From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
Children can be found playing on playhouses such as this during recess.
- This article is about the break period. For the television show, see Recess (TV series).
Recess is a general term for a period of time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties. In parliamentary procedure, "recess" refers to legislative bodies—such as parliaments, assemblies, juries—that are released to reassemble at a later time. This is used as an alternative to adjournment. Under the commonly used Robert's Rules of Order, a motion to recess may not be called when another person has the floor, is not reconsiderable, and requires a second and a majority vote.
In education, "recess" is the North American term (known as "playtime" or "break" in Great Britain, sometimes "playlunch" or "little lunch" in Australia [citation needed], or "interval" or "morning tea" in New Zealand) for a daily period, typically 15 minutes, in elementary school where students are allowed to leave the school's interior to enter its adjacent outdoor playground, where they can play on such recreational equipment as seesaws and swing sets, or engage in activities such as basketball or four square. Although no formal education exists during recess (this fact being touted most often by the children themselves), sociologists and psychologists consider recess an integral portion of child development, to teach them the importance of social skills and physical education. If the weather is bad, recess may be held indoors, in the classroom, where the students play board games or other activities that take more than one to play. This helps encourage group activity and some of the games are also educational. Or, they might play educational computer games or look at books. Some schools don't have recess, however.
In North America, the point where recess ends in a child's education is largely dependent on the school district, though by many standards it is removed when the child enters middle school. However, in high school and college, students usually have free periods, which are similar in spirit, although usually one studies or talks with one's friends during such times rather than playing games, which is made difficult by the lack of a playground. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, where there are traditionally few free periods during the school day, a recess-like period of free time in the morning, called playtime, is maintained by most schools of all ages, as well as an afternoon break for younger children. In both regions, access to outdoor facilities during a lunch break of varying duration is common to most schools, regardless of age level.
In Australia and New Zealand, generally in public schools "recess" occurs as a break between morning and mid-morning classes. It is followed after mid-morning classes by a more lengthy break, lunchtime. Thus, the structure of the school-day consists of three lesson blocks, broken up by two intervals: recess and lunch respectively.
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