NC EOG Practice Test 15

Let's Play First, Then Eat

by Amaya Benton, fifth grade, Hawthorne Park Elementary

¹At our school, lunch comes first and recess comes after. Every day I watch the same thing happen. Kids sit down, take three bites of their sandwiches, and stare at the clock. As soon as they are allowed, they dump their trays and race for the door. Much of their lunch ends up in the trash. I think our school should switch the schedule so that recess comes before lunch.

²My first reason is that students would eat more of their lunch. When recess comes second, many kids hurry through their food so they can get outside sooner. Researchers who studied several elementary schools in Utah found that when recess was moved before lunch, students ate more of their fruits and vegetables. That makes sense to me. After running around, you are actually hungry, and there is nothing to hurry for.

³My second reason is that less food would be thrown away. Last spring, our student council tried a two-week experiment. During the first week, we weighed the food left on the fourth graders' trays after lunch, with recess second as usual. During the second week, our principal, Ms. Farrow, let the fourth graders have recess first. Their trays had noticeably less wasted food. By our count, they threw away about a third less.

⁴My third reason is that students would be calmer in class afterward. Right now, kids come straight from the playground into the classroom, sweaty and wound up. It can take a long time to settle down. If we ate after recess, lunch would give everyone a chance to cool off and rest before afternoon lessons. Mr. Ibarra, who teaches fourth grade, said those classes seemed more focused during the week of our experiment. On those days, the fourth-grade classes started math almost ten minutes sooner.

⁵Some people worry that the switch would be hard. Students would need to wash their hands after recess and before eating, and that takes time. I understand this concern, but our sinks are right next to the cafeteria doors. A few extra minutes of hand washing is a small price to pay for kids who eat better, waste less, and learn more.

⁶Other people say that kids will be too hungry to play if lunch comes later. But we could simply swap the two periods, so lunch would start only twenty minutes later than it does now.

⁷Changing the order of two parts of the day is easy and free. It could make a real difference for every student at our school. We already tried it with one grade, and the results speak for themselves. I hope our principal and teachers will try it for the whole school next year.