About IPCP

Great Hands Hold Our Hearts

It’s not easy to let go of our children unless we know our children are in great hands. Because of the great group of dynamic, dedicated and dependable IPCP teachers, we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing great hands are holding our “hearts” every day that they are at school.

IPCP

Mission and Purpose

Inman Park Cooperative Preschool, Inc. (IPCP) was established in 1981 to serve the needs of parents and children in Inman Park and surrounding in- town neighborhoods. It is a cooperative preschool that enables parents to contribute to their children’s education.

IPCP does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, color, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status in administration of its educational policies, admission policies and activities.

Mission Statement

Inman Park Cooperative Preschool provides a loving, fun and safe environment that supports our children’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical development. We offer a curriculum of educational excellence that nurtures each child’s unique gifts and talents. We are committed to environmentalism, creativity and diversity through an atmosphere of respect, collaboration and cooperation.

Educational Philosophy/ Guiding Principles of Inman Park Cooperative Preschool

We believe that play is the child’s medium for learning and development. Our teachers design rich, developmentally appropriate settings for this play that ensures opportunities for safe and active exploration.
We believe that every child is a curious, independent learner. Our teachers provide an environment in which children are encouraged to make choices and become enthusiastic, self-confident, and inquisitive learners.

We believe that each child creates his/her own learning experience by exploring and manipulating the environment and interacting with the world around them. Our teachers support and enrich the children’s play so the process of discovery can occur.

We believe that physical development occurs through repeated opportunities to use the body in various ways. Our teachers ensure that physical activity is an integral part of our program.

We believe that relating to peers and adults in a group setting is an important part of a young child’s preschool experience. Developing positive relationships is the basic building block in guiding children to become confident, life-long learners who respect themselves, each other, and their community.

We believe that each child is unique and brings his/her strengths and challenges to any situation. Our programs are designed to respect, accommodate, support, and respond to each child while creating a sense of cooperation and belonging within a community.

We believe that teaching a reverence and respect for one another, communities and ecosystems cannot be more powerfully taught than in a “living Outdoor Classroom.”

Curriculum

The IPCP curriculum is a rich, nature-based educational opportunity blended with the research-based Creative Curriculum and designed to support discovery. Nationally known for its forward-thinking and comprehensive model, the Creative Curriculum’s unique approach to teaching and learning helps teachers successfully plan and implement a content-rich, developmentally appropriate program that supports active learning and promotes children’s progress in all developmental areas (social/emotional, physical, language and cognitive).

Nature-based educational opportunities connect children to the Earth’s rhythms and beauty by involving them in activities related to the different seasons. Creating a sense of wonder, appreciation, and gratitude of all living things, IPCP teachers use a variety of tools and resources to meet the developmental needs of the children, while initiating them into a lifelong, meaningful relationship with the natural world. Your Big Backyard, an award winning children’s magazine published by the National Wildlife Federation and Click, a Parent’s Choice Gold Award-winning children’s magazine of science and exploration, are literary resources for both teachers and children as they discover the world around them.

How is a Cooperative Different?

A primary distinguishing feature of this preschool is the varied and extensive level of parent participation. Parents run the school by serving as members of its Board of Directors and as committee members. Parents also participate in periodic Saturday workdays–when improvements to the building, furnishings and grounds are tackled–and organize and participate in annual fundraising activities. Finally, parents participate on a regular basis in the classroom as parent teachers. In this shared role, parents provide snacks, do cleanup and assist teachers during the school day.

A chief aim of a cooperative preschool is to offer opportunities for parents to learn about and contribute to their children’s early educational experiences. For the teaching staff, there are also unique opportunities and advantages to working in a cooperative school. The ongoing contact with parents results in teachers being aware of significant events in a child’s life that might not otherwise come to light. The teacher is able to observe, in a relaxed setting, the ways that parents and children interact. The teachers educate parents as well as children, tactfully suggesting and/or modeling helpful ways of dealing with a child. Also, teachers can benefit from the parents’ wide range of talents and interests, which can be used in the design, development and implementation of educational programs.

Teachers play a pivotal role in facilitating effective parent participation in the classroom. They can create a classroom schedule or a curriculum that allows parent participation to enhance overall program quality.

Campuses

Edgewood Campus

Our Edgewood campus is designed for children ages three to five. These multi-age classes, offer an array of opportunities for children to learn from theirs peers through project collaboration, imaginative play, and peer modeling. Learning and fun happens in a variety of areas!

