Gifford Photographic Collection (Courtesy of Oregon State University Archives)

Recess is Time to Decompress

I have distinct memories of two recess activities in particular, tether ball and playing/trading marbles. I was the tallest girl in my class, taller even than most of the boys, so I had a distinct advantage at tether ball and was proclaimed class champ. While marbles was traditionally a “boy thing” I collected with gusto, and could hardly wait to win more cat’s eyes in our raucous recess matches. My lucky steely shooter was a force to be reckoned with.

During those times on the playground, my mind was cleared of all academic thoughts and focused solely on the escape of free play. This meant when I returned to the classroom, hopefully with some new aggies in my pocket, I was ready to jump back into my lessons. I was mentally refreshed with a renewed perspective on the subject at hand. I was also physically rejuvenated, my body exercised and ready to sit quietly to learn.

Pediatricians Know Best

The AAP statement concluded that “recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child’s development.” This is consistent with research by neuroscientists who recommend “brain breaks” every 90 minutes in order to increase productivity. And yet almost 30 percent of elementary age children across the county are denied recess and forced to endure long stretches of academic drills without much-needed breaks.

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, more focus has been placed on test results and less on the well-being of students. Schools have adopted the concept of ‘drill and repeat” instead of recognizing that free time and recharging can enhance cognition and memory.

The assumption is that more time focused on test prep will help performance, but in fact, the opposite may be true. Today’s children are less physically fit, less able to concentrate, and less able to relate to others than previous generations. The effects are seen in the rise of childhood obesity, poor test scores, and negative classroom behavior.

Recess More Than Just Play

Recess provides children with free unstructured time to engage in physical activity that helps them develop healthy bodies and the enjoyment of movement. It also provides children the opportunity to practice life skills such as cooperation, taking turns, being a good sport, following rules, sharing, communications, negotiation, problem solving and conflict resolution. And along the way, they might win a few marbles.

Parents Can Help Bring Back Recess

Parents can play a particularly important role in helping their children to have more productive school time by allocating home time for outdoor activities in natural settings and by being strong advocates for schools to offer more safe outdoor time and experiences for their children, including recess time.

How You Can Help

• Do the Homework. Join NWF’s Eco-Schools USA program and use our recess policy audit tool to evaluate your school’s current policy.
• Talk in School. Bring together parents, teachers, and administrators to restore recess at your school and school district.
• Build on Models. Work with the school, district or state to adopt a model recess policy.
• Share with Others. Connect with other campaign leaders to exchange learning and tips.

Here’s what Robin Schepper, Executive Director of Let’s Move!, had to say about the event: 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Members of the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK), the Administration and others participated in five outdoor recreation activity stations to teach youth new skills to enjoy active time outdoors in nature.

The National Wildlife Federation and REI participated in a learning station where small groups of students received hands on experience in camping. They gained new skills for enjoying the great outdoors and now know how to pitch their own tents.  

The students were excited to engage in a variety of activities including rock climbing, kayaking, healthy snacks, fly-fishing and mountain biking - and even assembled their own healthy trail mix; the perfect healthy snack for their next outdoor outing! 

Later this month, in support of Let’s Move Outside and with the support of REI, thousands of American’s will participate in the Great American Backyard Campout on June 25^th and find close-to-home parks and green spaces through NWF’s Nature Find. 

It was a fun afternoon on the White House lawn to help support Let’s Move Outside.  And most importantly, the students had a blast!

For more updates on Let’s Move Outside and Great Outdoors Month, follow me on Twitter – @PatrickNWF.

While Santa may have a few more weeks to pull together his list, the U.S. Congress has only a few more days to take bold action to help protect wildlife and wild places before they adjourn for the year.

One big opportunity is to pass the Public Lands, Water & Wildlife Package of bills currently under consideration, including important legislation to help the Chesapeake Bay and the communities that depend on it.

