Recess has been lost in so many schools. It isn't just the moving around from classroom to art room etc (which our elementary principal tried to tell me with a straight and earnest face was sufficient for getting the kids moving, on top of daily PE). So much social learning goes on during recess, how to resolve problems, to support one another, to work together across ages and genders and achievement levels. Some options for directed play are useful for some kids (one of mine could have used it, the other was better with free play).
Responsibility in the school teaches them they have a place in the social structure. Students can have jobs like cleaning whiteboards, raising the flag, maintaining their spaces, helping clean the hallways, creating displays, checking the playground for left items, theirs or others'.
