The petition
Jacksonville Parent Involvement was formed to be an advocate of Health,Welfare and Academic Acheivement for our Children. The New England Journal of Medicine released a report that for the first time in two hundred years, this latest generation of children will be the first to have a SHORTER LIFESPAN than their PARENTS.
The American Academy of Pediatrics advocates "THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN'S RECESS TIME" as a means of combating childhood obesity and the diseases and risk factors associated with it (Pediatrics.2006;1834-1842).
The Research of Early Childhood Development supports Recess in improving attention,concentration and reducing figeting in class(Jarret,Maxwell,Dickerson,Hoge,Davies,& Yetley,1998;Pellegrini & Davis,1993;Pellegrini,Huberty & Jones,1995). Children must have play to reach important social, emotional and cognitive milestones.
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education has a Position Paper entited Recess for Elementary School Students. In it they state that both Recess and P.E. are essential components of a comprehensive school physical activity program and the total elementary school experience. They write the National Course of Study for Physical Education on which the Alabama Course of Study for Physical Education is based.This Position Paper documents the support of Recess by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, United States Department of Education (USDHHS&USDE,2000), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC,1997), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC,1998) and American Associaton for the Childs Right to Play (IPA/USA,n.d.).stones. This "play" must be peer to peer and nonstuctured for this benefit.
People can have trouble telling the difference between stuctured and unstuctured activity. If you see kids in lines,orange traffic cones and an adult with a whistle and a bullhorn giving instuctions to our kids, also kids not being allowed to talk to each other , that is stuctured activity. If you see kids on the playground talking and laughing and swinging and running around and adults providing supervision not direction this is unstuctured activity . You know "Recess"like we had when we were kids ,the time-tested activty America has used in Schools for 200 years but is now under attach by multiple forces.
Please get involved in the effort to keep this important part of your childs development alive. We petition the Jacksonville City School System to return at least 20 minutes of daily Recess to Kitty Stone Elementary School.
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