Pre-Elementary
Starting Out Strong With International Preschool
Our pre-elementary school lays the groundwork for everything our students will achieve in elementary and beyond.
Our pre-elementary school consists of 3-year-old, Pre-Kindergarten, and Kindergarten classes. All pre-elementary classes are part of our language immersion program, with teachers who are native speakers of the students’ target language. International School of Indiana (ISI) is the state's only school offering full language immersion in three languages for Pre-K - Grade 5 students.
Our lower school students are supported by learning support specialists, language support teachers, teaching assistants, and specialist teachers in art, technology, physical education, and music.
Students have computer labs and libraries with age-appropriate collections in English, French, Mandarin, and Spanish.
Pre-elementary classes use the curriculum set by the IB Primary Years Program.
Pre-Elementary Classes
With nine teachers and nine assistant teachers, the overall student-faculty ratio is 8:1. Pre-elementary classes can vary in size from very small to 16 students. Classes near the larger end of this spectrum will undoubtedly have a full-time teaching assistant. Teaching assistants are either native speakers or are perfectly fluent in the target language for their class.
The pre-elementary school day begins at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. Students have morning and lunch recesses, which are staggered to accommodate the various grades.
Extracurricular Activities
To reflect our multicultural spirit, ISI incorporates celebrations from many cultures into our school year. Examples include our bell-ringing ceremony at the start of the new school year (Ukrainian in origin), a formal breakfast in early December (from the Dutch tradition of Kerstontbijt), the French Fête des Rois (a traditional Epiphany celebration in January with a marzipan ‘galette’ or cake), the Mexican Cinco de Mayo (5th of May), and others.
Field trips to local points of interest support our pre-elementary curriculum.