S/o snack and free time for elementary aged students

[mccallister84]

From the other thread, it appears my kids’ elementary school is an anomaly.

There is never a snack. Kindergarten gets “station” time - the last half an hour of the day is basically free play (but they are told where to go and rotate daily - could be Legos, painting at the easel, imagination (aka play house).

No one else has any free time built in to the day beyond the half an hour of recess each grade gets (k-5). There’s also half an hour for lunch.

Official school hours are 9:15-3:45 but between leaving for the bus and walking home the girls are out of the house from 8:30-4:10.

What unstructured time and/or snack time do your elementary schools have?

[bex1973]

At my kids school they had a specific time set aside for snack in K-2 and it was short - maybe 10 minutes. From 3rd on it's not a specific time set aside, the kids can eat their snack whenever they need/want to and the work continues on. Otherwise just the 20/25 minute recess time either before or after lunch depending on class schedule.

Our district doesn't allow kids to bring in food treats for b-days but one of the options they can pick to celebrate is an extra recess and for the above reasons it's a VERY popular pick.

[k3am]

TK/K, 1, 2, and 3 get a 20 minute snack recess and 40 minute lunch.
4 and 5 get a 10 minute snack recess and 40 minute lunch.

I assume your recess is where your kids would get snack? Your 30 minutes recess sounds lovely.

ETA: Snack recess they can eat and/or play

[loira]

DD's school has a small recess in the morning and a longer recess after lunch for elementary students. I think they get a short snack time before the small recess because they are not allowed to eat in the courtyard. It's a k-12 but I have no idea what the jr high and high school kids get for breaks.

[fancynewbeesly]

At our elementary school-there is a snack time--usually 5 to fifteen minutes but no play time/break except for kindergarten. A lot of time it is a working snack.

They get 40 minutes for lunch and recess combined. (So ideally 20 minutes for recess and 20 minutes for lunch)

They do also have a 40 minute special every day "gym, health, music, art, media/tech" So gym only once a week. 

[sproctopus]

School is 9-3:30.

30 minute recess, but can be slightly longer if they eat quicker.

They have a 15 minute snack time in the afternoon, in their classroom. They have to sit at their desks for this.

Each day has a free time "fundation" built in-- it's directed but not fully structured-- STEM, art, and music are this way.

[nicolewi]

Elementary is 8:45 to 3:45. Our K-5 kids get two, 20 minute recesses. One with lunch, and one in the afternoon.

Teachers offer snacktime whenever it works for them in the morning. The kindergarten also has an afternoon snack. Usually teachers pair snack time with some thing like listening to a read aloud.

Only kindergarten technically gets free playtime, and in kindergarten, it’s not nearly as much as I think it should be! They had trouble getting it in the curriculum, and had to be able to label it social studies time or something weird like that. But they did manage to get some free play scheduled.

many of the elementary classes will start the day with “soft start”, which is like easing into the day with a quiet activity of your choice. They try to incorporate a lot of games and hands-on activities throughout the day. There are also some flexible seating options. They also have specials like gym, art, music, guidance, and computer lab time.

[meanie]

K - 5 get a morning snack and two recess breaks for morning and after lunch. 6 - 8 get a snack and one recess after lunch. Recess is relatively short, about 15 - 20 minutes. K and 1st have some additional free play time in the classroom too but it's teacher dependent and not an actual part of their schedule.

The younger grades also build in some movement in the morning with yoga and other warm up exercises. I think pairing active movement and learning for the youngest grades would be amazing, a few teachers have done this but it is not the standard (think marching while counting numbers type thing).

[k3am]

I am not a teacher but... DNW to be in a room of 20+ hangry kids. I imagine they feel the same. I'm sure snacks are happening.

[isabel]

I believe they get a lunch and afternoon recess daily. I know I’m K and 1st, DS2 gets free time. And all kids are supposed to bring at least one snack daily. In kinder and 1st they’re supposed to bring two.

I don’t think in 3rd DS1 is getting free time anymore, but they have specials once a day that are definitely more creative and less taxing plus recess.

They’re in school from 7:50-2:30. After that it’s aftercare where they just play games and spend time outside.

