ICKids Newton Montessori

Our curriculum will be based on the Montessori Philosophy. Nildo meaning “nest” in Italian will be for our infants and younger toddlers. The Nido is divided into five areas: movement, eating, sleeping, physical care and outside. The focus of the infant environment is on fostering basic trust in the child. Foremost in the environment is the adult whose caring, respectful response to the infant’s needs, both physical and psychological, conveys the message of unconditional love and acceptance.

Toddlers are given opportunities to work in the development of language skill, art, music, sensorial and practical life. The practical life area is particularly emphasized as the activities in this area give children the chance to develop skills to care for themselves and their environment in the following areas:  control of movement, grace and courtesy. Practical life activities are simple and can be accomplished by each child. They offer repetitive cycle, which helps the child establish patterns of order and sequencing. Due to the fact that these are very real activities, each child becomes grounded in reality, building the child’s self esteem is the ultimate goal and this is accomplished through repeated successes with these activities. Through song and dance and freedom of choice, the toddlers have access to a variety of large muscle activities that offer them opportunities to jump, climb, balance, crawl or skip. These exercises as well as creative art activities, are offered for each child to choose. This freedom in a safe space is crucial to the toddler program. However, it is always tempered by two important limits that will be beneficial for a lifetime, respect for others and respect for the environment.

PRESCHOOLERS Over a period of time, develop into a “normalized community” working with high concentration and few interruptions. The classroom includes the following components:The practical life exercises enhance the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and refinement of physical movement and coordination. The sensorial materials enable the child to order, classify, seriate and describe sensory impressions in relation, length, width, temperature, mass, color, etc. The Montessori math materials, through concrete manipulative materials, allows the child to internalize the concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations and memorization of basic facts.The language work includes oral language development, written expression, reading, the study of grammar, creative dramatics and children’s literature. Basic skills in writing and reading are developed through the use of sandpaper letters (loose alphabet letters) and various presentations allowing children to effortlessly link sounds and symbols and to express their thoughts in writing.The child is also presented with geography, history, life sciences, music, art and movement education.

Goals and Objectives

• 1.Physical/Gross motor Development
  a. Control of arms and legs.
  b. Moving from place to place by rolling, creeping, crawling, and walking.
  c. Climbing on objects such as a slide, et.
  d. Pulling self up.
  e. Kicking and throwing balls or other objects.
• 2.Fine Motor Development
  a. Is to be able to grasp objects with thumb and forefinger.
  b. Is able to hold objects and manipulate them well.
  c. Is able to put objects in container.
  d. Is able to scribble with crayon.
  e. Is able to feed self and drink from a cup.
• 3.Cognitive Development
  a. Can pick up and manipulate objects.
  b. Remembers familiar things.
  c. Can use several senses at once.
  d. Can solve simple manipulative problems.
  e. Explores new approaches to problems.
  f. Imitates people and/or noises.
  g. Begins to use language.
• 4.Social Development
  a. Responds differently to different people, may prefer primary caregiver.
  b. Babbles to self and/or others when talked to.
  c. Plays games with people (peek-a-boo, patty-a-cake, etc.)
  d. Sensitive to and interested in the moods and activities of others.
  e. Asserts independence.
• 5.Emotional Development
  a. Shows wide variety of feelings/uses voice to express them.
  b. Smiles at self in the mirror.
  c. Sees difference between self and rest of the world.
  d. Encourage self-independence.
• Activities
• 1.Physical/Gross Motor
  a. Variety of washable objects within reach of infant for him/her to reach/stretch for.
  b. Slide and climbing equipment for climbing.
  c. Plastic or wooden cars or trucks for riding on or pushing.
  d. Low platform to provide a variety of levels to explore.
• 2.Fine Motor
  a. Playing with blocks and manipulative (grasping toys).
  b. Turning the pages of a book.
  c. Dropping or throwing balls or different objects.
  d. Shape sorters and cause/effect games.
• 3.Cognitive
  a. Encourage curiosity by providing a variety of small objects of different textures, shapes, and sizes.
  b. Give plenty of opportunities for child to develop self-help skills i.move objects out of reach so that he/she has to move to get to them.
  c. Easy problem solving games.
  d. Large beads for snapping together, building blocks, stacking and nesting toys, etc.
  e. Provide beginning sign language for infants.
• 4.Social
  a. Mirrors provide opportunity for infant to develop self-image.
  b. Talk to infant, especially during care giving.
  c. Encourage and provide opportunity for self-help skills such as using cup and spoon.
  d. Allow infant to interact with the other children.
• 5.Emotional
  a. Provide for attachment needs as infant needs to develop a primary relationship.
  b. Allow opportunities for uninterrupted concentration.
  c. Music for dancing or relaxation.