Yesterday was our first indoor recess this year. In years past, I wouldn't really give a whole lot of instruction about how to "do" indoor recess beyond discussing the rules and introducing the games in my classroom. This would lead many times to students clustering around the same games over and over again, or students simply sitting and drawing or reading. Often, the kids wouldn't be able to finish their game of Monopoly or Scrabble in the 25 minutes we have for recess.
While I don't have anything against reading or drawing as a recess activity, I see this time as a great opportunity for students to practice social skills as well as a time to foster a sense of community in the classroom. So, this past summer, I set out in search of games that could be played by groups of kids, needed little or no setup time, were easy to learn, and could be started and finished in 20 minutes. I found quite a few, including Scrabble Slam, Pass the Pigs, Phase 10, and Ruckus...all of them are card-based, so there's no board to set up or pieces to lose, include up to four players, and can be learned and played quickly.
I introduced the games during Morning Meeting and right before recess, allowed groups to choose one of the games to play. Surprisingly, this was met with no resistance. The students played the games and had a great time...several of them even told me as we lined up for lunch hire much fun they had!
I plan to give students more freedom in future indoor recesses, but I think it was great to expose them to these games and give them a chance to play with each other. I'm looking forward to the next rainy day!
-Mr. Ullman
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