[expectantsteelerfan]

My kids' schools (k-8 at least, the high school is more relaxed) classrooms are food-free and there are no snack times at all. The only free time that I know of for elementary is that I believe that had 2 15 minute movement breaks throughout the day, which would be outside if the weather was nice. But I still think those were more like group led movement activities and not just free for all choice time, although if they were indoors it might have been a go noodle and then some free time.

[bex1973]

Sept 21, 2023 11:11:37 GMT -5 k3am said:

I am not a teacher but... DNW to be in a room of 20+ hangry kids. I imagine they feel the same. I'm sure snacks are happening.

Haha - since my kid was starting at the next level up school this year I asked if snack was still a thing and one of the teachers said YES because the teachers want/need it just as much as the kids LOL

[ssmjlm]

School hours are 8:55-3:35.

We're in 5th this year and it's the first w/o snack. They had the option to bring a snack last year because their lunch was so late it was too long from breakfast.

Recess is 30 minutes. They have unstructured time at other intervals in the lower grades. Each day they rotate between an encore, which are PE, Art, Music, and Library.

[pandorica]

DD is in PreK, so this is our first year and I don't know what the other kids get.

She has 2 snack times (I think 10am and 245pm) plus recess after lunch (can't remember if it's 20 or 30 minutes).

They also do "stations" where they split up and free play in small groups doing blocks, play dough, magnatiles etc. There's a play kitchen and race cars etc in the class too. Not sure if that's additional free time or if that's also a station.

I'm really hoping the next few grades are similar!

[mccallister84]

To be fair, they do appear to be doing things like go noodles, brain breaks, etc but this is at teacher discretion and not formally built in to the schedule the way lunch, recess and stations (in K) are. They have an hour of specials a day - three times a week they have PE (half an hour), once a week it’s an hour of art and health, and then they get music (twice) and media for half an hour. In kindergarten they have two media blocks and only half an hour of health. Obviously things like health are less movement than PE.

[abs]

DD never had unstructured time past Kindergarten! Snack time was up to individual teachers. DD got it in 2nd grade and 5th grade. School day was 8-3:25? I think? That was 2 years ago and I don’t remember. The school was homework free though (policy change that happened after kindergarten) and had 1-2 specials a day so not having unstructured time was ok.

[felicity]

DS has a 20 minute recess and a separate lunch time (20 or 30 mins? I'm not sure how long). They don't have snack this year in 3rd because their lunch time is right in the middle of the day. They didn't have one last year either. It's been fine for DS. He eats a snack right when he gets home.

[dcn]

Kindergarten may have snack? But no one else does. Everyone gets maybe 15-20 min of recess before or after lunch but that’s it. I’m sure the teachers build breaks and movement in. I know last year in 1st grade they had “extra recess” time at the end of the day a few times a week.

[rachers]

Our hours are 7:40-2:55

Lunch is at 10:30 which is insane to me. They do have a recess and a snack (which we have to provide).

My DD said lunch stresses her out because they rush everyone. Some days she can’t finish everything so by the time I pick her up she’s starving. She mentioned they’re not allowed to talk so I don’t think it’s a distraction issue, but she’s 6 so who knows.

[fortnightlily]

Our school's hours are 9:25 am - 3:50 pm and has grades K-5, ~780 kids.

If a grade has one of the earlier or later lunch blocks then teachers are supposed to allow kids to bring and eat a snack for the morning or afternoon, but I don't know if they set aside a snack break or if it's just like "hey, grab your snack and eat it while we do this lesson".

I think Kindergarten kind of informally had some more unstructured times during their day, but it's not built into the actual daily schedule. For the later grades it was more just "if you finish early you can go to the fidget corner or grab a book" kind of thing. They get 20 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes for recess.

[fivechickens]

Elementary is 9-4.

K gets two snack times in the beginning of the school year because their lunch is the last lunch of the day. The 2nd snack can go away as the kids get used to the schedule but I think my kid’s K teacher kept it all year.

Kids in grades 1-5 get one snack break.

