I thought recess was a standard 30 minutes (not enough in my view).

FYI MCPS has a new rule that recess cannot be withheld for disciplinary purposes and if a teacher wants to withhold because a child's work isn't completed s/he needs to get the parents' permission. If your school is taking away recess as a punishment, you can call the MCPS Chief School Performance Officer
Office of School Performance
301-315-7366

Anonymous wrote:No snacks for my Kindergartner, and he doesn't eat lunch until 1:00. On top of that, the last class or two rarely get their lunch before 1:30, which is when lunch officially ends, and are then yelled at to "Hurry Up Hurry Up! Eat. Ok, you're done. Go!". After witnessing it I went to the principal (and as far as I know, nothing at all was done.) That's why my child carries his lunch.

That is crazy! No matter how big a breakfast *I* eat, I couldn't last until 1. What do the teachers do?

No snacks for my Kindergartner, and he doesn't eat lunch until 1:00. On top of that, the last class or two rarely get their lunch before 1:30, which is when lunch officially ends, and are then yelled at to "Hurry Up Hurry Up! Eat. Ok, you're done. Go!". After witnessing it I went to the principal (and as far as I know, nothing at all was done.) That's why my child carries his lunch.

Anonymous wrote:20:40: where does your kid go to school? So envious! My middle child is also a kindergartener in MoCo and gets only the same 30 minute recess as the other grades at the school, and no one at her school has snack. She's a very young kid (late August birthday) and I really, really wish she could have both a snack and more recess time.

No snacks? At our ES, all grades get snacks. One year they started out not letting the fourth or fifth graders have them, but after about two weeks, parents were asked to send snacks because the kids were too hungry to concentrate. And teachers keep a snack closet for the kids who forget them. Periodically throughout the year, I send boxes of stuff in to replenish the supplies.

OP here. So the county does not have standard recess time across all elementary schools?

25 minutes

Anonymous wrote:20:40: where does your kid go to school? So envious! My middle child is also a kindergartener in MoCo and gets only the same 30 minute recess as the other grades at the school, and no one at her school has snack. She's a very young kid (late August birthday) and I really, really wish she could have both a snack and more recess time.

Farmland (20852)

At our ES it is officially 30 min, but in reality more like 20-25. When my DC was in K, the teacher did something she called number bootcamp every day, where she got all the kids on the carpet and they did calesthenics (jumping jacks, squats, toe touches, etc.) while they skip counted by 2's, 3's, 5's, 10's. etc. Very simple, and while my DC could already do the counting (there were some who couldn't), I think it was a smart move for this teacher to get them up and moving as they got very antsy in the afternoons. It wasn't officially a "recess" but it added some additional movement into the class which is important for young children. BTW, this K teacher was the only one of the K teachers at this school who did this ... it was not a school policy, just a good teacher.

20:40: where does your kid go to school? So envious! My middle child is also a kindergartener in MoCo and gets only the same 30 minute recess as the other grades at the school, and no one at her school has snack. She's a very young kid (late August birthday) and I really, really wish she could have both a snack and more recess time.

My DC gets 30 mins.

30 minutes is pretty standard in the county, though I've heard reports from my kids of 25 b/c they have recess first and then lunch. School needs that extra 5 minutes to round kids up and get them in for lunch.

My K son gets 20 minutes following snacktime in the morning and 30 minutes after lunch.

Mine gets 30 min.

Do different elementary schools in Montgomery County have different amounts of recess time? How much recess does your child get in his/her MoCo elementary school?