Recess…A Rhode Island Student’s Opinion

There has been a petition circulating the internet from a group called Parents Across RI.  Their mission is, “providing reliable information and giving voice to parents on issues affecting families in the state, with a focus on education.”  The aforementioned petition was seeking to make recess part of the educational guidelines here in Rhode Island. In other words, recess time is a student’s right and can not be taken away.  It is commonplace for recess to be denied as a means of punishment, making up work, extra test time and the like.  Parents Across RI seek to protect recess and free play time in the classroom, you can read more here.  In response to the recess debate, 10 year old George Piper of Hugh Cole Elementary has submitted a blog voicing his opinion on the need for recess and extended recess times.  We wholeheartedly agree George, recess and free play is most certainly being underestimated on a local and worldwide scale.

My name is George Piper and I am a 5^th grade student at Hugh Cole Elementary School and I am part of the school’s student council. One of the things my fellow board members and I have decided to work on is promoting the idea of a longer recess and for some students in schools with no recess having a 30 minute or longer recess.

Hugh Cole has a 15 minute recess, and last year also had a morning recess. The Hugh Cole student council is trying to help the schools that have no recess get a 30 minute or longer recess. Did you know that studies have shown that students with a 30 minute or longer recess do better academically and also, behave better.  I have read on websites about a school in Texas called Eagle Mountain Elementary that has given their students four 15 minute recess breaks. A few teachers weren’t convinced about the idea of giving up more than an hour. But the teachers soon realized the results were fantastic. Not only were the kids getting the exercise they needed and the fun they deserved, but they were also wanting to learn more and were helping each other.

This brings me to my next point. Kids need longer recesses to help socialize. When teachers keep telling kids that making friends is a key part of their life and then they only give the kids 15 minutes to talk to each other and make friends with each other. So teachers and principals and even superintendents are taking a key part of students lives and making it so it can barely happen.

This is my opinion, recess is just fun. Some people complain that their kid got hurt at school, that’s not because of recess , its because kids play hard and if you are going to take it out on recess that’s wrong because what you’re actually taking away is playing and I promise you cannot ban playing. Recess does not need to be a time for running around and sports. It’s a free time for any student who wants to do whatever they feel. Kids love recess and nobody can deny it. Put all facts down the drain. RECESS IS FUN!

One day I was in my classroom staring at the clock. Any second the minute hand would move over to the 5. Any second, any second… I look over to see my teacher pointing at me and saying “George! Hello!” And then the first word that came to mind was “What.” So that’s what I said. But that’s not the point of the story. The point is, that students will get so antsy from sitting on their butts for 4 maybe 5 hours straight that they will lose focus of the work that needs to be done. So if there is a morning recess then the 5^th graders and 4^th graders who do have to sit for most of the day can get their wiggles out and will focus more on work than on recess.

In conclusion people should love recess for what it is, a free time and I feel that is being under estimated by teachers and principals across the globe.

-George Piper

Please feel free to share you comments and thoughts in the comment section below!

Here is an interesting article to about what happened when a school tried recess 4 times a day!