About Monte Tavor
Monte Tavor is a Spanish Immersion program with an emergent curriculum based on children’s interest, teacher observations and theoretical implications. Our major emphasis is on language, visual and performing arts, science, and exploration. We focus on children’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical development by providing the necessary learning materials, activities, and experiences that will last them a lifetime.
Our program was founded in the fall of 1994 in Oakland, CA by a Nicaraguan woman and her family. They strongly believed in the importance of bilingual education for young children of all cultural groups, but after a bit of inquiring they discovered that the few educational establishments that did offer language development opportunities, did so, only to the Hispanic Community. This played a pivotal role in creating a program for families in diverse cultural groups, who wished for their children to learn Spanish as a second or third language. Fast-forward 28 years, we are proud to publicize that all children enrolled into our program can speak or understand Spanish by the time they graduate; an invaluable skill that comes with several educational benefits.
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Mission
Statement
Every child is unique, and we believe that success and growth come from encouragement and praise. Our teachers focus on building every child’s self-esteem and confidence through positive feedback and rewards. We nurture their natural strengths. A child sees the world around them with wonder and awe, and we believe in encouraging their natural curiosity.
Philosophy Statement
We believe early education should include exposing children to hands-on experiences and interactions amongst peers and adults that are didactic and constructive. We believe children who are given the opportunity to experience cultural diversity grow up being exceptional and knowledgeable members of society, with strong principles and values and who can empathize with the different beliefs, ideas, and cultural values that make up the world today.
How Children Learn
It’s been our experience that children learn best when they are encouraged to work through obstacles and given the freedom to problem-solve on their own. Our classrooms are set up in a manner that allows children the freedom to safely explore different areas of interest and to experiment with various materials, instruments, and toys. To a certain extent, we see children as young scientists who are tasked with using their imagination, natural curiosities, and a vast amount of tools to make discoveries on their own. We believe that when programs introduce young children to self-help concepts and environments, it gives them the self-assurance to subconsciously feel competent, empowered, and independent enough to attempt new things, such as crawling, walking, putting on items of clothing, and feeding themselves, which then ultimately leads them to try even more challenging tasks, like tying their shoes, holding a pencil, drawing, writing and potty training. These principles encourage children to be confident, to learn at their own pace, to improve their emotional control, and to welcome decision based and problem-solving situations.
Ambiance/Environment
A good environment for children is one that promotes new learning ideas and activities on a daily basis. One where they arrive every day eagerly looking forward to discovering, building, solving, and learning at various areas of interest and stations with a wide range of educational subjects and themes.
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The atmosphere in our early childhood education program is made up of physical, temporal, and interpersonal environments. We prioritize an inviting outdoors experience that can safely accommodate children’s freedom of expression through exercise, music, dance, and discovery. Through their bodies, words, and use of materials, children develop increasingly complex communications skills that help them express their feelings in a positive manner. Further, proving the impact of having age appropriate environments and accessible materials for all age groups.
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It’s necessary for infants to have easily accessible materials to encourage the development of physical abilities, such as learning to crawl/stand to reach desired items or areas of interest. Being encouraged by our teacher to move and explore on their own helps infants build self-confidence and a sense of achievement. It also strengthens mobile abilities and the skills necessary for their physical and cognitive development.
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Classrooms should have enough space to accommodate different areas of interest that are appropriate for each respective age group. Our classrooms for older children consist of areas designated for dramatic play, blocks, art, library, sand and water, table toys, cooking, science, and outdoor free play. Our Infant rooms have sensory soft toys, musical boxes, musical instruments, and books. Our toddler areas include soft play areas, balls with different textures, dolls, stuffed animals, blankets, and cars to support and encourage their mobility.
Our extensive outdoors is used for running and physical activities, which is vital for the physical and cognitive development of children. In all of our outdoor areas you will find rocking and swing equipment for the older age groups and innovative indoor-outdoor crawling areas for younger children. We believe that the combination of these areas help stimulate children’s emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development on a day-to-day basis.
Teachers
Teachers play a vital role in the lives of children and their families by helping to build
strong partnerships and well-rounded communities. We believe teachers should have a strong understanding of how social and emotional developments are an important component to dealing with behavior. We believe that teachers should see children as individuals with different needs, abilities and, multi-intelligences. They should have dedication, compassion, patience, good interpersonal skills, and should interact with children in pleasant, fun and interesting ways.
We believe in the training of teachers and emergent discoveries of children’s learning abilities. We believe in multilingual and multicultural environments for families and the multi-intelligence of today’s children.
Nutrition
We believe that nutrition plays an important role in learning and growth. Children who are well nourished exhibit more advances in their cognitive and physical development than those who aren’t. Vegetables and Fruits are key nutrients and an essential part of their daily meals for making better choices. By teaching them good food practices at an early age, we keep them healthy and plant seeds for their future.
Monte Tavor
We believe in the ongoing training of teachers and emergent discoveries of children’s learning abilities. Monte Tavor believes in multilingual and multicultural environments for families and the multi-intelligence's of today’s children. Lastly, we believe in the important choice a parent and families make on their children’s education, as it is always the right choice for your individual child and entire family.