The open classroom floorplan contains many different areas for our children to explore and learn. These include: a loft; a block and building room filled with a variety of building pieces; an art area with access to a wide variety of art mediums along with a chalk board wall; a science area equipped with space to experiment with water, sand, plants, light, and sound; a literacy area complete with an extensive library; listening and writing spaces; a quiet corner for individual exploration; and many other nooks and crannies for learning and adventure!

The classroom areas allow for immediate access to the outdoors. This includes two arbor ways that create a place for children to experiment with sand, paint, and water, and also is a place for little hands to plant flower or vegetable seeds in different-shaped containers. Oftentimes children dine outside in one of these very special areas of the campus.

Our Edgewood playground is located adjacent to the Edgewood classroom and is an enclosed, open-air brick courtyard. It is fully equipped with swings, slides, sensory exploration stations, a rain barrel, covered patio, sandbox, climbing structures, tricycles and ride-on equipment. Much of the playground is made from recycled rubber and wood, and is a place where children enjoy a variety of active experiences or share a giggle with a friend as they race or ride tricycles side by side!

Waddell Campus

Our Waddell campus is designed for children 12 months through 36 months.

Inside there are two toddler learning environments and the “Wee OC” (Outdoor Classroom) designed especially for this inquisitive age group.

The Waddell classroom and Wee OC are designed to be safe while supporting each child’s emotional well-being, stimulating senses and challenging motor skills. Within Waddell’s design are classrooms that are highly functional, aesthetically appealing, age-appropriate, child-directed, and teacher-supported. The setting, layout, and equipment provide IPCP toddlers many opportunities to challenge themselves through seeing, touching, feeling, hearing, and moving, thereby allowing children to learn cognitively and map their environment, manipulate it, and master it.

The indoor environment supports each child’s need to crawl, climb, run, and jump. IPCP’s developmentally designed environment supports children’s individual and social development while encouraging exploration, focused play, and cooperation. The design of this environment encourages movement, provides choices for children, and supports self-directed learning, allowing the teachers more time for interaction, observation and facilitation of each toddler’s development.

Through the use of platforms, lofts, recessed areas, low shelves, and canopies, all placed along the periphery of the classroom, the space has been sculpted to provide a variety of age-appropriate activity areas. Each classroom is designed with spacious areas for art, building, pretend play and literacy. The walls frame the activity areas, while the center of the classrooms remains fairly open, allowing for 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 under natural sunlight next to the windows and can look outside, maintaining a visual connection with the outdoor environment while indoors.

The colorful, yet neutral backdrop and natural wood furniture provides a calming atmosphere in the classroom. Colorful toys, materials, and pictures on the wall stand out against the walls helping children focus and visually discriminate the object from the background.

The Outdoor Classrooms

Inman Park Cooperative Preschool has Outdoor Classroom spaces that are utilized everyday by all children enrolled in our program. Our Outdoor Classrooms encompass a variety of spaces that are ever changing and exciting to explore … we have a big backyard!

Our curriculum integrates the indoor classrooms with the outdoor classrooms, and focuses on encouraging care and respect for the community and making connections with the natural world. IPCP provides hands-on experiences that encourage curiosity and exploration while fostering the healthy growth of the “whole child.”

Current Staff

Leadership

A Word from Our Director, Jill Canelli

I am a weather-hardy New Englander who grew up just south of Boston! My childhood experiences still resonate in my heart: exploring the neighborhood backyards with friends, visiting the Cape Cod seashore with my family or turning over a muddy rock on my own. These experiences continue to inspire me to share and explore the natural world with children and families.

I have a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Biology from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and I am currently in the Masters program for Early Childhood Education at Framingham State University. In 2010, I also received certification as a Georgia Master Naturalist from the UGA Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources. For almost 15 years, I have been teaching science/environmental education in schools, summer camps, after-school programs, and nature centers. For eight years, I worked at MassAudubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a working farm and wildlife sanctuary, teaching and managing seasonal programs. In 2005, I founded Drumlin Farm Community Preschool, where I served as a Massachusetts certified Director and Lead Teacher. These experiences provided me with many opportunities to grow, not only as an educator learning alongside young children, families, and colleagues, but also as an advocate for the importance of early childhood education rooted in community and environmental stewardship and literacy. My family relocated to Atlanta in August of 2008. My first year in the city, I worked as the Public Programs Manager at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

If I am not in the classroom, you can find me: riding my bicycle, watching birds at my feeder, pulling weeds in a garden, on the soccer field, cheering on Boston sports teams, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, or with a cup of chai tea and my family.

