Monte Tavor Infant, Toddler and Preschool Program

From the Director:

Activities are balanced for children led and teacher directed. Every morning children lead and continue with a session (s) of 15 minutes,half hour to an hour for (older children) of teacher and child directed activities. Our activites are based on the sensorial development along with the developmental stages and approaches. Developing activities for their senses and their equilibrium. Things to smell and taste like sour, spicy, sweet, fruits and vegetables, flowers and aromatic plants, things to feel in their hands and be able to handle like a banana slug or snails, noises to hear loud, far away noises, musical instruments noises they can differentiate. Messy Activities for their senses water and something else like - mud, ice, seeds, corn meal, flour, cornstarch, . A Complete Emergent Curriculum with props (Dramatic Play Boxes) such as fire station, hair salon, restaurant, farm, airport, bank, flower shop, camping trip, post office and more with real props that children can relate to real life experiences. Teachers choose between two to three activities daily for example: Developing an activity can be when children are given a journal with crayons, markers or oil pastels to draw about what they did over the weekend or any story they want to tell their friends. OR The teacher may read a book first and ask children to draw about what happened in the story and tell about their pictures. We document their ideas, words, sentences on their journals. This is part of the language development and as pages are filled with lines and representational drawings we are able to see the progress in language as well as story telling and creation. Another activity can be science where children are being presented with materials and teachers will ask questions of what is being observed or created. Twice a year we have a science fair on Animals and their habitats as well as experiments and discovery on natural sciences. Art - children may be presented with materials and a teacher is there to assist when help is necessary to talk about the drawings or painting being made and what they may represent to a child. OR another activity can be story telling with music and movement using instruments or dancing. Activities can be exploration of the outdoors for example looking for bugs, drawing and talking about each bug from where they live to what they do and eat. Activityies can be just listening to each other when telling a story or expressing how they feel. OR it can be a messy activity creating mix of ingredients, exploring with mud, playing with flour and water, pouring and measuring activites with corn meal, seeds, and water this last activity can be part of their free choice activity. Activites include many ways of learning the alphabet by singing or hands on activities. Writing time for older children. Our whole approach on curriculum is based on teachers' observations and theoritical implications as well as our developmental approach and the equilibrium.

From the Director:

We believe that children learn best when they have the freedom and encouragement in figuring out and building things on their own, when allowed to move freely in a classroom among the different interest areas, when exploring and experimenting materials on their own. The atmosphere, the temporal setting, and the interpersonal setting play a major role in creating an inviting environment for children.. Our teaching approach and emergent curriculum is based on children's interest and where teachers are listening and looking for children's interests to create discovery and exploration themes. Children are emerged into a curriculum of science, art, music and discovery.

Each child has an individual profile where activities are being monitored and checked with comments for developmental reasons. Parents are given a copy when children enter our preschool program, so the parent can monitor, extend or create fun activities for their young one. If a child needs more encouragement in holding a pencil or using writing materials for example, we will create more activities in groups to encourage development in fine motor skills. If a child or a group of children need more encouragement in developing language activities for such skills will be more focused and developed. If a child is interested in a certain ability we will create more activities for this child and for the group to encourage them to try a new ability (connecting, building, writing, speaking etc.)

We believe that teachers should see children as individuals with different needs, wants, abilities and multi intelligences. Teachers should interact with children in a pleasant, fun and interesting way. We believe that teachers should have dedication, compassion, patience, and have a good sense of humor when working with children. Teachers play an important role in the children's and parent's lives because both depend on how children are being guided and instructed toward their future growth.

Teachers are on an on going training on site and outside of our program. Once a month we meet to discuss topics in relation to the development of children and teachers in the classroom.

Monte Tavor Infant, Toddler and Preschool program is a Spanish Immersion program with an Emergent Curriculum in place that believes in the education of young children and their well being.

Our major emphasis is based in the ability to have young children grow up to be bilingual. We believe in the natural growing abilities of children with the assistance of adults.

The most important aspect of our teaching is that children have the freedom and encouragement of figuring out and building things on their own, while at the same time growing up being sensitive toward others, respecting each other, and expressing their ideas and feelings freely;whether is by drawing, dancing or simply expressing themselves verbally.

We believe in the different developmental stages social, emotional, language, physical and cognitive; but more importantly to have children learn how to resolve conflicts on their own and be socially and emotionally ready to accept challenges among peers.

Our major emphasis is on the immersion of the Spanish and English language along with music, art, science, literacy, discovery, and exploration.

7-9 a.m. Breakfast oatmeal, waffles, french toast, pancakes, or whole grain cereals with fruit and milk.

Free play outdoor and indoor.

9-10 a.m. Free play with some instruction 2-3 activities for example, Journal, art, science, or music / movement and outdoor snack

10-11:30 Free outdoor play with many activities such as dramatic play, manipulatives, running, tricycles, playing with balls, games, pouring and measuring activities, water play, floor puzzles, a combination of passive and active activities.

11:30-12:30 Lunch with a great variety of vegetables and fruit, chicken, turkey, salmon or sole fish, tortillas, rice, breads and 15 varieties of beans along with many roots like yucca, tarot, sweet potato and yams.

Toileting, brushing teeth, getting ready for a nap or a quiet time.

12:30-2:00 resting time/ nap

2:00-4:30 Free outdoor play with outdoor equipment and activities (see morning outdoor play at 10:00 a.m.)

Afternoon meal / mini lunch at 2:00 p.m.

Snack at 4:00 p.m. Yogurt with fruit, Quesadilla fruit, rice crackers with fruit and milk etc.

4:30-5:00 Circle story time/ music and movement / excercise / relaxation activites.

5:00-6:00 free choice / play

We communicate daily with parents when dropping or picking up their children,notes going home, phone calls during the day, daily e-mails, parent and teacher conferences twice a year or more frequent if necessary, Monthly Newsletters, potlucks and get together events in the spring, summer and fall months, summer and winter children's performance events.

We are a year round school, so separation usually happens when children first enter the school. Children usually start in our infant program and transition to the toddler and preschool without any separation because the children move with their own groups and they are already know the teachers.

We get together a few times with the family and the children before entering our program. Families are invited for play dates with children currently attending, they are invited to parent get together events, and school events.