The Power of Play
New Rhode Island Law Mandates Daily School Recess, Calls It a Student's RightThe law reads: "All children attending public schools, or any other schools managed or controlled by the state, that has elementary grades kindergarten through six (6) shall receive in those schools at least twenty (20) consecutive minutes of supervised, safe, and unstructured free-play recess each day. Free-play recess may be considered instructional time for those schools that would be required to extend the current school day in order to meet this requirement. Teachers shall make a good-faith effort to not withhold recess for punitive reasons. . . . the term "free play" means an unstructured environment, but which is supervised by appropriate school personnel or staff."
This law was the result of work by the advocacy and information organization, Parents Across Rhode Island, or PARI. Their web site has additional research and information regarding the importance of free play.
A total of 38 states in the USA have NO physical activity or recess requirements. A few states have general physical activity guidelines or recommendations, but none of them require "free play." What's the law in your state? Find out here at Recess Facts.
Think about this: as an adult in the USA, generally, workers receive a 15-minute break for each four-hour period of work. Why in the world would we not do AT LEAST that for our children, our babies!
If you would like to restructure your school schedule in order to provide students with the opportunity for more free play, contact us at 21st Century Schools! Let us help you create an amazing Living Schoolyard!
The following resources contain excellent information regarding play:
This law was the result of work by the advocacy and information organization, Parents Across Rhode Island, or PARI. Their web site has additional research and information regarding the importance of free play.
A total of 38 states in the USA have NO physical activity or recess requirements. A few states have general physical activity guidelines or recommendations, but none of them require "free play." What's the law in your state? Find out here at Recess Facts.
Think about this: as an adult in the USA, generally, workers receive a 15-minute break for each four-hour period of work. Why in the world would we not do AT LEAST that for our children, our babies!
If you would like to restructure your school schedule in order to provide students with the opportunity for more free play, contact us at 21st Century Schools! Let us help you create an amazing Living Schoolyard!
The following resources contain excellent information regarding play:
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Here is a story about a school in Australia that "ditches the rules" for the playground and how it reduced bullying.
Another story, in The Atlantic, entitled "The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland - Forget the Common Core, Finland's youngsters are in charge of determining what happens in the classroom". Also see: Is Kindergarten the New First Grade? - a working paper by EdPolicy Works at the University of Virginia The Power of Play - a Research Summary on Play and Learning_ by Dr. Rachel E. White for the Minnesto Children's Museum The Importance of Play, by Bruno Bettelheim |
Also, please see this excellent video about the damage the CCSS are causing in early childhood and early elementary education.
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Dr. Peter Gray is the author of Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life
Dr. Gray brings attention to the reality that over the past 60 years in the United States there has been a gradual, but overall dramatic, decline in children's freedom to play with other children, without adult direction. Over the same period, there has also been a dramatic increase in anxiety, depression, feelings of helplessness, suicide, and narcissism in children and adolescents. Based on his own and others' research, Dr. Gray documents why free play is essential for children's healthy social and emotional development and outlines steps through which we can bring free play back to children's lives. |
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