Grab a Ball, Mommy, It's Time For Recess

By Julie Rasicot
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, October 5, 2006

Robert McCluskey, who spends his days fitting casts for patients, recently found himself twirling a long jump-rope as third-graders hopped on the playground at Woodlin Elementary School in Silver Spring.

He had taken time off from his job as a cast technician at an orthopedic office to attend the school's Fun Friday recess rally, during which about 100 parents blew bubbles, skipped rope, colored with chalk and played with their children during the lunch recess period.

"This is a nice break," said McCluskey as his son Ryan, a third-grader, took his turn jumping.

"This is fun," Ryan said as he ran back to the line of children waiting to jump.

All around him, children were laughing and yelling as they raced around the playground, swung along monkey bars strewn with balloons, played soccer, twirled hula hoops and blew bubbles.

Kindergartner Meghan Plumart paused while painting a flower onto the pavement with soapy water to explain why recess was her favorite part of the day.

"Because you get to play outside," she said. "I like to go on the slide and play with my friends, and I like to go on the monkey bars."

The Woodlin recess rally Sept. 22 was one of thousands at schools across the country as part of the inaugural National Recess Week, launched by the Cartoon Network and 13 child advocacy groups, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association.

According to the network, National Recess Week is part of its Rescuing Recess campaign to promote the importance of daily recess in helping students focus in class and reduce discipline problems. The goal of the rallies was to kick off the school year with fun and interactive activities that inspire parents to become recess monitors.

More than 4,500 cities across the country were scheduled to hold rallies, and more than 10,000 free Rescuing Recess kits -- with balls, jump-ropes, chalk, games and activity aids -- were distributed to schools.

At Woodlin, the rally was organized by the PTA's Woodlin Moves Committee, a group of parents who have been working on ways to add physical activity to the school day, improve recess and redesign the school's playgrounds.

The committee, which received one of the recess kits, hoped that demonstrating recess activities at the rally would motivate parents to volunteer as monitors and help students become more active.

"It seemed like a good merger with what we were trying to do and to get parents out," said Julie Hemmings Savage, committee chairwoman, writer and mother of Lucy, a second-grader, and Ella, a kindergartner.

Amy Egan, a behavior consultant for nursery schools, said she agreed as she watched her daughter Sally, a first-grader, run around.

"It gives parents exposure to the possibilities for recess when you're being a recess monitor," she said. "Sometimes I think parents don't know what to do."

Improving the availability of activities during recess is just one of the committee's goals. The group also created a kit last year that included an idea sheet, props and music to help teachers give students movement breaks.

"The main thrust was just to try to get kids moving more," Hemmings Savage said. "With the obesity rate increasing and all the strictures that come with No Child Left Behind, we wanted to come up with ways to help teachers get kids moving more."

Part of the recess improvement efforts included the creation of activity tubs -- with balls, jump-ropes and chalk -- that parents can use when they are serving as recess monitors.

For Mary O'Driscoll, mother of Meghan Plumart, the opportunity to take a day off and play with her children was one she decided not to miss.

"I don't think my kids get enough exercise, and God knows I don't get enough exercise," she said. "I wanted to do something to show them it could be fun."

The committee is considering using a $5,000 grant from the Cartoon Network to buy playground equipment. The grant was awarded to the PTA after the committee organized a student letter-writing campaign on the importance of recess. More than 300 Woodlin students wrote letters, and the network forwarded their letters to the state Board of Education.

The network awarded $310,000 in grants to PTA chapters that submitted the largest number of letters per state, and the Woodlin PTA won in Maryland.

Principal Doris Jennings applauded the committee's plans and its efforts to involve staff members and teachers in making those at Woodlin more active.

"One of the most important things is that people have talked about this at our school for a very long time, but we had a committee get involved, and you can see change," she said.

The committee will continue to hold Fun Fridays, but with less fanfare than for the September rally. Tubs of balls, jump-ropes and other equipment will be available for parents who signed up to volunteer.

Parents also will be asked to help with indoor recess on rainy days.

"There's so much concern out there about children's weight," Jennings said. "If this could work, this could become a model of how a small school can make changes."