I am honored to have this opportunity to be a part of the Inman Park Cooperative Preschool community. And I’m proud to introduce you to our teachers and staff.

Waddell Faculty

Ebony Sowell-Franklin, Toddler Teacher

Ebony began her career in education teaching private voice, piano and music enrichment classes to young children. After getting married and having her first child, she decided to change careers and pursue full-time teaching. Her formal education includes a bachelor of arts in Mass Communication with a concentration in Public Relations. As an involved parent with her son in his second year at IPCP, Ebony understands the importance of providing children with a loving, nurturing, safe and engaging environment to enhance their learning experiences.

LaKisha Pitts, Toddler Teacher

For more than a decade LaKisha Pitts has felt blessed to educate and nurture infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Prior to joining the IPCP community in late 2008, Kisha worked with many early learning programs in varying positions ranging from a teacher’s aide to a regional teacher educator. She is currently working towards her BA in Early Education. When Kisha isn’t at IPCP or giving back to her community, she enjoys time with her family and friends which includes her family dog Kianni.

Margaret Ferguson Quinn, Toddler Teacher

Margaret was born and raised in Inman Park and attended IPCP for three years in the mid-80′s, first in the old church on Euclid and then at the Edgewood Campus for her last year. It was a very different place back then! She graduated and moved onto Paideia, then to New York University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Irish Studies. Several months after completing her degree, Margaret moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland and lived there for the last five years. She pursued further education in Irish Studies at Queens University, then a Masters of Science in counseling at the University of Ulster before jumping back into child care. She worked for two years at a private nursery in South Belfast with the 2 year old group. She happily moved back to Atlanta in July 2011. Margaret loves drinking Diet Coke, playing bocce ball, coaching softball, reading novels and cooking.

Tierra Webster, Assistant Toddler Teacher, and Aftercare Teacher

Tierra Webster has lived in Atlanta for since 2010. She moved here from Allentown, Pennsylvania to continue her education for Child Psychology. In Pennsylvania she was a nanny to 4 families. Tierra also briefly owned and operated a state funded daycare. She has been working with children as long as she can remember and has always had a desire to help them grow and develop.

Edgewood Faculty

Sarah Davies, Lead Preschool Teacher

Sarah Davies, a former IPCP parent, is excited to be in her 3rd year of teaching the Acornclass in the Edgewood multi-age building. Prior to being a lead teacher, she taught music enrichment to all the classes at IPCP. Sarah holds bachelors and masters degrees from Ithaca College and The New England Conservatory in Music Education and Voice Performance. She has performed with the Atlanta Opera’s Educational Outreach program and taught music in schools, as well as privately, since 1999. When she’s not teaching, she loves spending time cooking with her husband, gardening with her two sons, running with her dog, and playing with her 2 cats.

Linda Cannon, Lead Preschool Teacher

Linda Cannon is an early childhood educator with over 18 years of experience teaching kindergarten and preschool children. We are very lucky to have found an educator with such a tremendous amount of experience and who believes in the nature and play-based educational philosophy that is so characteristic of Inman Park Cooperative Preschool. Linda has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education from Brenau University.

Kiah Vernon, Lead Preschool Teacher

After serving as IPCP Beforecare and Aftercare Coordinator for 18 months and an IPCP summer camp counselor, Kiah became the T1 Lead Teacher in December 2010 and is now one of our Lead Preschool Teachers. Kiah Vernon earned a bachelor of science degree in Family and Consumer Sciences from the University of Georgia, where she was a team member and captain of the UGA Cross County and Track and Field teams. Kiah was named four times to the All-Region South Team and was Second Team All Southeastern Conference. If you have never seen Kiah run, think graceful gazelle! Kiah loves to sew, craft, and, most of all, she loves to watch Golden Girls!

Antoinette Harris, Lead Preschool Teacher

Antoinette Harris is a Georgia native. She has 3 beautiful little girls and an amazing fiancé. She graduated from Kennesaw State University in May 2011 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. Antoinette is a certified teacher and has worked in the childcare field for 7 years. She enjoys hanging out with her family and watching funny movies.

