Our Story
The Montessori Beginnings class began more than ten years ago as an introductory class for our pre-school, Renaissance Village Montessori, New York City.
It didn’t take long to see how interested parents were to observe their children interacting with Montessori materials led by a Montessori guide. Soon the community grew wider than just Renaissance Village families.
2020 moved the class online. Now we can reach an even wider community, across the world! We are passionate about making the Montessori philosophy accessible to every family.
Ms Ivana led the Toddler Classroom at Renaissance Village since 2013 and is now the Director of both the Toddler Program and Montessori Beginnings. She is responsible for designing and delivering the online format and has been facilitating parent support sessions for the past year.
How does online work for toddlers?
We are very mindful about toddlers and screen time. We carefully designed our class to lead the adult in their interaction with their child.
Our teacher guides the activities and observe how the adult and child interact. We were pleased that even these young children are able to create a community in this virtual reality. The children acknowledge their new friends and the class is still an opportunity to practice grace and courtesy.
A weekly evening Parenting Group emerged where our teacher can deliver specific feedback to parents based on observation of the class and facilitate conversation about key toddler issues. We have been proud to provide a forum for parents to support each other and access guidance and resources from our teacher.
“There’s a great teacher!”, Nam, aged 2
“If he is allowed to use his spontaneous activity in a tranquil environment without interference or unasked-for help, he is indeed engaged in a most important work: he is building the [person] he will one day be.”
- Dr Maria Montessori