Volunteers Paint U.S. Maps for School Playgrounds

A few times a year we get calls at Peaceful Playgrounds regarding organizations that paint U.S. Maps on school playgrounds. I discovered this article in the Kansas City Star about the AT&T Pioneers, a group of current and retired workers for the telephone company, who have worked for years painting maps of the United States on elementary school playgrounds.


Two other organization that paints U.S. Playground Maps are the Girl Scouts and Eagle Scouts.

School Wide Discipline- WHAT WORKS?

Introducing our next FEATURED ARTICLE.

Why is it that some schools have found the magic formula to orderly classrooms and a safe emotional and physical environment for learning, while other schools experience continuing discipline disruptions to the learning environment? We reviewed research for a list of prevention strategies including how to enforce school rules and being proactive in playground problems.

According to the research, schools adhering to the list of identified schoolwide discipline practices in the article can expect they will reclaim valuable instructional time and enjoy the benefits of a well disciplined smooth running school environment.

Peace and Productive Games Await Students's Return to School

Students returning to Pine-River Backus Elementary school this fall with have a nice surprise waiting for them. A recently painted Peaceful Playground.

PR-B's Family and Youth Services Coordinator, Denise Koring rounded up a group of volunteers last week to paint the new designs on the playground promising that the playground will promote both "peace and productive games and activities."

Click for more on Pine-River Backus's Peaceful Playgrounds story or information on adding Peaceful Playground designs to your school or playground.

Playground Tips: Laying out the Playground

A frequent question that we answer here at Peaceful Playgrounds is : "How much space do I need to take advantage of the Peaceful Playgrounds Program and stencils sets?" We point out that while we offer 4 different blueprints and designs with approximately 100 game choices and no one puts ALL the games and markings on the playground. We recommend that you select a few games from each blueprint so that you have developmentally appropriate games for the various grades K-6.

We have observed that most schools paint approximately 10-15 different games and activity markings. We have a listing of these most popular game markings on our website.

In terms of space we recommend that a minimum of 2 basketball size courts of asphalt surfacing is needed which would allow for approximately 6-10 games depending on the game markings selected. This is a good rule of thumb for either of our game stencil sets: Recess Stencil Set or the Physical Education Roll Out Stencil Sets.

For more information download a Peaceful Playgrounds Products Brochure.

A design that fights playground politics

Published in the Daily Herald

5/31/08

by Eric Peterson

Pictures by Bill Zars Daily Herald staff photographer.

Teachers and staff at Lakeview Elementary in Hoffman Estates know recess is meant for exercise, not playground conflicts. But they'd searched fruitlessly for a way to encourage the former and discourage the latter among students.

Then a staff member whose own child attends school in St. Charles heard of a program in use there that she thought might just be of help at Lakeview.

The Peaceful Playgrounds program was designed about 12 years ago by Melinda Bossenmeyer, director of the College of Education at California State University.

A former physical education teacher and principal, she's become recognized as a playground design expert through six books and is a nationally certified playground inspector.

Her daughter and marketing director, Andrea Bossenmeyer, said the program is sold as a do-it-yourself kit for schools or parks to customize based on their amount of blacktop or green space.

The multicolored boxes and patterns on the playground lend themselves to the innovation of new games as well, Andrea Bossenmeyer said. And the incorporation of letters into the playground provides for games that help build reading skills.

At Lakeview, the PTA recently purchased the program with help from a $1,500 grant from the Schaumburg Township Elementary School Foundation, school social worker Mary Brodie said.

The program met several goals of the foundation's grant selection committee, said member Leslie Eskildsen, who's principal of Stevenson Elementary in Elk Grove Village.

"One of the things we're looking for is to impact as many kids as possible," she said. The playground's design "eliminates competition and fosters teamwork. We see that as important."

The playground games -- painted onto the blacktop by parent and staff volunteers -- were chosen based on an assessment of Lakeview's available space.

Unveiled just a couple of weeks ago, the playground already has been deemed a success by faculty and students alike, Brodie said.

"Now that it's out there, I don't see any kids just out there with no one to play with," sixth-grader Ivette Figuera said.

Classmate Brandee Spates said she was impressed by the attention paid to how students spend even their recess time.

And second-grader Angel Almanza said there's a clear difference in how much more cooperative the games on the playground have become.

Brodie said there's also a clear difference in how far fewer disciplinary measures have been required on the playground in recent weeks.

Tag leads to lawsuit

A playground fight which occurred in physical education during a game of tag has led to a lawsuit by an elementary-school student and his mother against the Tucson Unified School District.

The student was attacked while playing tag. He was knocked to the ground, kicked which severely lacerated his spleen, said plaintiff's attorney Richard Gonzales. The victim ended up staying 6 days in the hospital.

The victim's mother accused the school district of negligence because the boy who allegedly attacked her son had a history of behavioral issues, had been placed "on restriction" and wasn't supposed to be participating in the class.

More on lawsuit......


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Imagination Playground

Imagination Playground is a place where kids will exercise their minds as well as their muscles.

A unique joining of private and public entities in order to provide a new playground model for cities. The first that I've heard of is this one in New York City where the Rockwell Group and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation have collaborated to create a new playground model that is a dynamic alternative to more traditional play spaces.

Imagination Playground is a rich environment of diverse materials that encourages unstructured child directed “free play”, the very sort of activity that is vital to developing cognitive, social and emotional skills.