A school within a school: the IHS preschool returns for 2022-23

By MEGHAN RUMMEL

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.

The Child Development preschool room at IHS awaits it's "return" of IHS students and preschoolers

Being in the preschool, many stories and important moments follow, Marsh expressed, “There are so many funny stories, but the funniest would have to be when  Mathew was playing a game and jumping all over the floor, and he had all of the other preschoolers join in.” Flanders added, “the funniest story I have is when I was trying to teach the preschoolers about the 4th of July and I brought out the flag, and they acted like it was a parachute.”

Students who work within the preschool rarely forget their time spent there. Marsh says, “what I miss most would have to be the children. They all have such different personalities, and they are so much fun. Teaching them was the best, and it was a great learning experience.” Juart added, “the children are great, you pretty much have to be prepared to hear and see anything, because no two days are alike, which is what makes it fun. I also enjoy seeing my students gain more confidence as they work with children and step more into the teacher role.”

Overall, this class may be the one for you if “you like children, you don’t mind a little hard work, have excellent time management skills, and you do well with meeting deadlines,” stated Juart. 

You May Also Like...

The Super Bowl: Sunday’s biggest stage

By Sami Williams It’s finally here, the final game of the NFL, the Super Bowl! The Super Bowl is the most-watched NFL game, as thousands of people watch it worldwide. This year, the Super Bowl is on Sunday, February 8. The game takes place at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, California. The Seattle Seahawks will play against the New England Patriots. People will probably be cheering for the Seattle Seahawks, as most are tired of seeing the New England Patriots win. The Patriots are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl victories, with both teams having 6 Super Bowl trophies. Mr. James Dykun, IHS French teacher, commented, “I will be cheering for the Seahawks, because who likes the Patriots?” Although Junior Sydney Adamsky will be cheering for the Seahawks, she commented, “I think the Patriots will win even though I want the Seahawks to take home the win

Read More »

Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow?

By Alexis Nyland Groundhog Day officially started on February 2, 1887, in Punxsutawney, PA, when a local newspaper editor Clymer Freas and a group of hunters made a trek to Gobbler’s Knob to see a groundhog for a weather prediction. German immigrants brought the tradition of using a hibernating animal to predict the length of winter. In Pennsylvania, German settlers adapted the tradition to use the groundhog. IHS sophomore Ava Hutchinson voiced her opinion on why we have the tradition, “I think we have it just for entertainment and the fact that it brings a lot of people together, even if it is just a silly tradition,” and she wasn’t far off. The event was inspired to formalize local folklore and promote the town. Groundhog Day marks the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Ashton Goss, a sophomore at IHS, when asked if he likes the tradition

Read More »

Color reveal videos kick off sign-ups for Mini-THON

By Anna Carnovale IHS Leadership builds anticipation for Mini-THON with the color reveals and first round of draft picks. The color reveal videos were released on Jan. 5, 7, 8  and 9, and left the school talking about it. The variety of fun videos revealed that the colors are pink, yellow, blue and purple. Also, starting on Jan. 5 were early, early-bird, and early-bird sign-ups for Mini-THON. From now through Feb. 11, you can sign up for 20 dollars and still receive a t-shirt. Starting on Feb. 12 students can still sign up, but the price increases, and they will not receive a t-shirt.  IHS leadership has been working hard to increase the number of participants this year. Senior and member of IHS Leadership, Julia Antonacci, comments that she starred as Fear in an Inside Out-themed color reveal video, which revealed yellow as their color. She moves on to say

Read More »

Senior Career Seminar Program sets Indiana Senior High School students up for a successful future career

By Anna Carnovale Seniors at Indiana Senior High School have the chance to participate in the Senior Career Seminar Program. This is an educational internship program aimed at helping students learn about potential future careers. This opportunity allows students to have an out of the classroom real world learning experience and is aimed at setting students up for success in their future careers.   IHS seniors can opt out of morning or afternoon classes in exchange for an internship at a career-related experience. Students earn credit for their internship in place of the classes they would normally take at the high school, provided they still meet their required classes for graduation. This program differs from others at IHS because students must seek their own employment, resulting in a large pool of opportunities. Students must work at least 10 hours per week, in addition to completing all classwork. Classwork for these students

Read More »

Honoring those who have served

By Zoey Motto A person’s service does not simply end when they retire, or leave the military. There are reminders everyday of their courage and bravery from the stars and stripes that fly high, to the people around them. The things they learned are still with them as they carry it through life, and pass on to those around them.  When IHS Paraprofessional Randy Sell was posed the question, ‘What is your biggest take away from your time in service?,’ he replied “Anything you put your mind to can be accomplished, pay attention to details, make it happen.”  We all know to thank those around us on Veterans Day, but many don’t know how the day came to be. It began when WWI, also called The Great War, ended. It had ended on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year. President Woodrow Wilson

Read More »

Teachers in training: IHS launches new Rising Educators Program

By Bella Flores There are many things that make IHS an amazing place to be, but the biggest reason is our teachers. ICTC recently partnered with IHS to start up the new Rising Educators program. This is a program that is based at IHS that provides students a head start at an education to become teachers. This program is open to all schools that qualify for the ICTC program. The program is run by IHS Family and Consumer Sciences teachers Mrs. Sarah Juart and Mrs. Marianne Brady. Similarly to how students attend ICTC, students participating in the program attend IHS for half of their academic day. The Rising Educators Program is an extension of the IHS child development class. In this program, students learn about child development, the process of becoming a teacher, and even get hands-on experience teaching as they run a preschool that is based in IHS. The

Read More »