Toddlers

16 Months To 34 Months

The toddler program at My First Montessori School is focused on helping guide students’ self-discovery during this sensitive stage of development. We maintain a 5:1 student to teacher ratio, while each toddler classroom has Registered Early Childhood Educators and/or Montessori trained teachers.

What your toddler will learn

My First Montessori School’s Toddler program uses the Montessori philosophy along with the Ministry of Education pedagogy on early learning to help children achieve their fullest potential. Please click below to find out more about the domains and skills that the children will work towards.

Emotional

Expression of feelings
Self-regulation
Empathy
Sense of self
Autonomy
Identity formation

Social

Social interest
Perspective taking
Parallel play

Language & Literacy

Receptive language
Expressive language

Cognition

Cause and effect
Problem solving
Spatial exploration
Symbolic thought
Memory
Sorting

Physical

Balance
Jumping
Running
Dressing
Eating
Pincer grip
Sense exploration

Toddler Curriculum

My First Montessori School’s main goal for the toddler program is to create an environment that is a home away from home while at the same time igniting the child’s natural curiosity. The areas in the classroom help the toddler reach certain milestones while heightening their natural learning process.

Practical Life activities form the foundation of the Montessori classroom and prepare the child for all other areas. Through the repetition of practical life activities, children obtain and refine the basic skills that will serve them all their lives. The toddler classroom offers the early practical life exercises, such as pouring, spooning, lacing, table cleaning, and polishing. These activities are designed to enhance the child’s development of fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, balance, sense of order, concentration and independence.

Children’s speech development experiences a surge of words, soon followed by sentences around the age of two. Early learning materials and oral exercise like storytelling and reading aloud support the toddler’s progress. The language materials in the toddler classroom encourage the refinement and enrichment of language as the first steps on the road to writing and reading. Activities include books, puzzles, naming objects, and beginning sound games.

Sensorial activities assist toddlers in the task of organizing, and developing their 5 senses. We all learn through our senses, and this is especially true of very young children who are at the beginning of taking in and understanding the world around them. Sensorial materials include pink tower for practice with dimension, colour tablets, and sorting by shapes and sizes.

In the toddler room, the children are exposed to the world of numbers through counting games and concrete materials. These exercises encourage the development of important pre-math skills such as order, sequence, visual discrimination, sorting, and one-to-one correspondence. Toddler math activities include stacking, number blocks and puzzles, and sorting and counting materials.

Art is one of the many ways children express themselves. Art is a way for children to communicate their feelings. It is through art that children develop their fine motor skills. In the toddler room, we provide open-ended art activities that help children explore and use their creativity. Activities include playdough, painting, and gluing.

Sample Toddler Schedule

7:00am – 8:45am	Before School Program	This is a supervised activity period where children are free to choose from numerous activities set up by the classroom teacher
8:45am – 9:15am	Morning Snack & Diapering	Children will sit as a group to have morning snack
9:15am – 9:30am	Morning Circle Time	This is an interactive part of the learning experience where children engage in songs, rhymes, counting, and learn the phonetic sounds
9:30am – 10:30am	Outdoor Play	Children will engage in a variety of play that will promote gross and fine motor skills (weather permitting)
10:30am – 11:15am	Montessori Work Period	Children will explore the prepared environment in the classroom. They will also be given presentations by the teachers at this time
11:15am – 11:30am	Diapering & preparing for lunch	Children will get ready for lunch by tidying up and washing their hands before eating
11:30am – 12:00pm	Lunch	Children will eat in groups, which will help encourage them to try new foods and develop social skills
12:00pm – 12:30pm	Story time & Diapering	The teacher will read a story to the children
12:30pm	Dismissal	Children enroled in the Morning Half Day Program must be picked up at this time.
12:30pm – 2:30pm	Rest	The children will rest
2:30 pm – 2:45pm	Wake-up & Diapering	The children will be gently woken up
2:45pm – 3:00pm	Afternoon Snack	The children will be given a healthy snack in a group
3:00pm – 4:00pm	Specialty Programs	These activities will include dance, art, yoga and physical education.
4:00pm – 4:15pm	Afternoon Circle	The afternoon circle will be used to sing interactive songs and practice phonetics
4:15pm	Dismissal/After School Programs Begin	Children not enroled in the After-School Program must be picked up at this time.
4:15pm – 5:15pm	Outdoor Play	The children will be given the opportunity to play outside (weather permitting)
5:15m – 6:00pm	Free Play & Evening Snack	This is a supervised activity period where children are free to choose from numerous activities set up by the classroom teacher. A light snack will be provided.