ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECESS:
SELECTED READINGS, GAMES, AND ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS

by RHONDA L. CLEMENTS, Editor
1st ed., 2000, 283 pgs, $25.95
ISBN 978-0-89641-354-2 

Elementary School Recess is intended to assist elementary school teachers and parents in offering children in grades preschool through grade six appropriate recess games and activities. It also provides the reader with a wide variety of readings that support the need for recess activities. These readings are based on the principal that all children have a right to play and experience the benefits of recess, as expressed in the United Nations' Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) especially Article 7, paragraph 3 which states: "The child shall have full opportunity for play and recreation which should be directed to the same purposes as education; socially and the public authorities shall endeavor to promote the enjoyment of this right."

The book is organized into five distinct parts. In Part One, the authors present a strong rationale supporting the value of elementary school recess as it impacts the child's learning and cognitive awareness. Part Two examines ways in which recess can increase the child's ability to interact with his or her peers in a positive social manner. Part Three discusses how recess plays a factor in the child's physical development. Part Four spans a variety of interests and topics that reflect the need for recess from a personal and global perspective. Finally, Part Five offers a large variety of classic recess games that should spark readers memories of traditional recess sessions; unfortunately they are less familiar to today's children, due to the influx of youth sports and computerized games. The author has included facts related to each game's historical importance.

It is the editor's hope that this book will fill a void concerning the lack of literature that currently exists on this topic, and that all future generations of children will be given the opportunity to experience the joy of elementary school recess.

This 296 page book contains over 50 diagrams of recess games, and includes various photographs and illustrations.

CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION — GUIDE TO USING THIS BOOK

• THE CASE FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECESS

• Part 1: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECESS & THE CHILD'S INTELLECTUAL GROWTH
  Recess: A Time to Learn and Grow — Marcy Priess Guddemi
  Recess: A Curriculum Necessity — Tom Jambor
  What Research Says about the Need for Recess — Olga S. Jarrett & Darlene M. Maxwell
  Language and Play on the School Yard — Rose Winkler
  Observing Children during Recess — Jill Englebright Fox
  Recess and Learning in Moscow — Linda Davey

• Part 2: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECESS & THE CHILD'S SOCIAL GROWTH
  The Social Value of Recess — Lori Friedman
  Rough &Tumble Play during Recess: Pathways to Successful Social Development — Tom Reed
  Imaginative Play and Recess — Elizabeth Rike & Anne Krueger
  A Look at the Peaceful Playground Program — Karen Robertson & Melinda Bossenmeyer
  Recess: A Provider of Outdoor Interactions — Sunny Davidson
  Child-designed Games for Recess — Deborah Coffin
  Art and Recess — Barbara Michaels

• Part 3: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECESS & THE CHILD'S PHYSICAL GROWTH
  Motor Skill Development during Recess — Joanne Dusel
  Exercise and Recess — Lee Spieker
  Recess: A Foundation for More Complex Movement — Robert Battista
  Recess from a Physical Educators Perspective — J. Walter Lisk
  Developing an Elementary School Playground Safety Support System — Tom Jambor
  Recess: Opportunities for Motor Skill Development — Nancy Halliday
  Recess and Outdoor Experiences — Margot Brous

• Part 4: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL RECESS: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
  An Historical Trend to Eliminate Recess — Audrey Skrupkelis
  A Parent's Struggle to Reinstate Recess — Nanette Montgomery
  Recess: Every Child's Right — Susan Mason
  Recess: A Child's Freedom — Mary Asgari
  Children's Recess in Cyprus — Phoebe Constantinou
  Play and Recess Environments in India — Jimi Jolley
  Russian Language Games for Indoor Recess — Tatiana Gordon
  Consideration for Creative Play Spaces — Georgianna Duarte
  Why is Supervision So Important at Recess? — Donna Thompson, Susan D.Hudson, & Mick G. Mack
  The North Shore School District Recess Study — Rhonda Clements
  Early Years Are Learning Years: The BValue of School Recess and Outdoor Play (Position Statement) — National Association for the Education of Young Children

• Part 5: A SELECTION OF CLASSIC RECESS GAMES & THEIR HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
  Introduction and Recess Games — Rhonda Clements

• ABOUT THE EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS

• INDEX OF GAMES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR . . .

Rhonda L. Clements, ed.D., is the MAT in  Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Program in the Department of Educational Leadership and Special Subjects at Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York. The author of nine books on play and movement experiences, she is the past president of the American Association of the Child's Right to Play.