Recess Before Lunch

In order to reduce waste, improve child nutrition, and stabilize classroom performance, some schools have chosen alternative routes in scheduling for positive changes. By putting recess before lunch:

• ​Students tend to eat more food and throw away less
  
• Students can solve conflicts at lunch before becoming a distraction in the classroom.
  
• Students are able to "cool off" after recess with lunch, and can be more attentive in class.
  

 Many schools With recess after lunch see situations like this play out each day...A student is dismissed with his class to lunch. After sitting in class all morning, they are restless and practically vibrate with energy. Upon getting to the cafeteria, all that is on their mind is waiting for a small chance of freedom: the playground. Making sure that all the fruits and veggies are cleared off the plate is the last thing on a student's mind. While spending most of lunch chatting excitedly with peers about the passing of the day, a nutritious meal is left barely touched. The student dumps their tray and rushes outside to play. During recess, the student gets into a fight with another student about rules in foursquare after a loss. The fight continues into the classroom, where the teacher is forced to halt class time to resolve the conflict, and a student is sent to the office for the rest of the day to face disciplinary action.

Lack of hungry students, an excess of wasted food, and conflicts coming back inside to disrupt the classroom that waste precious time are the symptoms of an all-too-common scene at schools across the country. Upon first look, solving a problem like this seems near-impossible. Surprisingly, the majority of these issues have been proven by example to be solved by one change – recess before lunch, instead of after.