Opening New Doors to Empower Learning

Welcome to "HUMMINGBIRDS"

Infants, Toddlers & Twos

The Hummingbird classroom is a child-size world that invites exploration on a level a small person can manage. It is set up to respond to the very young child's need for order, consistency, and predictability.

Curriculum: Hummingbirds learn to build trust as they understand what they can expect from others and what others can expect from them. The learning that takes place in the toddler classroom is foundational to the child’s educational lifetime. We liken this natural unfolding of the child’s growth as a “second embryo” or inborn “seed” that, when prompted by the stimuli of the child’s nurturing environment, gives rise to her early evelopment. Exercizes are introduced to build pre-reading skills such as matching, sorting, ordering, sequencing, and listening for initial sounds in spoken words, 

Since this is their first experience away from home, developing independence becomes their primary task. With nurturing guidance, they learn to identify their primary needs: food and drink, work and rest, clothing and potty training. They learn personal and social responsibility as they practice putting away work, taking turns, and working without disturbing others. Further challenges include improving large muscle skills, dexterity, and the pre-reading skills of sorting, matching and sequencing.

Guidelines for Hummingbird Parents:

A child's separation from his parents is an important leap toward acquiring independence. Farewells may be hard and even more difficult if parents linger. The teacher will help you recognize the appropriate time to leave. 

With the proper guidance and an early start this transition will be both challenging and enjoyable. Hummingbird teachers put your child's essential needs first. Learning to make responsible choices comes through practice and through discovering the consequences of choices made.

You can assist your child in this critical transition to independence by arranging regular drop-off times. Give your child a few minutes to enter the classroom and choose work, then park. You are welcome to come and check to assure yourself that all is well. But please resist the urge to interrupt your child's process of learning.

Learn more from the NM Handbook about the following:
Daily schedule
Parent-teacher communications
Car line
Items to bring
Lunch
Diapering & toilet training
Napping
Behavior Management Plan