Children are not having more outdoor time than prison inmates.

So what are the teachers doing during recess? They are chatting, of course, instead of paying attention to kids and trying to prevent injuries.

Seriously? Has your child never injured himself/herself while you were present?

On the one hand, you want more recess. On the other hand, you don't want kids to play. Here's a secret: as long as there is playground equipment--no matter what kind of ground cover is used, kids will fall and get hurt. As long as there are games played, kids will get hurt.

Teachers do watch and they try to prevent injuries. And, of course, nowadays, if the kid is aggressive, the teacher does not have the option of limiting his recess. Back in the day, that is how we handled it when a kid caused trouble. You told him to stand against the fence for five minutes if he pushed another kid. Now, a teacher can get in trouble for taking away recess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly they would need much better supervision and the teachers are already overworked and understaffed. Recess is essential, but if they don't decrease the amount of testing and stress during the day more recess will be worse not better. The kids go nuts. There have been so many injuries in my kids' classes from kids too wild playing football and soccer to the usual injuries that come with playing to kids doing daredevil feats before an adult sees. 2 kids this year have been taken away in ambulances. Simple games are falling apart perhaps due to pent up tension and stress without enough adults to intervene.

Please. I'm sure there is no correlation between those injuries and testing. Kids used to get injured all the time. We just don't tolerate that at school anymore.

This! I taught during the Kung Fu craze. Think about it.

Also, we didn't call the parents every time the kids scraped their knees.

So what are the teachers doing during recess? They are chatting, of course, instead of paying attention to kids and trying to prevent injuries.

Anonymous wrote:People, get a grip. The kids are getting recess, PE, music, art, etc. And, while I am not teaching now, I can almost promise that every teacher is giving the kids a few active breaks during the day.

I would love to see two outside breaks every day--but, look at the weather outside today. Do you really think your kids are being permanently harmed by having to stay inside? Use a little common sense.

Don’t promise. There are teachers and principals taking recess away from 8-9 y o.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly they would need much better supervision and the teachers are already overworked and understaffed. Recess is essential, but if they don't decrease the amount of testing and stress during the day more recess will be worse not better. The kids go nuts. There have been so many injuries in my kids' classes from kids too wild playing football and soccer to the usual injuries that come with playing to kids doing daredevil feats before an adult sees. 2 kids this year have been taken away in ambulances. Simple games are falling apart perhaps due to pent up tension and stress without enough adults to intervene.

Please. I'm sure there is no correlation between those injuries and testing. Kids used to get injured all the time. We just don't tolerate that at school anymore.

This! I taught during the Kung Fu craze. Think about it.

Also, we didn't call the parents every time the kids scraped their knees.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly they would need much better supervision and the teachers are already overworked and understaffed. Recess is essential, but if they don't decrease the amount of testing and stress during the day more recess will be worse not better. The kids go nuts. There have been so many injuries in my kids' classes from kids too wild playing football and soccer to the usual injuries that come with playing to kids doing daredevil feats before an adult sees. 2 kids this year have been taken away in ambulances. Simple games are falling apart perhaps due to pent up tension and stress without enough adults to intervene.

Please. I'm sure there is no correlation between those injuries and testing. Kids used to get injured all the time. We just don't tolerate that at school anymore.

Honestly they would need much better supervision and the teachers are already overworked and understaffed. Recess is essential, but if they don't decrease the amount of testing and stress during the day more recess will be worse not better. The kids go nuts. There have been so many injuries in my kids' classes from kids too wild playing football and soccer to the usual injuries that come with playing to kids doing daredevil feats before an adult sees. 2 kids this year have been taken away in ambulances. Simple games are falling apart perhaps due to pent up tension and stress without enough adults to intervene.

People, get a grip. The kids are getting recess, PE, music, art, etc. And, while I am not teaching now, I can almost promise that every teacher is giving the kids a few active breaks during the day.

I would love to see two outside breaks every day--but, look at the weather outside today. Do you really think your kids are being permanently harmed by having to stay inside? Use a little common sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This? https://pilotonline.com/news/local/education/article_daada16a-8c5d-54b7-9b6a-495e905eac5b.html

Senate Bill 273, sponsored by Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, would allow state school boards to include as instructional time elementary schools recess that's aimed at improving teamwork, social skills and fitness. The current prohibits recess from counting toward that time.

House Bill 1419, sponsored by Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Centreville, adjusts time allocated for core subjects to allow for 20 more minutes of recess a day.

Does anyone know what was approved? One of them reduced core instructional hours specifically and the other retained it, but allowed recess to count towards instructional hours I thought. Either way, it ends up being less time for core subjects unless you can link recess to one of those subjects, but I'd like to know the final wording.

Anonymous wrote:This? https://pilotonline.com/news/local/education/article_daada16a-8c5d-54b7-9b6a-495e905eac5b.html

Senate Bill 273, sponsored by Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, would allow state school boards to include as instructional time elementary schools recess that's aimed at improving teamwork, social skills and fitness. The current prohibits recess from counting toward that time.

House Bill 1419, sponsored by Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Centreville, adjusts time allocated for core subjects to allow for 20 more minutes of recess a day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This? https://pilotonline.com/news/local/education/article_daada16a-8c5d-54b7-9b6a-495e905eac5b.html

Will it change what they currently get? I'm sure most, if not all already exceed 100 minutes/week.

The law requires public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade to receive at least 20 minutes of physical activity each day, or an average of 100 minutes each week. I'm in FCPS and my students have 90 minutes of PE (30 minutes three times a week) and 30 minutes of outdoor recess each day. That's 240 minutes a week.

Why is the PE so short? I thought all special periods were longer blocks.

They also have 30 minutes of music. They are back to back, so the two combined make a 1 hour block.

Anonymous wrote:This? https://pilotonline.com/news/local/education/article_daada16a-8c5d-54b7-9b6a-495e905eac5b.html

Will it change what they currently get? I'm sure most, if not all already exceed 100 minutes/week.

The law requires public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade to receive at least 20 minutes of physical activity each day, or an average of 100 minutes each week. I'm in FCPS and my students have 90 minutes of PE (30 minutes three times a week) and 30 minutes of outdoor recess each day. That's 240 minutes a week.

Why is the PE so short? I thought all special periods were longer blocks.

At my DC's school, they already exceed the mandated amount. It should still be more, though.

This? https://pilotonline.com/news/local/education/article_daada16a-8c5d-54b7-9b6a-495e905eac5b.html

Will it change what they currently get? I'm sure most, if not all already exceed 100 minutes/week.

The law requires public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade to receive at least 20 minutes of physical activity each day, or an average of 100 minutes each week. I'm in FCPS and my students have 90 minutes of PE (30 minutes three times a week) and 30 minutes of outdoor recess each day. That's 240 minutes a week.

Is there any chance that FCPS will implement the Virginia law that allows for more recess?