Belva Mae McMurray, Assistant Preschool Teacher

Belva Mae McMurray is an experienced Teacher/Naturalist from Northern California. She has worked for education programs in San Francisco, as a full-time Teacher/Naturalist, as well as in Savannah, GA, at Oatland Island Wildlife Center. Her educational degrees are in Environmental Design (B.S.) and Social Psychology (B.A.) from UC Davis, and she has spent several years in the design industry before embarking on her teaching career. Belva Mae loves young children and is particularly excited to be working with preschoolers! In her spare time she is an artist and digital illustrator, and loves to sew, craft, and explore the natural world.

Melanie Young, Assistant Preschool Teacher

Melanie Young was born in the Toronto area, but spent half of her childhood in central California where she was home schooled and enjoyed riding her horse through orchards, rehabilitating injured animals, and attempting to make Huck Finn style rafts. She studied music composition, is a classically trained vocalist, and plays several instruments including piano, guitar, ukulele, harmonica, and a variety of percussion. Melanie is nearing completion of a B.S in psychology with minors in music and physics. She enjoys sailing, canoeing, snowboarding, cooking, reading, writing, dancing, gardening, traveling, motorcycles, flea markets, and anything crafty. Five of Melanie’s most prized and utilized possessions are her tool belt, sewing machine, bicycle, journal, and picnic basket.

Janea Hatcher, Assistant Preschool Teacher and Lead After-Care Teacher

Janea Hatcher is originally from Bridgeport, CT, and recently located to the Atlanta area from Norfolk, VA where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Norfolk State University. She loves working with children and looks forward to the school year hear at IPCP!

Shantika Farrell, Assistant Preschool Teacher and Before/After-Care Teacher

Currently Shantika Farrell resides in the Metro Atlanta area. She just recently graduated from Savannah State University in Savannah, Ga., and received her Bachelor of Science in Behavior Analysis. Graduate school is in her near future and there Shantika hopes to pursue a Master’s degree in Early Childhood and Special Education. Ultimately, becoming a certified Behavior Analyst and working with children with autism are amongst her goals. Working here at IPCP has been a wonderful experience!

Additional Staff:

Laura Lancaster Archer, Office Manager

Laura Lancaster has been a part of the IPCP family for over a decade. During that time, she has worn many hats, including: parent, board member, T1 teacher, substitute, and now her current position as office manager. Originally from East Tennessee, Laura Lancaster has called Inman Park home for the last 20 years. She has degrees in Psychology and Theatre Arts and Speech, and earned an Infant/Toddler Child Development Associate Credential. When not tracking down 3231 immunization forms and running auto-drafts, she enjoys reading, cooking, knitting, and going to sleep crazy early. She also just earned her certification as a kettle bell instructor. She lives with her husband, 13-year-old son (and IPCP alum) Miles, and the world’s bossiest corgi. Claim to fame… Laura Lancaster appeared on the game show, Jeopardy! with Alex Trebec and once was employed as a truck driver, which she says was the “Best. Summer. Job. Ever!”

A Brief Cooperative History

The first schools in the U.S. to identify themselves as cooperative preschools were established in 1915. A neighborhood community in Pasadena, Calif. founded Northside Cooperative Nursery School, and faculty wives at the University of Chicago founded The Chicago Cooperative Nursery School. In both schools, parents maintained the buildings and grounds, elected a Board, participated in the classrooms one day each week and met for parent education classes one afternoon each week. As the Chicago cooperative developed, University of Chicago education and home economics students worked as interns and the cooperative emerged into a laboratory school serving the university community. By 1943, 28 additional cooperative preschools had been founded in states ranging from Arkansas to Washington.

The period following World War II held the promise of a bright future for families. Veterans attended college on the GI Bill and purchased homes with low interest GI mortgages. Birth rates increased and families migrated to the suburbs. New and better appliances replaced routine household chores. Women who worked outside the home out of necessity during the Depression and during wartime out of patriotic duty lost their jobs within months of the end of World War II. Popular pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock advocated permissive parenting practices based on the needs of the child. Such rapid changes in the family structure and in women’s roles left many mothers and wives feeling displaced, inadequate and incompetent. Parent cooperative preschools provided a social support network that met familial, personal and professional needs. Women who participated in cooperative preschools increased their parenting skills and acquired new ones as they chaired committees and organized fundraising events. As fathers and mothers worked together for the benefit of their children in parent cooperative preschools, gender role expectations in parenting underwent significant changes. Fathers learned to become nurturers and educators of their children under the guidance of the teachers and other parents in the community. Mothers became organizers and policymakers through committee responsibilities and service on boards of directors.

