Cedar Montessori School LLC, Infant Montessori Program

Nido is an Italian word meaning "nest." Like a nest, the Nido at Cedar Montessori School both protects and provides learning experiences for children ages three to fourteen months. For a child of this age a lovingly prepared home based on the child's developmental needs is always recommended if possible. If you are fortunate enough to stay at home with your child during the first year of life, please still contact us. One of our trained staff would be happy to consult with you on how to prepare your home for your young child during each stage of of development during your child's first year of life. Our trained staff can also guide you towards toys and activities that will assist your child in his/her natural and positive development. For more information regarding our in home consultations please see the link under "programs."

A Montessori infant environment can be considered a continual balance between supporting the development of the infant's two basic psychological trusts; trust in the environment and trust in self. At one end of this continuum is the bonding relationship between the adult and the child, while at the other is support for a growing sense of self and independence.

An infant's trust in the envrioment is supported by fostering a positive relationship between the infant and his/her adult. By continually responding to your infants basic needs (when she is hungry you feed her, when she is wet you change her, when she is tired you lay her to rest, when she is sad you rock her, etc.) you have been helping your child develop a strong trust in her new environment (the world). While your child is in the Nido every adults caring and respectful response to your his/her needs, both physical and psychological, will continue to convey this message of unconditional love and acceptance. Our low teacher child ration (1:4) provides the teacher the opportunity to respond quickly to each infants basic needs. And while each infant dictates his/her own sleeping and eating schedule, the staff work closely with each family to establish routines at developmentally appropriate times.

While a basic trust in the environment is essential to your child's development, equally important is the delvelpment of a trust in self. The Nido's environment and the adult interactions are all designed to foster and support the infant's growing trust in themselves by providing developmentally appropriate opportunities for independence in each area of the environment.

The Nido is divided into 4 Basic Areas: EATING, SLEEP, PHYSICAL CARE , MOVEMENT & LANGUAGE.

Eating - All infants are held during bottle feedings. Once the weaning process has begun we provide a small table and specially designed chair for the infant to sit in while he/she practices the exciting skill of eating (with fingers and then utensils) and drinking from a small open cup.

Sleeping - A low bed is provided for each infant with a small blanket from home. Each child is supported individually so that he/she can fall asleep as peacefully as possible.

Physical Care- All the children at CMS wear cloth diapers until active potty training begins. Once a child is able to sit up independently they are given many opportunities through out the day to sit on the toilet and practice eliminationg into the toilet (for more info about Elimination Communication see our links page).

Movement/Spoken Language - These two great milestones for independence are continually supported in each infants daily life at CMS. Infants are never placed in bouncy chairs, swings or exersaucesers rather they are encouraged to develop and refine their gross motor movements and fine motor movements through their interactions in this carefully designed environment The adults in the Nido also support the development of spoken language skills in a variety of ways such as conversations, books, poems, singing, music, baby sign language and the introducation to letter sounds with the SOUNS method (see links page for more info). Pacifiers are not used at CMS as they hinder a child's natural development of spoken sounds.