Recess In Elementary School

“Recess is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning.”- Fred Rogers. Everyone remembers going out on the playground ready to play with friends. It may have even been one of your favorite part of the day. In fact, according to Melinda Bossenmeyer, the founder of Playground Professionals, eighty percent of the elementary school children she surveyed ranked recess as their number one subject(12/18/2013). Even though it is assumed that every child, at least through elementary school, is guaranteed a recess, not all kids are fortunate enough to get this free play time. Not only should all elementary schools have recess, all middle schools should

During recess, students are able to talk and communicate in ways they aren’t able to in the classroom. Recess allows kids to be leaders, problem solvers, and be creative when a teacher isn’t instructing them on what to do. According to Jill Vialet, Cindy Wilson, and a 2010 survey done across the country the amount of principals that agree that social skills are improved is an amazing 96 percent. The principals part of the 96 percent believe that if students have a good emotional and social base then their academic aspect is able to grow, and be more effective (3/30/2013). Even though most children have a surprisingly easy time making friends with other classmates, a large part of this is because of the repeated unplanned interactions at places like lunch or recess. Each of these interactions take about twenty minutes, which results in approximately forty minutes for them to collaborate, during around half of that time they aren’t able to appropriately communicate. Talking is usually considered a nuisance, and when they can talk they are often asked to talk in their “quiet voices.” Social skills can be greatly improved by playing with other kids without instruction on what, exactly, to

Amanda MacMillan explained that kids from ages six up should exercise sixty minutes every day in order to stay healthy. Sadly this is not the reality for many kids, in fact, one in three American children from the age two through seventeen are obese (American Heart Association, July 5, 2016). Multiple students count on recess as there only time to get outside and play because of the astronomical cost of kids sports. The costs can get in the ten thousand with the average cost being two thousand two hundred dollars. However, the biggest argument against recess is the fact that it takes away learning time during the day. Teachers are trying to cover more and more curriculum in class and in result students are given an abundance of homework. This results in no time for recess during the school day and less time for exercise after the school day. Even though this seems like the way to go for learning quickly and more efficiently, Finland has shown America that this stance is wrong. Finland has the best school system in the world according to international test scores and their students report feeling happier than their American peers. One Finnish law that greatly impacts their school day is that for every forty-five minutes of academic activity there is a mandatory fifteen minute period of physical activity (Chris Weller, December 6, 2017). Although not all students