“Discovering Me” Toddler Program
Our Toddler environment can be called ‘home’, and the Toddler Program is prepared specially for them. Each child will experience nurturing and growth, individually and in cooperation with other children. The essence of this program is its order security and safety. The child will work on activities that are appropriate to its developmental ability. The children will strengthen their language skills; learn phonetic sounds, numbers, shapes and colors. They will work on weekly themes that will incorporate art, music, movement, songs and story-time books. They will learn to engage in conversation, dress by themselves, toilet training and practical life activities that are associated with home. The child learns to feel confident and develops self-reliance.
The classroom teacher child ratio is 1:5. Our Head Toddler Teacher holds an Early Childhood Education (ECE) Diploma. Our teachers are selected for their patience and love for children. We are committed to providing quality care in an educational fun- loving atmosphere and to help the children through the development stages of:
- aaaaa
- Gross motor development
- Fine motor development
- Emotional development
- Social Development
- Cognitive development
- Sensorial development
- Physical development
- Safety hygiene development
- Speech, language and communication
“The development of the child during the first three years after birth is unequaled in intensity and importance by any period that precedes or follows in the whole life of the child.”
– Maria Montessori
MONTESSORI CASA CURRICULUM
The Basic Theory
It is an accepted principle that teaching is not the most important part of education. Direct teaching does not help children in natural human development. In order to develop a child’s human behavior, he/she has to be taught to function independently, to talk, walk, think, manipulate and, through this skill direct his/her activities. This cycle takes place not at the instance of adults, but at childhood because the child “creates”.
The Montessori Method starts with the establishment of a “Children’s House” – i.e. in an environment for learning where children learn independently, at their own pace, one step at a time. Knowledge is cumulative and thereby they become their own masters.
Practical Life
“Considering the method as a whole, we must begin our work by preparing the child for forms of social life and we must attract his/her attention to these forms. At a given moment it happens that a child becomes keenly interested in a piece of work, showing it by expression in his/her face, by his/her intense attention, by his/her perseverance in the same exercises. That child has set foot upon the road leading to discipline. The exercises of practical life are formative activities, a work of adaptation to the environment. Such adaptation to the environment and efficient functioning therein is the very essence of a useful education.”
– Maria Montessori
The Practical life exercises are those first presented to the child entering a Montessori school. Practical life develops your child’s concentration, fine and gross motor skills and help the child gain independence and self-confidence.
Practical life work consists of:
- Care of person
- Dressing frames
- Grooming Care of environment
- Cleaning
- Polishing
- Care of plants
- Food preparations
- Outdoor Activities
- Recycling/Ecology
- Planting
- Fine Motor Development
- Pouring
- Squeezing
- Twisting
- Hammering
- Gross Motor Development
Sensorial
Maria Montessori explains the education of the senses as the “refinement of the differential perception of stimuli by means of repeated exercises”. The sense of repeated exercises constitutes a species of auto-education, which if they are repeated, lead to the perfecting of a child’s psycho sensory processes.
The sensorial part assists the child to direct his sensory impressions exploring it to the fullest. This helps the child in observing, comparing and decision –making skills needed for later academic studies.
Sensorial work consists of:
- Auditory Learning
- Sound
- Visual Learning
- Color
- Size
- Shape
- Gradation
- Tactical Learning
- Texture
- Weight
- Temperature
- Learning through smell (Olfactory)
- Ability to distinguish between and match scents
- Learning through taste (Gustatory)
- Ability to distinguish between salty, sweet or sour
Culture
Children are naturally curious about the world around them, their environment and make their own discoveries.
Children learn to explore and examine science, history, geography, art and music.
Work activities on culture consist of:
- Parts of the body
- Weather
- Plants
- Living and non living food groups
- Sandpaper Globe
- Continent Globe
- Animals of the world
- Land and water forms
- Maps
- Flags
- Language
“Language is one of the characteristics which distinguish man from the animals.” “It is a gift that nature has bestowed on him. It is an expression of his intelligence. Written language can be acquired much more easily by four year-olds than by six years-olds, the time at which compulsory education starts. Wile the 6 year-olds need at least two years to learn how to read and write, and do so with much difficulty and against nature, the four year-olds learn the language within a few months.”
– Observation by Maria Montessori
The language work consists of:
- Auditory Preparation involves conversation with children, storytelling, (sequencing) poetry, (rhymes and finger play) auditory discrimination, listening skills, identifying sound. (Alphabets)
- Visual Preparation involves recognizing patterns, matching and sorting
- Motor Preparation involves eye to hand coordination, strengthening of the hand, manuscript writing.
- Analysis involves phonogram sounds and blends. Reading on word level phonics and reading in context.
- Correct Expression involves vocabulary of objects, attributes, and actions.
- Function of words involves beginning writing and noun and verb identification.
Mathematics
“Children show great attachment to the abstract subjects when they arrive at them through manual activity. They proceed to fields of knowledge hitherto held inaccessible to them, as grammar and mathematics.”
The mathematics work consists of:
- Numeration – counting numerals 1-9 and the recognition of numerals
- Decimal System – decimal introduction, association of place values, understanding the concept of 10
- Linear Counting – visual recognition of 1-1000, tens, and 100 identification counting with materials.
- Four Operations – decimal systems, introduces concepts of four operations, golden beads, units, tens, hundreds, thousands addition, multiplication, subtraction, division.
- Abstraction: The Bridge after manipulating the golden beads for operation work, the child becomes ready to recognize the symbolic value of the stamp material.
- Memorization – actual memorization of the complete tables does not begin until the elementary level. The Montessori activities are intended to provide exploration of numbers/quantities while also providing numerous opportunities for repetition and engaging the mind for memory.
“Our care of the children should be governed not by the desire to make them learn things, but by endeavoring always to keep burning within them the light which is called intelligence.”
– Maria Montessori
“In the world of the child: I hear and I forget I see and I remember I do and I understand…”
– Maria Montessori