Making the Best of Recess Series #2

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Making the Best of Recess Series

Safety

Everybody knows the rules 

• Your group should never go out on the playground without first having a good grasp on the playground rules.  They could be different during school and you should not assume that they know the rules that you want them to follow.
• Make sure everyone knows if there is a rule change. 
• It’s okay to change the rules if you need to, but you cannot give consequences for a new rule without making sure that everyone knows it and understands the reason behind it.
• Give rules refreshers
• It is ridiculous to think that you can tell a child something once, and they will know it forever!  You have to repeat yourself, possibly quite often.  How many times have you said, “How many times have I told you …” If you have to say that, then the answer is, not enough times.
• If there is a particular issue that has been re-occurring, stop recess, bring everyone into a circle and talk about it.  Yes, use their recess time to refresh on a rule that gets broken often.  They don’t need a big lecture, just a simple, “We are having trouble remembering this rule…..”,  “The reason for this rule is………”, “The consequences will be……….” And let them return to their playtime.

Following the Rules

• We all have different ways of dealing with discipline.  But certain changes may need to be made to that during recess. 
• Students should be taken out of an activity if they are being overly aggressive or competitive.
• Because we have different ages of kids after school, we need to be ultra sensitive to the fact that older children can be a bad example, or even hurt younger children.  Giving a student too much leeway could result in a serious injury to a younger child.
• Cheating should not be tolerated.
• When a student cheats it ruins the fun for everyone.  Students who knowingly cheat should be removed from the game for the rest of the game.  Students should realize that there are serious consequences for cheating and therefore will not want to cheat.  Not giving serious consequences sends a "It's okay to cheat." message. 
• Of course concessions can be made for little guys and students with special needs who may not understand following rules.