January 2020 | Vol. 14 Iss. 01
FREE RECESS BEFORE LUNCH OR LUNCH BEFORE RECESS? THAT IS THE QUESTION By Julie Slama | julie@mycityjournals.com
S
prucewood second grader Mary-Ann Whitaker loves playing on the monkey bars. And since the school switched its recess to before lunch this year, she’s happier to get out to them sooner. “I like recess before lunch because when we play, we get hungrier,” she said. “Before, a lot of food got wasted that people spent time cooking for us and that wasn’t right.” Her mother, Karla-Ann, supports the school’s switch from the traditional lunch before recess. “It makes sense,” she said. “Kids get their energy out, sit down and are able to concentrate on eating. Plus, they calm down during lunch and my kids’ teachers say they’re more focused when its learning time.” Sprucewood Elementary in Sandy is one of several schools who have made the move to recess before lunch. Across the Salt Lake Valley, recesses and lunches vary with some schools having reversed it years prior, some that switched have returned to the traditional lunch before recess, and some schools are content with how it is working at their school with lunch first. Before Sprucewood made the decision to switch, Principal Lori Reynolds said there were discussions with her staff, the school community council, PTA, building leadership team and the Sandy/Draper parents of students who attend her school. She also had experience with recess first when she was at East Sandy Elementary. “Our kids are eating more, drinking 40% more milk and calming down from their adrenaline high at recess in the lunchroom before they head into the classroom,” Reynolds said. “Many of them already have talked to their friends at recess, so now they’re actually eating and we’re wasting less food. Before, we had trays and trays of uneaten food as they wanted to get outside to play.” At Sprucewood, the lunch period begins outside for 17 minutes before the doors open for 20 minutes to eat. “Recess first has eliminated so many conflicts,” recess aide Chris Carlson said. “The students have enough time to play and get an appetite. At first, I was worried there was not enough time to eat, but we adjusted it.” Sprucewood recess aides line students up according to their lunch choice outside before entering the school building. The lunch options are announced, color-coded, and each line leader is given a Popsicle stick of that color so once they are in the cafeteria, the staff knows which meals to serve. Sprucewood Nutrition Manager Angela Floyd said that
Local Postal Customer ECRWSS Scan Here: Interactive online edition with more photos.
Sprucewood second grader Mary-Ann Whitaker supports her school’s decision to have recess first so food the cafeteria staff makes doesn’t get wasted. (Julie Slama/City Journals)
now students who have been “amped up on the playground come in hungry, adjust to their inside voices, and don’t have to rush through their food. They come in to eat, which will help them learn.” She sees them not only drinking milk, but eating more fruits and vegetables. The students have a countdown clock, so they know how much time is left before class time and teachers return from their contracted lunch time to pick up the students. In addition, classrooms can earn the “golden spatula” award by using indoor voices, staying seated, raising their hands to dump their trays, cleaning their tables and lining up quickly and quietly, Floyd said. According to the National Food Service Management Institute, “when students go to recess before lunch, they do not rush through lunch and tend to eat a more well-balanced meal including more foods containing vitamins, such as milk, vegetables and fruit.” In a 2014 study published in Preventative Medicine, researchers investigated how recess-first impacts what students eat during their school meals. Seven elementary schools in
Orem participated in the study that showed school children consume 54% more fruits and vegetables at lunch if they eat after recess. In the report, Cornell Behavioral Economist and Co-Founder of the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement David Just said, “Recess is often held after lunch so children hurry to ‘finish’ so that they can go play. This results in wasted fruits and vegetables. However, we found that if recess is held before lunch, students come to lunch with healthy appetites and less urgency and are more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables. While not every school has the flexibility to offer recess before lunch, those that do have a great opportunity to improve the health and well-being of their students.”
WHY DON’T MORE SCHOOLS MAKE THE SWITCH?
Sometimes re-inventing the wheel can seem like an insurmountable task and oftentimes traditions can be deeply rooted, said Daybreak Elementary Assistant Principal Todd Theobold. While the South Jordan school is on the traditional lunch schedule, he supports recess first, having had 15 years Continued page 12
2020 Draper Park and recreation Program Guide
Presort Std U.S. Postage PAID Ogden, UT Permit #190