Toddler
A joyful beginning for independence, language, and self-discovery.
For many families, the Toddler Program is their first experience of St. Helena Montessori School. At this remarkable stage of development, young children are eager to move, explore, communicate, and do things for themselves. Our Toddler classroom offers a carefully prepared Montessori environment where these natural drives are welcomed and guided with purpose.
It follows that at the beginning of his life the individual can accomplish wonders – without effort and quite unconsciously.
Maria Montessori
Program Highlights
Children attend Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM, with an optional nap program that allows children to remain at school through the end of the day at 3:15 PM.
Spanish Immersion
The toddler classroom is a full Spanish immersion environment. Children absorb language effortlessly through the daily routine and the shared activities of conversation, songs, stories, and purposeful language materials.
Led by an AMI-trained Montessori guide
The classroom is led by an Association Montessori Internationale (AMI)–trained Montessori guide who carefully prepares the environment with materials designed for practical life, language, sensorial exploration, and coordinated movement—including self-care and care of the environment.
Hands-on Montessori materials and activities
The Toddler environment offers a more integrated sensory experience. Through this rich and varied engagement, children begin to organize the many impressions they receive from their surroundings, laying the foundation for later intellectual understanding.
Practical life experiences that foster independence
In the classroom, toddlers prepare food, set the table, wash dishes, care for their surroundings, and practice dressing and toileting independently. These experiences strengthen coordination, concentration, and confidence while nurturing the child’s natural drive toward independence.
Optional lunch and nap program
An optional nap and lunch program is available as an extension to the school day. Mealtime opportunities foster independence, routine, and family culture.
Beautiful, thoughtfully prepared environmentsÂ
Within the beauty of our campus, children flourish as confident, curious, and compassionate members of the community—building the independence and love of learning that will guide them throughout their lives.
Supporting An Age of Extraordinary Growth
HR
![A young boy plays with toy animals on a wooden table in a classroom with a large plant and artwork on the wall.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1777661416/shmontessoriorg6/sefgwul1gmtelm3mbbzb/ToddlerCommunity-8_1.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1777661416/shmontessoriorg6/sefgwul1gmtelm3mbbzb/ToddlerCommunity-8_1.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1777661416/shmontessoriorg6/sefgwul1gmtelm3mbbzb/ToddlerCommunity-8_1.jpg","width":768}])
![A smiling toddler in a pink raincoat and boots stands in the foreground with a lush green tree in the background.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1777661236/shmontessoriorg6/vpsjc0vuuxbg7tknsunx/ToddlerCommunity-1_1.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1777661236/shmontessoriorg6/vpsjc0vuuxbg7tknsunx/ToddlerCommunity-1_1.jpg","width":360}])
![A young boy pours tea from a French press into a teacup on a colorful tablecloth, while a girl watches intently, with blurred classroom tables in the background.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1777659436/shmontessoriorg6/t8pclcwwlxhdxtrj76ye/ToddlerCommunity-5.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1777659436/shmontessoriorg6/t8pclcwwlxhdxtrj76ye/ToddlerCommunity-5.jpg","width":480}])
![Children in colorful hats and shirts huddle around a small object on the gravelly ground.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1777661415/shmontessoriorg6/hvlg21yh1ayzjpeimvbj/ToddlerCommunity-3_2.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1777661415/shmontessoriorg6/hvlg21yh1ayzjpeimvbj/ToddlerCommunity-3_2.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1777661415/shmontessoriorg6/hvlg21yh1ayzjpeimvbj/ToddlerCommunity-3_2.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1777661415/shmontessoriorg6/hvlg21yh1ayzjpeimvbj/ToddlerCommunity-3_2.jpg","width":1032}])
![A young child in a yellow smock paints on an easel with a brush, while a blurred green bush and sunny outdoor setting form the background.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1777659436/shmontessoriorg6/h16xmlnqknlvzqytzdxm/ToddlerCommunity-7.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1777659436/shmontessoriorg6/h16xmlnqknlvzqytzdxm/ToddlerCommunity-7.jpg","width":480}])
![Three children walk hand-in-hand down a gravel path lined with trees and vegetation.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1777659439/shmontessoriorg6/hr5bwqxllukgaaqpc8y8/ToddlerCommunity-30.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1777659439/shmontessoriorg6/hr5bwqxllukgaaqpc8y8/ToddlerCommunity-30.jpg","width":480}])
![A woman plays a drum in the foreground while children sit around her in a classroom setting with wooden furniture and colorful decorations in the background.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1778023564/k8k6zilgzgq2p8g1xzyk/ToddlerCommunity-5_1_Cropped.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1778023564/k8k6zilgzgq2p8g1xzyk/ToddlerCommunity-5_1_Cropped.jpg","width":265}])
![A toddler in a heart-patterned shirt and rainbow-patterned diaper draws on a large black board, with a wooden xylophone visible in the background.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1777659436/shmontessoriorg6/zcd6s0fxnmofrldcvx20/ToddlerCommunity-3.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1777659436/shmontessoriorg6/zcd6s0fxnmofrldcvx20/ToddlerCommunity-3.jpg","width":480}])
Why Toddler at St. Helena Montessori
The toddler years are marked by a powerful drive toward independence. In the Montessori environment, children are given meaningful opportunities to care for themselves and their surroundings—preparing food, cleaning, dressing, and participating in the life of the classroom. Through these experiences, toddlers develop coordination, confidence, and a growing sense of capability.
Early childhood is also one of the most fertile periods for language development. Our toddler classroom is a full Spanish immersion environment, where children absorb language naturally through conversation, songs, stories, and daily interaction. Spanish becomes part of the living rhythm of the classroom community.
The classroom is guided by an AMI-trained Montessori educator and equipped with authentic Montessori materials designed for the developmental needs of toddlers. Each activity supports purposeful movement, concentration, and hands-on discovery, allowing children to engage deeply with their work.
Montessori education attends to the formation of the whole child. Through practical life work, sensorial exploration, language, movement, and community life, toddlers begin developing habits of attention, curiosity, and kindness that support learning in the years ahead.
Even the youngest children possess a deep spiritual awareness. Within the toddler environment, a small Level T Atrium space offers a quiet setting for moments of stillness, song, and simple encounters with the language of faith.
Each day also includes time outdoors, where children explore the campus, move their bodies freely, and observe the natural world—experiences that nurture curiosity, coordination, and wonder.hr
