summer

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

AARRGGHH! Inside Recess! AGAIN?



Don't get me wrong! I love winter.
I love Michigan!
I don't mind it cold.
But 3 days of inside recess is getting on my last nerve.

What does your school do for inside recess?

First of all the rule is: If the wind chill or the temperature is at Zero or below they must stay inside. If it is at 1 or 2 or higher they go outside. I've been reading that some of you have a rule of 32 degrees and colder they stay in. . . . or that your school may not have a set temperature. Well we do, and by golly we stick to it! For the last 3 days, it has been a well below Zero Wind Chill.


Secondly, our contract says I have a "duty free lunch!" So I don't have to be in my classroom during recess. We are fortunate in our little building to have an adult aide who watches each classroom. Let me tell you they earn their wings for doing this. . .especially for 3 days in a row.

Our aides are top notch! They keep the kids under control or the kids have to sit out in the hallway and believe me that is NO fun at all especially when you can hear all the fun going on inside the room.
There are inside recess games, puzzles, Legos, Lincoln Logs, K-Nex, dominoes, Checkers, etc to play with. There is no running, throwing things, yelling, or getting out of control when it is inside recess. Our aides do a wonderful job keeping them under control.


Thirdly, EVERYTHING is put back in the right place NEATLY when I walk back in the room and everyone is in their seats waiting patiently for me!

Isn't that the best? I love our aides. In fact as I write this, I'm realizing just how lucky I am to have such good care given to my students. Maybe I need to stop and pick up some extra chocolate in the morning for them.

But even with all of that good lovin' going on during recess, the kids are bonkers right now.  During the rest of the day they are much more chatty, physical, impulsive, and sometimes, down right naughty!

They really do need that fresh air and some break away from these 4 walls. I sure hope the temperature rises tomorrow so we can all get some reprieve!

I'd love to hear what your inside recess looks like. . . even if it's not for cold, but maybe rain, heat, or whatever!


Patty

2 comments:

  1. Living in S FL we don't have to deal with the cold weather but we do have to deal with the rainy weather (which we have not have had much of so far this year - knock on wood). We are state mandated to have a 30 minute period of physical activity in our schedule. So on those rainy days we use a program called Adventure to Fitness - 30 minute videos where the kids are physically active plus they learn stuff at the same time!

    I am SO jealous that you have an aide that covers your recess!

    Christina :)
    Apples, Books, and Crayons
    applesbooksandcrayons@gmail.com

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  2. Here in MT we have the same cold weather standards as you.. and so if it's below zero we are in and if it's 1 degree above--we are out! Lunch is tricky for me b/c yes I do get a duty free lunch, however there's only one aide for my grade and my classroom is very far away from the other 2 2nd grades, so I have to split my class up and they go into the other rooms (one teacher doesn't like that idea as much) and our aides aren't the greatest. They really don't know how to control the kiddos so we always come back to problems. Sometimes we pop in a short video just so we have less problems. When I have my class for morning or afternoon recess, I try to do dancing or some kind of movement. Luckily this year, we haven't had any inside recess days. I hope your weather gets better. One day of inside stuff is fine, but the kids need some outside time to burn that energy! Good luck!
    Stacee

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