Peace to Prevail on Elementary School Playground

This number grid is just a small portion of the new Peaceful Playground that will become a part of the play area at La Crescent-Hokah Elementary School playground. Other painted game grids will be added before winter, and school officials hope to be able to take part in all activities they offer by spring.

On an elementary school playground, the biggest and most boisterous kids tend to rule the roost. If they cut in line to use the monkey bars, no one will stop them. If they want to change the rule to a game, they’ll probably get their way. But at La Crescent-Hokah Elementary School, the playing field will soon be leveled.

The school is in the early stages of implementing Peaceful Playgrounds, a program used by kindergarten though eighth-grade schools nationwide that aims to curb aggressive play yard behavior and foster a sense of cooperation, sharing and conflict management. Not only does it address social behaviors among students, but it also falls in line with state educational standards that schools must adhere to.

Peaceful Playgrounds is the creation of Dr. Melinda Bossenmeyer, a professor at California State University San Marcos, who also served as principal in a southern California elementary school. She put into use a program designed to get more children involved in physical activity, rather than them standing around idly.

Immediately, teachers at the school saw a change in playground atmosphere. Cooperation increased, playground injuries decreased, and with activities spread out over a bigger area, stress due to overcrowding lessened. In 1998, Bossenmeyer took the program nationwide and it’s grown ever since.

La Crescent-Hokah pre-kindergarten through third grade Principal Julie Beddow-Schubert learned about Peaceful Playgrounds while serving in a previous administrative position at a fourth- and fifth-grade building. There, she had major issues at recess with student conflict and aggressive behavior, so she turned to the program.

“We instituted the Peaceful Playgrounds practices, and the office referrals significantly decreased,” she said. “Kids were more successful out on the playground during their unstructured times because they knew what the expectations were, and that in turn made it a safer place for kids to be. It was also less likely that there was going to be any type of physical violence or aggression happening.”

The purpose of Peaceful Playgrounds is to create an environment where kids can be successful without having direct adult facilitation.

The impetus to the playground, $4,400 of which was funded by Active Living La Crescent and the Parent-Teacher Organization, was survey information the school received from parents making light of some bullying issues like name-calling. She said the program will be a tool for students to be able to stand up for what they feel is right and hold others accountable for disreputable behavior.

Part of the philosophy of the playground is to engage the bystander, Beddow-Schubert said. If a student sees bullying, he or she can make a report of the incident and be supported for it, rather than labeled as a tattle-tale.

The other component of the playground is the physical activity and educational standards that are woven in. The playground’s elements are rather simplistic. All that’s needed is some equipment — like playground balls — and a lot of paint. Grid lines for various games are painted on the playground blacktop, which gives students plenty of options and room to spread out.

There are three levels of playground: pre-school through kindergarten, kindergarten through third grade and fourth through sixth grade, and each features games appropriate for the respective age level. For instance, the youngest playground includes a tricycle riding track and bean bag toss, while the older kids play on volleyball and pickle courts. Each area is large enough, Beddow-Schubert said, for whole-class activities.

Numbers and letters surround the perimeter of the playground. That’s because state standards dictate that students in first grade need to be able to identify numbers up to 120, so while on the playground, they’ll be able to walk around the grid and study the sequence. A U.S. map will be painted on a portion of blacktop, which falls into geography curriculum.

“There’s a whole mixture of academic things tied in, as well as large motor development,” Beddow-Schubert said. “The key point behind it is that each area has a specific set of expectations that are identified, and we teach the expectations and the kids learn what it takes to play the game.”

Physical education teacher Carl Ekern is tasked with teaching students the games that’ll be on the playground. He’s also training his fellow teachers during their monthly collaboration period. That gives teachers the opportunity to integrate the games into their lessons and the tools to help prepare students for what’s ahead.

As a physical education teacher, he’s most excited to see the activity choices kids will now have. There are always some students who’ll be moving regardless of what’s on the playground, but some are more apt to stand and talk with friends and not get their daily exercise.

“If you give them lots of different activities to do, they’re going to be more engaged and they’re going to get their daily requirement of activity,” he said.

Next year, the school plans to post rules to each of the games outside on building walls for students to consult when a conflict surfaces. Until then, teachers and playground supervisors will carry laminated rule cards to reference if a student has an issue.

Eventually, Beddow-Schubert would like to see older kids take the lead, so if a first- grader has a question, he can ask a fourth-grader for direction. If the rule cards don’t provide an answer, the disagreement is solved with rock, paper, scissors.

“It’s a way for students to get through dealing with conflict and problem-solving,” she said.

If all goes as expected, students will learn how to interact appropriately, cooperate with each other and gain the social skills relative to their development level.

“This is the medium in which they developmentally function,” Beddow-Schubert said. “They learn through play.”