The Toddler Program at Children’s Garden Montessori is designed to meet the specific developmental needs of the 18 to 36 month old child. The classroom is full of materials to support the toddler’s developing fine and gross motor skills, practical life skills, language and independence. It also provides ample opportunities to acquire and practice the skills needed to be a member of a community – primarily, respect for the environment, respect for self, and respect for others. In the Toddler Program, children are provided a supportive, nurturing environment in which their individual strengths and interests are allowed to develop and flourish. In doing this, we strive to encourage the children’s natural curiosity and set the foundations of a life-long love of learning.

A Montessori environment for 3 to 6 year olds is designed to entice children to activity. Each carefully prepared material is considered a “motive for activity”, through which a child develops confidence, self-esteem, and consideration for others, as well as basic cognitive understandings. The Montessori 3 to 6 environment is divided into five areas of work – Practical Life, which is filled with activities designed to help young children learn how to successfully manage their environment. The Sensorial Area, which contains carefully designed materials each of which introduces a particular physical quality perceived by the senses, and used to describe and categorize the world, such as color, dimension, and weight. The Language Area, which capitalizes on young children’s natural sensitivity to the human language which surrounds them. Teachers expose children to all kinds of rich oral language, as well as introducing them to materials designed to give them the tools for developing and practicing writing and reading. The Math Area, which is filled with materials which give children years of practice working with concrete manifestations of abstract mathematical concepts, like linear counting, the decimal system, geometric shapes, and mathematical functions. The math materials build on the child’s experience in the Sensorial Area. The Cultural Subjects, which include art, history, geography, music and science. Because these areas are so open-ended and filled with possibilities, we coordinate our studies in the cultural areas between each classroom and the art studio, striving to not only give children accurate factual information, but also allowing them time and a place in which they might develop their own creative ideas.

The Extended Primary/Kindergarten program is designed for the oldest Primary children at Children’s Garden. In this final year of the Children’s Garden program, children have developed confidence, a full foundation of Montessori early learning, a sense of accomplishment and serve as models for younger children. This cohort of older children often spend afternoons reading long chapter books out loud, taking walks and learning about the Cherry Creek neighborhood, as well as eagerly exploring reading, writing, mathematical calculations, geography, science and art. Five and six year olds enjoy working together, so we give them additional time in Zach’s Place so that they may collaborate on larger open-ended projects of their own design. To capitalize on the developmental benefits to both our oldest and youngest children at Children’s Garden we invite one Ex-P/K child at a time to assist in our toddler program.