Positive Playground Trouble Free

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Positive PlaygroundTrouble Free

• 2008 MESPA Institute
• Minnesota Elementary Principals Association
• February 7

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Trouble Free Playground
by Curt Hinson

• Dr. Kathryn House, principal
• Tom Luu, physical education teacher
• Trudy Kaiser, playground supervisor

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Program Goals
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• Principle 1 Teaching Self-Responsibility
• Principle 2 Increasing Intrinsic Motivation
• Principle 3 Using the Inclusion-Style of
  Teaching

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We needed to start with

• Equipment
• Identifying games
• Identifying areas to play
• Training for everyone

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Equipment needs
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Equipment
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Identifying games and training
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Appropriate places to play
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6-Steps to a Trouble-Free Playground

• Step 1 Teach Social/Emotional skills
• Step 2 Change the Games to Make Them More
  Developmentally Appropriate.
• Step 3 Change the Perception of Recess
• Step 4 Develop Intrinsic Motivation
  Self-Responsibility
• Step 5 Hold a Game Day
• Step 6 Integrate Recess into the Classroom

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6-Steps to a Trouble-Free Playground

• Step 1 Teach Social/Emotional skills
• Adults who work with children teach
  social/emotional skills whether they want to or
  not.
• Social/emotional skills are the skills needed to
  cope with our environment and the people and
  things in it.
• The best way to teach social skills to children
  is through interactive learning.
• Station for kids to see and be models of
  appropriate problem solving decision making (5th
  graders, showing good sportsmanship)

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• Action Level 1 Not acceptable
• Not following directions
• Not participating
• Arguing
• Hitting, pushing or fighting
• Poor attitude
• Action Level 2 Acceptable
• Following directions
• Participating
• Taking care of equipment
• Respecting others
• Under control
• Action Level 3 Outstanding
• Being self-responsible
• Cooperating with others
• Returning equipment

• Questions
• What level are you?
• What did you do?
• Can you move to another level?
• How?
•  

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6-Steps to a Trouble-Free Playground

• Step 2 Change the Games to Make Them More
  Developmentally Appropriate.
• Many of the games that children play at recess
  are not socially, emotionally, mentally or
  physically appropriate for them.
• Games need to be changed so that 100 of the
  children have an opportunity to play if they wish
  to do so.
• Games should be broken down into smaller group
  games to promote more activity, increased
  fairness, and increased skill development.

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Groups of eight
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6-Steps to a Trouble-Free Playground
Step 3 Change the Perception of Recess

• Children often think that recess is a time away
  from learning, when in fact it can (and should)
  be a valuable learning experience.
• When children view recess as free-time they have
  a tendency to act in a less responsible manner.
• To help change the perception of recess, children
  must see that its content is valued and
  respected.
• Creating a Game Board, posting the games children
  can play, is a valuable tool to help children
  make positive choices on the playground.
• Having children complete a written evaluation of
  recess allows them to reflect on what they have
  accomplished and how well they accomplished it
  leading to increased self-responsibility.

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Sample Game Board

• 4-Down Football Grades 3-5
• 4-Square Grades 3-5
• Kickball Grades 2-5
• Soccer
• Around the world
• Basketball
• Horse/Pig Basketball
• Toilet Tag
• Band Ball Tag
• Frozen Tag
• Chinese Jump Rope
• Long Jump Rope/
• Double Dutch
• Play on the Playground
• Mile Club
• One on One Catch

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written evaluation of recess
Action Level 1 Not acceptable Not following
directions Not participating Arguing Hitting,
pushing or fighting Poor attitude Action Level
2 Acceptable Following directions Participating T
aking care of equipment Respecting others Under
control Action Level 3 Outstanding Being
self-responsible Cooperating with
others Returning equipment Helping others Acting
as a roll model
Playground Journal
Questions What level are you? What did you
do? Can you move to another level? How?
DATE
2007- 08
Name
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5th grade girl named Courtney Today at recess I
think I was a level 2. We played on the
playground, walked 1 lap around the field and
talked on the yellow caterpillar. I was sucking
on a Jolly Rancher from lunch during the time so
I do not think I was a very good role model. I
can move to level 3 by acting as a better role
model and not eating. Today I didnt have the
best behavior. Tomorrow I hope to be a level 3.
Buh-bye!
3rd grade boy Sammy I went on the spinny yellow
thingy with Kirah, Payton, Nate, Trent, Bryan,
Jessa, Katie. We were climbing to get ourselves
going. While we were jumping on and falling off
we saw a bee. We tried to jump up not by it.
When we were jumping Katie was trying to get the
bee with woodchips. I was on for four laps on
the spinny yellow thing with Katie before we saw
the bee. Then me, Trent and Nate went on there
for three laps but people pushed us while we were
climbing. I pick the level I was in as 3.
Because I was playing with other people that I do
not usually play with and that is why I chose
level 3.
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6-Steps to a Trouble-Free Playground

• Step 4 Develop Intrinsic Motivation
  Self-Responsibility
• Extrinsic motivations are a short-term solution
  to playground problems to get them into the new
  behavior.
• Intrinsic motivation and self-responsibility can
  be developed through the use of Action Levels
  which help to guide students to make positive
  choices about their behavior.
• Using a 4-Question approach to implementing the
  Action Levels helps redirect children who have
  made poor choices.

