If you asked me if I would ever be a gym teacher ten years ago when I was in college training to be an English teacher, I would have laughed in your face. Yeah, right! Me? After so many traumatic PE experiences? I don’t think so. But this semester, that’s exactly what my husband and I are doing in our co-op.
We are running recess.
For an hour during every co-op day, we have 40—yes, 40!—children ages 5 and up playing various icebreakers, types of tag, and even dodgeball. (For that last game, we divide into two groups so the kids who aren’t comfortable with dodgeball can play tag or another game instead.) So far it’s been SO much fun, even though it wears you out a bit from all the yelling (not “angry” yelling, just the yelling to be heard!). I definitely need to invest in a whistle.
It’s just a good, fun time to run around, laugh and make friends. When I asked the kids to name games they’d like to play in the future, I discovered that there are probably six billion variations to tag. I’m totally not kidding. Today I researched “Monster Tag” for Friday, and I am so excited about this game! It sounds like so much fun. The kids also want to play a game called Wax Museum, which also sounds like a cool game. I’m learning just as much as they are, but isn’t that always the case?
Recess is in a gym, so we are limited as far as space and such goes, but if you have any fun ideas for our class, please let me know! What were your favorite things to do at recess?
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
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