Recess is an Amazing Investment in Your Limited Teaching Time - Lisa Teaches Reading (2024)

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Research shows that there are significant advantages to recess in school. Recess is an amazing investment in your limited teaching time!

Just Google “the benefits of recess” and you will see over 13 million results.

Here is a quick rundown of benefits of recess from the CDC-

Recess

• Increasing their level of physical activity.
• Improving their memory, attention, and concentration.
• Helping them stay on-task in the classroom.
• Reducing disruptive behavior in the classroom.
• Improving their social and emotional development (e.g., learning how to share and negotiate).

I am a huge fan of recess for my students and myself. The benefits the CDC lists are profound. Just look at them- increased physical activity, improved concentration, helps stay on-task, reduces disruptive behavior, and improves SEL development. What other magic spell will take care of these things at school?

Our students need recess every day.

Let me type that again. Our students need recess. Every. Single. Day.

Not just when the weather is nice or as a random bribe to get the students to hold it together. Rather, they need consistent implementation of recess at the same time every day.

I Don’t Have Time For Recess

Yes you do.

If you deal with inattention or behavioral challenges on a frequent basis, calculate how much of your teaching time is interrupted, stalled or ineffective because of your constant dealings with them.

I have found that my 15 minute daily afternoon recess* is something the students look forward to, is a break that I need, and is something that we all come back from refreshed and ready to go. Our productivity is increased when we return because we had a break.

*We only do an afternoon recess because I am a lucky teacher that works in a school district that has PE 5 days a week. The students go to PE in the middle of the morning each and every day of school. Yes, it is glorious and I feel quite fortunate that my school district prioritizes physical fitness. If we did not have PE every day, I would certainly take a morning recess as well.

Finding The Time For Recess

There is a breakdown in instructional minutes that we are supposed to provide our students in each subject area. I believe this is my district’s daily instructional breakdown:

• Math- 75 Minutes
• ELA (Reading) 90 Minutes- 30 minutes shared & 60 minutes small group/guided
• ELA (Writing) 40 minutes
• Science- 40 minutes
• Social Studies- 30 minutes

This totals 275 minutes or 4 hours and 35 minutes. Each day I have somewhere between 25-50 minutes of plan time (PE, Music, Art, Library). Our instructional school day is just about 6 hours (360 minutes).

If you do the math in your head you will probably notice that if I stick to everything there may be a chance that I could squeeze in recess and have it work out nicely.

The problem is that it doesn’t work out. School just doesn’t work like that.

There are days where my math lesson is 75 minutes and others where it’s only 40 or 50. Social studies might only be 15 minutes or it might be as long as 45 minutes.

And let’s not forget about other activities that don’t fit anywhere like reading buddies or bathroom breaks. I take my class on at least one morning and afternoon bathroom break every day(it helps to reduce out of classroom instructional time).

I take my class out for recess and make do with the instructional time that remains. Since my class is refreshed and more focused when we return, I find that I don’t need to repeat directions 15 times or pause the lesson to get that one kid caught up.

When we return from recess, the kids are ready to learn. . . also recess is a good motivator to get going. I am not above threatening to take off some recess time if the kids seem to constantly be talking.

How To Ask Permission To Do Recess

I might make some of you uncomfortable with what I am about to tell you, but please stay with me on this. . .

I don’t.

I do not ask if it is okay to go out for recess.

I just take my class when it its a good fit for me.

I should share that I like my principal, I get the impression that they are supportive of me taking my class out for recess, but in the many years that they have been my building administrator, I have never talked to them about if I can or cannot take my class out.

I do tell my secretary every day that we are going. So it’s not like I am sneaking outside with my class. I tell the secretary in case anyone is looking for us.

Behaviors and Recess

SEL

Recess is a great time for SEL. It helps me to monitor who plays with one another, who is a loner and what activities they tend to gravitate toward.

Dealing with Injuries

I teach fifth grade, so most students are capable of not getting hurt. But it is recess and sometimes injuries do happen.

It seems like basketball is the activity that generates the most injuries. If you don’t like dealing with the extra injuries, don’t have a class basketball and tell them basketball is off limits.

There have been a few times where a kid gets injured and either refuses to go to the nurse or comes back from the nurse in a shockingly quick return time(like, did the nurse even check them out???).

