Recess time during the Winter and (rainy) Spring can be the pits!
Our Kinders love to spend their recess time burning off their extra energy on the playground. But, more often than not lately, they are forced to spend their recess inside. In the past, this was a huge headache for us!
We have a small variety of "playthings" we use during this play time, and our students used to FIGHT over everything. Fifteen people were playing with the Farm Animals, and everyone wanted the cow! We were putting out fires and playing referee the whole time, and this part of the day became the opposite of recess for us!
So, we decided to limit the number of students that could play at one "Recess Center" at a time. We chose to manage this with "Recess Cards!" We made a card for each center we had, and put dots at the bottom to represent how many kiddos could play at that center at a time. We gave each student a clothes pin with his/her name or PE number on it. They clip their clothes pins onto the bottom of the cards (on the dots) to pick the place they want to play. If they want to switch to another center, they can only pick a center that has a free dot.
Here is what it looks like in Ashley's room. She chose to put her Recess Cards on the inside of a cabinet so she could close it away when they were not in use!!!!
This has DRASTICALLY changed our recess time, and our kids can now manage it by themselves!!!
If this is something you would like to try, and need some cards to get started, please send us an email at markersandmascara@gmail.com. We would love to make some cards to fit in your classroom!!!
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