
What are your kids doing during lunch? The obvious answer is eating. But in a 50 minute lunch period, I'm sure most of them are done eating within 10-15 minutes. So whats happening during the other 35 minutes or so?
The Lunch period is one of the few periods where children get to interact and socialize with one another with some freedom. But with all the instruction going on, how do they learn to properly socialize with one another?
From most teachers and administration, I'm told, the cafeteria is where most of the social problems reside. This is because the children have been given a "break" and are surrounded by other student bodies up to 2,000%! How do we engage students and keep their focus on their own class while having them socialize properly?
This is where the Idea of the embedded game table came to be. A lot of schools utilize games and game boards in their school cafeterias. But what happens with those games? They need to be stored, distributed, set up, given out, boxes or packages held, cleaned up, fallen pieces looked for, and repeated for every period before they become to used up to be used.
Now imagine if you never have to distribute another game because the games are a part of the table! Distributing and cleaning up are things of the past as students would control the pieces. Losing the pieces would not be a problem as well because schools can utilize their math counting chips (manipulative) and for other games students can use their own items as tokens. The only thing you need for most games are dice!
The cafeteria is a place to relax and enjoy your time away from class. It is an outlet of sorts. But if students aren't engaged in their own space, they will look for other outlets. And thats where problems happen. Outlets include playing with hands, throwing food, fighting, yelling, running, or sneakiness. We need to have more positive outlets. These game mats are just one thing to add to that space to reach their minds in the right direction! Changing our learning environments inside and outside of the classrooms a necessity to gain the attention of our students.
As of right now, these AnywhereKnowledge game mats (patent pending) are not available for sale yet, and will be donated to local schools in the Tri-State area by means of a GoFundMe account I have opened up.
If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns about the program, feel free to comment or contact me! Thanks!
Skyler Mariani
The Lunch period is one of the few periods where children get to interact and socialize with one another with some freedom. But with all the instruction going on, how do they learn to properly socialize with one another?
From most teachers and administration, I'm told, the cafeteria is where most of the social problems reside. This is because the children have been given a "break" and are surrounded by other student bodies up to 2,000%! How do we engage students and keep their focus on their own class while having them socialize properly?
This is where the Idea of the embedded game table came to be. A lot of schools utilize games and game boards in their school cafeterias. But what happens with those games? They need to be stored, distributed, set up, given out, boxes or packages held, cleaned up, fallen pieces looked for, and repeated for every period before they become to used up to be used.
Now imagine if you never have to distribute another game because the games are a part of the table! Distributing and cleaning up are things of the past as students would control the pieces. Losing the pieces would not be a problem as well because schools can utilize their math counting chips (manipulative) and for other games students can use their own items as tokens. The only thing you need for most games are dice!
The cafeteria is a place to relax and enjoy your time away from class. It is an outlet of sorts. But if students aren't engaged in their own space, they will look for other outlets. And thats where problems happen. Outlets include playing with hands, throwing food, fighting, yelling, running, or sneakiness. We need to have more positive outlets. These game mats are just one thing to add to that space to reach their minds in the right direction! Changing our learning environments inside and outside of the classrooms a necessity to gain the attention of our students.
As of right now, these AnywhereKnowledge game mats (patent pending) are not available for sale yet, and will be donated to local schools in the Tri-State area by means of a GoFundMe account I have opened up.
If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns about the program, feel free to comment or contact me! Thanks!
Skyler Mariani