IT'S JUST RECESS - OR IS IT?

Ask students what their favorite parts of the school day are and many will include “recess” in their responses. In the minds of many children and adults, recess is a time for students to play and socialize with friends, to enjoy physical activity and to have a break from the academic demands of the classroom. Ask teachers and they would concur that recess is all of the above. But it is much more than that. The playground in many ways is an extension of the classroom. Students carry their relationships, interactions, understanding of the world and how it works and concepts of community that begin in the classroom onto the playground where they are manifest in a myriad of ways. Opportunities for learning on the playground abound. The significance of the playground as a setting for learning and building community is eloquently expressed in the following piece by a second grade supervising teacher at the Campus School.

Lessons on the Playground
Robbie Murphy
Supervising Teacher, 2nd grade
Smith College Campus School

Every year it seems the playground presents us with the gift of new learning possibilities. On the first day of school in 2007, the discovery of a nest of bunnies prompted discussions about sharing our space with wildlife and how to take good care of them—and each other. During the fall of 2008, the upper area of the playground, under the stand of evergreens, was transformed into Pine Needle City. This child-constructed environment became the arena for creative design, some hurt feelings, a bit of territorialism, and even trying on some political roles. Pine Needle City, like so much of children’s imaginary play, was a place for children to re-create and integrate their observations about their own communities. It also provided an important opportunity for children to experience social challenges and process them constructively.

Similar to the magical town created from sticks, stones and children’s imaginations described in Alice McLerrran’s picture book Roxaboxen, Pine Needle City began as a set of rooms, and then houses, and finally roads generated from piles of fallen pine needles. After noticing the play at recess, I shared Roxaboxen with the class. Students easily made connections between this story and their school experience. Some enthusiastically suggested bringing gloves and buckets to school to extend the building possibilities and make it into a “real house.”  One student declared with delight, “You can build anything in Pine Needle City!” Clearly the power of open-ended possibilities and student-owned initiative thrilled many children. 



Returning to the playground each day often revealed startling changes to the structures created during previous recesses. There was much debate about revisions made by other classes and by children who use “our” playground afterschool and on weekends. After sharing disappointments and expressions of unfairness, we had an in-depth discussion about ownership of anything created on the playground.  While acknowledging that it was hard to see things altered, or even removed, most children were able to agree that what they liked about Pine Needle City was the fun of imagining and building a town. These conversations provided an authentic opportunity to explore community issues, like shared space. Children were able to practice the skills of negotiation—listening to and considering other viewpoints.

One day there was a loud raucous on the rocks just above Pine Needle City. Two second grade boys were declaring themselves candidates for “mayor” and “police.”  While they rallied for votes, small groups of earnest workers continued to extend the designs into elaborate apartments and even hotels. The sound of thundering cheers rang out, and the self-declared officials quickly broke off into a game of chase, in and around the workers of Pine Needle City. This dabbling with politics seemed like a place for these boys to explore the rhetoric they were overhearing throughout the presidential election; however some children were clearly not at ease with the “bossiness” of the leaders. Our follow up discussion explored ideas of public service, the election process, and the relationship between contributing to a community and making decisions about it. 

Sometimes we can be concerned about the discord that might occur during recess play. Providing a brief forum to share thoughts and resolve differences can guide children to consider multiple perspectives and to accommodate a wider range of needs and preferences. Certainly, overly aggressive play needs to be redirected in the moment, but giving children the time and space to encounter challenges and work them out is an important part of their learning in a social environment.

Will Pine Needle City return in the fall of 2009? Perhaps. Wherever the children’s imaginary play takes them this year, or whatever nature provides, there will be both joys and disappointments and many possibilities for growth. Certainly, we will celebrate the joys, and we can recognize the disappointments. However, it’s not so much the details of the disappointment that we need to scrutinize, but rather, how we handle our disappointments, and what we learn from them. We can help children know that both are part of the playground experience. 

Past Spotlights:

A Close-Up View of Children Learning

Read about the collaboration between our kindergarteners and Smith College students.

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SPOTLIGHT

October 2009

Spring 2009