Photo courtesy of Playbook.org.
When I tell people that recess is my favorite subject, they say “Recess is not a subject!” They are wrong because during recess students are still learning. A student can be outside the school building without a teacher but they will never escape learning. You can learn how to build structures with sticks or try different strategies in hide and seek. My favorite subject is recess because you can play, take a break from sitting down, and learn how to fix problems by yourself.
During recess, students can move around and there are many games for them to play. They can play sports like touch football, basketball, or soccer. The other games you can play are hide and seek, tag, and infection. These games are fun because they help you run around and get your exercise. My favorite game to play during recess is touch football, which helps your hand-eye coordination. This makes playing games one of the cornerstones of recess.
Recess gives my mind a break, so in the second half of the school day, I can concentrate. Sometimes kids, including me, get restless in their classroom. When I’m restless, it is hard to concentrate. When I’m in the classroom, I imagine other people are doing exciting activities and I’m missing out. To make things worse my legs get cramped and start hurting because I’m sitting down for a long time. This really makes me want to get out of the classroom. During recess, I can be free and stretch my legs. When we are learning about a hard topic, my mind gets overwhelmed and I return to restlessness. I have trouble concentrating so I definitely don’t take recess for granted. After recess, when I return, my mind is fresh, relaxed, and ready to work. Recess gives my mind a break because I’m learning physically in more space. It makes it easier to learn.
The final reason why recess is my favorite subject is that we learn how to resolve arguments without teacher guidance. This means while the teachers are getting a break, we are learning by ourselves. For example, if we are arguing over whether to play soccer or hide and seek someone can speak up and say that we should split the time. The resolution of this argument benefits the students because now they know a compromise the next time an argument like this happens again. This example shows how recess can sharpen someone’s negotiation skills.
Recess helps kids to get outdoors and learn while having fun. This is why outdoor summer camps are so fun and exciting. They are literally a giant recess with lunch in between. When my friends and I are having recess, we don’t realize we are learning. It is second nature to us. So it is just playing around and having fun and then we realize that we were learning all along. Basically, it is learning masked in fun.
The Watoto Speak! 