For 5 of my grade school years, I went to a one room school.
It wasn’t quite
Little House on the Prairie despite it’s Nebraska location.
It was a lab school on a college campus. I was a guinea pig for many of the student teachers studying there. The Education Department had done some research and found that many of their graduates were ending up in rural locations teaching to multiple grades so they created a place for them to practice.
One of the bonuses of being in a one room school is that there are all ages of kids at recess.
The Big Kids{grades 5-8} played alongside
The Little Kids{grades 1-4} for games like dodge ball, kick ball and kick-the-can. We had the entire college campus to roam for hiding games…
it doesn’t get much better than that.
My very favorite recess was on rainy days or when the Nebraska wind blew frigid temperatures because we would all walk over to the college gym.
It was HUGE.
We would play kick ball with home base situated next to the stage. House rules dictated that any ball kicked into the balcony at the back of the gymnasium {which was also used for movies and programs} was an
automatic home run.
Teams were picked:
Big Kid, Little Kid, Big Kid, Little Kid, Big Kid, Little Kid until all were chosen. Any
Big Kid with a history of a balcony shot was sure to be the first name called.
And that was the goal of my entire grade school experience…
hit the balcony.
The stakes were high.
A girl who could hit the balcony in kickball would be chosen OVER
Big-Kid-non-balcony-hitting BOYS.
I practiced for years.
I kicked further and further.
I kicked higher and higher.
And then one glorious rainy spring day in my 7th grade year I kicked it into the balcony.
I ran the bases with overwhelming pride.
Pride that I still feel 28 years later.
In the past twenty years, children have lost an average of 8 hours of recess a week.
Danimals Rally for Recess is a national initiative designed to create healthy competition, pitting school against school. Go to
Danimals Rally for Recess for a chance to win $20,000 for your Elementary school playground. Plus each day Danimals is giving recess-related prizes to keep kids healthy and active.
What do YOU miss about recess?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Danimals. The opinions and text are all mine.
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