St. Teresa Catholic School
December 4, 2024
Recess
As we continue to work on school improvement, a chapter from The Anxious Generation posed a good question worthy of discussion at our last faculty meeting. I’d like to share an overview and the results. Here’s the most important page (p. 261) from Chapter 11 on the issue:
The chapter on “What Schools Can Do Now” has three suggestions for recess.
- Have more of it
- Have the right kind of equipment (like spinners)
- Reduce rules and teacher interventions.
Our seminar at the faculty meeting after reading the section resulted in a few adjustments to recess.
- If kids are working out an issue let them work it out. Keep an eye on them, but if no one is excessively aggressive, let them figure it out.
- They may play tag on the recess equipment if they want, but pay attention.
- They may hang upside down on the understructure of the main hut.
- Playing in and burying people in leaves is likely fine.
- We want to be relatively invisible at recess, but watch carefully for excessive aggression. While recess is a place for freedom, adult oversite is essential.
The following Monday I supervised recess a little differently. A few vignettes – this is 6th – 8th grade (in some places that matters):
- Three boys had no coat on (one coat had been discarded by the play structure). I said nothing to anyone about coats.
- Two girls asked to stay inside as they did not have leggings. The response, “Sorry, maybe you try to find a place out of the wind.” The girls played volleyball at recess with the others.
- Boys playing with leaves. Throwing them at one another.
- Boys putting leaves down one another’s shirts.
- Boys untucking shirts to let the leaves out.
- A bit of pushing and shoving as the leaf attacks continued.
- One boy significantly bigger than the others has a kid in a head hold from behind. I asked him to stop and let the boy go. He readily complied and found another game on his own.
- A few minutes after the pushing and shoving, the boys have stopped on their own and are talking for a significant length of time. I sense they are friends. I witness in living color before my eyes the thesis that boys are closer friends after physical scuffles. (That sure is not the way girls live!)
- One boy is tossing a small piece of concrete (about the size of a baseball) across the rubber mat. I asked him to put the concrete in the pile by the fence line. He did and went back to the game at hand.
The piece from the text that initially surprised me is that, for boys, if you let a little more rough and tumble go at recess, the classroom is a calmer place…..really? Then I reflected on a particular class from my past. Every day after recess all kinds of issues from the football game came into the classroom. Adults made the rules and therefore it seemed they wanted adults to be the arbitrator of the disputes. Dare I say it was a rather significant mess almost daily. Now, I’ve only been here three years, but never have I been asked to settle something from the game of the day. Allowing a little more mutual aggression on the playground allows room for the kids to work out their own issues, and they come in calmer and ready to settle into the next class. Lord, thank you for our school, and help us enable the young ones here to grow in wisdom, age and grace! Also, Lord, thank you for adults who work together well for the good of all!
Sister Mary Michael, C.K.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, December 5
- 6th grade field trip
- 8th grade basketball 6:45 at Cathedral
Friday, December 6
- Fr. Kipper's feast day
- 1st grade class Mass
Sunday, December 8
- Junior High caroling at the capitol
Monday, December 9
- No School--Immaculate Conception--Holy Day of Obligation
Tuesday, December 10
- 3rd grade field trip
- CSS food delivery
- Boys Basketball 6:56, 7:45 at St. Joseph
Colder Weather...
Please send your children with warm coats, hats and gloves as the weather gets colder. We go outside for recess is the wind chill is 10 degrees or warmer!
Fleece Sweatshirts Available!
Our inventory currently holds:
1 Youth gray fleece XL
1 Youth gray fleece Small
3 Adult gray fleece Medium
2 Adult gray fleece Large
2 Adult navy fleece Medium
Reach out to the school office if you'd like to purchase one we have on hand. They are $30 each.
Lost and Found
We will be cleaning out the school lost and found, so if you think you have an item there, come and claim it this week. Leftover items will be donated.
2nd-8th graders, you're invited...
to sing with Mrs. Schilmoeller in the choir loft at the 8:15 Mass on Monday, December 9th, in honor of Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception!
Pius Players
Join us for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," a fun, family-friendly One Act production (run time about 50 minutes). Three shows: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 12-14 all at 7 p.m. in the theater at Pius X High School. $5 tickets at the door with a $30 family max. (Featuring many St. Teresa alumni!)
Winter Wonderland
Help us create a Winter Wonderland in our gym! We are looking to borrow larger Christmas decorations for our first ever Winter Wonderland event on Dec. 20th. Inflatables of any size, wire trees, lights, wooden decorations, etc. would be fantastic! They would be picked up Dec. 19th and returned Dec. 20th. Please email jillzimmer81@gmail.com if you have anything we could borrow or you are interested in volunteering with this event. Thank you!
Updated School Directory
Retreat for Laity
Pius X Thunderettes Kiddie Camp
Join us for PXDT Kiddie Camp on February 8, 2025! This exciting camp, open to grades PreK-5th, will be held at Pius X High School (6000 A Street, Lincoln, NE). The day kicks off at 9 a.m. and includes dance routines, games, and a performance for parents at noon. Dancers are welcome to come back for a performance at the Pius X Boys Varsity Basketball Game at 4:30 p.m. Registration is $35 for one camper, $25 for a second, and $15 for additional campers. For questions, email Coach Evie at sievertevie@gmail.com. PXDT Kiddie Camp Sign-Up
Gerbil Care
We have 2 gerbils in the office (Linus and Cletus)! If you would like to help care for them over the weekends, please see sign-up below!
Contact Sister Mary Agnes with questions: sr.mary-agnes@cdolinc.net
St. Teresa School Mission Statement
St. Teresa Catholic School, in partnership with parents, provides an education faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church. We nurture students’ natural sense of wonder and guide them to know and love truth, beauty, and goodness, and to live as virtuous disciples of Jesus Christ with their hearts set on true and lasting joy.