The 4 R’s?
According to this article children need recess as well as work
New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.
A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among about 11,000 children age 8 and 9. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none. Although disadvantaged children were more likely to be denied recess, the association between better behavior and recess time held up even after researchers controlled for a number of variables, including sex, ethnicity, public or private school and class size.
Filed under: Children's Issues
Assalamu Alaikum,
Yay! Finally research to support what every good primary-level teacher knows: they NEED to “run off that energy”. Children at that age need physical movement, open free playtime.
No one tells you that when you’re taking teacher certification classes. It really goes back to that good ol’ common sense, your mama kicking you out the door to go play before you do your homework. My first experience teaching 4th graders was at a ‘disadvantaged’ school about to lose Title I status. The program I was with (the excellent BELL program) was fine with me doing what I wanted to a certain extent, and one of the things I did was had the kids ’stretch’ and get a little wild before sitting down, with reward of extra playground time once a week if they behaved. These kids made all kinds of leaps in their learning. I’ve never seen kids work so hard for that kind of reward.
Jazak Allah khair for posting.
I would add that children NEED exposure to nature (outside of an asphalt playground). It is no coincidence that many behavioral problems in adolescents and children stem from a complete disconnect from the natural world and only when they reconnect with nature (camping, naure hikes, etc.) do they show improvement. This has been proven time and time again.
Get out camping people! At the very least your kids will sleep better at night from all the fresh air.
Excellent post. As a former educator, I agree to the max that children need to run wild before they are able to settle down in those desks. (Especially those boys!!). As a mom of two boys (and one lovely little lady) myself, I’ve spent a lot of afternoons sitting on a bench in the park as they exhausted themselves climbing and playing.