Lynn school adopts recess program

LYNN – Sen. Thomas McGee stood in the Monday afternoon sunshine and watched Shoemaker Elementary School students walk, jog and dance around “the yak track” before breaking into groups for a little directed play.”There was a lot of running around,” McGee said, reflecting on his own school days. “We played a lot of games ? it was a lot like this.”But not quite.Shoemaker is the seventh Lynn public school to adopt Playworks, a national program aimed at providing safe, healthy and inclusive play for all students. McGee was invited to Shoemaker to see firsthand how the program works.Playworks Executive Director Max Fripp said he is asked a lot whether Playworks should even exist. When that happens he always gives the same scenario: kids are playing a game and one team is crushing the other, he said. In McGee’s time the kids would self-handicap, swap team members or spot points to make it more fair or fun, Fripp explained.”It was not the parents doing it,” he said. “But we don’t have that today.”Fripp said fundamentally, how kids act on the playground is linked to how they act as adults who will one day rule the world.According to Fripp, a survey of the schools across the country that have adopted Playworks show a reduction in bullying and that teachers recover 20 hours of instructional time.”I think those arguments make our case,” he said.McGee said he has seen other studies that show students do better academically after physical activity. It concerns him that many communities are essentially doing away with physical education classes and some are even eliminating recess because of MCAS.”Kids need to blow off steam,” McGee said. “Then they go back to the classroom ready to learn.”Out on the playground student leaders set up games. Shoemaker Principal Patricia Riley said all students take a lap around the yak track, a white line that encircles the playground, before lining up against the back wall. Students then have the option of choosing to play one of two or three different games or taking part in a larger group game or they can continue to walk the yak track if they prefer. The point is they have to do something, she said. The point of the games is that they include everyone, there are no winners and teachers play as well.”The big plus is the kids are learning problem solving, conflict resolution and the teachers develop relationships with the kids in different ways and get to know their students better,” she said.Riley said she has also had only two skinned knees this year, something that used to be a daily occurrence, and there is no more arguing, crying or more aimless wandering.Superintendent Catherine Latham said she likes the program because it forces kids to unplug for a little while and just play.Wraparound Zone Program Specialist Jennifer Wu said the program was first piloted in the Cobbet School two years ago and since then Fallon, Sewell-Anderson, Lincoln-Thomson, Washington, Shoemaker and most recently Harrington elementary schools have signed on.”And we’re currently planning to add three more schools so (Playworks) will be in half the elementary schools,” she said. “I’m thrilled that we’re in half the schools in three years’ time.”