Happy Holidays: Winter Solstice Curriculum 2020
Every December, The International Preschools celebrates the Winter Solstice with a month-long curriculum on light, dark, and how families around the world celebrate the holiday season. This year, our Winter Solstice festivities were held via Zoom, live from each individual classroom. Although we missed having our traditional international potlucks and our school-wide sing-along, the feelings of community and togetherness were still evident.
Currently, IPS is closed for the holiday break. Please enjoy some photos from our classrooms, commemorating the Winter Solstice, light/dark curriculum, and the 2020 holiday season. Happy Holidays!
Happy Winter Solstice 2020! 
Posing in front of our collective thumbprint holiday light paintings. 
Exploring shadows during our light/dark unit. 
Light/dark contrast collages 
Thumbprint holiday lights! 
Making moon mobiles for our light/dark unit. 
“A Starry Night” collaborative collage and painting 
Collage using shiny, light-reflecting materials 
Gingerbread people! 
Daytime/Nighttime collage mural 
Working on a light table 
Creating a classroom sun for our light/dark unit 
Black/white contrast drawing 
Wearing our necklaces made of holiday lights! 
Collage using shiny, light-reflecting materials 
Star collages 
Happy Holidays from the Red Room!
New York City has been social distancing due to COVID-19 for several weeks now. The International Preschools has been closed since the week of March 16th. While we are constantly reminded that we are “not alone” throughout this process, the weight of being isolated from our peers has undoubtedly taken a toll on all of us. We could all use a little brightening of the spirits!
At The International Preschools, families support a variety of causes that serve our community throughout the year. Currently, IPS is hosting a drive for Ronald McDonald House New York, which houses families whose children are receiving treatment for cancer. The drive includes a collection of goods plus a special event that will take place on Saturday, May 18th. Read on to find out more!
Each year, The International Preschools hosts an event called the Fathers and Special Friends Read-Aloud. It was created ten years ago to foster a love of reading in young children. Because, in the past, mothers and female relatives had often made up the majority of guest readers, the Fathers and Special Friends Read-Aloud provided an opportunity for fathers, as well as other male relatives and friends (brothers, grandfathers, uncles, neighbors, etc.), to model positive feelings about reading to preschoolers. Currently, our Read-Aloud occurs in conjunction with the author and literary studies that take place in the Green (3s), Pre-K (4s), and Junior K (4s/5s) classrooms during the winter months.