Peaceful Playground instituted at Local Elementary School
Wouldn’t be wonderful to look out over a playground where children were laughing and playing peacefully, and supervisors were observing
this could do so without raising their voices, blowing their whistles, or increasing their blood pressure?
It’s almost more than one can imagine. Or is it?
That is exactly the situation at Truman Elementary School, where students will enjoy a Peaceful Playground program with the completion of the painting of the playground. The Peaceful Playground Project was created to put an end to tattling or playground conflicts that take the fun out of games by promoting peace.
According to Principal Mark Nass “The Playground is an essential part of any school and every community. Children spend many hours of their school experience occupying themselves with what the playground has to offer. In fact, the whole neighborhood enjoys both its appearance and its usages. In short, school playgrounds often define the community’s initial impressions of a school. This joint project was designed to serve both the school and the students.” school as a whole is set by what happens on the playground.
Unresolved playground conflicts soon spill over into the classroom.
A closer look at the newly designed Peaceful Playground reveals concentric circles, rectangles, and various colored shapes, carefully spaced and painted on the pavement. In addition to traditional games like hopscotch and four square, imagine a skipping track, target, and scattered circles.
Bigger kids are involved in a variety of team sports like around the world, team four-square and basketball. Evenly spaced groups of kids will cooperatively utilize the pavement areas. “All made possible by the implementation of the Peaceful Playgrounds Program,” according to physical education teacher Kayla Johnson.
The success of the Peaceful Playground Program depends of five key
principles:
1. Marking the playground with age appropriate games.
2. Teaching students a consistent set of rules.
3. Teaching students skills to solve conflicts
4. Providing adequate equipment
5. Consistent expectations
To learn more about the program go to Truman Elementary School or
visit the Peaceful Playground website at
