Report Cards are done... it's time to play!
February 4, 2015, was the first annual Global School Play Day for students in schools around the world. In year one, over 65,000 students participated! Year two of Global School Play Day took place on February 3rd, 2016. In year two, over 175,000 students participated from around the world! We are so excited to be participating for the second year in a row! We will have play rotations for your grade level at your normal walking time, but feel free to play MORE! This is designed to be a day for unstructured play for students. In the past, teachers have planned tech free play in the classroom. Here are some ideas from the #GSPD2017 website at globalschoolplayday.com
CALL FOR TOYS!
Tell your class to bring anything they wish to play with to school on Wednesday, February 1st. The only restrictions: they must bring toys and these toys may NOT require batteries or electricity. No devices. Give them some ideas, since today's kids rarely play and often own very few toys: board games, dolls, Legos, blocks, trucks, cars, racetracks, playing cards, empty cardboard boxes, markers, jigsaw puzzles, blankets (for forts), social games (charades, Pictionary, etc.) The only exception on the electronics rule would be a board game that has an electronic timer, an electronics play kit, or similar. How about taking your students out in the dirt or snow to dig, explore and get messy? You may want to show your students photos of GSPD15 to open their eyes to unfamiliar types of unstructured play.
TWEET! SHARE AND REFLECT :)
After the event, be sure to share your pictures, ideas, and reactions on social media (with parent consent) and hashtag them #GSPD2017. Perhaps you could add a post to your blog sharing about the experience. Ask your students to reflect on GSPD as well! Be sure to talk to your students and if possible, their parents, about the necessity of daily unstructured play. Your students will most surely ask if they can have play days more often. A great answer is, "Of course! Every day can be play day with your friends in your neighborhood after school. Keep playing like you did at school today, but just do it after school."
Dates & Details:
Feb 1 Global School Play Day
Feb 6 Minimum Day/ Teacher PD afternoon (Positive Behavior Support and Intervention)
Feb 17 No School
Feb 20 No School
Mar 13th Staff Development Day-- all NCS conference style in the morning, Breakout EDU in the afternoon!
Apr 10th- 17th Spring Break
February planning days:
In the month of February, please find a date for your grade level to take a full day for planning. On this day, you will have time to finish your year long curriculum maps as a team, and also to develop an informational writing rubric and work on developing math assessments. We will provide more info and structure prior to your day, but in the meantime please select a day as a team and let us know. Only one grade level should be out on a particular day to maximize subs. Please add your preferred date to the Google Doc linked here.
