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Hi all,

 

Thank you for a wonderful first week here at Maplewood! I am excited to continue getting to know each of you and all of the students here, both on and off the playground. 

 

Each week that I am at Maplewood, I'll send out a wrap-up newsletter. This newsletter will contain news regarding Playworks programming, highlights from recess, a rotating selection of games and play-based activities for you to try out, and more. Here is the first edition of this newsletter, with some information about implementing Class Game Times and the Junior Coach program. I also want to share with you all our , if you ever need a quick game idea for a brain break or want to learn a new tag game to play with your kids at recess. For an even more extensive resource, you can also download our complete

 

If you need anything while I am off-site, please feel free to reach out at any point. See you all for rotation #2 on 10/31!

 

 

Recess Highlights

It’s been a blast getting to meet and play with everyone at recess! You may have noticed a colorful new area out in the field - this will be the Tag Zone moving forward and I’m excited to continue to teach everyone more tag games in the future. This week, we learned and have been playing Watch Your Back Tag. You can find the game rules here - . If students forget the rules, they can be found on the cone-mounted poster that I have left in the equipment bin :)

 

After observing the transition from recess to lunch, I’m looking forward to implementing some new transition strategies during my next rotation. My goal during the transition is to reinforce recess expectations, remind students of their game choices, and help keep students engaged as they wait to leave the dining area. 

 

Class Game Times

Shoutout to all teachers for bringing out your classes and participating in CGTs this week! It was so fun getting to see you all interact with your students in such a playful way. In addition to Watch your Back Tag, we also learned Rock It Out as a conflict resolution tool that students can use in almost ANY circumstance, on or off the playground. Feel free to continue to remind them to use this tool so they can get back to playing at recess!

 

Junior Coaches

It was such a pleasure getting to work with Mr. Kaplan’s 5th grade class this week as they prepared and trained to be Junior Coach leaders out at recess. I am looking forward to meeting with Ms. Anderson’s group during the next rotation. Be on the lookout for our JC rockstars in their purple shirts helping out at recess next week! Feel free to remind your students that they can find these leaders to help solve problems and play games with.

 

Recess Team

Shout out to the recess staff for jumping in and playing during recess this week! Love seeing the kids engage fully with you all! Please continue to stay engaged, however that looks for you, until my next rotation when we can learn some new games together.