NAME:
Linda Harper
SCHOOL:
Villa Montessori
CLASS:
Infants
SCHOOL PHONE:
602-955-2210
Ms. Harper has been a Montessori lead teacher for twenty four years. She
received her Montessori early childhood certification from NCME in 1981 and
has taught children ages three to six years old until 2004, When Villa
Montessori School opened a new infant program, she enrolled in the
infant/toddler Montessori training from CMTE in New York and has received
her certification in this area as well. Linda has also created workshops
for teacher training in Peace, Parent Communications, and Science and has
been a field consultant for CMTE for five years. She has dedicated her life
to the Montessori philosophies of creating world peace one child at a time
and quotes Dr. Montessori, "Now, oh companions is the time for our work. We
are working for peace and humanity. Our eyes turn toward the little child,
in whom alone lies the hope of the world." Ms. Harper is married and has
two children and resides in Phoenix where she enjoys cooking for friends,
drinking good wine, spontaneous dancing, reading, gardening, and writing.
The Montessori infant program differs from other programs in the following
ways: It is not a day care. All
studies and training show that these little babies cannot handle extended
hours away from their primary caregivers no matter how much love and comfort
they may feel in their school environment.
So the infants in our program are not left at school for more than nine
hours each day. Our hours for the infant program are 7:30 to 4:30.
Teachers and parents must work together for the good of their child.
The ratio of infants to adults is very low. We have seven infants and three
teachers so each baby's basic needs are supplied in a minimum amount of
time. This makes for happy, trusting, and comfortable babies.
Much time and attention is paid to the infants' important developmental
needs. This means that we devote all of our days to introducing language at
each opportunity. We talk to your baby as if he already understands and we
name things that he may be exploring within the environment. Before your
baby talks, she is absorbing language and words and how they are formed by
your mouth. Your infant is also needing to move by herself as much as
possible so we have very few "containers" for the babies. This means that
there are no playpens or swings, most babies are placed on the floor on
blankets or sheepskins where they can roll over, lift their heads, and scoot
on hands, bellies, and feet. There is lots of space for crawling infants to
move and pull themselves up on infant-sized furniture and to use walker
wagons for walking practice. Walking babies are also provided with space
for climbing and running inside and outside of the classroom. (Our program
accommodates infants ages three months to about twelve months old.)The
overall
environment is safe and clean. High quality materials and toys are provided
for each infant to explore at each age level. These exercises are changed
at different intervals to meet the changing needs of the infants as they
grow and to provide renewed interest in the environment.
The same three teachers are in the classroom each day to provide the
security and the trust that babies need when they are away from home. They
are experienced and trained caregivers who have much knowledge about infants
to pass on to parents if needed. These teachers strive to work together
with the family for the good of each baby.
Each child's own individual schedule is followed at school so not all of the
babies eat or nap at the same time.
Each baby is helped to do what they can for themselves at the appropriate
age development level. Older babies are helped to feed themselves, undress
themselves and to care for the environment with us (sweeping, dusting,
planting flowers etc.).
The infants in our program are viewed by their caregivers as smart and
capable beings. They are shown love and respect, given much time, and
treated with much care at every age level.
