Lunch and Recess Monitor Guide: Supervision, Conflict Resolution, and Safety

Lunch and Recess Monitor Guide: Supervision, Conflict Resolution, and Safety

This lunch monitor guide gives new noon-duty aides, recess monitors and parent volunteers a clear plan for the loudest part of the school day. Learn how to cover supervision zones, settle conflicts calmly, protect children with food allergies, keep the playground safe and write incident reports that get the right follow-up.

What's inside this lunch monitor guide

• Supervision Zones: Good supervision is active, visible and planned. Know your zone, keep moving, scan constantly, and never leave a gap in coverage without handing it off.
• Conflict Resolution: Most lunch and recess conflicts are small, predictable and fixable. Stay calm, separate and listen, help children solve the problem, and know when it is no longer a conflict but something you must report.
• Allergy Awareness: Food allergies can be life-threatening. Know which children in your care have plans, prevent exposure, recognize the signs of a reaction, and act fast according to your training.
• Playground Safety: Most playground injuries come from falls, unsafe use of equipment and rough play. Check the space, set clear expectations, watch the riskiest spots and respond calmly to injuries.
• Reporting Incidents: A clear, prompt, factual report is how the right people find out and follow up. Write what you saw, not what you assume, and send it through the right channel the same day.

Printable toolkit

• My Zone Map
• Conflict Conversation Planner
• Incident Report Draft
• Daily Duty Log
• One-page cheat sheet
• Glossary
• Chapter checklists

Who it's for

New lunch and recess monitors, parent volunteers and noon-duty aides, playground supervisors in schools and childcare programs, and the managers and principals who train them.

Format

30-page PDF in US Letter and A4. Print at home, or use it on a tablet: the clickable contents and bookmarks work in GoodNotes, Notability and most PDF readers.

Instant digital download. Nothing will be shipped.

This guide is general educational information for lunch and recess monitors, playground supervisors and volunteers. It is not first aid, medical, legal or child protection training, and it does not replace your school or program's policies and procedures, your state's laws and licensing rules, or the direction of your principal, director and school nurse. Always follow your employer's policies, local law and the training you receive.