Teach Playground Rules and Friendship with The Recess Queen

The beginning of the school year is filled with important lessons that have nothing to do with pencils, phonics, or math facts.

How do we take turns?

What should we do when someone wants to join our game?

How do we use playground equipment safely?

What does it mean to be a good friend at recess?

And perhaps most importantly…

How do we make sure recess is a safe and happy place for EVERYONE?

Instead of adding another separate lesson to an already packed back-to-school schedule, I love using children’s literature to introduce these important conversations.

And The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill is the perfect read-aloud for doing just that!

More Than a Fun Back-to-School Read-Aloud

Students love the larger-than-life Mean Jean and the brave new girl, Katie Sue, but underneath all the fun language and humor is an important message about how we treat others.

That makes this book a wonderful springboard for teaching playground etiquette, recess rules, kindness, friendship, taking turns, sharing, and inclusion.

My The Recess Queen literacy resource was created around that idea.

The focus isn’t simply reading the story and answering comprehension questions. Students use the story to think about how their own choices affect everyone else on the playground.

The included lesson focuses on helping children understand that recess should be safe, fair, kind, and fun for everyone while also practicing important literacy skills such as prediction, character analysis, recalling details, identifying character change, making text-to-self connections, and identifying the author’s message.

Start the Morning by Talking About RECESS!

Before we ever open the book, students begin thinking about something they already know a lot about—their own recess experiences!

The morning opener asks children to think about their favorite recess activities, friends they play with, how they feel about recess, and playground rules.

Then comes a simple activity that I especially love:

A Favorite Recess Activity Sticky-Note Poll!

Each child places a mini sticky note under the recess activity they like best.

Once everyone has voted, the class can quickly discuss:

Which activity is the most popular?

Which is the least popular?

Are any tied?

How many students chose each activity?

And don’t throw that chart away!

The class data can be saved and revisited later for the math and graphing activities included in the resource.

One simple morning activity has now activated prior knowledge, encouraged classroom conversation, helped students get to know one another AND collected authentic data for math.

That’s my kind of back-to-school activity!

Before Reading: Why Do We Need Playground Rules?

Before reading, I like to ask a very simple question:

“What makes recess fun?”

Kids usually have LOTS to say!

Then I turn the conversation around:

“What could happen if we didn’t have any rules on the playground?”

Suddenly, playground rules aren’t just another list of teacher expectations.

Students begin to understand why we need them.

Rules help everyone stay safe.
Rules make games fair.
Rules help us take turns.
Rules make sure everyone gets to have fun.

Then it’s time to look at the cover of The Recess Queen and make some predictions.

What might a “Recess Queen” be?

What do we think she will be like?

And what rules might help everyone stay safe and have fun at recess?

Now we’re ready to read!

Meet Mean Jean and Katie Sue

As I read, I want students thinking about more than what happens next.

I want them watching the characters’ choices.

When Mean Jean takes control of the playground, we can ask:

Is she showing good playground etiquette?

How are her choices affecting the other children?

Which playground expectations is she forgetting?

Then Katie Sue arrives.

Now we have a wonderful opportunity to compare the two characters.

How does Katie Sue behave differently?

How does she treat Mean Jean?

What does she do that demonstrates friendship?

And finally…

What helps Mean Jean begin to change?

These questions naturally bring comprehension and character analysis into our discussion while keeping our bigger playground-behavior goal front and center.

What Is a Recess Friend?

After reading, I introduce one of my favorite terms from the resource:

RECESS FRIEND

Then I ask:

“What does a recess friend do?”

Students usually have some wonderful ideas!

A recess friend might:

• invite someone to play;
• share equipment;
• take turns;
• follow the rules;
• use kind words;
• play safely.

We can also talk about behaviors that DON’T make someone a good recess friend—pushing, cutting in line, taking equipment, purposely leaving someone out, or always needing to control the game.

This is where the story really starts becoming our lesson.

We’re no longer just talking about Mean Jean and Katie Sue.

We’re talking about us.

Friend or Bully?

One of the included games gives students additional practice recognizing appropriate and inappropriate playground behavior.

Students listen to or read different scenarios and decide whether the action represents the behavior of a friend or a bully.

But I like adding one more question:

“What could that person do instead?”

That little question makes a BIG difference.

Instead of only identifying a poor choice, children have to think of a better one.

That’s the thinking I want them to carry onto the playground.

Create YOUR Playground Rules

Next, we move from the playground in the story to our own playground.

Ask:

“What rules should WE follow so everyone can have a safe and happy recess?”

Students can help create a class playground rules chart that includes expectations such as playing safely, being kind, taking turns and sharing, including others, keeping hands and feet to themselves, using equipment correctly, listening to adults, and lining up when recess is over.

I love doing this AFTER reading the story because the rules now have context.

Students have seen what can happen when someone doesn’t take turns, doesn’t include others, and doesn’t consider how their behavior affects the people around them.

End With a Recess Promise

To finish the lesson, students complete a personal response:

“I can be a recess friend by…”

Students can draw and/or write about the choices they will make to help create a positive playground.

Then, right before heading outside, each child can complete one final sentence:

“Today at recess, I will ______.”

Maybe they’ll invite someone to play.

Maybe they’ll take turns.

Maybe they’ll share.

Maybe they’ll use kind words.

Maybe they’ll remember to play safely.

Then we go outside and give them the opportunity to put those promises into action!

The lesson closes with a message I think is worth repeating throughout the year:

Recess belongs to everyone. When we follow the rules, play safely, and treat others kindly, we help make recess fun for everyone.

And There’s Plenty More!

The one-day lesson is just the beginning.

The resource also includes additional activities that teachers can choose from throughout the day or week.

There are math activities for surveying classmates, collecting data, and graphing favorite recess activities; word work for practicing ABC order, syllables, and making words; and additional comprehension activities focusing on characters, character traits, story details, main idea, problem and solution, author’s purpose, and character change.

These extras work beautifully for morning work, literacy and math centers, small groups, independent work, early finishers, or extending the book over several days.

And the best part?

You don’t have to use everything!

Choose the activities that work for your students and your schedule.

Literacy + Classroom Community = A Back-to-School Win!

There are so many expectations we need to teach during those first days of school.

But we don’t always need to stop our academic instruction to teach them.

Books like The Recess Queen allow us to teach literacy AND the behaviors that help create a positive classroom community at the same time.

Students are predicting, discussing characters, building vocabulary, making connections, writing, collecting data, and practicing comprehension.

But they’re also learning something they’ll use every single day:

How to be a safe, kind, inclusive RECESS FRIEND!