The Ipswich Integrated Preschool provides opportunities for multi-age children to learn through play, exploration, and hands-on experiences.  The program is designed to address the varied needs of children, taking into account a wide variety of abilities and learning styles.  Our integrated setting incorporates peer models along with students with disabilities.   We seek to meet children where they are on their journey in acquiring social, academic, and language skills.  Targeted areas of development include social and emotional, literacy, math, science, fine motor, and gross motor skills.  A unique part of our preschool program is that our preschool functions within the larger school community, allowing access to enrichment activities that include weekly Art, Physical Education, Music, and Library classes.  Our students also participate in school-wide Assemblies and other programming, paving the way for a seamless transition to Kindergarten.

Our highly skilled teachers possess Master's Degrees in Education and are certified by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in both Early Childhood Education and Special Education.  In addition, our Speech and Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, and School Psychologist provide consultation, individual services, and group services within the classroom as appropriate.  Our team meets weekly to collaborate, plan, and coordinate activities to meet the needs of each child.

Our language based preschool classrooms are designed to meet the needs of all students through imaginative play, multisensory exploration, and early literacy and math skills. Students are taught using multiple modalities and instruction is adapted to each child’s individual abilities. Inclusion is at the heart of our program and all students are encouraged to thrive in a safe and diverse classroom community.  

The Preschool Program utilizes play-based learning centers and thematic units which include topics such as seasons, community and friendship. Students benefit from daily read alouds, shared reading of poems and songs, and pre-academic/social routines that occur during morning meeting and throughout the school day.  Various curricula are used to develop students’ skills.  Heggerty is used to promote early Phonemic Awareness skills, through the ability to notice, think about, and manipulate individual sounds in words.  Phonemic Awareness skills are foundational to the acquisition of reading, writing and spelling. Letter formation is supported through the Handwriting Without Tears Program. Handwriting is one of the foundational skills that leads students toward increased letter identification and beginning writing skills. As students form letters, they are solidifying the alphabetic principle required to support their emerging literacy abilities.  Students also have the opportunity to participate in specialist classes including Physical Education, Art, Music and Library.