(Ages 18 months to ~3 years)

The first few years of a child's life are crucial to his or her personality and intellectual development. In his acclaimed book, The First Three Years of Life, Dr. Burton L. White says that a child born with the best mental and physical capabilities may not attain even average levels of competence without exposure to appropriate experiences.

Infants and toddlers need not only love, emotional nurturance and a healthy physical environment, but also an environment that promotes their very real need to learn. The Montessori Teaching Method provides a basis for individualized learning activities, appropriate for even the earliest stages of a child's development.

The purpose of the Toddler Development Program at the Greece Montessori School is to encourage, assist, and protect the normal development of each child. Children in the Program flourish in prepared environments, which respect, support, and respond to their basic needs for independence, exploration and the building of trust and self-esteem.

We, at the Toddler Development Center, believe that any kind of group childcare will not work without cooperation between the caregivers and the parents. Parental involvement is stressed; parents know their child better than anyone else. Parents and caregivers must feel comfortable in exchanging knowledge and experiences about the child. Informal parent groups and individual parent meetings are held frequently.

During the early years of life, Dr. Maria Montessori believed, "the first thing the child's education demands is the provision of an environment in which he or she can develop the powers given by nature." Quite literally, the school environment is the curriculum.

The structure of the curriculum is based on five developmental areas: Sensory and Perception, Physical and Motor, Self-Help Skills, Language, and Social and Emotional. Dr. Montessori emphasized the need for a rich environment and noted the speed at which children can develop. "If our own adult ability be compared with the child's, we should need sixty years of hard work to do what he or she does in three."

While providing a structured, and thus familiar, environment, the needs of individual children are met. For example, there are many physical, emotional and mental values involved with their work. Through various activities, the child learns to be independent. An individual, at any age, cannot make an intelligent choice or be responsible without independence in though and action.

Sensory and Perception: The young child absorbs the world around him or her through the five senses, and a rich environment should cater to the child's senses.

Physical and Motor: Along with the mind, both fine and gross motor skills develop rapidly from three months to three years. Attention to these needs supports balanced development. A young child's physical ability and movements are important to his or her environmental involvement, and thus education.

Self-Help Skills: The focus is on helping the child attain and enjoy independence; each individual must learn to self-educate.

Language: The construction of vocabulary is a part of every aspect of the classroom from snack time to manipulating a toy to group activities.

Social and Emotional: A well-rounded and happy child, whose social and emotional development has been supported by responsive individual attention, reacts positively with the environment, copes with frustration, and learns easily.

Independence will be achieved through:

• Care of the environment
• Cooking
• Development of language skills
• Movement
• Music
• Practical life activities
• Social Interaction

A Montessori trained Directress and classroom assistant will nurture the child's natural curiosity and love of learning. The class size of 11-15 will vary throughout the years as children achieve readiness and progress to the Montessori Primary classroom. The Toddler Program provides a solid foundation, upon which the child's future learning at Greece Montessori School can be based.