Next year at IHS, the preschool will be making its return! Students will have the opportunity to enroll in the Child Development course where they will get to teach, interact, learn about, and work with children.

Child Development is a semester course that is open to students who are interested in working with children. The class and the preschool are run by Mrs. Sarah Juart. She stated that “this is a class where you not only learn about how children grow and develop from birth to adolescence, but you also learn how to work with children. This involves lesson planning, teaching activities, and working with the children to learn basic kindergarten readiness skills. We are considered to be a school within a school.”

The preschool occurs in the Spring and Fall semesters, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Children from ages 3 to 5 who are district residents, and are fully potty trained can be enrolled. Juart says, “We have 10 children enrolled for next year, as of now we plan to run it. It has been tough the last two years because we have not had a steady preschool program due to COVID restrictions.” 

Juart explains more about the course by stating, “This is a class that involves classwork and creating activities/lessons for the preschool. I am very firm with deadlines for work, especially within the preschool. The parents expect their children to be learning something that will help them developmentally, and for their next step, which is  kindergarten.” Junior Alivia Marsh who was enrolled in the course expressed that “there are several things you learn that are helpful, and teaching the preschoolers is a great way to get better with public speaking, and applying what you know to the preschoolers.” 

Junior Liz Flanders, another student who was enrolled in the child development course stated, “my favorite part about preschool was the kids because they always made my day, and even when I was at my worst they always made me smile.” Interacting with these children often feels like a break from high school. You get to let loose and have fun because that’s all these children want to do.