Initiative focuses on increased physical activity, emotional health for elementary school students

PROVIDENCE – Recess is no longer just fun and games.

Experts are discovering that free play at recess provides children with physical, social and emotional benefits.
With new legislation enacted earlier this year, a minimum of 20 minutes of recess is mandated daily for all Rhode Island elementary school students. In response, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, Playworks and the Rhode Island Healthy Schools Coalition are collaborating to increase physical activity in local schools through recess. This year, 18 schools in Rhode Island are adopting new recess programming, designed to better the physical health and emotional well-being of 7,300 elementary school students.
Earlier this year, BCBSRI awarded a $77,500 grant to Playworks, a nonprofit organization that creates recess programs, to focus on local programming. The RIHSC, a network of local organizations that advocates for healthy changes in schools, nurtured and managed the connections between Playworks and the local community. Through this partnership, 102 educators, including principals, special education teachers, grade-level teachers, behavioral specialists and paraprofessionals, across eight school districts, received training in implementing recess programming.
Playworks consulted with each elementary school participating in the initiative about how best to implement the new recess programming and the training curriculum designed to help schools create a high-functioning recess and increase daily physical activity. A 2013 study by Stanford University and Mathematica Policy Research found that students participating in Playworks recess programs enjoyed more vigorous physical activity and felt safer at school and recess, which leads to reduced bullying, BCBSRI reported. The Boston-based nonprofit organization promotes positive play at recess, with everyone participating in less competitive and more cooperative activities.
“This innovative partnership demonstrates that keeping our kids healthy and active can be fun and also support efforts to combat childhood obesity,” Kim Keck, BCBSRI president, said in a statement. “By jumpstarting this work of Playworks and the Rhode Island Healthy Schools Coalition locally, Blue Cross is able to positively impact not only the physical health of Rhode Island’s children, but also their social relationships and academic success.”

BCBSRI selected 18 schools from a larger cohort of schools that had completed a 2015 training that evaluated recess as a school-based method to increase physical activity. They are: Rockwell Elementary in the Bristol-Warren school district; The Learning Community, a charter school in Central Falls; Blackrock and Tiogue elementary schools in Coventry; Ashton, Cumberland Hill and BF Norton elementary schools in Cumberland; Lonsdale Elementary in Lincoln; Fishing Cove, Hamilton and Stony Lane elementary schools in North Kingstown; Greystone Elementary in North Providence and Bailey, Fogarty, Kennedy, Kizirain, Reservoir Avenue and Veazie elementary schools in Providence.

No posts to display