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6-Steps to a Trouble-Free Playground

• Step 5 Hold a Game Day
• Game Day is a day for children to learn numerous
  new games in a short period of time.
• Teachers/EAs/Parents teach games to students on a
  rotating basis through stations.
• Can be done in one entire day or in several short
  versions over several days or weeks.

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Sample game day schedule

• Playground Training
• Grades K, 1, 2 3 will have a general assembly
  in the multipurpose room from 915-945 a.m.
  Each grade level will need to sign up for a 30
  minute demonstration of how to use the playground
  equipment.
• Monday, September 10
• 945 Grade 4
• 1015 Grade 5
• 130 Grade 1
• 145 Grade K
• 215 Grade 2
• Tuesday, September 11
• 915
• 945 Grade 3
• 1045 Grade K

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6-Steps to a Trouble-Free Playground

• Step 6 Integrate Recess into the Classroom
• To help promote the importance of recess and
  encourage responsible behavior, its beneficial
  to have classroom discussions about recess and
  the games being played.
• Using recess as a topic in language arts class
  (write a story about recess) or math class
  (measure the playground area) can add excitement
  to a lesson and teach children that recess is a
  valuable part of the school day.
• Children can keep a recess journal that includes
  writings about what they do at recess.

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The problem solving process

• As a school wide policy we will have the students
  first solve problems by using the following
  concept
• Rock, paper, scissor or
• Talk about the problem to solve it or
• Walk away from the situation
• If this process doesnt work then they should
  seek an adult to help guide them to solve their
  disagreement. This is where using the action
  level process comes in. We will use the 4
  questions to help the students process the
  situation. We hope that once the students are
  familiar with this process that they will use the
  action level posters with less of our guidance.
• If you have a student who comes in from recess
  upset and you dont have time to work with the
  student have the student write in his/her journal
  by using the action level poster as a guideline.

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Sample General Rules and Guidelines for recess
games

• Taggers Rules if a tagger said that they
  tagged someone, then that person is considered
  tagged even if the person didnt feel themselves
  being tagged. Arguing will just waste time. If
  students still cant agree then they use the
  peaceful problem solving procedure.
• During a game of tag, if a child is already in
  the process of saving someone that child cannot
  be tagged.
• No grabbing, pushing, or inappropriate touches
  during games.
• If a child goes out of bounds during a tag game
  they are considered tagged. If playing during
  other games and going out of bounds they are
  considered out and whatever catches they make are
  void.
• No puppy guarding a tagger may not stand by a
  tagged player and wait until that person is saved
  and then tag them again without giving that
  person a few seconds to get away.
• The games are only played in their designated
  area.
• Students may not add their own rules into the
  game.

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Sample General Rules and Guidelines for recess
games

• Four-Down Football
• Objective Throwing, catching, cooperation,
  teamwork
• Equipment One foam football and 4 cones
  (marker) for every 6-8 players
• How to play this game can be played 3 v. 3 or 4
  v. 4, so divide the students into the size groups
  you want to use (during recess the students will
  be creating their own teams). Place the cones on
  the ground in a large rectangle (the playground
  supervisors will be setting the boundaries for
  recess). The team with the ball starts on their
  goal line (one end of the rectangle). They have
  4 plays to get the ball into the other teams end
  zone. One player is the quarterback and says
  Ready, Go! The other team members run down the
  field attempting to get open for a pass from
  the quarterback. When a successful pass and
  catch are made, the person catching the ball
  becomes the new quarterback and the tea m
  continues with their next passing play. If the
  pass is incomplete, it comes back to the same
  quarterback and the next play is run. If the
  offensive team catches the ball in the other
  teams end zone it is a touchdown. The other
  team now starts from their goal line and now has
  four plays to try and score. The only time a
  team doesnt start from its own goal line is if
  they intercept a pass. In this case, they start
  from where the pass was intercepted. No one is
  allowed to advance the ball by running with it.
  An offensive play is over as soon as the ball is
  caught or it hits the ground.

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What teachers do to make this a successful
program

• Go over the action levels
• Have students write in their recess journals
  twice a week either before or after recess
  (students can write about what they plan to do
  for recess, what happened at recess, what they
  like about recess, if they have an issue during
  recess, have them write about it using the
  action level posters as a guideline.
• During morning meetings or as a transition
  activity ask their students to think about what
  they are going to do during recess. Doing this
  occasionally will let the students know that the
  teacher cares about what they do at recess and
  that recess is a valuable time.

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question?