Twos Class

Best Beginning offers an Annapolis Twos Program based in Montessori, Nature Education, and Reggio-inspired teaching.

Best Beginning Twos Class Schedule
9:00	Arrival & Interest Areas
9:40	Snack
Potty Break
10:00	Clean up song
10:05	Morning Meeting
10:20	Outside Time
10:55	Clean up
11:00	Goodbye song circle with parents

 

Students who turn 2 by September 1st of the school year are eligible for the Best Beginning 2s Program. Being potty trained is not required for entering 2s students.

“Within the child lies the fate of the future.” – Maria Montessori

Montessori

The Montessori component of our early childhood toddler program encourages learning to use independent centers that focus on pouring, transferring, color mixing, food preparation, hammering, cutting, sensory bottles, sandpaper numbers and letters and the sensory table. Art projects are designed to help the child experiment with different materials as independently as possible. We know art is not about an adult’s pre-conceived idea, but about the process of having fun and self expression!

Nature Education

The Nature Education component of the preschool for twos covers themes focused on seasons, animals, and nature. Art often involves use of natural objects. Children learn to help take care of our pet guinea pig and observe and feed “visiting” turtles, snakes, fish, frogs and butterflies. We always include a unit on plants and seeds and spend time growing our own inside and outside class garden.

An important part of Nature Education for the twos class involves use of the outdoor classroom. The classroom is designed with several different learning areas including:

• Music and Movement Area with an outdoor stage and instruments
• Gardening Area
• Ride on Toy area
• Climbing and Crawling Area-low ropes course and small zipline
• Nature Art and Building Area
• Meeting Area
• Messy Play Area

Reggio-Inspired philosophy

The twos class Reggio-Inspired teaching focuses on the belief that the child is capable, resilient, and rich in knowledge. Children are encouraged to take the lead in investigating science, art, and sensory activities and offering their own observations. The child’s own words are often captured and posted on the wall with artwork or photographs. Many open-ended materials are offered throughout the school. This encourages the child to use his/her own inborn sense of wonder to experiment. Students often create a unique sculpture with playdough, use art materials in a different way or change a dramatic play center to emphasize a different play scheme. This thought and creativity is encouraged and the teacher acts as a partner in these efforts.

Also included in the Reggio-Inspired twos program is the belief that children form an understanding of themselves through interactions with others and that the physical environment of the classroom is very important to learning. During morning meeting, we often ask questions and and participate in collaborative activities such as parachute play or simple games. The class activities are carefully set up to encourage interaction between students. The classroom is full of natural light, and is well organized. Real learning tools are used whenever possible and many learning centers are made from natural materials. We are always learning from the students about what works and what does not work! This approach keeps things fun and engaging for everyone.

Sample twos class agenda

The schedule is emailed to parents prior to each class:

Best Beginning This week’s Theme: The 5 senses, parts of the body, class names Twos group class
9:00	Arrival & interest centers
	Art:	Create a face with fruit, cheese and pretzels (focus on vocabulary for parts of a face), easel painting
	Practical Life:	Pouring practice, cutting, hammering, color mixing with pipettes
	Science:	Observe the pet toad, feed him a cricket
	Sensory:	Water play, play dough, sensory bottles matching scents (use your nose), egg shakers matching sounds (use your ears)
	Light table:	Coloring
	Dramatic Play:	Using the doctor’s kit to talk about body parts
9:30	Bell
9:35	Snack, pour your water / Read: Funny Face, homemade snack
	Clear your place/potty break
10:05	Warning bell & song and clean up
10:10	Morning Meeting
	Opening Song:	The More We Get Together
	Poem:	Two Little Blackbirds with puppets-antonym work
	Game:	Who is missing? Close eyes, cover one child with blue scarf, open eyes and guess “Who is missing?”
	Feely Box:	Use just fingers (sense of touch) to figure out what is in the box. Can you tell us about what you feel?
	Sing and move:	“Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes”
	Group Gross Motor:	Ring Around the Rosie-first SLOW then FAST
	Transition:	Magic carpet ride-get on the magic carpet and ride to the door! Practice saying “STOP” and “GO!”
10:30	Outside Time
	Art outside:	Painting with our feet
	Water play:	Watering cans and garden
	Ride on Vehicles/dancing and drumming
	Sandbox
	Clean up/Park your vehicles
	Goodbye Circle and song with parents