Elementary School Recess:
Selected Readings, Games, and Activities for Teachers and Parents

by RHONDA L. CLEMENTS, Editor
1st edition, 283 pgs, $28.95
ISBN 978-0-89641-354-2

Elementary School Recess

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."

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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 Value 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.