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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2017)
4 - EASTERN OREGON PARENT - October 2017 Let’s look at the relevance of recess in our schools By SUZANNE KENNEDY Ask a room of adults a question about recess and most will answer that it was their favorite part of the school day, not including lunch. A 1989 survey of state superinten- dents conducted by the National Association of Elementary School Principals found that 96 percent of districts had recess. But in the late ‘90s, No Child Left Behind resulted in in a significant decrease in the number of districts with recess and the overall amount of recess time. According to official figures, 20 percent of districts de- creased recess time, averaging cuts of 50 minutes per week. By 2006, only 57 percent of districts required a regularly scheduled recess. One Atlanta Public School superinten- dent said, “We are intent on im- proving academic performance. You don’t do that by having kids hang- ing on the monkey bars.” Of course, there aren’t many studies that compare the same children with and without recess, and no longitudinal studies of the effects of recess deprivation over time. (Who would want their children to participate in that research?) So, we have to harvest from various studies that look at past history, socioeconomic break- outs, grade levels, and school size with regard to recess. Pediatricians say recess offers children cognitive, physical, emo- tional, and social benefits. The brain cannot maintain attention for long periods of time and requires some sort of change to regain fo- cus. Downtime is needed to recycle the chemicals crucial for long-term memory formation. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics states that recess should not even Education be withheld as a punishment. It’s that important. What’s going on at recess time? Aren’t the kids just messing around, wasting time? Nope. They are exercising. As the amount of recess decreased, the frequency of child- hood obesity increased. Kids who have recess at school during the day are more likely to play outside at home and the opposite is true, as well. Kids without recess don’t make up for it at home. They are learning social skills. Non-teacher directed interac- tion with other kids leads to con- frontations, learning social cues, negotiating, and cooperating. They are learning problem-solving techniques, creating and follow- ing rules, and practicing leadership skills. These are things that cannot be taught, or at least not taught well, in a classroom where the teacher is in charge. They choose and make decisions. These are the attributes that future employers are looking for, the characteristics of highly successful people. It’s during recess that children physically process what they’ve spent the day learning. That means they take the information presented to them and, by moving around, put it into the correct areas of their brains. They pretend and create, and pass down cultural games and tradi- tions from previous generations. What can you do? Get involved. Be knowledgeable. For every hour of academics, there should be about ten to fifteen minutes of playtime. Check your student’s schedule. Are they moving every hour by going to PE, recess, or some other non-academic focused activity? If not, start by talking to the teacher and the principal. Check with the school district to see if there is a policy in place. According to shapeamerica.org, Oregon requires at least 150 min- utes per week of physical education in K-5, and at least 225 minutes in grades 6-8. It does not require schools to provide daily recess or physical activity classroom breaks. Are you a teacher? (Thank you!) Rather than taking recess away as a punishment for misbehaving students, consider having the stu- dent walk with a teacher, or not be allowed to play certain games (no basketball or tetherball), but still al- lowed to run and play. Understand that kids need both PE and recess, not one or the other. I would personally love to see PE as an everyday subject in elemen- tary school because I believe it’s every bit as important as reading and math, but that’s a story for another day. ________ Suzanne Kennedy is a former middle school teacher who lives in Pend- leton with her husband and three children. Full Service Event Facility 12000 Sq. Ft. Great Room 3 Meeting Rooms Executive Board Room Commercial Kitchen Integrated Audio Visual Equipment Birthdays • Company Parties • Private Events 541.289.9800 eotechermiston.com
