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Foundation
Overview
At the Innovative School, children are inspired to wonder, collaborate, problem solve, and participate meaningfully in our community. Academic growth is rooted in relationships, curiosity, and purposeful experiences that connect ideas to the real world.
Children are seen as capable from the very start. Through play, investigation, and the exploration of materials, they ask questions, test theories, build relationships, and construct understanding. Educators work alongside learners as partners, carefully observing and listening to design experiences that extend thinking and respond to each stage of development.
Throughout the Foundation Level, literacy, mathematical thinking, communication, scientific inquiry, and social-emotional growth are woven into meaningful experiences. We believe that academics are most powerful when they are connected to children’s interests and relationships. As learners grow, they develop increased confidence, independence, agency, and responsibility while building the skills and dispositions needed to thrive in school and beyond.
The Foundation Level Learner Journey
TODDLERS
In our toddler classrooms, children learn in a warm, relationship-centered environment where they are known, valued, and loved. For many learners, this is their first experience building trusting connections with caring adults outside of their family. Through these nurturing relationships and predictable routines, children develop the confidence to separate with increasing ease.
Grounded in a Reggio-inspired approach, learning unfolds through play, sensory experiences, and the joyful exploration of materials. Children build early language skills while learning to express their needs, identify feelings, navigate transitions, engage with peers, become part of a community, and develop growing independence. Along the way, they develop a deep sense of belonging that lays the foundation for confidence, curiosity, collaboration, self-expression, and joyful learning.
2s
In our 2s classrooms, friendships begin to blossom and a sense of community deepens. Learners develop greater confidence as they explore, create, and learn alongside their peers.
Children strengthen their language skills while learning to express their feelings, navigate social interactions, and develop meaningful friendships. As they participate in shared experiences, they deepen their connection to the classroom community and begin to understand that other people have feelings, ideas, and perspectives that matter. Along the way, learners develop a strong sense of class identity, growing social awareness, and the foundations for empathy, collaboration, and lifelong relationships.
3s
In our 3s classrooms, children develop the confidence to express their ideas, share their thinking, and engage more deeply with the world around them. As language skills flourish and friendships deepen, learners become increasingly active participants in their classroom community.
Children communicate their ideas through storytelling, dramatic play, collaborative experiences, and the many languages of childhood. As they explore questions, investigate ideas, and solve problems together, they strengthen their ability to listen, negotiate, think flexibly, and contribute their own perspectives. Learners also engage more intentionally with the literacy, mathematical, and scientific opportunities building foundational skills through meaningful experiences, inquiry, and play. Along the way, they develop growing independence, self-regulation, and confidence, laying the foundation for the opportunities of PreK.
PREK
In our PreK classrooms, children develop a strong sense of identity, confidence, and responsibility as they become increasingly independent learners and active contributors to their community. Building on the relationships, friendships, and communication skills acquired throughout the Foundation Level, learners take greater initiative, solve problems, and engage more deeply in their learning.
Children strengthen their ability to think critically, express their ideas, collaborate with others, and navigate challenges with growing independence and self-regulation. As they participate in increasingly complex investigations and experiences, they develop strong foundations in literacy, mathematical thinking, communication, and inquiry. Along the way, learners gain the confidence to take ownership of their learning, and embrace new opportunities with curiosity, resilience, and purpose.
Joyful Learning is Academic Excellence
At the Innovative School, academic excellence and joyful learning go hand in hand. We believe children learn best when literacy, mathematical thinking, scientific inquiry, communication, and problem-solving are connected to meaningful experiences, authentic questions, and real-world exploration.
Throughout the Foundation Level, educators intentionally design environments and experiences that nurture foundational academic skills while honoring children’s curiosity and development. Rich literature, storytelling, dramatic play, collaborative projects, investigations, and the exploration of materials provide opportunities for learners to communicate ideas, represent thinking, classify, compare, count, notice patterns, ask questions, and solve problems.
As children grow, their thinking becomes increasingly sophisticated. They become more intentional in their explorations, engage in longer investigations, and naturally gravitate toward opportunities to read, write, measure, construct, theorize, and communicate. Academic skills are not taught in isolation, but are embedded within experiences that are meaningful, purposeful, and engaging.
In PreK, learners also participate in Fundations®, a research-based literacy program from Wilson Language Training that provides explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, letter-sound relationships, handwriting, and early reading and writing skills. This intentional literacy instruction is thoughtfully integrated into a learner-centered environment that continues to prioritize inquiry, creativity, communication, and a love of learning.
Children leave the Foundation Level as confident communicators, capable problem solvers, collaborative community members, and joyful learners who are well prepared for future academic success.
Meet our Foundation Level Team
