Our Beginners
The Beginners class is at the very root of the IDS beech tree. It is an exciting place of growth and discovery where our youngest students begin to cultivate the skills such as independence, confidence and cooperation. We start before the school year does with a teacher’s visit to every student’s house so the teacher and students are not strangers to one another on the first day of school. During this visit, students share their family and their special things. Snapshots taken greet them when they enter the classroom on the first day make them feel at home away from home. Knowing school is an extension of home is critical at IDS where we rely on the strong collaboration between home and school that naturally supports a child’s early education.
Our adaptable theme-based curriculum follows the meanderings of each child’s natural curiosity and creativity. In our lively, interactive classroom, Beginners learn language arts through questions with teachers, conversations with peers, and of course through fun stories and songs pertaining to the current themes. They create art with every imaginable medium from corncobs to cotton balls. They learn science with a variety of activities such as experiments with color and paint, through the primary observation of caterpillars and plants, or through playtime in the ever-changing sensory table. Beginners engage in calendar activities, practice number and pattern recognition, and compare the shapes and sizes of things all around them to acquire basic math skills. As early students of social studies, Beginners learn about their community and their school, of which they are an integral part, included in All-School Meetings, class plays, Library and PE.
But more than cognitive growth, the Beginners classroom stimulates the social and emotional maturity that will sustain the children through school and beyond. Through Responsive Classroom principles Beginners learn responsibility for themselves and for others as they care for their belongings and their classroom. They transition from parallel to cooperative play and forge new friendships. And, most importantly, they learn that school is a happy place where they are valued, supported and encouraged in their individual endeavors to learn about the world and their impact in it.