Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Between Infancy and Toddlerhood: Choosing Curriculum Material

A lot of you have written us to ask which Montessori teaching album is best for your 2 to 3 1/2 year old children.

We highly encourage everyone with children in this age group to start with the Montessori for Infants and Toddlers teaching album instead of moving directly to the Primary class album because a number of key lessons such as use of the Imbucare boxes, Object Permanence Boxes, refined hand and wrist movement projects, and language and interaction work provide important building blocks for overall growth and development.

Language leading to reading and writing is a natural progression that we do not rush in the Montessori classroom. The infant and toddler album contains a lot of material that is focused on developing overall language skills that your child can build upon at his or her own pace.

Questions? Send them along in comment form to share with everyone!

4 comments:

Eileen said...

Hi,
I am from Singapore i would like to puchase your product but dont know which to get, can you pls recommend it to me. I am looking at the age 0-3 years old.
I got another question, I am not very sure of the phonics sound do you have anything that can help me before i teach my daughter? And is it in US or UK sound?
Pls advice, thank you.

Eileen

Montessori House said...

Hi Eileen,

I think we already chatted via email, but I wanted to post a response for everyone else who might have similar questions. For children up to age 2 1/2 or 3, I would suggest our
Montessori Teaching Albums for Infants and Toddlers
teaching material. From about age 2 onwards, you can work on our Montessori DVDs for short and long vowel words as well as math.

Our DVDs feature standard American English.

Best of luck!
Kim

Anonymous said...

Hi Kim,
I have two children (my Daughter will be four in June and my Son is approximately seventeen months old). They both attend a Montessori nursery for two days a week and I try to do the method at home too. I was wondering what materials you have would be appropriate for my children.
Many thanks,
Jo.
UK

Montessori House said...

Hi Jo,

If you are looking for Montessori teaching material for yourself, I would suggest the Montessori Teaching Album for Primary Year One (PreK to Kindergarten) for your daughter and our Montessori Teaching Album for Infants and Toddlers for your son.

Since your children are already in Montessori school, you do not need to buy formal equipment to use at home, but you can set up a lot of home-based exercises that reinforce the Montessori concepts.

For example, you will see a lot of these discussions in our teaching albums above, your children can work with basic materials from the kitchen that help them practice fine and gross motor skills along with brain building exercises...pouring, carrying, sorting, and rolling practice all are great.

We do have Montessori phonics and math DVDs as well as cardboard letters and printable reading material, if you check our site at My Montessori House

As you look through our blog, you will see a lot of exercises such as the "Nuts & Bolts" that work well with both age groups.