Infant – Toddler
Program
In collaboration with NSMES, Aid to Life Education is pleased to offer Vancouver’s FIRST Parent-Infant and Parent-Toddler Montessori program.
Why is it so important to expose your child to this type of program at this age?
For the Child: Our classes provide your child with a beautiful environment and stimulating materials to aid him or her in self-development. As human beings we develop our intelligence by learning through our five senses and particularly through the relationship between the hand and the brain. These specifically designed learning materials will aid your child during the rapid period of absorption and brain growth that occurs during the first three years of life.
For the Parent: The goal is to help parents understand what this child is going through. We work in collaboration by providing parents with the knowledge and tools to understand their child’s specific developmental patterns and abilities in order to best respond to his or her needs.
The Parent-Infant Program (2 to 14 months):
Picture a place where you and your infant are free to explore and enjoy a Montessori environment, learning from each other’s movements and reactions.
The focus of this unique program is to aid parents as they experience the first year of their child’s life, using Montessori methods and materials.
One morning each week parents and infants come together for 1 ½ hours with the facilitator to experience an environment set up to encourage development of movement, acquisition of language, and refinement of visual, auditory, and tactile perception.
The Parent-Toddler Program (14 to 36 months):
Toddlers are curious. It’s this probing nature that drives them to discover the world in which they live.
This program encourages parents to give their child independence to investigate on his or her own. This allows the young explorers to develop budding skills, such as fine and gross motor coordination and visual discrimination, through the senses and learning materials.
Classes are offered once or twice a week for 1 ½ hours. This gives the parents the chance to observe their child as he or she builds relationships with other toddlers, and to acquire insight into their child from a Montessori perspective. At the end of each class, children participate in a nutritious group snack and come together to sing songs and play instruments.
Opportunities in the Montessori Infant/Toddler prepared environment:
Voluntary movement: The environment allows for movement with an intelligent purpose. It is an environment in which the child is able to experience natural consequences for his or her actions.
Language: The environment is rich in language experiences for the young child. As language is the key to intelligence, being surrounded by clear, meaningful spoken language is crucial for this age group.
Work: The environment allows the child to choose his or her work and work with it for as long as he desires. The environment fosters the development of independence. The child has the opportunity to do things himself as the materials are made with his age and abilities in mind.
Order: The order in the environment is needed to create inner order within the child. Everything in the environment is set out in a logical way. This helps the child be able to understand how things follow a natural order and adapt himself to the environment.
Reality: Everything in the Infant/Toddler environment is reality based. The child under three is working towards self-construction and needs concrete examples of what he sees around him in his environment.
ATLE Parent Child Program Flyer
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