Infant and Toddler Program
Harborlight Montessori School offers an exceptional Infant and Toddler Program located on the campus in a separate building specifically designed for children under three.
Children under three at Harborlight are cared for by an extraordinary team of early childhood professionals who assist the children in the transition from home to school. These teachers possess a compassionate understanding of this tender age, the beginning of life and personality unfolding, as they guide each child towards self-creation.
Infant and Toddler Objective
The Harborlight Montessori Infant and Toddler Community helps the children to perfect their natural tools for learning, so that they may approach future learning situations with facility and confidence.
Developing the Whole Child
During these crucial years, young children are provided a balance of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional stimulation in order to reach their optimum level of development. Understanding, caring, self-discipline, self-awareness, and care of self are incorporated into a creative curriculum and incorporated into each child’s daily routine.
Nurturing Secure Relationships
Parent involvement is essential to each child’s successful transition, continued happiness, and well-being at Harborlight. Beginning with a slow and sensitive orientation, together, the parents and the children gain trust and security in the environment. A parent stays with the child until the teacher feels the child is ready to separate.
The relationship between the child, the teachers, and the prepared environment is interrelated and interdependent. The adult’s relationship with the child is one of assurance, which is established and sustained through individual attention and sensitive interactions. With guidance, the child is allowed to follow his own interests and readiness in choosing activities.
Appealing to the Young Child’s Natural Curiosity
Harborlight’s unique home-like atmosphere, toddler-size furniture, and appealing materials are attractive to the child’s senses. Young children explore independently and develop a sense of security and competence that enhances their sense of self and independence.
The materials used in the infant and toddler environments are based on the young child’s unique propensity for learning. Children experience the excitement of learning by choice and readiness. Acquiring information in this way is a natural and delightful activity for the young child who employs all of his senses to investigate his interesting surroundings.
