• March 6, 2023

     

    Hello Everyone,

     

    We can check off another great week of games at Maplewood! Thank you as always for creating such a welcoming environment for me and for Playworks!

     

    I will be continuing to send monthly newsletters highlighting what we worked on from the previous week. As always, you are welcome to check out our if you ever need a quick game idea or new recess option. For an even more extensive resource, you can also download our complete

     

    Feel free to reach out to me at alexander.kelley@playworks.org at any time if you need Playworks assistance, and I look forward to my return on 3/6!

     

     

    Class Game Times

    This week we used the Social Emotional focus of inclusivity, which came out the most in our Soccer Smash game on the blacktop. I had some great conversations this week with students about being open to sharing the fun, and am looking forward to hearing more stories of kids practicing this valuable skill!

    In terms of actual games, inside we learned Werewolf and Splat for grades three and up, and Night at the Museum, What Changed? and Poison Dart frog for grades K-2. Outside we learned how to play Soccer Smash, a nice alternative goal oriented alternative to kicking the soccer balls around on the black top!

    I will include the instructions on how to play these games at the bottom of this message. Additionally, I realized while writing this that I accidentally forgot to send a newsletter from my previous rotation! My apologies for the oversight, you will also be able to find those games from that session included here. 

     

    Junior Coaches

    I was so happy to be able to work with both fifth grade classes this week as I came in during the transition period! From what I saw, both groups are doing an excellent job building rapport with the younger classes and fitting into their roles as recess leaders!

     

    Recess Team

    Shout out to our recess team for two awesome meetings this week! I am feeling very excited about the sign progress we made this week, thank you again to Megan for collecting the cans we need to make more sign stands! As we talked about in our last meeting, it is my hope that we can store the finished signs at the junior coach station and, as a bonus task for them, have them bring out and put away the signs with each recess. Having consistent signage highlighting game zones will be a great help for kids looking to initiate games on their own.

    Additionally, to make Soccer Smash a consistent option, we will need to acquire tall cones that are available for regular recess use. The ones we used this week I borrowed from the gym.

     

    That’s all for now, thank you again, 

     

    Alex

     

     

    Games This Week:

    1. Werewolf: Werewolf is a narrative adaptation of the game Mafia, a change that I feel makes the game more appropriate for school children. You can find how to play the base game . One thing I did not do in our game times that the video recommends is use multiple werewolves, which I think would help carry the game into a more interactive, whole group effort. Fortunately, both Mafia members and Werewolves hunt in packs. 

     

    Games from Previous Rotation