This petition is a Girl Scout Bronze project written by troop 13445 (4th and 5th grade Juniors):

At school, we get 15 minutes of recess most days.  Some days not even 15 minutes because of testing, bad behavior, and other stuff. At the end of 15 minutes we just start to figure out a game that we want to play and we have to line up to go in.  Recess feels like "two minutes".

After doing research at our local library we found lots of articles that tell us recess is good and should be longer. The articles say recess should be at least 45 minutes.  They say one hour "fosters" (which means "helps") creative play (edutopia.org).  Longer recess is credited with top testing scores and overall healthier kids, like kids in Finland.  We found on emaxhealth.com, five important reasons for longer recess: play helps kids develop physical skills, play helps with social skills, it helps boost intellectual capacity (that means your thinking), children learn to be good people, and it helps classroom behavior.

In Texas, they are testing to see if longer or more recess works (they are following the example of the Finish School System). They are having 4 - 20 minute recesses per day.  Teachers were already seeing a big difference! (Next year California and Oklahoma are doing the same!)  They say the kids are less distracted, make more eye contact and tattle less.  Silly thing, the teachers say the kids even quit grinding (chewing) on their pencils! (found on NPR.org "Turns Out Monkey Bars And Kickball Might Be Good For The Brain")

Let's get Georgia added to that list!! Please support our petition for change - SIGN AND HELP US SPREAD THE WORD - KIDS NEED MORE RECESS!!