Infant -Toddler (8 weeks-3 years old)
Our infant and toddler community is divided into three environments. The classroom for our youngest infants, known as the “Nido,” which is Italian for “nest,” is a peaceful space for non-mobile and crawling infants. Here, the infant safely explores, feeling secure in the presence of loving adult caregivers. The environment includes developmentally appropriate furniture and materials. Specially designed furniture supports the child’s budding independence, including bars for pulling up, mirrors to reflect body movement, and a sleeping area with individual cribs for the youngest infants and floor beds for those who are mobile. The children eat at child-sized tables and chairs rather in high chairs.
The materials in the Nido are small, beautiful and limited in number. They are shared collectively by the group and encourage play and exploration that matches their physical and neurological needs.
When a child becomes mobile they will enter into the walking infant community, a place prepared to support a child’s drive to do things alone, to develop confidence. The environment is set up to develop a mastery of movement and language enrichment. The intense drive to move, climb, explore, communicate and understand are supported both inside and outside of the classroom. Toilet learning and skills of self-care are essential activities at this stage of the child’s development and will help to prepare each child for future environments and for life. We actively observe each child’s activity, interests and behavior so that we can see the signs of readiness that tell us when it is time to move into our toddler environment where a prepared classroom awaits them.
Our Toddler classroom offers students a unique year of self-development in a tender atmosphere of special understanding, respect and support. Everything in the environment is proportionate to the child’s size and is designed to be safe and aesthetically pleasing for children. The classroom is simpler and slower paced than the Primary (three years old to entry into first grade) classrooms.
Activities or “work” in the classroom, encourage control of movement, grace and courtesy. They offer repetitive cycles of activity, helping the child establish patterns of order and sequencing. Due to the fact that these are reality-based activities, the children become grounded in reality. All lessons are presented by a teacher to an individual child alone, except when that work requires the participation of all the children together such as music and movement. Through song and dance, freedom of choice, the children have access to variety of large muscle movements that offer them opportunities to jump, climb, balance, crawl or skip. These exercises, as well as creative art activities and the garden are offered for each child to choose.
The child in the first three years of life is moving towards greater independence. We help the child develop the skills to become independent, but provide the necessary support and nurture each child needs to achieve independence. These are some of the activities that will be incorporated into the child’s environment and experience. These activities will vary between our three communities:
Self-care: washing, dressing, toileting, and eating based on the needs and development of each child
Care of the environment: cleaning, food preparation and food service, plant care and gardening
Large-motor skills (both indoors and outdoors): crawling, walking, climbing, running, jumping, sweeping, balancing, climbing steps, riding a bicycle and more!
Fine-motor skills: reaching, grasping, picking up objects, transferring objects and liquids using tools and utensils, and creating art
Language: naming objects, living things and more; describing actions and motivations, looking at and talking about pictures, engaging in conversations, making music and singing
Social skills: developing manners through interactions with members of their community, and small group games and activities