At the school, recess is made up of clear adult-facilitated activities.
On a day last week, a kindergartner said he wanted to play basketball. A recess coach explained that wasn’t a choice at the time; he decided to play another game.
Melissa Jackson, the principal at Forest, used Playworks when she was principal at Bethune Community School in Minneapolis.
She said she’s seen a positive impact on the school community.
After a few weeks at Concord, Playworks has become more routine. Students crawled through the play set and played jump rope games. A group of girls at Normandale acted out a game of television commercials on benches while others played four square.
Adults got involved in soccer and football games in other parts of the yard.
Away from direct supervision, some free-spirited girls at Normandale climbed on top of a spider structure, climbing higher and higher.
Related: Harrison Bergeron.