Infant and Toddler Training
THE FIRST THREE YEARS ARE A TIME OF EXPLORATION, EXPERIMENTATION, AND IMMENSE GROWTH
The curriculum for the birth to 3-year-old is specialized to guide and support the child in this tremendous effort of acquiring skills to thrive in the world. The MEIPN Infant and Toddler teacher preparation course delivers the specific knowledge and practical skills required to prepare and lead an authentic Montessori environment for children ages birth to three.
The AMS Infant and Toddler credential meets the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families requirement for those supervising young infants and toddlers in state-licensed facilities.
Academic Phase
The academic phase of the Infant and Toddler course consists of 212 contact hours of instruction and independent observations. Each cohort begins in mid-June and continues through May. We offer a hybrid program of in-person classes (136 hours) held on one or two Saturdays or Sundays each month, and online classes (64 hours) with some Zoom introductions throughout the year.
The courses covered in the program are Philosophy, Pedagogy, Environmental Design, Child, Family and Community, Observation, Personal Growth and Development, Program Leadership, and Child Development.
For course descriptions, see: MEIPN Student Catalog
Students without an AMS-recognized Early Childhood Credential will also take an additional 24-hour online Early Childhood Overview class immediately following the Infant Toddler course.
Practicum Phase
The practicum experience allows the adult learner to not only practice information and strategies that have been communicated during the course but also to have the opportunity to observe a good model of the Montessori method in action.
AMS offers three Practicum models at the Infant and Toddler Level. You can work with infants (birth to 18 months), with toddlers (18 - 36 months), or with both infants and toddlers.
The practicum begins on or after the start of the academic phase and requires approximately three-and-a-half hours per day, five days per week of experience in a Montessori Infant Toddler classroom. This totals a minimum of 540 hours of class preparation work, teaching, cleanup, meetings, parent conferences, etc.
Ideally, you will be working under the supervision of an experienced, credentialed Montessori teacher. In special cases, you may be working as the lead teacher in the classroom. This will extend your internship from 9 months to 12 months.
Interns choose their own practicum site, which must comply with the requirements listed on the Practicum Site Agreement and the Supervising Teacher Agreement to ensure the best training outcome.
Therefore, schools that have not hosted a MEIPN intern in the past must first be pre-approved by MEIPN. See the MEIPN Student Catalog for more information on the Practicum and speak to a level coordinator for specific recommendations.
Infant and Toddler Book List
All books in the reading list are provided to enrolled students.
Click here to access our book list
“There are many who hold, as I do, that the most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six. For that is the time when man's intelligence itself, his greatest implement, is being formed. But not only his intelligence; the full totality of his psychic powers." -Maria Montessori
