Blog 2: Is Recess Making a Comeback in US schools?

Recess is a common thing that is introduced at the beginning of elementary school. It is usually outdoors and is something that most students have experienced by the age of 5.Most children if asked would look at you funny if you said that they didn’t have recess as part as a an everyday activity. The experience of recess is something that school age kids in Chicago will be given the chance to participate in. Due to the No Child Left Behind Act schools began cutting recess to make sure that all time at school was used for educational purposes.

The article talks about how school kids in Chicago will be having recess again after three decades. The article also notes that research has shown that a break during the day could lead to improved academic outcomes. I think that allowing students to have recess gives them the opportunity to not only give their brain a rest from the learning that they have done prior but to also have a fresh mind when returning back to the classroom and starting back up learning again. I also think that having recess allows student exercise and getting healthy while playing. This issue of recess ties into another social problem that is major in the US which is obesity. Because schools have cut back on recess there are not many children that are missing out on exercise.

The article also talks about how cutting recess was mainly because school leaders felt as though lower-income students could spend time better by working on closing the achievement gap. It talks about how children seem to learn more efficiently when information is spaced out over time. Like I’ve said before, students need to allow their brain to rest so that they can function properly and focus better in the classroom. Bringing recess back in schools would be a good thing for students as well as teachers. Teachers can benefit from a break during the day so that they won’t be standing in front of the class talking all day without a break. There is still a big debate over whether having recess during the day is beneficial for students or not.


http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/is-recess-making-a-comeback-in-us-schools/