August 2010
By Tara Hettinger
Tribune – Jeffersonville, IN
Some stenciled paint on the ground coupled with balls, bean bags and other accessories are helping students keep the peace on the playground at Riverside Elementary School.
It’s all a part of Peaceful Playgrounds, where schools pay to get the blueprints and activity guides.
“Before it was a ton of enemies on the playground, because no one got along and everyone would yell and scream at each other, but now everyone is happy,” said 11-year-old Ashley South.
The school’s Parents Advisory Council came up with the about $1,300 for the program as well as an extra accessory kit for each grade level, said physical education teacher Andy Cymbalist. He said teachers volunteered for two days over the summer to paint the games such as Four Square, Hopscotch and a map of the United States on the parking lot next to the playground area.
Now, as part of gym class, Cymbalist is teaching students different ways to play each of the games, in addition to a list of three ways to resolve playground arguments: Walk, talk or rock.
Cymbalist told students to walk away and play another game if you can’t agree with fellow students. Talking it out is another option. Finally, if it’s an issue between two people, such as if a ball was out or not, agree to play one round of Rock, Paper, Scissors, with the winner getting his or her way.
Fifth-grader enjoying a game of four square at the Jeffersonville school.
“If you do those three things there shouldn’t be any disagreements. You can solve your own problems,” Cymbalist told one of his gym classes Wednesday morning.
Cymbalist said it’s too early in the school year to tell if it’s working or not, but he said if it works, it will make things easier for teachers and students during recess.
“You don’t think about it until you start doing something like this and you realize it makes a lot of sense,” Cymbalist said.
Just before saying that, a group of students playing four square got into a debate on whether the ball was inside the line or not. Students started yelling out “Rock!” and “Replay!,” with the group eventually deciding to do a replay.
More than teaching students to get along, kids said they enjoy having more choices on the playground.
“It’s fun. It used to be boring. Now you can play different games with friends, like four square,” 11-year-old Ulises Palacios said.
“It’s way better. All the games and everything. Before we had that we got to play football and that was it,” 10-year-old Gabriel Gregory said, adding that he was too old to play on the traditional playground, which has swings, monkey bars and more.
Cymbalist said the school is planning to paint a world map in the playground area. He said classes can use that map along with the U.S. map for lessons.
News & Tribune – Play Nice: New Games Help Students Keep the Peace During Recess
