Young children between the ages of 2 and 3 are in the midst of an explosion of abilities. Given the proper guidance, these children will make enormous strides in their language development, problem solving abilities, and socialization with adults and peers on their road to independence.
Abacus Montessori House offers a unique program utilizing the innovative methods of Dr. Maria Montessori o provide a respectful and stimulating environment for these young learners. Toilet training is not a requirement, but is encouraged during the child’s time in the program. Our Toddler Program is just what your child needs to facilitate his or her growth and development.
Dr. Montessori believed that the type and quality of early interactions with toddlers has a long lasting effect on a child’s future development. The Abacus Montessori House toddler program fosters in the young child a sense of independence, a sense of order and cooperation both personally and within a group, in a specially prepared environment.
THE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
Our program is housed in a beautifully renovated home for our small learners, as well as their adult caregivers. All furniture is scaled to the size of the children. This is truly a child’s atmosphere. The children move freely through this environment, selecting materials as they wish from the shelves, working with them on a table or a rug on the floor, and returning them when finished. Young toddlers learn a respect for their environment while they fulfill their need for order and structure in the world. The classroom consists of many hands-on materials that encourage curiosity and exploration. In the toddler’s prepared environment there are activities to foster the care of themselves and their classroom and develop their senses. They enjoy the many self-contained manipulative materials, simple puzzles, and books. Most toddles are not afraid to get messy and love the art and water area.
THE MONTESSORI MATERIALS
The toddler classroom is a joy o observe, as even the youngest children go about their daily tasks, making individual choices and celebrating their successes with the well-prepared activities available to them.
The practical life area has safe and attractive exercises, which appeal o the child’s sense of order. Such activities as pouring liquid from one container to another develops coordination, attention span, concentration and independence. Other opportunities to bathe a doll or wash a table help the children develop a sense of responsibility. Our young toddlers learn how to take care of themselves, as well, through a variety of buttoning, zipping, and snapping materials. As their muscles develop and their concentration span increases, they love to practice their newfound skills and proudly show that they can do it themselves!
Dr. Montessori is perhaps most famous for her sensory awareness activities, which appeal to the child and respond to his/her need to observe, touch, taste, listen and smell. All materials are self-correcting and help even youngest child develop a love for learning.
Children are also introduced to very basic math concepts at this age with the sensorial material. Through their hands-on exploration of the differences between long and short, thick and thin, big and small, these toddlers are preparing for a later understanding of numerical concepts.
There are many activities available for the development of language at this sensitive period in a toddler’s growth. Story reading, sound games, singing, sign language, and continuous dialogues with the children help to enrich their vocabulary, reaffirm pronunciation skills and aid in memory development. These are important as they develop their social skills.
Physical movement activities are also important at this stage. In conjunction with the freedom of movement allotted in the classroom, various movement games and songs will be played as a group. The class has daily access to their own playground, weather permitting. A portion of the toddler day is also spent in the development of physical coordination. Their fenced in playground and sandbox, ride bicycles, rake leaves, and build a snowman. On cold or rainy days indoor larger motor activities are planned to release some of their energy.
Calendar Of Events
Tuesday, Sept. 2
School Begins
Monday, Oct. 20
No School - all staff in-service -NO CHILDCARE AVAILABLE
