We've already run one article on the importance of recess time. As the focus on test scores has increased recess has suffered. When kids can't get out to play their attention spans in the classroom suffer. Their social skills decline. Their weight rises and health problems rise as well. Some children go on medications to treat ADHD...when more play time could be part of the answer. Please take the time to read this article we found at ReturnToNow .... the author is Sara Burrows While most school districts across the country are cutting back on recess time and ramping up the Ritalin, one Texas school has kindergartners and first graders sitting still and “incredibly … [Read more...]
Parents turn to doctors, lawmakers to save school recess
From Ktar News ... PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — When parents tell Dr. Gregory Fox their boisterous child was stuck in a classroom all day, the Rhode Island pediatrician takes out his notepad and writes a doctor’s order to send to school. “Please do not take away this child’s recess,” Fox writes. So many kids are being deprived of unstructured play time during the school day that a note from the doctor is one way parents around the country have gone over the heads of principals and teachers who can’t find time in the school day for recess. Parents from Amarillo, Texas, to Montclair, New Jersey, and Portland, Oregon, have petitioned their school districts to extend or mandate how much … [Read more...]