Programs
The Nido (2-17 months)
The word ‘Nido’ is derived from the Italian word meaning ‘nest’ and it conveys the spirit of the infant environment. Our classrooms are comforting, warm and inviting with care being taken to provide nurturing, calm stimulation to enhance the development of the young child. The classroom focuses on two basic needs of the infant—a safe bonded relationship between adult and child and the development of the child’s growing sense of self and independence. The simplicity and aesthetic order of our Nido environment support safe discovery of the world as the child sensorially explores the environment. These spaces are then thoroughly enhanced by the tender care and developmental support offered by our staff.
Trust is a basic need that must be nurtured in the young child. Our trained staff care for and respectfully respond to the needs of each infant and in so doing encourage the development of that trust and convey a message of unconditional love and acceptance. As the child develops, this trust will serve to foster risk-taking and learning.
Toddler Community (18-36 months)
The infant community offers space for the young child to naturally move from a physical/emotional stage of development to the more cognitive phase of learning. Through movement and exploration, the child is exposed to a broader world where parallel play becomes interactive play, where words become tools to communicate needs and desires, and where the boundaries of possibility expand alongside the developing mind. This classroom provides activities that teach the care of oneself and the environment, foster gross and fine motor skills and provide structure and organization for pre-academic learning. The most vital component of the class is the dynamic social and linguistic experiences where each child is immersed into the more ordered world of communication and learning.
A primary focus of the Infant Community is to instill self-confidence through support of the child’s innate curiosity while maintaining a keen balance with the developing skills required for respectful social interactions. This is a stage of rapid development of the child. Our staff is committed to supporting and guiding this in the most loving, respectful and professional manner possible.
Primary / Pre-K (3-5 years of age)
Our primary classroom is designed to meet the needs of the rapidly developing 3-5 year old. Classes are composed of mixed-age groups to allow for cognitive stimulation while also meeting each child’s social needs. The purpose of this program is to enrich and promote the further development of each child’s natural curiosity and zest for learning. Each class has a wide variety of materials for hands-on exploration and trained staff that facilitate a child’s trust in him/herself through risk-taking, further questioning and skill development. Our students pursue their quest to learn through experimentation in the many facets of life: Care of Self and Environment, Language, Mathematics, Science, Music, Art, Geography and History. Our curriculum provides basic knowledge as well as integration with real-life experiences and is implemented with respect to varying learning styles and natural human development. The flow of the classroom is hard to miss. A child must be at least three years old and toilet-trained to enroll in this program.
Extended-Day Kindergarten (5 & 6 years of age)
This full-day program allows us to further the kindergarten child’s transition into more abstract thinking while still supporting his/her need of meaningful hands-on activities. Beyond cognitive needs, this age of child is strongly motivated in the area of social development. Therefore, we have designed a program that allows leadership and social skills to develop as well as the necessary basic and higher level thinking skills. To accommodate this, the class spends part of each day with a preschool class and the remaining portion with their Kindergarten class. The growth of confidence, trust and cognitive skills is astounding. Our program emphasizes a balance of basic educational skills with the excitement of Geography, Science, Cultural Studies, History and the Arts.
Before & After School Enrichment (TC & Primary)
To facilitate the schedules of working parents, MAC offers programs both before and after school. The morning program serves a parent provided breakfast until 8:15. These early risers are free to work with puzzles, blocks, art and other freeform activities as well as help with the preparation of the classroom. Children in the afternoon program will be offered a snack and will be part of an enrichment program including art, music, creative movement, and outdoor games. These children will be involved in many projects and experiments plus plenty of opportunity for free play and exploration.