Half Day
Build and Explore
When you enter the Half Day classrooms, you’ll see children deeply engaged throughout. From artistic expression in the art room, building tall towers and small towns in the block room, and word and number games in the middle room, children are learning through play everywhere you look.
In Half Day, children learn how to share, hear others' ideas, accept differences, and lead and follow. The foundations of long-term academic and intellectual development are rooted in close connections with friends and adults. The environment and connections foster a love of school, and a sense of safety, joy and belonging.
Learning meets play
Play
Rather than a diversion from academics, imaginative play strengthens long-term learning. As children experiment with their ideas, they take on the role of others and experience the world from another’s point of view. This type of thinking helps build early reading comprehension and abstract reasoning. When children play they engage physically, mentally and emotionally.
Practice with three-dimensional construction in the block room promotes the early visual-spatial understanding needed for math and science. Teachers guide mental math development as students build with blocks and other objects, cementing numerical literacy. Carefully selected toys help develop foundational cognitive skills, including problem solving, measuring, graphing, counting, pattern recognition, sorting and information organization.
Reading
Our students' early and frequent exposure to the richness of language and literature helps build a strong foundation for reading comprehension and for a lifelong love of reading. Half Day teachers immerse students in the best of children’s literature - imagining the stories, delighting in the humor and delving into the internal emotional worlds of the characters.
Often, children become fluent young readers in the Half Day. Supplementing each day's group reading time, each child has an individualized reading plan appropriate to their current skill level. Explicit reading instruction enables students to develop foundational reading skills such as phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge and language fluency.
Half Day Kindergarten
Children who turn five after March 31 join our Half Day kindergarten, which prepares them to be ready for first grade the following year. Tailoring Half Day kindergarten to the developmental needs of younger five-year-olds, offers an intentional focus on deepened social and emotional development through play-based activity. Half Day kindergarten includes a smaller class size allowing for more individualized learning. Young five-year-olds benefit from the deliberate focus on building school readiness and nurturing resilience.
The academic expectations for Half Day kindergarten are similar to those of our full-day kindergarten students; both programs offer curricula focused on reading, writing and math.
Those turning five before April 1 will join the elementary full-day kindergarten program, where they complete their kindergarten year in a mixed-age class with children ages 5-6 (kindergarten and first grade).
The 1341 Building
![The Half Day house from the playground]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1745423178/paideia/z6uumtsk2y9rzai37pxc/hd_house.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1745423178/paideia/z6uumtsk2y9rzai37pxc/hd_house.jpg","width":500}])
An enchanting house that centers children
Half Day takes place in a sunny, welcoming Druid Hills property. Each room features an activity central to learning, and these include the Art Room, a large sun porch; the Block Room, which includes a multitude of blocks and science displays; the Middle Room, with books, puzzles, math materials and games enabling small-group and individual instruction; and the Playground, which is considered another classroom.
![Half Day art room]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1745423083/paideia/bwu4velzpvgilvdjbnyk/hd_art_room.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1745423083/paideia/bwu4velzpvgilvdjbnyk/hd_art_room.jpg","width":500}])
An enchanting house that centers children
Half Day takes place in a sunny, welcoming Druid Hills property. Each room features an activity central to learning, and these include the Art Room, a large sun porch; the Block Room, which includes a multitude of blocks and science displays; the Middle Room, with books, puzzles, math materials and games enabling small-group and individual instruction; and the Playground, which is considered another classroom.
![Half Day students in the block room]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1745423030/paideia/maeejtpzockfzcu1byda/hd_block_room.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1745423030/paideia/maeejtpzockfzcu1byda/hd_block_room.jpg","width":500}])
An enchanting house that centers children
Half Day takes place in a sunny, welcoming Druid Hills property. Each room features an activity central to learning, and these include the Art Room, a large sun porch; the Block Room, which includes a multitude of blocks and science displays; the Middle Room, with books, puzzles, math materials and games enabling small-group and individual instruction; and the Playground, which is considered another classroom.
![Teacher with students in the Half Day middle room]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1745422980/paideia/mgfnr4d4rtmlgibsumro/hd_middle_room.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1745422980/paideia/mgfnr4d4rtmlgibsumro/hd_middle_room.jpg","width":500}])
An enchanting house that centers children
Half Day takes place in a sunny, welcoming Druid Hills property. Each room features an activity central to learning, and these include the Art Room, a large sun porch; the Block Room, which includes a multitude of blocks and science displays; the Middle Room, with books, puzzles, math materials and games enabling small-group and individual instruction; and the Playground, which is considered another classroom.
![Half Day Playground]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1745422936/paideia/bqj6nvhdmzbfszccfjee/hd_playground.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1745422936/paideia/bqj6nvhdmzbfszccfjee/hd_playground.jpg","width":500}])
An enchanting house that centers children
Half Day takes place in a sunny, welcoming Druid Hills property. Each room features an activity central to learning, and these include the Art Room, a large sun porch; the Block Room, which includes a multitude of blocks and science displays; the Middle Room, with books, puzzles, math materials and games enabling small-group and individual instruction; and the Playground, which is considered another classroom.
Parents always welcome
Since 1971, parent volunteers have been at the core of the Half Day experience. Today, parents remain a vital and meaningful part of the day-to-day life of our school. Most days, you can find parents in the Half Day classroom helping teachers, reading to students, leading an art activity, sharing a family holiday or tradition, or even gardening with the students. Regardless of how you choose to volunteer your time, we love welcoming families into Half Day to share in the joy of learning.
Half Day at a Glance
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6:1 student-teacher ratio
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Multiage classrooms
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Small-group reading instruction
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Strong family partnership
Students in the Half Day program enroll in either a morning or afternoon session.
- Morning class: 8:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
- Afternoon class: 11:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.