Every Moment Counts

Conversation during snack time, delicious food brought from home.

“I didn’t get to finish playing,” a child tells her teacher as the morning draws to a close. Her words remind us that meaningful play doesn’t fit neatly into a timetable: relationships, ideas and discoveries grow over time, in a space that is both protected and free. Every moment of the day matters, which is why we made the move to offer five class sessions each week. Five mornings for the younger children and five afternoons for the older children. When we made this change, we immediately observed how this continuity gave the children the time they needed to return to a familiar space and routine and more importantly, how it connected and deepened their play.

This is slow pedagogy.

Slow pedagogy gives children the time to follow an idea wherever it leads, to learn to trust themselves, and the adults present. We see this in our older children’s play stories, which unfold over time. The children shape the characters and events, revisit what has happened, and decide what comes next. Adults support the storytelling by listening, offering materials and gently extending children’s thinking—without taking over. This is more about listening and less about doing.

In the meantime, we also get to spend days and weeks on art projects, on building, on exploring. This was also another reason we moved the program to five sessions per week. Conversations are extended and filled out with ideas and actions.