Every 45 minutes we take a 15 minute break from our classes. I had read about schools in Finland doing this (and we all know that Finish schools do most things pretty well) so I though that we should give it a try here at Olng’arua.
When children have been sitting in class it gives them a chance stretch, run around and shout a bit. Even if the lessons have been outside or unstructured it still helps to give them some time to let their minds wander off and think of other things for a while. It’s good for the teachers too.
We have found that we achieve much more with the time that we do study because both the children and the teachers are reinvigorated by these short breaks.