Pre-Primary Program
18 months - 3 yrs
"Help me do it by myself."Our toddler community provides a small-group Montessori experience to children aged 18 months (and walking securely). The classroom accommodates eight children with one teacher and an assistant. In this setting the children come to feel the classroom is their own peaceful, special space where they play a meaningful role in their own care and the care of their classroom environment.
The classroom is carefully prepared to meet the unique needs of this age. All furniture is a size that allows maximum independence and the Montessori toddler materials are designed to be attractive and inviting to the children.
Social interaction with other children, development of language skills, care of oneself and the environment, food preparation, music and movement activities are integral to the Montessori toddler experience.
Through careful observation of the children, the teacher is able to link each child to whatever aspect of the environment will enhance the child's physical, psychological and social development at any given time. The teacher is always looking out for the "sensitive periods" when the child demonstrates an almost obsessive interest in a particular activity that is essential to his or her growth.
The adults in the environment act as role models for the children. They conduct themselves in the way they expect the children to conduct themselves. Children at this age learn not only through individual lessons and independent practice, but also through their attention to what the adults in their lives do.
An open, supportive relationship between teachers and parents is essential to providing optimal conditions for the toddler in the Montessori classroom. Regular communication with the teacher, formal conferences and parent education classes contribute to an atmosphere in which each child can realize his or her full potential.
Pre-Primary Curriculum
Sensorial activities in the classroom respond to a toddlers’ urge to use all of his senses to explore everything around him. The toddler program also appropriately accommodates the very young child’s sensitive period for language by offering creative and intriguing concepts to expand their growing vocabularies. Joining conversations, listening to stories, classifying objects and learning songs and poems all nurture their budding language skills. To help smooth their initial social interactions, the toddlers also learn to use words for the feelings they experience in themselves and others.
Many of the activities in the toddler program highlight the practical life skills that lead to independence. Our teachers show the children to hang up their own coats, put away their lunchboxes, and to problem-solve rather than say “I can’t.” Since this is an age of very strong imitation, the teachers constantly model appropriate social skills, good manners and consideration for others.
Through music and movement and freedom of choice, the toddlers have access to a variety of large muscle activities that offer them opportunities to jump, balance, crawl, or skip. These exercises as well as creative art activities, are offered for each child to choose. This freedom in a safe space is crucial to the toddler program. However, it is always tempered by two important limits that will be beneficial for a lifetime – respect for others and respect for the classroom environment.