+
upworthy
Education

Georgia makes recess mandatory for grades K-5. Here's why it's important

Unstructured playtime is crucial for kids.

mandatory recess, Georgia
Canva

Nine other states have made playtime a requirement.

Recess will now be mandatory in Georgia for students in grades K-5, thanks to a new law under the state’s Quality Basic Education Act.

Georgia is the 10th state to make recess a requirement, joining Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia, according to the National Association of State Boards of Education.

The bill, signed by Georgia governor Brian Kemp, states that recess could not be taken away by teachers or school officials as a “disciplinary” action. And it’s important to note that unlike PE, which provides physical activity but still contains rigid curriculum, recess is defined here as “unstructured break time."

Granted, that might be the most boring verbiage ever. Is the word “play” just too chaotic? Regardless, having a bit of unbridled fun is proving to be just as vital to a child’s well-being and development as pure academia.


The American Academy of Pediatrics considers recess a necessity. It offers an essential “respite from rigorous cognitive tasks.” Mental breaks remain an important skill long after school is over. And the habit can be very hard to instill later in life. Just ask the adult writing this article. No amount of Pomodoro timers or right-brained activity lists seem to thwart my ever-constant need to be productive.

georgia makes recess mandatoryPhoto by Ryan Fields on Unsplash

Besides, learning doesn’t stop at recess. A 2013 policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics states that “children develop intellectual constructs and cognitive understanding through interactive, manipulative experiences. This type of exploratory experience is a feature of play in an unstructured social environment.” Other studies have indicated that recess actually helps focus and productivity in the classroom.

Recess gives kids a time when they can imagine, move and socialize. Through interactive games in an open environment, they can build lifelong social skills like empathy, leadership, collaboration, conflict resolution … you know, all those things you have to relearn through trust falls at a company team-building retreat. Again, these are tools we will continue to use throughout our life, or at least as long as we’re around other people. Why not develop them on a daily basis?

benefits of recess

Remember this game?

Photo by Artem Kniaz on Unsplash

Recess is perhaps more important than ever as we inch ever-closer to a post-pandemic world, after two-plus years of virtual learning while sitting in front of a computer screen. In fact, it could even be the key to collective healing, according to Elizabeth Cushing, CEO of Playworks. In an interview with USA Today, she noted that “our brains can’t take on the work of learning if we don’t feel safe. Because [recess] makes school feel like a fun, welcoming and inclusive place to be, play can be a really powerful, efficient and easy lever to pull to help kids feel safer.”

The No Child Left Behind Act enacted in 2001 placed an emphasis on standardized test scores. As a result, recess was largely depleted, if not cut out entirely. This was a mistake. Play is in itself a powerful learning tool, one that helps us throughout our entire lifetime. More states mandating this basic necessity is great news. It’s at least one sign that we are moving toward a world where joy, pleasure and human connection are part of a core curriculum. More happy, healthy humans, please.

All GIFs and images via Exposure Labs.


Photographer James Balog and his crew were hanging out near a glacier when their camera captured something extraordinary.

They were in Greenland, gathering footage from the time-lapse they'd positioned all around the Arctic Circle for the last several years.

Keep ReadingShow less

Having lived in small towns and large cities in the Pacific Northwest, Southwest, and Midwest, and after spending a year traveling around the U.S. with my family, I've seen first-hand that Americans have much more in common than not. I've also gotten to experience some of the cultural differences, subtle and not-so-subtle, real and not-so-real, that exist in various parts of the country.

Some of those differences are being discussed in a viral thread on Twitter. Self-described "West coaster" Jordan Green kicked it off with an observation about East coasters being kind and West coasters being nice, which then prompted people to share their own social experiences in various regions around the country.

Green wrote:

"When I describe East Coast vs West Coast culture to my friends I often say 'The East Coast is kind but not nice, the West Coast is nice but not kind,' and East Coasters immediately get it. West Coasters get mad.

Niceness is saying 'I'm so sorry you're cold,' while kindness may be 'Ugh, you've said that five times, here's a sweater!' Kindness is addressing the need, regardless of tone.

I'm a West Coaster through and through—born and raised in San Francisco, moved to Portland for college, and now live in Seattle. We're nice, but we're not kind. We'll listen to your rant politely, smile, and then never speak to you again. We hit mute in real life. ALOT.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

A husband took these photos of his wife and captured love and loss beautifully.

I feel as if I were right there with them as I looked through the photos.

Snuggles.

When I saw these incredible photos Angelo Merendino took of his wife, Jennifer, as she battled breast cancer, I felt that I shouldn't be seeing this snapshot of their intimate, private lives.

The photos humanize the face of cancer and capture the difficulty, fear, and pain that they experienced during the difficult time.

Keep ReadingShow less
popular

Buffalo woman uses social media to save an elderly man's life after he's trapped in the snow

They don't call Buffalo the city of good neighbors for no reason.

Photo by Patino Jhon on Unsplash
vehicles covered in snow


The city of Buffalo, New York is called the "city of good neighbors." And with a blizzard that has dumped more than 50 inches of snow on them, the world is getting to learn how they earned that name.

A woman named Sha'Kyra Aughtry went viral on Facebook after she reluctantly put out an emotional plea. Aughtry went live on the platform explaining that she heard someone calling for help outside, so she sent her boyfriend out to see who needed assistance. Turns out, it was a 64-year-old developmentally disabled man by the name of Joey White, who was stuck in the cold snow. Aughtry's boyfriend helped the man out of the snow and physically carried him into the house.

White was so frozen that they had to use a hair dryer to melt the ice off of his pants that were frozen to him. The couple also had to cut his socks off along with the bags he was carrying, which were stuck to his hands. White was in a dire position and Aughtry, a mom of three preparing for Christmas, was desperate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Tense video shows a woman filming herself after sensing a man following her. She was right.

“See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

@lacie_kraatz/TikTok

Lacie films as the mysterious man visibly gets closer.

It’s no secret that even the most seemingly safe of public places can instantly turn dangerous for a woman. Is it fair? No. But is it common? Absolutely, to the point where more and more women are documenting moments of being stalked or harassed as a grim reminder to be aware of one’s surroundings.

Lacie (@lacie_kraatz) is one of those women. On April 11th, she was out on a run when she noticed a man in front of her displaying suspicious behavior. Things got especially dicey when the man somehow got behind her. That’s when she pulled out her phone and started filming—partially to prove that it wasn’t just her imagination, and also out of fear for her safety.

“Hello. I’m just making this video so that women are a little more aware of them,” she begins in the video. “See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

Keep ReadingShow less

Stop what you're doing. There's a dog that looks just like Snoopy.

Soooo, there's this dog and I'm pretty sure it's the actual Snoopy come to life. Seriously all the dog needs is a red dog house out back and a little yellow bird that follows it around. If you think it can't be true, then you're going to have to fight the entire internet about it because nobody can get enough of how much this sweet dog looks like the iconic cartoon character.

Snoopy is Charlie Brown's pet from the comic strip "Peanuts" that eventually spawned several movies and cartoon series, and Bayley is a dead ringer for the black and white animated pup. Since we live in a digital age, people across the country have been falling all over themselves to get to the pooch's Instagram account and admire her cartoonish mug.

Bayley is a 1-year-old mini sheepadoodle, which is a cross between a miniature poodle and an Old English Sheepdog. Her sweet face is something you have to see to believe and even then you may question if she's real.

Keep ReadingShow less