Students are taking more time to eat now because they no longer are racing to get outside, Lehman said, and any disputes that arise on the playground can be addressed during lunch, instead of expecting children to transition immediately from kickball to math.
Even though the length of the lunch period at Hawthorne technically did not change — it’s still about 20 minutes — children can take a little more time if they need to because there’s more flexibility in the schedule, Lehman said. By combining recesses, kids put on and take off their coats and hats and boots just once during the school day, cutting in half a laborious task that can devour a sizable chunk of school time.