As the 21st century dawns, families enjoy the freedom of structuring themselves to meet their own financial and parenting needs. Cooperative preschools meet the needs of families who want to actively participate in the nurturance and education of their children while pursuing their careers. Today, flextime for both parents and social recognition of either parent’s choice to stay at home while children are young lend themselves to parent participation in cooperatives, where both parents and children develop social values and skills which contribute to a life-long commitment to community responsibility.

(Statistical information and historical facts are based on accounts from “It’s the Camaraderie, A History of Parent Cooperative Preschools”, Dorothy Hewes, Center for Cooperatives, University of California, Davis, California, 1998.)

The History of IPCP

A group of Inman Park parents began Inman Park Cooperative Preschool in the basement of the Lizzie Bethel Baptist Church in the early 1980s, but the seed of the idea that became IPCP began to germinate in the 1960s and was nourished by the same community spirit working to better the intown Inman Park neighborhood at the time.

In the late 1960s, the Inman Park United Methodist Church started a group of programs to address the needs of the neighborhood, including a Mother’s Morning Out program and a “Mother’s Club,” which met each week.

According to early IPCP parent and neighborhood resident Diane Floyd, around 1971 “something different started to happen when the church member would knock on doors in Inman Park. She knocked on a door on Spruce Street and they didn’t need bread or monetary assistance but they did need the Mother’s Morning Out program for their two- and three-year-old girls.”

Throughout the 1970s, more early Inman Park pioneers used this program and were teachers themselves. Later, the program’s leadership shifted increasingly to parents using the program and it evolved into a more formal preschool. In August of 1981, parents decided to move out of the Inman Park United Methodist Church space and into the basement of the Lizzie Chapel Baptist Church on Euclid Avenue. That same year, the name of the program was changed to the Inman Park Cooperative Preschool. There was no debate over calling it a cooperative, because doing so fit the “mindset of the neighborhood.” It was a time of tremendous growth within the neighborhood and according to long-time resident Floyd, everyone was working together to rebuild their neighborhood so it was natural for everyone to work together for their children’s education as well.

During the next eight years, the community of Inman Park Cooperative Preschool continued to strengthen and in 1989, the school moved again, into the current building at the corner of Edgewood Avenue and Waddell Street. In the late 1990′s the lot across the street from our Edgewood building became available and, with the vision of the school’s long-standing director, Patty Bonner, we acquired the space and began to dream. Now our Outdoor Classroom, this one-time gravel lot is a crown jewel of IPCP. Just ask a student what’s their favorite part of IPCP and often you’ll hear a resounding “The OC!”

Most recently, almost 20 years later, Inman Park Cooperative Preschool underwent another big change that included the renovation of its Edgewood building as well as adding a new space at 27-D Waddell Street. As the 2007-2008 school year came to a close, it became apparent that IPCP was overdue for a facelift. Most expected the renovation to be fairly modest, but the deeper parents got into the process, the more they realized that a few coats of paint were not going to be enough.

By receiving a “Grant to Green Program” grant, IPCP was able to use the summer of 2008 to start from scratch and build a preschool that was both environmentally friendly and fostered the creative and emotional development of its children. In doing this, IPCP not only gutted and completely renovated its former home, but it also doubled in size with the addition of another building across the street.

The Waddell Building (once a photographer’s studio) now houses IPCP’s one and two year olds. Storefront doors and windows were added to allow in more light, and carpet was put down so little knees wouldn’t be bruised. An overgrown outdoor lot (now referred to as the Wee OC) was expanded and redesigned so the children would have a dedicated space where they could explore, plant and play.

The cooperative spirit of the school remains strong and is the way all progress, past and present, will be achieved.

Affiliations

Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia

www.eealliance.org

Grants to Green

The IPCP community was awarded a grant from the “Grants to Green Program” which provides environmentally focused knowledge and funding to strengthen nonprofit organizations. This grant, awarded in the summer of 2008, gave IPCP the opportunity to renovate our Edgewood Avenue school in a way that was both energy efficient and environmentally sound. The IPCP community is grateful to Grants to Green for this opportunity.

National Wildlife Federation

Our Edgewood Outdoor Classroom, which is just a short walk across the street, is a National Wildlife Federation-certified National Wildlife Habitat, as it provides elements such as food, water, shelter and space for a variety of animals and plants.

www.nwf.org