Our school day is organized as a Balanced School Day. Essentially, this approach divides the school day into three large instructional periods separated by two nutrition / play periods. Our schedule is shown below.
Time |
Block |
Duration |
8:25 |
Outside Supervision begins with bell ringing at 8:40 |
15 min |
8:40-10:20 |
First Instructional Period |
100 min |
10:20-11:00 |
First Nutrition Break |
40 min |
11:00-12:40 |
Second Instructional Period |
100 min |
12:40-1:20 |
Second Nutrition Break |
40 min |
1:20-3:00 |
Third Instructional Period |
100 min |
3:00 |
Dismissal |
We feel that this approach has a number of advantages: The Ontario Curriculum requires teachers to engage students in concrete, "hands-on" learning experiences in order to develop in-depth knowledge. Research has shown that time on task is the most important factor in predicting student success. Larger blocks of instructional time allows added time for guided student practice and teacher feedback. Teachers are able to give more attention to individual needs. This leads to more focused learning by students and more time on task.
- Research indicates that the best learning occurs when the brain receives sufficient water and proper nutrition. The provision of two balanced nutrition breaks provides students with more timely and consistent access to water and food.
- Each nutrition break is followed by a recess period of about twenty minutes, giving students an opportunity to play and socialize with friends. Other schools that have adopted this type of program report that the number of behavioural incidents and injuries decrease significantly.
- There is less time lost in preparing for recess and re-entering the school after recess. The experience of schools that have already implemented this approach indicates that on average about eight minutes a day or forty minutes a week is gained with the removal of one break period! Certainly this time is increased significantly with younger children and in the winter months.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to give us a call at your convenience. We will be conducting an ongoing review of this project and your feedback is very important.