The Toddler Community is a nurturing environment that serves the youngest students at Quest Montessori School, and is often where children experience their first structured contact with other children. The focus of our program is to offer activity that supports the development of movement, spoken language communication with others and independence in daily life. We provide toddlers with a learning environment in which they are valued and contributing members of a mini-community and where they have the opportunity to develop confidence and a love of learning.
A Beautiful Environment
Our bright and sunny toddler classroom is specially designed for your child between the ages of 18 and 36 months. It is a world scaled down to your child’s size. Here, your child paints, cooks, waters the garden, sings songs with friends and plays with materials that develop fine and gross motor coordination. Our teachers guide the children through a curriculum focused on the development of movement, language and independence within an environment that is rich in opportunities for physical, sensorial, intellectual and social learning. Where so many early childhood programs are chaotic and overwhelming, parents are often surprised to see the peaceful tone of our toddler classroom. The calm atmosphere and lack of distraction helps the child to develop impulse control and concentration, planting the seeds for learning.
Help Me Do It Myself
Learning fundamental life skills, called practical life, is the component that links the classroom setting for toddlers with the home. These activities exploit the desire of toddlers to imitate the adults around them, particularly in self-care, food preparation and care of the environment. They spend time working on caring for themselves and their environment through dressing and undressing, toiling, food preparation, table setting, activity choice and clean up, plant care, cleaning up spills and sweeping the classroom. Everything is child-sized, including custom-made tables and chairs, plates, cups, utensils and toilets. In an environment that offers such appropriately sized challenges, children are expected to take greater responsibilities for taking care of themselves and others.
Ready to Move Up
Sometime between the ages of 2 1/2 to 3 years of age, your child’s language skills and self-expression will develop rapidly; they will express a growing confidence in independence and a keen interest in broader concepts; they will want to know what lies ahead, outside of the Toddler Classroom. At this point, they are ready to move up to the Primary Classroom, for children from the ages of 3 to 6-years.
