I never cease to marvel at how easily amused my fourth grade students are. Since I began teaching fourth grade, I have had the privilege to conduct daily observations of a fascinating microcosm of human society: RECESS. If asked what their favorite subject is in school, 75% of my studious, motivated fourth graders will respond "recess." My kids spend the entire morning watching the clock, willing it to be 11:45. They will move heaven and earth for the promise of going outside five minutes early.
It is one of the reliable hysterical moments of my day to watch how these children spend their twenty minutes of freedom. Sometimes they race to climb on top of the monkey bars, where they sit on the side rails and flip over backwards. Sometimes they play a game that can loosely be called "tag," although it somehow involves teams and full-body tackles (the boy and the girl who are mortified to have to sit in the close proximity necessary for sharing a desk now think nothing of this much more personal physical contact). Recently the amusement of the hour involved collecting acorns from the ground and trading them as some kind of currency, like really cheap pogs.
My favorite game so far this year was born when the Latin teacher handed out index cards for the students to use in making flashcards. Within one day, every student had folded a card in half, drawn a happy face on one side, and named their new "friend." The index card friends came out to recess, where they became the sad victims of a new game in which the goal for the boys seemed to be to kidnap as many girls' cards as possible, in order to rip them up. The girls were quite happy to chase the boys around, shrieking in concern for the safety of their papery pal. Alas, this game had to be ended by the mean teachers because the fragments of index card friends littered the ground like September snow.
This is by no means a phenomenon limited to children born in the mid-1990's. I remember my own preteen amusements: naming balls of clay and cheap toys from Power Play, establishing exclusive clubs for those of us who could perform various playground feats (like back flips off of the monkey bars), and riding Big Wheels down the big hill in the parking lot. I also remember being thoroughly entertained by inane games such as Four-Square, Colored Corners, and Finger Exercises.
I'd like to say that I have matured enough to spend my leisure time identifying birds, practicing Latin, and composing sonnets, but it is not really true. My funniest memories from the past year include: watching Callie snip at flies, going down the big slide at Kiddieland, dressing up for Halloween, and playing "Operation" at Christmas. You just can't outgrow good times.
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5 comments:
Recess is great. I remember burying and having a funeral for my friend Quentin's sea monkeys. We played this game called "Squark" where one kid named Drew tried to head butt everyone while yelling "Squark" and of course we all spent our time running away. We had a babysitters club, even though none of us babysat, we just took names from the book. I was Mary Anne. Fun times. :) My eighth graders wished they had recess.
Growing up, the neighborhood kids were easily amused by a game we played on our bikes. We lived in a cul-de-sac, and we would ride up and down everyone's driveway on our imaginary "haunted roller coaster." On one driveway, you'd have to dodge bears. Another, it was werewolves. And so on and so forth. It's crazy what kids come up with, but they're always having so much fun!
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And I know more of you have silly childhood games that you can share about, people!
okay, I believe you all now.
One of my coworkers announced this morning that her son's school gave the parents "homework." They were supposed to write a story and draw a picture of their own favorite first grade memory. My coworker says she remembers playing like they were horses in a circus on the playground.
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