| Toddler Program |
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The Toddler Program, for children between the ages of 2 and 3 years, takes advantage of the toddler's natural drive to act independently. Learning to care for themselves and to do it themselves is an important part of the toddler's work. In this language-rich environment teachers support and guide toddlers as they explore order and disorder, and refine their emerging motor skills. Outdoor play is an essential part of the daily routine. With the low teacher-to-child ratio (1/5) and the tender age of the children, many parents would expect to see the teachers interacting constantly with the children as one might find in a traditional setting. In a Montessori toddler class, you will notice that the teachers do not rush to entertain or control the children; they instead will quietly give lessons, redirect a child who is having difficulty, interact with the children verbally to help with language development and observe and take note of the children's activities. Toddler exercises and activities recognize that children learn by doing. Classroom materials are always accessible, attractive, safe, and geared for a child's success. Activities are changed regularly in response to children's need for variety and challenge as they grow and learn. The safe, loving, gentle atmosphere puts children and parents at ease and makes for a trusting, spontaneous transition to school.Each curriculum area present in the Montessori classroom emphasizes specific skills however there is a dynamic interplay among different areas thus enhancing the children's natural learning process. Grace and Courtesy, is an important part of the toddler environment. Through lessons, the toddler is taught by modeling, role-playing, and demonstration. These include taking turns, waiting, shaking hands, saying please and thank you, respecting others work/space, using quiet voices and showing kindness to others. Practical Life activities form the cornerstone of the Montessori classroom and prepare the child for all other areas. The emphasis is on process rather than product. Through repetition of activities, children develop and refine basic skills that will serve them all their lives. Examples of Practical Life works include pouring, spooning, stringing, opening & closing, and large water activities. These activities are aimed at enhancing the child's development of fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, balance, sense of order, concentration and independence. Around age two, children's speech development experiences an explosion of words, soon followed by sentences. The language materials in the toddler environment encourage refinement and enrichment of language as first steps on the road to writing and reading. Early language materials include oral exercises like storytelling and reading aloud and support the toddler's need to be immersed in language. Activities include books, puzzles, and naming objects like fruits, vegetables, animals and beginning sound games. Sensorial activities assist toddlers in the great task of organizing, integrating and learning about their sensory input. We all learn through our senses, and this is especially true of very young children who are at the beginning of taking in and understanding the world around them. Sensorial materials include knobbed cylinders, color paddles, tactile exercises like rough and smooth, musical activities, sorting and learning different shapes. To help prepare the mathematical mind, toddlers are exposed to the world of numbers through various games and materials. These exercises encourage the development of pre-math skills such as order, sequence, visual discrimination, sorting, one-to-one correspondence and directionality. Toddler math activities include stacking and nesting cubes, number blocks, puzzles, and sorting and counting materials.
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