EVENT # 29 RECESS!

Now that I am back to work teaching again, it has obviously been much harder to schedule any events, so I decided to include my students at my elementary school in my challenge.  This week I joined them during their recess outside to see what they like to play and of course SOCCER is very popular at our school.  I started to mix in with the forth and fifth graders on a small dirt field with trees and roots coming out of the ground.  It is not the most prestige soccer playing field but it works for these kids.  As I started to play, more and more students began to come and ask my famous question, "CAN I PLAY", in which I of course  replied "YES" until we eventually ended up with probably 35 or 40 kids chasing ONE ball around trees and roots.  At that point, I had to put aside any ambition to score and dominate and put my PE teacher hat on to make sure everyone was safe.  I did more refereeing than anything but eventually decided to break away and start my own game of KICKBALL.  Enough kids left the soccer field so that it became a little safer and we ventured over to the kickball field.  I quickly divided the teams up and began pitching the ball to my opponents.  As we took turns kicking, we all questioned what and where exactly is first, second, and third base.  We ended up making a few dirt spots and rocks as bases, which is exactly what kids need to do by being creative.  They don't need fancy sporting facilities.  They just need to PLAY!  After several minutes of playing, the teachers began to blow their whistles for students to go inside, so I never really got my opportunity to kick that home run that I was envisioning, but nonetheless, I was sweaty and my shirt had become a new color of dirt as I walked back into the school myself.  Hey kids, don't forget my motto:  WORK UP A SWEAT!!