All kids get one lunch recess a day (20 minutes IIRC). Lower Ele (k-2) get a few brain breaks a day which can be recess or free time. Upper Ele (3-5) get a couple recess/free time but not consistently as lower Ele.

All the grades had once a week block recess which was a full hour of recess (free time if weather was bad).

[namasteak]

They don’t have free time (other than recess) but My 4th grader still gets snack time.

[somersault72]

Every grade gets recess, I think every grade gets 2, I know kindergarten does. I am not positive how long they are. When DS was in KG I know they got a snack because they eat lunch last--not until 12:45. I hope they still do that, but DD has not mentioned a snack. I know in other grades we were allowed to send a snack with our kids, but the only formal snack (that the school provided) was kindergarten.

[lessel]

Both our boys are going to a school for kids with learning differences (high % of students with ADHD), so they're a bit different in their approach...
K-1 gets two 30-minute recess a day plus PE Mon-Thurs
2-5 gets one 30-mintute recess plus PE Mon-Thurs

I think younger kids get their snack at their second recess. For older kids it's mixed in with afternoon classroom activity... like a mini break between activities.

Two of their 'specials' classes have mixed in unstructured times: Mindfulness and Counseling. (The former is like yoga, breathing, etc. followed by free play.)

Kids can also use a 'good choice' pass to take a 5 minute break from the class if they're feeling overwhelmed or really fidgety. They get to go into the hall for a breather (some kids keep fidgets or a stuffed animal in their lockers), go visit the counselor or principal for a chat, etc.

And on Friday afternoons they have a short community meeting, followed by "Fab Friday" where they have unstructured play, some fun activity, or a movie or other special activity for kids who have earned a certain % of their points every week (those are sort of kid-specific behavior and community goals... 'passing points' is pretty easy for most kids).

[Susie]

My 3rd grader has snack daily, although the snack and lunch times vary by day.  Some days lunch is before recess and they have PM snack, other days is AM snack, then recess, then lunch.

She def had free choice in 2nd grade every day (although that was a privilege to be lost for behavior).  I am not sure about this year.  Recess was never restricted for behavior.

[mcsangel2]

Man, I don't know how little kids cope in school with so little recess time. When I was in grade school (in the 80s), school was from 8 to 3. There was a 20 minute recess at 10, a 15 minute recess at 2:15, and from noon to 1 was the lunch hour. You had to eat lunch, but you could go out to play for the rest of the hour as soon as you finished (which was usually within 10-15 minutes). In really nice weather, they would let us eat outside on the playground.

No snacks outside of lunch, though.

[icedcoffee]

9-3:30

They get 70 minutes for lunch and recess. In kindergarten they had free choice which was more like open play, but in first that's gone.

No snack. Apparently they used to do snack but got rid of it because of allergies. Honestly, I am fine with that. With lunch midday it means they are going no more than 3.5 hours between meals. Short of a medical exception kids should be fine for 3.5 hours.

They also have specials once a day so it helps break things up.

I have no issues with any of this.

[gardengal]

9-3:50

They get a snack time (AM if lunch is later in the day, PM if it was an early lunch) which is in the classroom & they have work to do during so it's not a complete break. They also get recess and have daily specials (PE 2x, music, art, library).

I also like that my middle schooler can go outside & run around when he's done with lunch. He inhales his lunch & heads out. It's great for him to clear his head & burn off some energy.

[brooke77]

1st grade - School hours are 7:30 to 2:30. DS gets a 30 minute lunch and 30 minute recess from 10:30 to 11:30. Lunchtime includes the walk to the cafeteria and cleanup. I pack DS’ lunch because there is no time to stand in the lunch line AND eat. He also gets a quick snack in the afternoon. It’s not on the schedule officially, but he told me he gets a snack. I’m guessing around 1:15?

I think it’s fine. I feed him as soon as he gets home (which is either 3 pm or 4 pm, depending on if he has aftercare that day). He seems fine.

[thebreakfastclub]

I'm not exactly sure how long lunch and recess are for my 5th grader. I do know in the morning they have 20 minutes of free reading time and that's when they can have their snack.

So snack at 10:30 and I think lunch around 12:45, home by 3:50.