Curriculum - Toddlers

Hilltop's Toddler Curriculum includes Practical Life, Cognitive Skills, Motor Skills, Language Skills, Math Skills, Sensorial Skills, Science, Geography, Art, and Sign Language. To view specific objectives for each area of the curriculum, click here.

Montessori Toddler Curriculum

PRACTICAL LIFE
Practical Life activities encourage the child to take care of the environment with size appropriate tools.  The children care for the outside environment through gardening activities and the inside environment through dusting, mopping, sweeping, and washing dishes.  Our Toddlers are also directed to take care of themselves by washing hands, hanging up clothing, managing personal items, and toileting.

COGNITIVE SKILLS
The Toddler is encouraged to explore books and various jobs that ultimately increase ability to concentrate, work independently, and create foundations for learning.

MOTOR SKILLS
The Toddler is refining both fine motor skills and gross motor skills.  Fine motor skills are heightened through practical life activities like pouring, sorting, etc.  Gross motor skills are heightened in physical activities like rhythm/music movement and outdoor play.

LANGUAGE SKILLS
Language activities are developing at a rapid rate during the Toddler years.  Sandpaper letters help the child learn the phonetics of the alphabet.  Naming cards and matching introduce foundations for alphabet and language. Stories, finger plays, singing, and spontaneous conversation time encourage both social and language skills.

MATH SKILLS
The Toddler uses hands-on materials for learning concrete math concepts.  The Toddler begins to understand number concepts, both quantity and symbol, and the meaning of zero.  The child also begins to understand language used in performing simple single-digit addition.

SENSORIAL SKILLS
The Toddler is able to discover and explore the world around them through the child’s five senses. 

SCIENCE
The Toddler learns about the environment through the use of “trial and error”.

GEOGRAPHY
Lessons in geography introduce the concept of a globe and create a framework for whole world to self-world learning.

ART
The Toddler is able to use various materials to express creativity and to enhance fine motor skills.  Language skills are further reinforced through the child’s description of the art and its personal meaning.  Social skills particular to gift-giving are introduced and coordinated with traditional holidays.

SIGN LANGUAGE
The use of sign language in the Toddler Program helps the child express needs in a non-verbal manner.  This can help reduce the frustration level of the child who is in the earliest stages of verbal expression.