Middle School Recess coming to FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like they're going to be making the "mask breaks" permanent. Good news.

Masks are optional so why would they need mask breaks?

Are you always deliberately obtuse?

[Anonymous]

I think it's a great idea, but I also have questions about how this will work in practice. Will they be hiring staff for recess duty? I am not supportive of this putting more work onto teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Supervised recess would be offered to middle school students every day for 15 minutes and to elementary school students in two separate 15-minute segments “as practicable.”

We currently have a 30 minute recess at the ES level. I hope we can keep that rather than two 15-minute blocks.

They tried this a few years ago at elementary level when 30 minutes became required. Most schools found the transitions for 2 times to be a hassle and went back to a 30 minute block.

As a teacher, I want the 30 minute block and 5-10 minute brain break in the morning outside

+1, this was impractical in ES. As soon as you walked to the playground, a third of recess was already over.

That seems like a quitting mentally to me. Especially when I would ask why didn’t they go to one 45min recess so kids at least got the full 30mins of time for recess.

[Anonymous]

Awesome idea. They need to work with guidance and pe staff to create activities kids can do so it’s just not standing around talking. Need some structured options for kids that might not have friends or be invited to do things with groups. Like walking, dancing, music, meditation, labyrinth on pavement, jump rope, equipment for basketball, daily recurring themed activities like chalk drawing or gardening etc. There are a lot of cool ideas out there across our country. I hope they survey communities to explore what can be as each school may have unique interests based on space. This group has good tips for younger grades and could be adapted for middle school: https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/activity/active-outdoor-recess/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great but where will they fit it in?

MS recess - https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2022/03/recess-expected-to-come-to-all-fairfax-co-middle-schools-next-year/

They will take it out of the study hall period, no doubt. This sucks.

That does suck

[Anonymous]

Middle school teacher here. Our 15 minute "break" (recess time) happens during our lunch block. In that block, kids will have a 30 minute lunch, a 15 minute break, and an 85ish minute class. The break is great, but we've had challenges with giving the kids structure and providing appropriate activities. Our equipment is very limited, and not all classes have access to a safe area for play. For example, my class is assigned to have break in a small courtyard by the staff parking lots, while other classes can go to the blacktop and field area. It's good for the kids to have the break, but its implementation definitely needs to be rethought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Supervised recess would be offered to middle school students every day for 15 minutes and to elementary school students in two separate 15-minute segments “as practicable.”

We currently have a 30 minute recess at the ES level. I hope we can keep that rather than two 15-minute blocks.

We'd lose half of the 15 minutes just getting folks out and back from the playground.

[Anonymous]

Our FCPS middle school has a 15 minute socializing break already--kids just meet up in the hallway to chat--there's not an outside option. So it's not hard to fit in--I can see having a supervised outside time. Also many of them are eating lunch outside already and PE is frequently outside. So I've been fairly pleased with how often my DC gets outside during the school day.

[Anonymous]

FCPS has trailers covering up most of the middle school recess areas. Are they going to remove these? They never seem to remove trailers even if they aren't really used. Our middle school now uses four trailers but they have about eight and just went through a decrease in enrollment due to covid and a boundary shift.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As one of the early proponents of Middle School recess, this is why I think it's essential.

1. Right now, my daughter gets to school at 7:15 in the morning and doesn't see the sun until 2:15 in the afternoon. She goes from Algebra to science to English without even a small break. As an adult, I can't go from meeting to meeting to meeting without a small break to clear my head.

2. All these people who say no one should get a break because a small segment of the population might have sex or get into a fight on school grounds are wrong. First of all, fights are going to happen - its better if it happens where adults are around to deal with the consequences. If kids are having sex on school grounds as 13 and 14 year olds, then a lot of failures happened. Recess is not going to change that and let's not punish the vast majority who will use that time constructively.
+ 1000. Well summarized.
3. Most importantly, girls are getting their periods at that age. Right now, my daughter has one 30-minute break during those 7 hours. She sometimes has to choose between eating lunch and going to the bathroom. That is not a fair choice.

4. All over this country, kids in middle school are having recess. In California, we had 2 breaks - 20 minutes brunch and a 40-minute lunch. Kids learned how to interact with their peers, used the time to study if they needed to and went outside for fresh air. Middle Schools in FCPS treat the kids like they are one step away from Rikers. It's not healthy for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Why does the article on this show a bunch of kids looking at screens? Is that what recess is going to be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does the article on this show a bunch of kids looking at screens? Is that what recess is going to be?

Do you expect 8th graders to play on a playground?

[Anonymous]

Here are some awesome resources for establishing recess framework and leading practices:

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/7-things-to-know-about-school-recess/2018/07

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/want-to-build-a-better-recess-researchers-have-a-framework-for-you/2018/06

https://www.edutopia.org/practice/recess-high-school-students

https://indy.education/2018/06/28/2018-6-28-older-students-need-recess-too/amp/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0CnsZ7Dmo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does the article on this show a bunch of kids looking at screens? Is that what recess is going to be?

Virtual recess? haha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As one of the early proponents of Middle School recess, this is why I think it's essential.

1. Right now, my daughter gets to school at 7:15 in the morning and doesn't see the sun until 2:15 in the afternoon. She goes from Algebra to science to English without even a small break. As an adult, I can't go from meeting to meeting to meeting without a small break to clear my head.

2. All these people who say no one should get a break because a small segment of the population might have sex or get into a fight on school grounds are wrong. First of all, fights are going to happen - its better if it happens where adults are around to deal with the consequences. If kids are having sex on school grounds as 13 and 14 year olds, then a lot of failures happened. Recess is not going to change that and let's not punish the vast majority who will use that time constructively.

3. Most importantly, girls are getting their periods at that age. Right now, my daughter has one 30-minute break during those 7 hours. She sometimes has to choose between eating lunch and going to the bathroom. That is not a fair choice.

4. All over this country, kids in middle school are having recess. In California, we had 2 breaks - 20 minutes brunch and a 40-minute lunch. Kids learned how to interact with their peers, used the time to study if they needed to and went outside for fresh air. Middle Schools in FCPS treat the kids like they are one step away from Rikers. It's not healthy for anyone.

I have the middle school kid who gets the boring 15 min silent “break” and I was worried recess would result in fights and sex. What are you envisioning this 15 minute recess to look like? There isn’t playground equipment, not that 13-14 year olds would use it. Do you think they will have a quick pick up soccer game for five min by the time they walk out there and back? Best case, they let them use their phones and they binge on tik tok and YouTube for a few minutes. This age group doesn’t want to run outside quickly in the sun.