Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten at IPA provide an important learning foundation for children in their early years of development. The Junior K program helps children grow in all developmental areas - physical, social, emotional, language, aesthetic, and intellectual – and learn to work collaboratively with others to solve problems and achieve goals.

JK students are provided with opportunities to plan and select many of their own activities from among a variety of learning centers and projects. Following their own interests, children choose from activities such as dramatic-play, construction, science experiences, games and puzzles, books and recordings, computers, art, and music. Children also have time to explore and to learn about the environment, investigate, experiment and discover cause-and effect relationships.

Teachers extend the students’ thinking and learning within these child-initiated activities by posing problems, asking questions, making suggestions, adding complexity, and providing information, materials, and assistance as needed to enable a child to consolidate learning and move to the next level of functioning. Students have many opportunities to plan, think about, reflect on, and revisit their own experiences. Teachers engage children in discussions and representation activities (such as dictating, writing, drawing, or modeling in clay). Such activities help students refine their own concepts and understanding, and also highlight for teachers what students know.