Why, oh Why, Can't They Play Nice? Tag Bootcamp.

I took the firsties outside during second recess to teach them (again) about good sportsmanship. Never seen anything like it, this level of competitiveness and demands for being "fair". My class had been banned from playing basketball, football and tag during recess. I had a little epiphany today - I can teach them how to read, I can teach them math, and I can teach them to be good sports. It was like bootcamp out there today. If only I had some fatigues and one of those whistles like Captain Von Trapp.

It worked. We had 20 very successful minutes of different tag games with only 3 bouts of tears, no cries of "unfair!!", no stomping feet or throwing of objects. I only had to get cross with one student for pouting and one for arguing. Success!

Never seen a group this competitive. Can you imagine the potential if all that energy was put into good sportsmanship? They would be unstoppable.