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At Casa de Niños we provide you with the ideal education that contains 3 elements, education for the head, the heart and the hand.
Casa de Niños Montessori Programs
Nido Infant Community (2 months - 17 months)
Nido Infant Community (2 months - 17 months)
“To Aid life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself, that is the basic task of the educator."
Dr. Maria Montessori
The NIDO environment is a special environment meant to replicate the home. In the NIDO, the children will be met with warmth, love, and care while developing their hand-eye coordination, grasping skills, coordination of their body through movement, and are able to explore their world in a safe and caring place.
The word "Nido' is derived from the Spanish word meaning 'nest' and it conveys the spirit of the infant environment.
The comforting, warm, and inviting Nido environment is prepared to enhance the development of your infant through calm and nurturing stimulation. The simplicity of the aesthetic order meets the varying developmental needs of infants.
We welcome infants' ranging in age from 8 weeks to 16 months. A unique aspect of all Montessori environments is that children of mixed ages are brought together to benefit and naturally learn from one another. The younger, non-mobile infants watch with intense curiosity as the older children begin to roll over, crawl, pull up, walk, etc.
The Nido staff works with parents daily to determine individual feeding, sleeping, and diaper changing routines as each infant is unique. It is important each baby’s natural rhythms that are observed and respected.
Pre-Primary (17 months - 2 1/2 years)
Pre-Primary (17 months - 2 1/2 years)
"do not tell them how to do it. Show them how to do it and do not say a word. If you tell them, they will watch your lips move. If you show them, they will want to do it themselves."
Maria Montessori
Toddlers Community serves children who are comfortably walking. It has two program options, either half-day or full-day care. The environment conforms to the physical needs of the children, both in the size of the furnishings and in the opportunities for motor development. The Toddlers Community is carefully prepared to aid the toddler in achieving independence and reaching their full potential. The freedom experienced in this carefully prepared environment gives the children the opportunity to discover and follow their own interests, and to become inspired by all they touch, see and feel. Children in this age group have a strong drive and desire to do what they see adults do. The sense of pride children feel in learning to care for themselves and their environment is a true thing of beauty. Hearing a child proclaim, "I did it!" is one of the best feelings a Montessori guide or parent can ever experience!
The Montessori toddler classroom will be made up mostly of Practical Life materials and cultural lessons are generally included in the language part of the classroom; this would include learning about weather, the calendar, and basic names of objects in the classroom and in nature.
The practical life area includes materials necessary for preparing and serving a snack, setting and clearing the table, sweeping, caring for plants and animals, dishwashing, clothes washing, polishing, hand washing, window cleaning, flower arranging, and so on…….
The language area includes real concrete objects, language nomenclature cards such as parts of the body, family members, pets, components of the neighborhood, the school, and the home, books that are fiction and poetry, spoken vocabulary enrichment exercises, and other activities including art and music experiences.
Primary Children's House (2 1/2 years - 6 years)
Primary Children's House (2 1/2 years - 6 years)
Realizing the peculiarly absorbent nature of the child’s mind, the sensitive periods, and the human tendencies, Montessori prepared a special environment, then, placed the child in it and
allowed him the freedom to live in it, so he could absorb whatever he found there. We must give the world to the child.
Maria Montessori
We need to make the world accessible to the child “Montessori “incarnated” the world in the prepared environment of the Children’s House and allowed the freedom to the child’s human tendencies to become operative within this environment. She realized that the world was color, size, dimension, and shape; it was sound, taste, touch, perfume; it was carpeted with grass, trees, and flowers; it was decorated with insects, butterflies, and birds; it was walked on by animals, great and small; it was watered by rain and snow, by rivers and lakes; it was sun and moon, night and day, and stars. And this world was inhabited by beings just like the child, who had made a life to be lived, as he had to live his life, from the first moment of their inception on earth.”
M. Stephenson
When you enter a room at Casa de Niños it is pleasant with natural lighting, lovely photographs, and framed paintings hanging in view for the children, magnificent and scientifically informed Montessori materials fill the room. Each exquisite work is carefully fashioned from superior natural materials and resembles a piece of artwork. Different plants and flowers decorate the room, the room is busy with children working with assorted materials either sitting at child-sized tables and chairs or on the floor with small rugs. A few children purposefully walk around the room considering different works or activities arranged on the child-sized shelves. Each child, whether working independently or quietly in pairs, is happily absorbed in the task in front of them. Is a unique and fascinating place where multi-aged children actively engage in a myriad of purposeful activities. Each child chooses his/her own “work” whether it be polishing, painting, preparing snacks, watering a plant, matching, grading the knobbed cylinders or pink tower cubes, touching and sounding out the sandpaper letters, labeling a map of the world, or learning about quantities with the spindle rods. They are able to enjoy considerable freedom of choice and activity because of the carefully “prepared environment” tailored to their sizes, abilities, and needs and because of learning how to live within a community of respect, LOVE and order. The Montessori guide follows the individual child’s development by linking the child to an activity or material depending on his/her need, interest, or readiness. Thus, the children progress at their own pace and build a foundation of skills needed for life. In our mixed-aged communities, social interaction spontaneously occurs, benefiting all the children. The younger children are inspired by the advanced work they see, and the older children reinforce their skills and enhance their self-confidence and self-esteem by teaching the younger ones. All the children learn to become important and contributing members of their community. Having a Spanish immersion environment helps the child learn multiple languages naturally and simultaneously.
Afterschool Pick-Up (6 years - 12 years)
Afterschool Pick-Up (6 years - 12 years)
From 3:00-6:00 pm, we provide a warm after-school environment. The school provides a fresh snack and the children help prepare. Children exercise freedom in choosing work and with whom they will work. The guide limits freedom when necessary with respect to the rights of others. Children, in turn, learn to maintain this balance between liberty and limits. The child exhibits an interest in fairness he/she often “tattletales” simply to find out what behavior is or is not acceptable within the social group of family or school.
The Montessori guide explains the class rules and their commonsense foundation. The aim is that when the children see that rules serve to protect them and the rights of others, they willingly obey and enforce such rules. We integrate all subject area that relates to the child’s life, other human lives throughout time, the universe, and its source. Children get more motivated to learn about any subject when they see how it relates to bigger questions that begin to enter their minds at the elementary level: Why am I here? How did the universe get created? What is the purpose of life? The child in the elementary level 6-12 years looks for underlying causes and explanations. He/she wants to know why and how with regards to everything.
Children will also have access to materials that inspire open-ended exploration in a flexible environment while honoring Montessori philosophy. Registration is open for Summer Camp 8am-3pm & 7am-6pm.
Summer Camp (6 years - 12 years)
Summer Camp (6 years - 12 years)
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