Today was another “active” day on the playground for many children.

Every once in a while, the staff notice an interesting series of playground behaviour phenomena that we are convinced has something to do with the cycles of the moon. We usually express our opinions about how children are interacting on those days with, “Is it a full moon?” (It’s not. I checked. Next full moon on May 6).

On these most active days, one of the most effective things I can do as a Principal is to be present. I need to be around those places where the most active and energetic groups are, and by being present, help encourage a little calmness amongst all the recess excitement.

Today we had tears over taken food (crackers and a cookie).

Today we had some small fights (“I didn’t hit him hard.”).

Today we had hat wearing in class after being asked to remove the hat (The student thought we went away – You can pick it up at the end of the day.).

Tire swings were full of action, with feet flying and children being knocked down. Some grade 7 boys had too much energy for our own good on the swing set, so I spent some time observing them (and they kept an eye on me too). The flying fox was going along fine, until a group of children decided that they too wanted a turn, but did not want to wait. One boy decided to play percussion with the playground structure using a large stick. (Impressive sounds, but we discourage repeated blows to our playground.) One boy used a friend as a chair, and seemed perplexed that his friend was upset.

We can always tell how active our students are when the supervision staff start asking for time checks. I will often hear the time check question around 12:45 pm (10 minutes left). Playground supervisors in schools all over North America can attest that the last 10 minutes of lunch break seem to be the slowest.

Today, I was out there supervising, and I started looking at my watch at 12:30 pm. Not a good sign.

We made it through. We dried some tears. Some students made some apologies. Some cleaned up some litter. One student forgot to come pick up the hat. (It will be here tomorrow.)

Tomorrow is another day. I will be present.

Take care.