Maria Montessori wrote, “The child has a different relation to his environment from ours… the child absorbs it.  The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul.  He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see and his ears hear.”  If we adhere to these powerful words of Montessori then we are to believe that our young infants and toddlers are absorbing all that is around them, and are really creating a version of their future selves.  If we want these future selves to be emotionally mature beings who have empathy for others an ..read more

The toddlers of Celeste were enthralled in exploring with all of their senses during the month of May. The only true way for a toddler to engage in their surroundings is by being able to touch, see, taste, hear, and smell the world around them. Some smelling bottles were brought into the classroom, some food prep work, some musical shakers, puzzles with different textures, and of course coloring and painting with different colors. All of these works captured the toddlers interest and helped build their concentration for the world around them. May also brought a visit from the Reptile Man. H ..read more

April has been a great month of exploration! The flowers have been blooming around campus, insects have been crawling and buzzing around the playground, and the toddlers of Celeste have been enjoying it all! It’s wonderful to hear the children asking about the different bugs they see, and pointing out the colors of flowers. Inside the classroom the children enjoyed using tongs to transfer colorful bugs onto grass, as well as arrange flowers in Terra Cotta pots. They have also been enjoying painting an apple tree, and using stickers that have fun Spring Time themes. The month of April concl ..read more

March brought some days of sunshine, as well as days of exploring the outdoors with the toddlers being bundled less. The change in seasons is sometimes hard for the toddlers as it causes a disruption in their routine, such as venturing outside with fewer layers or even not coat at all. Thankfully the toddlers also enjoy having this new found freedom of movement, and don’t take very long to transition into these Spring like temperatures. Thank you to all of the families who brought in flowers and stickers during the month of March. These were greatly enjoyed by the toddlers of Celeste. The a ..read more

February was a wonderful month for the toddlers of Celeste! They got to experience some more snow, and had so much fun stomping in it and talking about how cold it was. They even tried to make some snowballs and roll them around the playground.   The month also brought a celebration of our friendship for one another that culminated in a friendship fruit salad for Valentine’s Day. The toddlers enjoyed peeling, cutting, stirring, scooping, and of course eating the fruit! The older toddlers were so patient with their younger friends and tried to help them with ..read more

January was a wonderful month of focus and concentration in the Celeste classroom.  The toddlers enjoyed working with some new materials for counting, sorting, and language.  Some of the favorite works were sorting elephants that were small, medium, and large sizes.  They also loved counting snowmen while using tongs to place them in a sorting tray.  Identifying different parts of a train, and sorting colored pegs was a favorite as well.  It’s been a joy to capture some of these moments in pictures or videos, and share them with everyone through Bloomz.   &n ..read more

I hope that the holiday season provided each of you with the chance to enjoy your family, and spend quality time together. What a wonderful treat the snow on Christmas was. If you stayed home hopefully there was time for snowmen building, and playing in the snow! Always a nice delight to see the toddler’s reaction to the snow falling! In December, the toddlers focused on some new Holiday themed works. Some of these included hanging candy canes, using tongs to move snowmen around, decorating a tree, spinning dreidels, and matching holiday themed erasers.  A nice chance to use different ..read more

With November behind us it’s always fun to look back over the month, and see what wonderful things the toddlers have been doing.  They continued to work on flower arranging, as well as admiring all of the wonderful colors that the flowers added to our room.  One bouquet of flowers had pinks, purples, yellows, and even blues in it! This was definitely a favorite of many of the children.   During the month of November, we were also blessed with several new works from our classroom wish list.  Thank you to all the generous parents who have added some great new works in ..read more

The toddlers of Celeste have greatly enjoyed getting to celebrate Fall during the month of October.  The month brought the chance for the toddlers to explore pumpkins in many different fashions.  This included painting them, hammering golf tees into them, feeling the textures both inside and out, as well as carving a Jack-O-Lantern out of a large pumpkin.  Thank you to all of the parents who made these activities possible with the classroom donations of pumpkins and gourds.  October also brought colder temperatures and the opportunity for the children to work on the self ..read more

The start of the school year has been great, and started off with a wonderful BBQ and concert with our MCH community.  We’ve only had a few new students join our classroom this September, as we have had many returning children and friends who started this summer.  It’s wonderful to see how caring and kind the toddlers have been to each other, as they have helped our new friends get settled into the classroom and routine.  This month often brings a focus on self-help skills with the toddlers learning to dress and undress themselves, as well as helping get themselves ready in ..read more