What is the Montessori IC environment ?
IC is the abbreviation of Infant Community in English, which means infant community/community.
The IC environment is suitable for 12-14 months to 2 and a half to 3 years old. Unlike Nido, I.C. was established because of the needs of children, because at this age children need an environment outside of the family to obtain various information. In IC, children’s study and life are here.
Teacher-to-child ratio: For new teachers, one trained teacher and one assistant can take care of 12 children. If there is enough space, for experienced teachers and assistants, one teacher and one assistant can take care of 18 children.
The preparation of the environment must be suitable for children to develop independence and order, and allow them to obtain a lot of sensorial information. Things in the environment must be proportional to the child’s body, which allows the development of self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-dependence.
The main teaching aids include: develop eye-hand coordination, develop language, develop movement and daily tasks.
The IC classroom has two main tasks, one is daily life and the other is language development.
In these work settings, children are active participants, while the role of adults is just to prepare a complete environment, guide them and help them connect with the environment. Children will learn to choose in these jobs and bear the results of the choices. In the classroom, children will have at least 2 hours of independent work every day, plus 1 or 1.5 hours to play outside.
