If you subscribe to the Responsive Classroom Newsletter, your copy of the February 2010 issue should arrive in your mailbox any day now. We’ve made some exciting changes — I hope you like them!
(To check the new look out right now, click on the newsletter cover to the right to view the whole issue as a PDF, or visit the Newsletter area of our website to read all the articles. If you don’t get the print edition and would like to, sign up for a free subscription today.)
We’ve been working on this redesign for quite a while now. Last year we surveyed readers and other customers, asking “Which aspects of the newsletter are most important to you?” We learned a ton about how beloved this free resource is to many elementary educators, and we tried not to change anything that you told us was important. Here’s what we did change:
- The catalog pages at the back have been eliminated. Instead, we’ve integrated information about our books and services throughout the issue.
- The total number of pages is 16 now (down from 24.) Reducing the number of printed pages helps us work toward our environmental goals and also cut our printing and mailing costs a bit.
- It’s in color! We’re thrilled to now be using color photos, illustrations, and design elements. Our printer uses soy-based inks and paper with a percentage of recycled content whenever possible.
While the look is new, I think you’ll find that the articles in this issue are just what you’ve come to expect from Responsive Classroom: full of practical ideas, thought-provoking, and written by authors who know elementary schools and classrooms well.
I’d love to know more about what you think of the newsletter! Leave a comment here if you want to share with other Responsive readers, or contact me directly via editor@responsiveclassroom.org.
Jen Audley is the managing editor of the
Responsive Classroom newsletter and website.
It’s always affirming when studies corroborate behaviors that we already practice, or at least espouse.
For example, on the personal front, I’ve been thrilled to see nutrition articles lately citing evidence that kale and sweet potatoes are good for me, since they are two of my favorite foods. (And let’s not forget those airtight findings on the health benefits of dark chocolate and red wine, a couple of other personal favorites.)
And on the professional front, I was pleased to see a New York Times article last week citing evidence about the positive changes that accrue from scheduling recess before lunch in elementary schools, since that is a practice that we’ve advocated for over twenty-five years now.
The schools profiled in the article report fewer behavior problems, not only at lunch, but throughout the afternoon. As one principal reports, “the wiggles are out.” They have documented less food waste and fewer nurse visits. And, interestingly, one Arizona school reported a gain of 15 minutes per day in instructional time, since the “cool-down” period after recess occurred during lunch, rather than during classroom time. Compare those comments with elementary principal Gail Healy’s description of her community’s experience with switching recess and lunch in the Winter 2001 issue of the Responsive Classroom Newsletter. You’ll notice the alignment.
Although a 2006 study cited in the article states that only 5% of elementary schools currently follow the play-then-eat formula, this may be a common-sense idea whose time has come, given the current attention on children’s nutrition and health in school. After all, as adults, how many of us down a meal and then immediately head out for a run or to the gym?
It’s true that reordering the midday schedule often requires rethinking some management routines, such as hand-washing and getting outerwear on and off. Surely that’s an investment that will repay itself many times over if it results in healthier children who return from their midday time settled and ready for an afternoon of learning.
Roxann Kriete is executive director of
Northeast Foundation for Children and author of
The Morning Meeting Book.
