During the mornings, children arrive in the Centre and are supported by their educators to settle in through assisting with tasks in preparation for the day ahead. These tasks may include implementing yard checks, preparing for morning meetings, replenishing the water stations with water and glasses, watering the gardens, or planning and setting up morning experiences with their educators.

Morning meetings are a significant element of the pedagogy and curriculum at Totom House. Across the Centre, the key ‘languages’ offered include: ‘On Country’, ‘Mark-Making’, ‘Delicate Materials’, ‘Constructing’, and ‘Contentment’. These meetings are one of our methods by which we teach the children a key life-skill, which is often referred to as ‘think-say-plan(draw)-do-reflect’. Through these ‘Morning Meetings’, the children are given the opportunity to practice this skill as part of their day at Totom, and through this activity, it is hoped it will become a skill they will continue to implement and refine each day for the rest of their lives.

Morning Meeting - Newsletter July 2023 

During mealtimes, relaxing music is played as a method of letting children know when the restaurants are open. Mealtimes are curated with the intention that all children have the opportunity to prepare, decorate, and enrich the restaurant environments with access to a range of décor. Children have the responsibility to self-serve the amount of food and water they need, and are encouraged to reflect on their internal feelings of hunger and fullness to regulate their food intake and maintain positive relationships with food. Upon finishing their meals, children are expected to pack away their things and clean/reset the eating space for the next child.

Meal Time - Newsletter March 2023 

Sleep and rest times at Totom House are considered a sacred time of the day, while our rest environments are curated to support peaceful rest and sleep within a relaxed atmosphere, utilizing natural sound and light to foster children’s natural circadian rhythms.

During these parts of the day, all children are offered downtime each day. Children are supported to assess their own sleep and rest needs and are offered the following choices for downtime: sitting down and resting, lying down when resting, and having a sleep on a mattress.

The children from the Senior and Preschool studios are provided with slow-down activities that offer quiet, solitary, and contemplative moments as part of the transition to rest and sleep. In the Junior Studio, children are supported to fall asleep independently, while having their needs met and responded to with empathy and compassion.

During the afternoons, children in small groups reflect on their morning play experiences or may have small group experiences with an educator to share stories through literature and the art of storytelling. Bi-weekly, our music teacher Lois comes into each studio and runs age-appropriate and engaging music sessions for all children.

At the end of each day, the children who leave the Centre late are invited to a farewell tea ceremony, where chamomile tea and biscuits are served in a quiet atmosphere as children and educators come together at the end of a long day to recuperate and say goodbye. On Mondays, children who depart Totom House earlier in the afternoons are invited to bake biscuits for the week ahead in preparation for the farewell tea ceremonies held at the end of each day. As part of our social responsibility curriculum and pedagogy, these children are not served the biscuits as the intention is to participate in acts of kindness for children who go home later in the evening.

Farewell Tea Ceremony - Newsletter July 2024