When a student gets injured at recess, I just shoot a quick email to the parents/family of the student before the end of the school day letting them know that their student seemed to get hurt at recess and that the family might want to check in on their child when they get home.

I just copy and paste the first recess injury email I sent at the beginning of the year and then switch out student names and details. Parents always respond that they appreciate the email and will check on their kid.

I have less than 20 school days before the end of this school year and I have sent maybe 3 or 4 recess injury emails this entire school year.

Sitting A Kid Out At Recess

I don’t like to do this, but when warranted, I will have a kid sit out for a part of recess. I will make them sit on a bench until I tell them they can rejoin recess.

I do like to give them a little bit of movement time and a kid who has found themselves in some type of trouble is more likely to need time to help them regulate themselves.

If a kid sits out the entire recess, I know that they are not going to be in a cognitively safe space for learning for the rest of the day. They will probably just seethe with thoughts of how angry they are that they missed recess that day.

If, however, they sit out the first half of recess and I check in with them, tell them I don’t want them to do whatever thing that caused them to sit out of recess in the first place or they will miss more recess, I find that they listen and really try.

Don’t Take Away Recess For the Entire Class

Don’t do it.

Think of all of the kids that benefit from recess.

Think of the anxious internalizers who need that daily break.

If a chunk of kids are acting like yahoos and your initial reaction is to take recess away for everyone as a punishment, think of the kids who had nothing to do with it and how upset they feel by the injustice of losing recess

Instead, sit the yahoos out on their own and celebrate the fact that the rest of the class didn’t lose their recess. I like to state that I recognize not everyone behaved in a way that warranted losing recess, only specific individuals. Then I quietly and privately tell the students who lost recess that they will be sitting on a bench for the first part of recess.

But The Weather Is Bad!

Indoor Recess Options

This one is tricky because it depends on what type of weather you are dealing with. Obviously we don’t go outside in severe weather. In those instances we make use of our flexible learning space, a multipurpose room that is not being used.

On the days when that extra space is used, we do a classroom recess. Most of the students like to play silent ball. It’s fine, it’s a break, but the kids are just sitting at their desks throwing a ball around the room. I’m not a huge fan because of the sitting.

When they seem extra squarely on these indoor recess days, I make them play four corners. This is the game where one person puts their head down and everyone moves to a numbered corner in the room. The person at their desk calls out a number connected to each corner and the students in that corner sit down.

We play multiple rounds of four corners. I like that it is a game that does not require extensive gross motor skills and gets everyone moving a little bit.

Dress For the Weather

There is an interesting book I read recently called There Is No Such Thing As Bad Weather. In the book, author Linda Akeson McGurk shares that the kids in Scandinavian countries are confident, healthy and resilient because they spend so much time in nature. She argues that there isn’t such a thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

To be clear, I teach in the suburbs of Chicago. I feel like I see a decent smattering of various types of weather, but one thing I can tell you is that our winters can be cold and feel long. When I am able, I take the kids out in the cold. . . I just dress for the weather.

I would also like to point out that my school district, like most school districts, has limits on safe weather temperatures. I cannot take my class outside if the real feel temperature is less than 10 degrees or higher than 100 degrees as stated by the website weather.com.

The weather website kind of frustrates me because I typically use the app accuweather and have found some significant real feel temperature differences between the two weather sites.

Preparing Students For Cold Weather

I share with my student’s families at the beginning of the year that we go out for recess every day and they should help their student be prepared for the cold. When winter rolls around, I send another reminder email that we will continue to go out for recess.

Because recess is part of our daily schedule, the students are not surprised when we go out. I try to remind my students when there might be an upcoming change in temperatures- usually there are a few times a year where we might have a lovely 70 degree day followed by a significant drop to 40 degree weather.

In the winter months, I will also account for the extra time it might take the students to put on their snow pants. We will always have a 15 minute recess. In the winter it might be 15 minutes of outside time with an extra 3 minutes before to get ready and 3 minutes after to put all the gear away.

Preparing Myself For Cold Weather

When it gets cold, I adjust my clothes or accessories that I bring to school. I typically wear some type of leggings and short or long sleeve top depending on the time of year.

