After a morning of academic work and quiet cooperation, most elementary school students are ready to blow off some steam. When the lunch bell sounds, they can’t wait to get moving and to talk with their friends. So where do we send them? At most schools, straight to the lunchroom—where they chat with buddies and quickly gobble a few bites of food before racing outside to have some fun.
Two years ago, administrators at Kyrene de la Sierra elementary school in Phoenix made a change: they scheduled playtime before lunch time. “Frankly, there was a buzz in the district that this was better for our kids,” says Principal James Verrill. Since the switch, he and his staff have noticed that students are eating more, making healthier choices, cooling off more quickly and re-hydrating better.
“I like it this way,” says 9-year-old Samantha Lass, who will be a fourth grader this fall. “I don’t feel rushed to eat my lunch so that I can get outside with my friends for recess.” Classmate Lauren Auditore, 9, agrees. “I don’t get stomachaches after lunch anymore,” she says. “I think that it is better for my digestion.”
Recess Before Lunch (RBL) is a concept that is gaining momentum across the country.
“Studies show that when kids play before they eat lunch, they eat better, therefore they get more nutritional value from their lunches, they have better performance in the class after lunch and they complain of fewer stomachaches and headaches after lunch,” says Terri Verason, MS, RD, director of nutrition education at the Dairy Council of Arizona and liaison for Action for Healthy Kids Arizona, which promotes RBL.
Benefits of a Recess Before Lunch schedule:
- more milk, vegetable and entrée consumption
- less plate waste
- less trash
- increased nutrient and fluid intake
- improved cafeteria atmosphere
- less required supervision in the cafeteria
- fewer nurse visits for stomachaches after recess
- more classroom time on-task
- fewer classroom discipline problems
- students who are “ready to return to the classroom to learn”
Litchfield Park School District was one of the first to introduce the concept in Arizona a decade ago. Food Service Director David Schwake, RD, SNS, is convinced that RBL is a preferable schedule.
“I believe that our kids eat more and make healthier choices,” he says. “Many will choose both milk and juice, so they also re-hydrate better. They have time to cool off before returning to the classroom.”
One of the side benefits that has been noticed at his schools is a somewhat less noisy cafeteria. “We never actually measured the decibel levels of the cafeteria before, but many of our staff commented on a noticeable decrease in the noise level afterward,” he says.
At Kyrene de la Sierra, second grade teacher Sujata Ryan observes advantages to this schedule for both teachers and students. “Teachers now have five to 15 minutes more of their own lunch time,” she says. Before RBL, teachers had to walk students into the lunchroom and wait until everyone bought lunch or settled down at the table before leaving. “So, if your class lined up last, it could take up to 15 minutes,” she says.
Now, students are walked into the lunchroom by a “duty”—someone who supervises both the playground and lunchroom—and the school has a system in place to give each classroom equal opportunity to be first in line after recess. “Teachers have that time back,” Ryan says. “I was able to do more science and social studies hands-on activities this year, partly from having those few extra minutes at lunch to take out materials for the afternoon. It allows me to be better prepared.”
Schwake concurs. “Our teachers [in Litchfield Park] feel that they’ve gained several more hours per year in teaching time with this schedule.”
Schools considering RBL should anticipate some resistance to change. Action for Healthy Kids Arizona recommends obtaining input and gaining commitment from everyone involved and observing the system in place elsewhere before making a change. Focus educational efforts on the benefits rather than the obstacles and expect the new schedule to be a work in progress during the transition.
Before Kyrene de la Sierra switched its schedule, its site council—made up of staff, teachers, administrators and parents—observed another school where RBL was in place. Several meetings about RBL were held during the spring and summer to make sure the administration, faculty and staff, students, parents and food service personnel were on board.
With so many advantages, what are the downsides?
“The biggest roadblock we encountered was the concern about hand washing,” notes Verrill. “At first, our district warehouse didn’t carry the large containers of hand sanitizer—so we purchased those ourselves.” Kindergarten teachers and parents decided that (for the kindergartners only), the additional purchase of hand sanitizing wipes was necessary and helpful. “Naturally, kindergartners really like to dig on the playground,” says Verrill.
Some fear kids will lose their lunch money while playing outside. One way to avoid this is to encourage prepayment for lunches. Another is to offer keypads or ID cards with barcodes, which have the additional benefit of decreasing the time students spend in line to buy lunch.
We often get stuck doing things a certain way just because they’ve always been done that way. Trying something new invites the potential of reaping significant benefits. Providing an optimal learning environment is easier when kids are well-nourished and well-hydrated while they are at school. It takes a community effort, but RBL is one option that can really make a difference.
