Tag: classroom themes

IPS Classrooms: January-March 2021

Classes at The International Preschools resume on Tuesday, April 6th, after a two-week spring break. Before the final stretch to summer begins, please enjoy the following snapshots of our IPS students hard at work in our classrooms. Happy Spring!

  • Red Room Family!
  • Dancing with our friends…
  • Experimenting in Pre-K
  • Art
  • Multi-step art project
  • Harold and the Purple Crayon project
  • Ribbon Dance in honor of Lunar New Year
  • Art and Sensory Boxes
  • Circle Time
  • Spider webs in honor of Eric Carle
  • Bingo! in Junior Kindergarten
  • Block building
  • Art work sample
  • Whole group activity
  • Green 2 weather activity
  • Making Mat Man from our Handwriting Without Tears program
  • Board games
  • Snack time!
  • Sensory trays with “instant snow”
  • Collage art
  • We love our new masks!
  • Art work display
  • Magna-Tile masterpiece!
  • Movement in Green 1
  • Small group games in the Green Room
  • Rain experiment in Green 1
  • Scientists in Pre-K 1
  • Making a volcano in Pre-K
  • More volcano making…in another Pre-K class!
  • Blue week in the Red Room

Learn more about our play-based curriculum, read a letter from our director, or better yet, apply online for the 2021-2022 school year by visiting our website!

Curriculum Night 2019 at The International Preschools

Working with math manipulative toys in the classroom.

On Wednesday, October 16th, The International Preschools will host its annual Curriculum Night for the families of our students.  The purpose of this evening is to teach parents the important aspects of the school day, including IPS teaching philosophies, topics of study, daily schedules and routines, and upcoming events throughout the school year, as well as answer any questions that parents have about their child’s school day.  On Curriculum Night, the 76th Street and 86th Street locations will allow visiting families to take a look at their  child(ren)’s classrooms from two points of view:  the teachers’ and the students’!

The curriculum of The International Preschools centers around the philosophy of play-based learning.  Play-based learning allows for children to organize and make sense of their social worlds.  It supports a child’s ability to acquire cognitive skills (i.e. number/shape/letter/color recognition), increase motor skills (used for writing, climbing, running, etc.), boost language development (the ability to converse with teachers and peers, and express needs and wants), and assist with problem-solving.  Teachers facilitate learning by sitting with and observing the children when engaged in independent or small group play, answering questions or providing guidelines.  During whole group activities, teachers prompt the children with verbal and visual directions which allow the children to complete tasks at hand.

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Specialty Classes: An Important Part of Your Preschooler’s Day

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During Music class, children have the opportunity to assist creatively in making up songs and patterns.

 

Children build up their attention spans by listening to stories read aloud in a whole group during Library class.
Children build up their attention spans by listening to stories read aloud in a whole group during Library class.

At The International Preschools, interdisciplinary classroom themes are taught through play-based learning.  Children are exposed to units on topics from transportation to hibernation via science, math, art, literacy, music, and other subject areas.  Our school is proud to also offer a variety of specialty classes to help enrich your child’s learning.  Here’s a look at what skills your child is fine-tuning during each of our specialty classes…
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Winter Solstice at The International Preschools

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An IPS family taught a three-year-old class about Hanukkah, a festival of light.

Each year, The International Preschools’ community celebrates the holiday season through an observance of the Winter Solstice.  The Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year, with the fewest hours of light. Many of the international holidays during this time of year celebrate the concept of light; the commemoration of the Winter Solstice at our school acts as a way to collectively celebrate many family and holiday traditions.

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Fall, Harvest, Families, Food: November Classroom Themes in the Green Rooms (3 year olds)

At 76th Street, a three-year-old class painted and decorated their own pumpkins to take home.
At 76th Street, a three-year-old class painted and decorated their own pumpkins to take home.

The month of November truly reflects the season of fall here in New York City.  The weather is noticeably cooler, the leaves on the trees have changed colors, and with the recent celebration of Halloween, fall finally feels upon us.  At The International Preschools, fall, food, families, and Thanksgiving are the topics that we focus on within the classrooms from late October through November.  The blog posts over the next few weeks will focus on how these themes are implemented into the classrooms.  This week, we will take a look at Halloween and the overall theme of fall in the Green Rooms (3 year olds) at all three locations….

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“All About Me”: September Classroom Themes at The International Preschools

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Exploring our “flags” (the countries that we are from) is an important activity during our “All About Me” unit.

At The International Preschools, a different theme is assigned to every month of the school year.  Teachers incorporate this theme into every classroom center, from the sensory table to the discovery center to the songs that are sung and books that are read.

A common unit for the month of September is called “All About Me,” where children learn and share information about themselves and their families with each other.  Last year, many classrooms incorporated this unit into the month of September and into all of their classroom centers.  Each classroom and age level explored this topic in a variety of ways.  Listed below are some highlights from the classrooms across the three locations:

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