“The Absorbent Mind”:
In the words of Maria Montessori an infant comes into this world and begins to construct himself or herself by “absorbing” everything from the surrounding environment. Infants in the first period are gifted with intelligence to absorb everything without realizing that they are unconsciously learning. Our caretakers provide a nurturing environment which stimulates infants’ absorbing and growing minds and provides sensorial experiences.
“Movement Guided by Intelligence”
“Hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence” Infants are then guided by their intellectual curiosity to move and start using their hands at first followed by their limbs. Our adults closely monitor and observe our infants developmental milestones and chalk out individualized lessons to cater their developmental stages. Typical infant activities would be rolling over, crawling, grasping, use of pincer grasp, sitting or standing up, climbing and walking.
Infant 1 Program ( 6 weeks – 13 months):
This is a mixed group of infants from 6 weeks 13 months, all growing together, absorbing and learning from each other under the supervision of our nurturing and caring adults. Language comes to the child naturally when the environment resonates with speech. Our caretakers interact on a personal level talking to the child, singing songs, playing with puppets to promote their cognitive and linguistic needs. Children also begin to develop their rapport with their peers using their babbles and single syllable sounds.
Infant 2 Program ( 12 months to 18 months)
By now the child is beginning to take his or her first steps and our environments provide plenty of space to explore and move about. The child’s mind is constantly seeking to act by himself without anyone’s help. Our educators carefully plan a prepared environment to cater the developmental needs of a moving child who is free to explore within limits and learn from a prepared environment. Lessons are created to encourage a lot of movement. Children begin to work in an orderly fashion of choosing their work and returning in the same spot. A sense of order is slowly instilled in them. Children typically enjoy works such as puzzles, blocks, interacting with peers, solitary work, using manipulatives. They learn to feed themselves, carry their work to the table and clean up after themselves.
Our learning environments begin to have a proper structure of defined learning areas. Each area builds upon the other and is closely related to the other.
- Practical Life, Arts and Crafts: Self-care, care of environment, grace and courtesy and control of movement, using crayons etc.
- Sensorimotor: Classify and sort sensorial exercises relating to color, size, touch and smell etc.
- Language: Spoken language, sign language, reading, singing, and Montessori Language materials to increase phonetic awareness. These skills will build into reading when your child reaches Primary Class.
- Music and Movement : Singing ,dancing various muscical instruments like bells, small drums, music boxes etc.