The Toddler Program at Martsci School is designed to assist the child toward independence, social awareness, respect and the improvement of motor skills and language. The class size is small and welcoming to make it feel comfortable for the youngest child. It is a time of self-development, learning self-help skills, and preparation to the Primary Program.
Through song, dance, and freedom of choice, the toddlers have access to an assortment of large muscle activities that offer them opportunities to jump, balance, crawl, and skip. These exercises, as well as creative art activities, are available for each child to choose. This freedom in a safe place is essential to the Toddler Program. However, it is bounded by two important limits that will be beneficial for a lifetime: respect for others and respect for the environment.
Practical Life: Practical Life exercises use recognizable objects drawn from experiences in the home. Children learn to care for the environment with activities such as sweeping and cleaning off the tables. Caring for oneself includes managing a coat, washing hands, and taking off and putting on shoes. Food preparation is explored through pouring and spooning activities, washing various objects, and clearing one’s place to eat. Grace and Courtesy: table manners, saying "thank you", "please", and other kind words. Hand-eye coordination and Exercises for Small Muscle Groups: bead stringing, pegs, puzzles, gluing, folding, pouring, transferring, spooning, grasping.
Sensorial: The child discovers the world around him through the use of his senses. In the Montessori method, sensorial activities help the child explore the world using all five senses. Activities include bead stringing, pouring water, art projects, transferring objects with tweezers, working on puzzles, comparing smooth and rough objects of different sizes, playing in water and with play dough and exploring different smells all enhance the child’s senses.
Refinement of the senses: size, shape, color, texture, smell, and taste. Color of the Month: importance of a color. Art activities, sorting, matching exercises are based on a chosen color for the month.
Language: Language activities in the Toddler Program build on the foundation established in the first two years of life. Lots of singing, finger plays, stories and "conversation time" make language learning fun. The class participates in a specialized "movement and music" program each week. The toddler environment also includes plenty of labeling, sorting, and ordering.
Building Vocabulary: Classified vocabulary
Calendar: Days of the Week and Months of the Year
Story Books: There is a book selection of the month. Selected books for the school year 2005-2006 Color of the Month September: Excuse me! By Karen Katz [Yellow] October: Where the Wild Things Are. By Maurice Sendak Black and [Orange] November: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? By Eric Carle [Brown] December: Freight Trains. By Donald Crews [Red] January: Snow. By Uri Shulevitz [White] February: Little Blue and Little Yellow. By Leo Lionni [Green] March: My Hands and My Five Senses. By Aliki [Pink] April: Raindrop Splash. By Alvin Tresselt [Blue] May: Waiting for Wings. By Lois Elhert and The Listening Walk [Purple] June: A Color of His Own. By Leo Lionni [All Colors]
Math: Toddlers need a hands on environment for learning concrete math concepts. The many available learning opportunities for manipulating objects help the child begin to understand number concepts, both quantity and symbol. A variety of materials are available for counting, matching, and sorting activities.
Number of the Month: associating quantity to symbol with counting games
Artist of the Month: Brief introduction to the Masters. Children are exposed to the different masterpieces.
Composer of the Month: Children listen to the music by selected composer. Geography: Brief introduction to the continents through song, pictures, games and art work.
Science: Science activities vary with the seasons and include identifying plants and animals by looking at related books, matching pictures, and taking nature walks.
Art: Art activities are always available and focus on the procedure rather than the product.
Social Development: Social development is encouraged through planned group activities such as circle time, snack time, and story time.
Large Motor: Large motor development includes walks and use of the gym building where children can run play and have fun.
Fine Motor: Fine motor skills are explored through pouring, using tweezers, and other transfer work, as well as cutting and drawing.
Montessori education - "An assist to life." A Montessori education is based on scientific observations made by Dr. Montessori of the young child. Dr. Montessori said, "It is simply an assist to life." She noted that young children learn with great ease by simply "absorbing" like a sponge everything to which they are exposed, rather than learning through logical analysis. This is called the absorbent mind. Dr. Montessori found that there are periods during which the energy of the child's total being seems to be focused upon a particular stage of development such as walking, talking, writing, and reading. These are called sensitive periods. In a Montessori classroom, the prepared learning environment is designed to support these sensitive periods of the children and allow them to easily learn at their own individual rhythm.
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