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What if recess were BEFORE lunch?

BostonGayGalBostonGayGal member
in School-Aged Children

Huh.  Never thought of that, but it is an interesting idea. (I am not a parent yet, but I found this really interesting and wanted t oshare.)

Essentially, Ann Cooper is in charge of the school lunches for a school district and she is speaking about how we are feeding our children to be sick and insulin-dependent.  She wants to change what kids eat in school.  It gets redundant, and it could be shorter, but she makes some great points.

https://www.ted.com/talks/ann_cooper_talks_school_lunches.html 

 



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Re: What if recess were BEFORE lunch?

  • KdgTeacherKdgTeacher member

    My students have recess before lunch and my students (4th grade) have specials (art music and PE) at the very end of the day.

    My school is trying very hard to make lunches better.  We have "Try It Tuesday" where a new veggie is introduced (beets, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc) are served and students are strongly encouraged to try it. We still have lots of parents packing lunches.

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  • azsheenaazsheena
    We have recess before lunch at the school I teach at. This is the first year but everyone really likes it. The kids actually eat their lunches isntead of leaving half of it in a hurry to go play, they aren't all hyper when they come back to class and (being AZ) they aren't stinky and sweaty for the first 30 minutes after lunch. There are also less discipline issues in the cafeteria. The entire district we live in started this a few years back and I guess it worked out so well that other schools are trying it.
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  • Tonya_GTonya_G member

    imageazsheena:
    We have recess before lunch at the school I teach at. This is the first year but everyone really likes it. The kids actually eat their lunches isntead of leaving half of it in a hurry to go play, they aren't all hyper when they come back to class and (being AZ) they aren't stinky and sweaty for the first 30 minutes after lunch. There are also less discipline issues in the cafeteria. The entire district we live in started this a few years back and I guess it worked out so well that other schools are trying it.

    Interesting. Might have to broach this idea with my principal!

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  • ValAndRyanValAndRyan
    There have been a couple year's my son's school does recess before lunch and it is a win-win situation all around. Kids are more calm, they eat most of their lunch instead of throwing half of it away, etc. His school also has a pretty healthy menu but I still pack every day. This year though there is no recess which I found odd.
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  • GinandTonicGinandTonic
    I didn't the article, but for my son, at least this year, recess is completely separated from lunch. They eat lunch really early - either 11 or 11:30 and then have recess later in the afternoon.  Because the Kindergarteners got assigned the early lunch, we have to pack them a snack for the afternoon, which I think is an excellent idea - he's still usually starving when he gets home.
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  • neverblushedneverblushed member

    At my kids' schools, lots of kids do have lunch after recess.  My son's class has recess at 10:40 and lunch at 11:10.  

    There are basically three "lunch/recess shifts."  Grades either have recess first in their shift and then go to lunch, or they hit the cafeteria first and then go outside while the group that was just outside comes in for lunch.

    The county where I live has paid lunch/recess aides, but my sister teaches elementary school art in a different county, where the teachers cover lunch duty.  She always talks about how appalled she is by the lunches the kids bring from home.  She said it's not unusual for kids to have something like this: pretzels as their "main course" for lunch, with a fruit roll-up as the side, then a baggie of cookies for dessert!  Holy smokes -- that's more junk than my kids eat in an entire day!  And I wouldn't even say I'm all that uptight about what my kids eat! 

    High School English teacher and mom of 2 kids:

    DD, born 9/06/00 -- 12th grade
    DS, born 8/25/04 -- 7th grade
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  • azsheenaazsheena
    I had a kid bring a box of donut holes for lunch one day last year. He said his parents didn't have time to make lunch. He was a vegetarian so he never ate at school, even though they do offer a veggie choice each day. I never really noticed what he ate normally, but that day stood out. This was not a kid who could handle eating all that sugar nor needed the extra attention bringing donuts for lunch gave him. It was a nightmare of a day.
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  • Julie004Julie004

    My son's school has an awesome lunch program. One mother (who is an awesome chef) prepares the hot lunches fresh everyday. DS always wants to buy hot lunch because it's so good! I don't mind at all.

    All the grades in his school (it goes from K-8) have recess before lunch, which is around 11.. I don't know about the other grades but he's in K and they have snack at 2pm. He's usually not hungry by the he gets home. 

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  • J&A2008J&A2008 member
    My 4th grader has recess first.  I think he eats more at lunch time now, but he's height/weight proportionate, so I think it's a good thing.
    Stay at home mom to a house of boys: two amazing stepsons, 12 and 9, and our 4 year old.
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