Criss Cross Applesauce Article for April 2019:
Susan Wilson, Principal
The sun is shining and the air is getting warmer. Indeed, the very short spring season has sprung in Texas City! You can see an increasing number of people walking their dogs or pushing strollers down sidewalks in the early evening hours. Children can be seen outside at times playing basketball or riding bikes. This very short Texas season reminds me of spring when I was a little girl in Illinois. We could smell the melting snow and feel the sloppy ground where it made little puddles of water. Trees began to grow buds and violets and dandelions started poking up through the ground. I can still distinctively smell that spring air if I concentrate hard enough. Memories of playing outside from after breakfast until dinner time fill my mind. We played on the swing-set, dug up worms, chased snakes, climbed trees, and rode our bikes for miles as soon as the weather started getting warmer.
I remember wanting to swim in the blow-up pool one day and being told that it was still too cold – the weather would have to be 70 degrees before we could swim! In Texas, some people are still wearing jackets when it’s 70 degrees! In the evenings, the lightening bugs (fireflies) would start to come out in the spring, and we would collect them in jars and put them by our bedside. We would then lay in bed and read library books by the light of the jars, and the help of a flashlight, until we were told it was time to turn the lights out. But, those were different times than where we are now. Today we live in the age of technology; computers, smart phones, smart watches, computerized vehicles, tablets, etc.
There are also a wide variety of electronic video game systems on the market with every kind of game imaginable. Many children have never visited the local city library and most don’t have a library card; a staple during my childhood. I grew up in the country with many acres of land to explore and no close neighbors. Today’s children typically grow up in subdivisions with small yards and limited space to explore. I believe this is one of the reasons that we see such a decrease in the amount of time our youngest generation spends doing physical play each day. At my school, it is evident which children do not get outside active play on a regular basis. They are the ones that are ready to quit playing on the playground after only about 10 minutes.
They are exhausted and want to go back inside the cool school building. Calvin Vincent Early Childhood Center puts an emphasis on physical play and gross motor development; the strengthening of large muscles that we use in our arms and legs. Every class is scheduled to have a block of time in our gross motor play room doing Zumba, aerobics, dancing, and playing with balls, balance beams, bean bag tosses, etc. each day. Classes are also scheduled for a block of time to be outside playing on the playground every day that weather permits.
If there is inclement weather, they can utilize the gross motor room twice that day. We recently did an informal audit of our playground and equipment and found that it could be improved. I wrote a grant to Head Start for one-time program improvement funds to renovate our playground to be safer, more interactive, and more interesting for our students. This past August, the Texas City ISD Head Start program was awarded $186,2078 through that one-time program improvement grant to enhance and expand our playground. The goal was to make the playground safer in the heat of the summer months and add additional dramatic play areas, ball game equipment, and a sound garden with real musical percussion instruments. The entire playground areas are now covered with durable, wind storm proof shade canopies. The mulch has been taken out and replaced with a turf material that looks like real grass. Children have a tricycle gas station, fire station, farmer’s market, and climbing cave. It looks beautiful!
The playground was closed from February 8, 2019 until the grand opening on March 18, 2019. Shane Jefferys, CPSI for The Playground Shade and Surfacing Depot was present during the grand opening ceremony as were all 375 students and our entire staff. After a few words by Principal Susan Wilson, all students had an opportunity to play on the new playground at the same time for approximately 15 minutes! New materials have been ordered for students to use in the dramatic play areas and on the tricycle path. Students are now anxious and excited to be outside, even on the few warmer days that we have already had this year. I wish I could give every one of our students the childhood that I had, but that is not a reality. Instead, all I can do is encourage our students to love being active in hopes that they take that love home with them and carry it with them throughout their lives.