When we transition to the colder, yuckier months, I will either wear a heavy fleece lined legging, jeans or other heavy material with a winter coat, hat and gloves.

When it is snowy or close to the 10 degree temperature, I bring my snow boots and snow pants. My winter coat is heavy duty and has always kept me warm. It’s keeping my legs and feet warm that is the challenge.

I bring these extra clothes in a bag and will put them on and take them off when the students are getting their coats and boots on as well.

Benefits of Recess and the Outdoors for Kids

Here are a few books that are an interesting read for additional information and tips on making the most of the outdoors for kids. Some go beyond recess, but all focus on outside time for kids.

Grow Wild (Katy Bowman)- This lady is a biomechanist and is all about moving your body more. Not just getting more steps in a day, but keeping your body mobile and moving more parts of your body throughout the day. I have enjoyed all of Katy’s books, they are user friendly and you will certainly walk away with new tips and tricks for improved health. This one is all about getting kids to move more outside.

Last Child in the Woods (Richard Louv)- I can’t think of a more timely book than this one. Kids do not get outside as much as ‘the good old days.’ Instead they are finding connections inside on a screen. This book dives into the challenges of all that kids are missing out on in nature.

The First Six Weeks of School (Responsive Classroom)- This books is great for a variety of reasons. I always refer back to it at the beginning of every school year. It really helps me outline how to help the kids create a classroom community. The reason it makes the recess suggestions is because they also dive into how to get recess started on the right foot. Instead of announcing recess time and letting the kids run outside, they share some more structured games like sharks and minnows or category tag as nice recess activities to start off at the beginning of the year.

Recess Equipment

When recess time has arrived (usually around 2:00 each day), I announce that the class should line up for recess. I call the secretary to let her know we are going outside, in case any one is looking for us, and then I walk to my desk and grab my cup with popsicle sticks that contain the student’s names. I then randomly pull names to see if anyone wants any equipment.

I try to be mindful to use the word equipment with my fifth graders instead of ball, because, you know, 5th grade.

I have a bucket on the floor of my closet that contains two basketballs, a kickball and two soccer balls. Each day 5 of my students have the option of getting recess equipment (a ball). Students need to be responsible to bring their equipment inside at the end of recess, because if they don’t if will make its way to the recess cart and no one will get to use that ball until I go down to the card and get it.

This is another way to have logical consequences in the room and to teach the students responsibility.

Is Recess Worth It?

Aside from all of the benefits that I have shared with you, I will leave you with three reasons why I find recess worth it.

1. It gives me my own break. Yes, I get grouchy in the afternoon too and find myself better prepared to handle the rest of the afternoon after a nice break. I bring my phone out and while monitoring my students, I can catch up on my own personal email and respond to any texts . . .while watching the kids.
2. My daily attendance is fantastic. I will often get the kids who struggle with truancy, tardiness and frequent absences and guess what? I find that there is a significant decline in these issues when they are in my room. I don’t think I am an amazing, magical teacher, I think it is that I do a good job of creating an atmosphere where kids feel safe and get the breaks they need throughout the day so they don’t mind coming back each day. It is so much easier to teach when everyone is there the same day. It is lovely when it happens consistently. Catching various kids up is really hard and such a time suck.
3. Reduced student behaviors. I am a pretty easy going teacher who tries to develop good relationships with the students. I do have expectations and don’t let the kids walk all over me. I want to clarify that when necessary I will handle student behaviors appropriately. That is why I am happy to share that with less than 20 days remaining this school year, I have not once needed to send a kid to the office or write a referral. I have, so far (fingers crossed), not had any behavioral problems that I couldn’t handle by just sitting a kid out at recess randomly (or contacting their parents) throughout the year.

Recess Final Thoughts

Interested in reading more about student behaviors? Check Out these posts-

Teaching Students With Difficult Behaviors in the Classroom

Supporting Families to Diagnose and Treat Students with ADHD in the Classroom

Dealing With Difficult Student Behaviors During Morning Meetings

Teaching Students with OCD in the Classroom

Teacher Tips for Successful Parent Teacher Conferences

Engaging Back to School Reading Activities for Upper Elementary

I do hope you take your kids out for recess and find it as glorious as I do. Happy Recess!