute breaks throughout the day. As I'd allow the children to change when they had the breaks, sometimes they'd stack them together after they'd completed all the work. Most times, however, they spread them across the day.
These 15-minute regulation breaks (as the setting called them) were essential to the running of the day. These were children whom other schools had written off. Yet, with these breaks, they were able to excel academically, working towards sitting and passing their GCSEs.
It's so good to see there is so much research out there about the positive benefits of these regular breaks. We wouldn't expect adults to sit for so long throughout the day, so why do we expect it of children?
Thank you for putting the time and effort into advocating for play. A relatively new public school near our grandchildren uses the land behind the school for parking, leaving the children only the sidewalk and a narrow strip of green in front for play. Teachers stand near the curb to keep children from going into the street. Everytime we drive by, I am saddened to see all the space allotted to cars and so little space (and time) for play. That's why our daughter has chosen a private school with an outdoor play-based curriculm for her two boys. Denying children play is not based on research or experience, but rather a disconnect from what we know about human development. What does this say about our values?
Gracias Peter por cada una de tus cartas y tus reflexiones! Como familia, compartimos estas ideas acerca del recreo y de la importancia del juego libre, sin tener conocimiento de la evidencia de las investigaciones, entonces al leer todo esto nos sentimos abrazados, menos extraterrestres, y no nos sentimos tan solos en este camino de acompañar a nuestros hijos. Te leemos cada semana con entusiasmo, desde Argentina. Gracias infinitas!
As a 3rd grade teacher this year I used free time to motivate student to do and finish their work. It was tricky and I was anxious to give that time when I only have about 4 hours a day (excluding their music, PE, recess and lunch) to teach a detailed curriculum. Also many interruptions to instructional time. But I did see the positives of free time too - creativity, problem solving, what types of activity or tasks students gravitate to. My students got very interested in puzzles and completed a 2000 piece puzzle by the end of the school year! One solution I saw and tried to do was make their learning tasks have choice, hands on, room for creativity and socializing part of it. Those were the most successful academic moments. I brought a kite outside for recess which was a big hit also puppets were popular too. The alternatives are not binary, I realized.
You are an excellent teacher. That's the kind of stuff my teachers did in the 1970s.
The very best friends our daughter made in her all too short life (we lost her at age 33 from a catastrophic seizure - she had been treated for epilepsy and right side CP since she was an infant).were at an overnight (non academic) Y camp for girls in Becket, Mass. She was a camper, a CIT, and a counselor. Our 9 year old granddaughter is there now. Older girls as models, broad choice of mostly outdoor activities, cabin talks, no phones, time every day for free play, sing alongs, non sectarian services on Sunday mornings, children from a variety of backgrounds...what could be better? Her comment to her parents as she finished moving in and had begun to greet old friends and make new ones, said with a big smile, "Why are you still here!?".
Thank you for collecting the evidence Peter.
I co-signed this. When i was in my 20s and 30s, i started and operated afterschool programs. Later, I worked in schools as a teacher and administrator. Now, I am a pastor in my late 50s and I can see grade school children in the U.S. are encouraged to become sedentary.
I started a program at my church 4 years ago on Friday nights for middle school kids. Smartphones are disrupting natural socialization patterns, motor skills and agility mastery and furthe encourages a sedentary lifestyle.
For 1.5 hrs, we do competitive team building and strategy activities to appeal to the natural athletes and natural thinkers in the group. They are placed in teams guided by high school volunteers. Once we get to a short 7 min. message at the end, every kid is sitting and quiet. We also provide free time. We recognize that the kids often come home still full of stress.
My point is although we are in a controlled environment, the games they play are not designed to educate them. They are the kinds of games me and my friends organized ourselves to play outside that kids dont do anymore. Interacting this way teaches them socialization skills, emotional regulation and resilience. The heavy use of smartphone is taking this away from them so we ban them.
Thks Peter.
Incredibly useful review of recess research Peter. Another bulls-eye! All supportive of my campaign for 20% of curriculum time for self-directed learning around the interests, concerns, questions, talents of the students
I used to teach a small class of 9 pupils in a specialist SEMH setting. The children were between 12 and 14 years old. We had four 15-minute breaks throughout the day. As I'd allow the children to change when they had the breaks, sometimes they'd stack them together after they'd completed all the work. Most times, however, they spread them across the day.
These 15-minute regulation breaks (as the setting called them) were essential to the running of the day. These were children whom other schools had written off. Yet, with these breaks, they were able to excel academically, working towards sitting and passing their GCSEs.
It's so good to see there is so much research out there about the positive benefits of these regular breaks. We wouldn't expect adults to sit for so long throughout the day, so why do we expect it of children?
We trust too much in our own craft and so we insist that the craft produces the desired results. To deny this is to deny the craft.
Thank you for putting the time and effort into advocating for play. A relatively new public school near our grandchildren uses the land behind the school for parking, leaving the children only the sidewalk and a narrow strip of green in front for play. Teachers stand near the curb to keep children from going into the street. Everytime we drive by, I am saddened to see all the space allotted to cars and so little space (and time) for play. That's why our daughter has chosen a private school with an outdoor play-based curriculm for her two boys. Denying children play is not based on research or experience, but rather a disconnect from what we know about human development. What does this say about our values?
Gracias Peter por cada una de tus cartas y tus reflexiones! Como familia, compartimos estas ideas acerca del recreo y de la importancia del juego libre, sin tener conocimiento de la evidencia de las investigaciones, entonces al leer todo esto nos sentimos abrazados, menos extraterrestres, y no nos sentimos tan solos en este camino de acompañar a nuestros hijos. Te leemos cada semana con entusiasmo, desde Argentina. Gracias infinitas!