Skip To Main Content

News

Day in the Life: Preschool and Lower School Extended Day

Day in the Life: Preschool and Lower School Extended Day

By Dylan Howlett

1,729 words | 6-minute read

As the clock nudges toward 2:20 p.m., they could be forgiven if they succumbed to drowsiness: Many of them have been at school for seven hours. But the more than 30 Durham Academy pre-kindergartners sitting cross-legged atop the carpet in the Preschool Great Room are rapt. An expectant hush sweeps over them as Joanne Minnis — manager of the Preschool Extended Day program — holds court.

They know their day isn’t over. And they’re thrilled about it.

They have stayed on campus for Extended Day, the after-school program that has served as a long-running bastion of supervised fun. The program has more students enrolled this year than at any time in its 22 years of operation. Spend an afternoon on Ridge Road, and it’s easy to see why.

On this beautiful October day, Minnis — who spends her mornings as a teaching assistant in the Coene Comets fourth grade classroom — leads the group in song. “OK,” she says. “It’s time for ‘Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate.’” They recite together, with joyfully precise enunciations, an incantation of seasonal reverie, and the very essence of their beloved extracurricular program.

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “Oh, my: It’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one said, “But we don’t care.”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “We’re ready for some fun.”

Welcome to Preschool and Lower School Extended Day. Get ready for some fun.


1–2:20 p.m. | Preschool Extended Day Until 2:20
Brittanie Tyson’s Pre-Kindergarten Classroom
Elizabeth McLeod’s Art Classroom

Bree ’38 furrows her brow and bends a strip of printer paper into the shape of a ring. Her creation is far more royal than it appears. She is making a crown for her favorite stuffed animal, Hoppie. There are few better ways to spend a Friday afternoon.

So it goes in the choose-your-own-adventure oasis of Extended Day, where DA Graduate characteristics abound — and multiply — long after school ends. Creativity. Curiosity. Joy. As Bree adds color to Hoppie’s crown, her classmates are enthralled by their own artistic pursuits in Brittanie Tyson’s classroom. The mood is as serene (Balance) as it is quietly determined (Drive). Aaron ’38 illustrates the pages of his original work of fiction. Jack ’38 assembles a farm collage, replete with cow, cat, horse and barn stickers. “My mom loved the first one I made,” says Jack, whose mother, Pamela McKenney, is the Lower School visual arts teacher. “So I’m making her another.”

Across the hall, there is more art. Elizabeth McLeod teaches Preschool art and cooking by day, and more art — twice per week — by Extended Day. (McLeod also teaches three art-focused After-School Enrichments each week.) She walks between tables as about a dozen students work on their two-dimensional haunted houses, which they’ve drawn in marker. Now they apply watercolors to add a foggy, ethereal feel to their spooky landscapes before they glue on ghosts fashioned from construction paper.

A chorus of questions filters over the unbroken concentration: Does this look good?! Does this look good?! McLeod smiles. Extended Day is also a time for growing independence.

“You need to be able to look at your work as an artist and ask, ‘Did I do everything that I needed to?’”

At 2:07 p.m., the students head outside to the new Preschool playground, which opened in August. It’s time for a quick runaround before dismissal. Nikki Graves, a pre-kindergarten and Extended Day teacher, jumps into an impromptu soccer match on the artificial turf in the middle of the playground. She dribbles around several students who squeal and yell as they try, often in vain, to dispossess the ball.

For those students leaving at 2:20 p.m., it’s time to depart. They grab their backpacks and line up as they prepare to march toward carpool pickup. Graves turns to her kids.

“Are we ready to ROCK?” Graves asks.

Her students smile. “Ready to roll!” they shout.


2:20–2:45 p.m. | Preschool Extended Day Until 5
Preschool Playground

The Preschoolers who have stayed beyond 2:20 p.m. have done so happily. They follow Minnis — along with Extended Day teachers Jason Lee and Maria Xie — outside to the concrete courtyard that separates the Preschool and Lower School playgrounds. Students sit in neat rows on terraced steps as they tear into wrappers, munch pretzels and crunch apples. It’s sustenance for the play to come.

It is in the tiniest of moments when a student may experience growth. A young girl runs up to Minnis and asks for help with opening her juice packet. She realizes, however, that she doesn’t need it. She opens the packet on her own. “You did it yourself!” says Minnis, beaming. “You’re getting stronger!”

