Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Recess: More than Just Play


An important part of our school day is recess.   Many of our recesses take place outside in our  natural play area, while others take place inside in our classrooms.  During our inside recesses, third graders enjoy playing  and working together to create projects.   Our classroom has a collection of Legos, blocks, cardboard, sport games, art material scraps, K'nex, word games, paint, rubber band looms, and a variety of different items that can be stacked, attached, or smushed together.  Students learn and practice the art of socializing and making friends as they design a city out of Lego and role play with them.  Other students develop their budding engineering skills to by experimenting with wood and blocks to make a marble run maze.  We feed off of each others' ideas and discover new ways to manipulate materials to get to a desired outcome. 


Students also learn to negotiate and compromise as they share resources and think about how to include others in meaningful ways.     There is also room to play or do something on your own, and third graders learn to think about whether they want recess to be a quiet time where they can recharge or to do something more active with classmates to gear up for our work periods.  Whatever it is third graders are doing, we're sure to be having a great time!






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