Preschoolers have big emotions.
They might feel happy or sad or anything in between. Helping them learn how to identify and react to those emotions is no easy task, but it’s important for young children to learn those skills before they enter a formalized educational setting in kindergarten.
The Iola school district’s preschool program, now in its fourth year, has proven successful at that task, curriculum director Jenna Higginbotham said.
In fact, it’s become so successful, she’s had to make difficult phone calls this year to tell a handful of parents there just wasn’t room for their child. The district now has a waiting list for its preschool program — and that’s after an additional room was designated for a combined 3- and 4-year-old preschool class.
“We knew eventually we’d have to close our doors to out-of-district kids. Luckily, most of them got into a program in their home district,” she said.
The Iola district partners with two private preschools, Munchkinland and Ready, Set, Learn. All teachers receive the same training and use the same curriculum to prepare 3- and 4-year-olds for kindergarten.
And although the goal is to give young children a solid foundation for the rest of their educational career, preschool is a lot of fun.
“We do academics, but we kind of just hide them into play,” Higginbotham said.
Preschooler teachers focus more on teaching social-emotional skills, such as getting along with others, how to sit quietly during reading time, how to line up for recess “and just the routine of going to school,” Higginbotham said. 
Students attend just a half-day, offering a more gentle transition to the rigorous demand of a full day of school.
“Even though the directions we give them are things like ‘We’re going to play at the kitchen’ or ‘We’re going to do puzzles,’ they still get very tired,” Higginbotham said.
To make it easier for parents, the district provides transportation to licensed daycares and preschools throughout USD 257. Students who live more than two-and-a-half miles away can be taken to their home, as well.
Typically, as many as 50 students take advantage of the transportation.
This year, USD 257 has a total of 155 preschool students. They are split between three morning and afternoon classes, with 8 to 10 students in the morning classes and 14 in the afternoon. Each class has a teacher and a support professional, with other paraprofessionals who “float” between classrooms as needed.
“We want to provide the best for the kids, so in order to do that, we have to keep our class sizes small.”
In most cases, 3-year-olds attend morning classes and 4-year-olds go in the afternoon. But because of the increased enrollment, particularly among 3-year-olds, IES added an additional classroom of combined 3- and 4-year-olds.