America’s public lands and major water bodies are essential for our livelihoods, recreation and to the countless animal species that depend upon them for survival. These places, from the Long Island Sound to the Chesapeake Bay are also a part of our shared cultural history.

And even if you think Congress should be focusing primarily on the economy, consider:

• With nearly 40 million anglers in the United States, recreational angling alone generated over $45 billion in retail sales, $125 billion in overall economic output, $16.4 billion in state and federal taxes and supported over one million jobs in 2006.
• Hunting and fishing combined accounts for $76 billion in economic output annually.
• National parks are economic engines in their regions supporting $13.3 billion in local, private-sector economic activity and 267,000 private-sector jobs. Similarly, national wildlife refuges generate nearly $1.7 billion annually for local economies and support 27,000 private sector jobs.

Now with time growing short before adjournment, we hope Congress will help protect America’s wildlife with a Public Lands, Water & Wildlife Package to ensure that our nation’s vital natural resources are sustainable for generations to come.

So after you pen that note to Santa, consider adding one to your Congressman and Senator.  Let’s make sure wildlife doesn’t get left off the list!

$450 million to protect lands for conservation, recreation, and wildlife habitat under the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

$641 million to protect the nation’s Great Bodies of Water, including the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Long Island Sound, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Champlain, and Lake Pontchartrain. $475 million of this money will go toward Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

$385 million for programs that address global climate change, including $67 million for priority climate change research at the U.S. Geological Survey, $15 million for USGS’s National Global Warming and Wildlife Science Center, which will help safeguard wildlife threatened by climate change, and $55 million for on-the-ground monitoring and climate safeguards in national parks, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands.

$90 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program, which provides state wildlife agencies and their partners a broad suite of proactive conservation tools.

$503.3 million for the National Wildlife Refuge System to provide critically needed staff, implement climate change strategies, and improve conservation efforts.

Here’s what NWF’s Legislative Director, Corry Westbrook, had to say about the news:

“Like a shot of adrenalin, this bill will breathe new life into our nation’s conservation programs.For too long, key conservation programs and agencies and have been shortchanged and undercut. Congress has reached the bar set by President Obama by delivering the best Interior appropriations bill we have seen in
years.”

Four signature sites of this year’s celebration were the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC; Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, California; Angeles National Forest outside Los Angeles, CA; and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, GA.

In addition to those who participated at one of these signature sites, thousands across the country took part in local public lands events, helping them to gain knowledge about critical environmental issues facing their communities and about the need to be stewards for these precious areas.

Although this national event is aimed toward building community and improving public lands for recreation, restoring America’s public lands also ensures vital habitat protection for our nation’s wildlife.

As one example, Wyoming’s Powder River Basin serves as a favorite recreation destination for outdoor enthusiasts out west while its Fortification Creek area also provides an important elk habitat.

Unfortunately right now, this critical area of public land is being slated for coal bed methane gas development. This process requires draining the existing aquifer to reach the methane and then disposing of this saline water. Furthermore, the environmental impacts of this extraction are still not fully understood.

Already, drilling has been approved for this area even though no research has been completed on the potentially devastating effects of this decision for the people that enjoy this land and the wildlife that call it home.

We can’t wait for another rugged area to be lost to destructive oil and gas development on public lands. Speak up today and tell Bureau of Land Management director Bob Abbey to slow this hasty project that threatens Wyoming’s Fortification Creek area.

Frank Abderholden for the Lake County New-Sun reports:

“Hunters and anglers have played a key role in the conservation and restoration of numerous species and their natural habitats. They not only understand their pivotal role as stewards of the land, but also seek to pass on this honored tradition to future generations,” said President Barack Obama in his proclamation.

Today’s hunters and anglers bring this spirit to life in the forests and streams they visit. If not for America’s great hunters and anglers, like President Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold, our nation would not enjoy sound game management; a system of ethical, science-based game laws; and an extensive public lands estate on which to pursue the sports. On National Hunting and Fishing Day, we celebrate their contributions to our natural environment and our national heritage,” he said.”

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