Toddler Program ( Children age 15-30 months)
Lead by an Early Childhood Educator and a Early Childhood Assistant
Student teacher ratio-1:5 Classroom capacity - 10
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Our toddler program focuses on introduction to the early childcare setting adapting to schedules and routines.
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Relationship building
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Focus on language and literacy skills.
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Gross motor skills through physical activities (2 hours of outdoor play weather permitting).
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Elements of the Montessori Method is introduced through practical life activities this includes pouring and spooning and polishing these activities help with hand eye co-ordination and building concentration through repetition. Children develop small muscle movement and coordination that is necessary for writing.
Sensorial:
The sensorial materials allow a child to begin to 'define their world.' Children are introduced to shapes, sizes, colours, basic geometric shapes and sounds, allowing them to begin classifying the world around them.
Culture and Science:
In the cultural area, the children are introduced to basic concepts about animals, botany and geography. Through working with such materials as puzzles, leaf pressings and talking about animals from around the world. In the science area, we introduce basic concepts through experiments such as, cutting an orange to discover where the juice comes from, or freezing water to ice-cubes. These types of simple concepts set the stage for further interest and more advanced exploration in the Casa and Elementary age groups.
Music and Movement:
Music and movement encourages self-expression, creativity, and fun for children. It develops an awareness and appreciation of sounds, tones, and rhythm.
Book Area:
The book area is a quiet area for children to relax, enjoy, and explore different books which stimulates the child's desire to learn to read. Activities around books can be done in large or small groups. This enhances development of the child's attention span, while learning simple concepts and exercising their imagination.
Large motor Skill:
Large motor skill activities include daily indoor and outdoor play which promotes good health and development for growth. These activities also aide in balance and coordination, while promoting social skills such as sharing, taking turns and co-operation.
Dramatic Play Centre:
This area includes a grocery stand with cash register, housekeeping, multi ethnic dolls and block play. It provides an opportunity for children to learn about their feelings and to experiment with social relations as well. It also helps develop language through self -expression and role-playing.
Language and Math:
Toddler children are introduced to the preliminary language exercises allowing them to learn the sounds that make up words. Sounds are introduced phonetically as children play sound games allowing them to listen carefully to the sounds that make up the words we use. In the Toddler Math area, simple concepts of numbers are introduced through songs, counting by rote and the daily calendar.
Free Play:
Free play takes place indoors and outdoors. This provides children with an opportunity to share and develop relationships. During free play, there is an opportunity for children to explore, design, create and carry out projects.
Circle Time and Story Telling:
Circle time and Story Telling enhances the child's ability to listen through stories, songs, and poems, and encourages children to broaden their imagination. Furthermore, this develops memory skills, lengthens attention span, and encourages social skills, while promoting cognitive development. This in turn leads children to self-expression, gross motor development, role- playing, body awareness and language development.
Creative Learning:
Creative experiences provide children with the opportunity to express themselves, manipulate and create crafts with a variety of materials. Emphasis is placed on Process Not Product. Creative learning allows children to work alone or in groups. Creative learning assists in many areas of your child's development such as, pre-writing experiences, small muscle co-ordination, eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills and sensorial experience.
Manipulative Play:
Manipulative play helps to develop control, self-expression and role-playing. It also gives children an opportunity for social interaction that encourages language development. These activities are done individually and in a group setting. They help to develop dramatic role-playing, social interaction, turn taking, self expression and language development. It incorporates conceptual skills and contributes to small muscle dexterity and cognitive processes.
Arts and Crafts:
Our curriculum emphasizes arts and craft as a very important part of the child’s creative development. Our students are exposed to arts and craft at Apples and Angels Montessori School in many different
ways. For example they may make booklets of words learned, math problems completed, maps and all the land water forms. They may gather leaves from our regular nature walks and then label and illustrate these leaves.
Our arts and crafts program allows our students to express themselves through creative way to improve concentration, fine motor kills and hand eye co-ordination.