Nido Environment
Quote 1
"My favorite part of teaching this age group is being the person who exposes them to learning materials. I love being able to build a relationship with each child and seeing their personalities form. Watching them transition and go through all of their milestones in such a short amount of time is really rewarding."
Kaitlyn M.
Quote 2
"Although cliche, the best part of teaching this age group is watching them grow. In the span of the 6-8 months that they spend in our environment, the growth of the students is evident physically, mentally, and emotionally. They go from crawling to walking, babbling to imitating words and learning to communicate using their sign language.”
Nicole A.
Nido
ages 6 weeks – 18 months
Obviously, your home is the best environment for your infant. The next best thing is the Nido room at STEAMspark Montessori. The word “nido” is Italian for nest. The “Nido” room has a home-like feeling with caring Montessori staff to nurture and care for your child. Your child will be learning in a nurturing community environment that will strive to provide curiosity and challenge the young mind. We have a variety of Montessori tools and activities that are used throughout the year focusing on their gross, motor, and cognitive skills. This is the optimal environment for your child to build confidence and develop early language skills. Through teaching and the responsive care of each guide, the students are able to build strong and secure attachments to not only the guides but their environment too, which in turn gives them confidence in themselves as learners. It is through diapering, feeding, helping students during nap time, and dressing that guides create meaningful interactions that help build a rich vocabulary, nurture the curiosity of the children, and most importantly build a trusting environment. The guides are intentional about the daily experiences they give, but also maintain flexibility for the ever-changing interests, abilities, and needs of each child.
Some of the most important skills that students learn while in the Nido environments are how to be independent, to develop community skills, and to begin communication.. From a young age, we teach our students to self-soothe, properly bottle feed themselves, and play independently. This develops their levels of self-awareness and social relationships with other classmates and teachers. Sign language has become an important staple in our Nido environments. Many students are able to comprehend simple instructions and dialog in the classroom however they are still unable to express themselves. Sign language gives a "voice" to students that otherwise cannot speak coherently. When students are able to express themselves it helps to reduce frustrations and communicate important information such as being hungry or tired.
The developmental milestones for Nido are the fundamental skills that the child will learn, grow and cultivate as they grow older. We observe and report to parents on milestones that involve movement, language, independence, perceptual, social skills, and psychosensory.
