Our Outdoor Classroom
For Children Ages 3-5
One of the most colorful spaces at IPCP is our Outdoor Classroom — located right across Waddell Street from our preschool building on Edgewood Avenue — where our 3-to-5-year-old classes spend a major portion of their school day.
Our Outdoor Classroom (nicknamed “The Big OC”) began in 1995, when IPCP purchased the 8,000-square-foot vacant lot. Over many years, the hard work of parents and staff turned that sparse lot into an urban paradise.
IPCP’s Outdoor Classroom is more than just a playspace — it’s an immersive environment where children see, hear, smell, touch and even taste nature, building their love of the outdoors. Our teachers love the chance to design experiences that specifically leverage the features of the Big OC, which include:
fruit trees and a grape vine
herb and vegetable beds and wildlife-attracting plants
a stump jump
a willow house
Because it provides these elements of food, water, shelter, and space for a variety of animals and plants, the Big OC is also a certified National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat. As we maintain it, we use sustainable gardening techniques such as soil and water conversation, composting, and pesticide-free gardening.
The Big OC is also home to many of our events throughout the year such as Back to School Night – and can be reserved by current IPCP families for school-related meetings or parties.
Edgewood Building
For Children Ages 3-5
The open classroom floor plan of the Edgewood Building contains many areas for our 3-to-5-year-old children to explore and learn:
A building area full of blocks of various sizes, shapes and textures
An art area with access to a wide variety of art mediums
A science area with space to experiment with water, sand, plants, light, and sound and also home to our fish
A literacy area complete with an extensive library, writing utensils, and writing materials that promote literacy through play such as mailboxes, envelopes, stickers, and assorted reading material such as magazines
A music and movement room for playing instruments and creative movement
A math and manipulative area full of puzzles, pattern blocks and other engaging materials
A socio-dramatic area that is transformed a few times a year, such as a home-living area or a restaurant or jungle
The light-filled building has immediate access to the outdoors on three of its four sides. Two arbor ways create a place for children to experiment with sand, paint and water, and also is a place where children plant flower or vegetable seeds. Often children dine outside on child-sized picnic tables in one of these very special areas of the campus.
Our Edgewood playground — located right outside the classroom — is an enclosed, open-air brick courtyard (distinct from the Big OC, which is across the street). This smaller playground is fully equipped with swings, slides, sensory exploration stations, a rain barrel, covered patio, sandbox, climbing structures, and ride-on equipment such as tricycles. Much of the playground is made from recycled rubber and wood. Walk by any school day, and you’ll see children sharing a giggle with a friend as they race, swing, climb, or ride side by side.
Toddler Garden
For Children Ages 1-2
The smaller cousin to our Outdoor Classroom, the “Toddler Garden” is located at our Waddell campus (across Edgewood Avenue from the Edgewood campus). Once a vacant lot, it’s now a green space. The Toddler Garden offers a natural play space created specifically for one- and two-year-olds. Natural textures, scents, and colors enrich this play space, where children learn from the earliest age to love and appreciate the outdoors.
It is a place where our youngest children can experiment with pouring and measuring in the sandbox or water table, digging in the mud pit, harvesting lettuce or parsley, peeking under flowerpots, or pushing a cart of soil to the vegetable garden. Each week, classes participate in caretaking for the garden as they water the flowers, vegetables and trees and teachers plan activities centered on nature.
Our Toddler Garden is also fully equipped with riding and pushing toys, climbing opportunities on stairs and dirt hills, a natural balance beam, and nature artifacts such as large pinecones.
Waddell Building
For Children Ages 1-2
Head back inside from the Toddler Garden and you’ll be in the Waddell indoor classroom, a series of age-appropriate environments that support each child’s cognitive and social/emotional development while also stimulating their senses and challenging their motor skills. The indoor classrooms for toddlers are aesthetically appealing with warm colors and interesting materials such as wooden blocks and soft, cloth toys.
The indoor environment supports each child’s need to crawl, climb, and jump. Through the use of platforms, a loft, recessed areas, low shelves, and canopies, the space has been sculpted to provide a variety of age-appropriate activity areas such as: art, block building, music, dramatic play with rotating themes, puzzles and other age appropriate manipulatives, push toys, and a variety of other engaging materials that change throughout the year to enhance the curriculum. The walls frame the activity areas, while the center of the classrooms remain fairly open, allowing movement for children and adults, as well as providing a flexible space that can change depending on the teachers’ observations of the children’s interests.
Children play indoor amidst natural sunlight from the windows and can look outside, maintaining a visual connection with the outdoor environment. The colorful yet neutral backdrop provides a calming atmosphere in the classroom. Kids’ artwork and photos are displayed around the classroom so children see a reflection of themselves in this child-centered space.
Sustainability
Our commitment to being green goes beyond just our green spaces. We have a real focus on fostering sustainability and providing a healthy environment for our children. Both of our facilities received “Green Community Foundation” grants that have allowed us to make many green renovations:
Automatic sensor water faucets in the children’s bathrooms, low-flow toilets and sinks and tankless water heaters save water
We use low VOC paint and our rugs and counters are formaldehyde-free
Programmable thermostats reduce energy consumption when buildings are not in use
Avoiding use of pressure-treated lumber for kid surfaces, such as picnic tables, keeps harmful chemicals away from our children
Working with environmentally sensitive vendors for services such as pest control and cleaning help us take care of our campus with nature-based products
All classrooms have recycling and composting programs and allow us to integrate these core values with the curriculum and teach the children about life cycle awareness
Upgrades to our heating and cooling systems have made them more efficient, reduced energy consumption and operating expenses and improved indoor air quality
Taking a systems-approach to the renovation of the Edgewood building in 2008 allowed us to invest a relatively small amount more in some areas to offset the size of the new, more efficient heating and air conditioning system
The eggs from our chickens – and much of the food we grow in our Outdoor Classroom – are eaten by the students and families of IPCP.
And most importantly, our curriculum reinforces the importance of caring for the Earth so that our children can then carry this with them throughout their lives.