Can We Go Outside?: Recess with Literacy Spark

Today I'm hooking up with Literacy Spark for a Linky Party to talk about Recess. Do the kids need it? To take it away or not to take it away, and how much time should the kids get?

So, not having much teaching experience I don't have much to go on but, I personally feel that my class this year needs recess. I see how tired and burnt out they get when we don't have it. And at the end of a week full of indoor recess, my firsties are dying to go outside and play!

I teach at a small, independent school and we have a lot of freedom with recess. We usually go outside for recess for about 30 or 35 minutes in the afternoons. At the end of the week, we have time to go outside in the morning and sometimes we will go outside again for a little while at the end of the day. However, basically you make up your own recess schedule, go out when it first your schedule. We are free to use recess as a reward if that works for your classroom.

For punishment, every class has a similar ish system. Most of the Kindergarten classes as well as my class, we use laps at recess time for punishment. I personally like laps because it is easy for me to remember and easy for the kids to remember. The 2nd and 3rd grade classes have their kids owe time standing on the wall. I don't use time because I cannot keep up with how much time everyone owes and sometimes I forget to set the timer on my phone and then I'll forget that I have kids standing on the wall (oopsies!).

If you need to reschedule your recess to get caught up you can do that, if you want to go out at a different time, you can do that too. It's pretty nice to be able to do whatever we want. Most of the time all of the teachers go out but if you have things you need to get caught up on and there's another teacher outside then you can send your kids and stay in.

I love recess time because it gives me kind of a break and also, it serves as a rejuvenating time for my kids. Also, it sets aside a time in the upper grades to continue to work on important skills such as exercise, working together, problem solving, and other social skills. Kids learn so much through play, they don't have to learn just inside the classroom!

I am imagining that a lot of our recess freedom also comes with the style of our current Headmaster and this could possibly change next year when we receive a new Headmaster depending on who that Headmaster is, their background, and their style.

So there you have it! Don't forget to check out my other posts, and my TpT store link in the sidebar!