MONCLOVA – Sitting on the floor in Monclova Primary School’s community room, sisters Savannah and Violet Oliva collaborate with Kiki Amstutz to create a house with a swimming pool.
“This has a medical box,” said Violet, opening up a tiny cabinet to display a Lego block with a first aid sign.
“This is our swimming pool,” Kiki said, pointing to a line of Legos.
Nearby, Savannah Jackson, Tess Snyder, Janie Harrigan, Charleigh Flemming and Luna Crable construct a wall out of giant blocks. Cousins Ethan Bergner and Quinn Koch, along with siblings Jordan and Kylie Garcia, focus on building two houses.
While building with Legos is a favorite pastime for many students, getting together in free play before school is a rare occurrence – but one that provides multiple benefits, said fourth-grade teacher Brianne Black and intervention coach Rachel Birt.
It was during a break in a water aerobics class last summer that the two educators came up with Kickstart, a once-a-month, before-school free play time. Black and Birt had each been reading The Anxious Generation, How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, by Jonathan Haidt. The two began discussing ways to facilitate rewiring brains that have been increasingly reliant on using electronics.
Birt, who helps out with the arrival of students each morning, noticed that often parents were in the parking lot at 8 a.m. waiting for the doors to open at 8:30 a.m. Parents often drop off older students at the Finzel Road campus and then head to the primary school to wait for the doors to open. It’s not unusual to see students using electronics to pass the time.
“The thought was, if we could get these kids out of their cars and doing something, then the parents could drop them off and go,” said Principal Betsey Murry.
The goal is to have students get their bodies moving while learning to socialize in an unstructured environment – whether on the playground or doing activities like December’s dance party or next month’s plans to color on giant butcher paper or posters. The staff members who volunteer take a hands-off approach, letting the students play in groups of their own choosing while ensuring their safety.
“This gives students unstructured time to play before learning in order to get the wiggles out or to get the neurons firing for the morning,” Birt said. “This way, they’re not coming in here zombified. They’re more engaged, and they’ve already had an opportunity to be social.”
Because of the structure during the regular school day, students are rarely able to play with students in different grades, or even other classes, Black noted. Often she sees siblings in different grades teaming up together or with other students to play during Kickstart.
“This also provides an opportunity for them to learn self-advocacy. They make up the rules and have to talk and bargain on what they want to play,” Birt said. “It’s the soft skills that become big skills in real life.”
Staff members volunteer their time before school but don’t intervene or lead play. Many have also provided suggestions for activities, which may incorporate yoga – as Birt is a certified yoga instructor – but when the weather is nice, free play on the outdoor playground will be a priority.
Already, the teachers have seen an improvement in the 45 to 50 students who sign up to participate each month.
“I’ve seen my students come back ready for the day. They feel special, and they’re excited. They’re more alert instead of coming in tired,” Black said. “We really want our parents to know that we care about the whole child.”
For the students, it’s also a break from waiting in the car, riding the bus or hanging out with a parent at work before school.
“I like coming in before school. All of the activities are really fun,” said Ethan Bergner.
