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Two Year Old Program

Montessori School of San Leandro teacher working with 2 year old toddler program

Program Details

The two-year-old program is designed to meet the needs of children from 24 months to 36 months old. Our staff is committed to providing loving and respectful care. We view each child as unique in their timetable of language development, general cognitive development, social/emotional development, and motor development. The Prepared Environment for a very young child meets these unique individual needs.

Tuition Fees

August 19, 2024 through May 22, 2025

Half Day Program
9am-12pm

Tuition Fee:
$7,150 per academic year

Tuition may be paid in monthly installments:
$715 initial installment by August 1
$715 monthly installments September 1 – May 1
Total of 10 installments of $715 = $7,150

Diaper Fee – Diapers Provided:
$40 per month

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Extended Day Program
9am-3pm

Tuition Fee:
$10,350 per academic year

Tuition may be paid in monthly installments:
$1,035 initial installment by August 1
$1,035 monthly installments September 1 – May 1
Total of 10 installments of $1,035 = $10,350

Diaper Fee – Diapers Provided:
$50 per month

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Daycare Program
7am-6pm

Tuition Fee:
$13,400 per academic year

Tuition may be paid in monthly installments:
$1,340 initial installment by August 1
$1,340 monthly installments September 1 – May 1
Total of 10 installments of $1,340 = $13,400

Diaper Fee – Diapers Provided:
$60 per month

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Program Fees

Application Fee: For new enrollment (non-refundable) $125.00

Work Commitment: Ten hours per child/year, or $200.00 per child/year

Sibling Discount: 10% (tuition only)

Enrollment/Re-enrollment Non-refundable deposit toward tuition: $200.00

Material Fee: $160.00 per academic year due September 1

Day Care by the hour: $12.00

Late Pick-Up Fee: After 6:00 PM, for each five-minute increment – $5.00

2 year old toddler Montessori program

Schedule of the Day

Hour Activity
7:00 - 8:00 Inside Time with Day Care Materials
8:00 - 8:45 Children move into their own classrooms, choice of materials
8:45 - 9:00 Arrival of Children/Greeting at the Classroom Door
9:00 - 9:15 Group Time with Greeting, Calendar, Weather Report, Vocabulary Development with Initial Sound Cards, Montessori Material Presentation
9:15 - 11:00 Montessori Class Time with Choice of Materials
Snack is available during this time.
11:00 - 11:15 Group Time: Music and Movements, Aesop’s Fables, Spanish, Composer, Artist of the Month
11:15 - 11:45 Outside Time in Play Yard
11:45 - 12:00 Dismissal of Morning Children (9 am-12 pm)
11:45 - 12:30 Preparation for Lunch and Lunch
Hour Activity
12:30 - 2:30 Children Nap
2:30 - 2:45 Children wake up from nap
2:45 - 3:00 Toileting/Handwashing
2:45 - 3:00 Dismissal of Extended Day Children (9 am-3 pm)
3:00 - 4:00 Snack and Outside Time in the Play Yard
4:00 - 5:00 Children Divided into Groups: 1. Art and Crafts, 2. Creative Movement & Music, 3. Cooking (Supervised)
5:00 - 5:15 Tea Party (Grace & Courtesy Activity)
5:15 - 5:45 Inside Time with Day Care Materials
5:45 - 6:00 Prepare for pick-up.
Story Time

Classroom Focus

Language development in the Montessori classroom

Language Development

Montessori observed that the young child is in a sensitive period for language. The two-year-olds are effortlessly absorbing the language(s) around them. Absorbing language begins at birth (sooner, some would say) and is called receptive language. Spoken language comes next and starts with babbling, then moves to meaning sounds (mama, bye-bye), and then words. By the age of two, the child is typically constructing meaningful phrases (more milk, go store) and even simple sentences.

Language is supported in the two-year-old program:

  • Getting down to the child's eye level so the child can see the adult's mouth in the formation of words.
  • Eye contact ensures that the child's attention is on verbal communication.
  • Slow speech, so the child has time to understand our words.
  • Stories, songs, rhymes, and conversation for vocabulary enrichment and concept development.
  • Specific speech to identify objects and describe them with adjectives.

General Cognitive Development

Unconsciously and effortlessly, the very young child takes in their world: number-ness, shapes, sizes and colors, smell, taste, textures, temperature, and weight. General cognitive development is founded upon our senses that perceive the world. We focus the child on sensory aspects of their environment to develop powers of observation and discernment. From these sensorial foundations, the teachers support each child in constructing their mental world.

General cognitive development in the Montessori classroom
Social and emotional development in the Montessori classroom

Social/Emotional Development

The feelings of trust that the family has provided for the child are now transferred to the school. The child is actually given non-verbal permission from the family to generalize feelings of trust to others outside the family. Emotionally, the two-year-old is coming to understand separation and continuity, i.e., we may separate and not see someone for some hours of the day. Still, the person continues to exist and to return to us! The two-year-old comes to understand that someone can leave for a long time (hours) and still return.

Motor Development

Motor development involves the hand's fine motor skills and the whole body's large motor development. Montessori spoke of purposeful movement; others have named this psychomotor movement. Our teachers are trained to observe and to create activities that engage the young child in focused, purposeful activities to develop fine motor skills requiring eye-hand coordination and concentration. The practical life activities, in particular, focus on fine motor skills. Fine motor skills lay the foundation for manipulating the pencil for handwriting and observation skills for distinguishing letters of the alphabet. Large motor development focuses on other areas of the curriculum: sensorial, math manipulatives, and language materials.

Two year old motor development in the Montessori classroom