The strength of Extended Day lies in its escapism, and in its connection. Less screen time. More socialization. Maximum authenticity. Minnis, Lee, Xie and fellow Extended Day teacher N’Dea Bryant all chat with students while they eat their snacks. They ask about their days, play along with joyful banter and offer gentle reminders to chew with their mouths closed. One by one the students spring from their seats to throw away or to recycle wrappers, containers and juice boxes, all as the courtyard reverberates with laughter, sing-song chants and chatter.

Soon it’s time to play. Most of the group disperses to the Preschool playground, while some students remain seated to finish their snacks. It’s the perfect time to catch up with siblings, or friends who are in another class or grade level and who wouldn’t cross paths during a normal school day. Some students open the doors of a plastic equipment shed to retrieve hula hoops, play mats, soccer balls, basketballs and toy cars. Some retrieve their best jokes.

Four kindergartners — Leonora, Lynnox, Mischa and Chelsey — crowd around a visitor at the far side of the playground to test their comedic chops. “Why did the old lady throw her butter out the window?” Mischa asks. “She wanted to see butterfly!” The girls dissolve into laughter. Leonora turns to her friends. “Want to go play?” she asks.

It’s the perfect question on a cloudless, 68-degree day, with an occasional breeze that contains whispers of an autumnal chill — and, perhaps, of five pumpkins sitting on a gate. Play is everywhere. A handful of students build sandcastles in the sandbox of the new playground. Several boys kick around a soccer ball. Two girls play with their stuffed animals and chat with each other. Another girl picks up and examines the texture of a leaf, while two boys zoom past, pushing their toy trucks along the pavement.

Extended Day can also be a time for quiet and serenity. On the grass beyond the edges of the playground, as the sun dapples through trees overhead, Madeline ’38 and Lynnox crush fallen leaves with their hands and toss the remains over their heads, as if they were throwing confetti. Quality time with friends on a beautiful afternoon is, of course, a reason to celebrate.


2:45–3:30 p.m. | Lower School Extended Day (until 6 p.m.)
Lower School Playground

Some 50 feet above and 100 yards from where their Preschool counterparts play, Lower Schoolers delight in their own after-school choices. At the “Art Table,” a folding table next to the entrance of the Lower School and Preschool Gym, students make their own paper airplanes. As they fold and crease and tape, one of their classmates sits quietly on a nearby bench as he reads “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.” Five students congregate atop the monkey bars as if they’re sitting at an elevated picnic table. Another group plays tag on the main play structure: The student who’s “it” stands on the mulch and swipes at their classmates as they jump out of the way. Meanwhile, an impromptu dance practice breaks out among three girls on the lower tier of the playground, where they follow their own routine in near-perfect synchronicity.

Watching the revelry unfold is a cadre of devoted staff members. Dan Gilson, director of DA’s Extended Day program, says students notice how much their teachers genuinely enjoy and care for each other — and how much they love being with students in the afternoon. “It’s really neat for kids and grownups to have a space where they can relate to themselves and each other,” Gilson says. It is also a family-oriented group: Among the staff are two DA alums, children of DA staff, former DA teachers, former Division I athletes and retired coaches. The staff is also as robust and responsive as ever. In 2024–2025, Kylie Stahl became Extended Day’s first-ever counselor to provide additional support and services beyond the normal school day, during which she also assists counselors and learning specialists at the Preschool and Lower School.

On the Lower School playground, which opened in the fall of 2023, there are spaces for everyone: for those who want to play, those who want to socialize, those who want to relax. There’s the “Bus Stop,” a stone outcropping on the side of the gym featuring a wooden platform on which students can sit and talk. There’s the swingset and the “Spider Web” — the gargantuan, netted climbing structure that rises above the rest of the playground and creates a veritable outpost at its highest reaches.

On the blacktop, a boy throws a ball against the stone facade of Brumley Performing Arts Building and catches each ricochet with his baseball glove. A ring of stumps, known to students as “Sitting Logs,” allows for contemplation and deeper conversations — as does the “Buddy Bench,” which sits between the Art Table and the Bus Stop. Down below on another swath of artificial turf, a soccer goalkeeper attempts to thwart penalty kicks from his friend, who has found repeated success. “I hit four in a row!” he shouts.

In a far quieter area, beneath the shade formed from the walls of Brumley, three second graders gather around one of two stone chess boards. Halley, Hila and Yi have rescued a stink bug with an injured leg. They assemble atop the chess board a tangle of crushed leaves, pieces of bark, twigs and rocks, all held together by one of their hoodies. They name the enclosure “Bugville,” and they hope to restore the stink bug to full health.

They know Extended Day is for all creatures great and small, and for making anyone feel whole again.