Taking the Beginning Steps Together for North Canton's Future

This class signifies a warm, comfortable, cozy place for children. This is where our children take their first steps in exploring the world around them, they are discovering and adapting to life. All facilities in our school are created with safety and engagement for children of all ages in mind. Everything here is designed to ensure that our youngest children are successful in the period of the most significant development - the first year of their lives, with the help of Montessori activities and an aesthetic environment. By exploring the Montessori environment twice a week, children develop motor skills in addition to forming logical cause-and-effect relationships. We are focused on creating a safe space where our youngest children can develop their independence.

At Best Buddies, our youngest Children are welcomed with warmth and kindness from when they arrive at school. Teachers and staff support children as they say goodbye and step into their school, ready for an exciting day ahead.

After the morning greeting, students head into the classroom to join their friends and explore the many wonders that await them. Every shelf is carefully curated for the children based on their age, interests, and physical and social-emotional needs. Toddlers learn by doing, touching, seeing, and listening, and our classrooms are designed for this exact purpose. Beautiful materials are displayed throughout the classroom, inviting little hands to explore; to open, touch, take apart, and then put back together. The enriching environment is as much a teacher as the adults in the classroom. The feeling of belonging is a fundamental part of every student's success and well-being. Every lesson encourages the connection between children, peers, and teachers. While laying the foundation for learning, students master their environment, work independently, collaborate in small groups, and work together in a classroom. The curriculum for toddlers is designed to support children's independence giving them the tools to be successful. Children build their coordination and focus on carrying out daily living tasks. Students have individualized curriculums that are tracked by teachers as they are presented with new materials or concepts. As students work with these activities, teachers use their observations and data to plan each student individually or within small paired groups.

Circle time or community meetings provide opportunities for the class to come together as a community. Teachers begin these gatherings by leading children through songs, finger-play activities, and stories. Songs and stories will often lead to conversations about various themes, such as changes in the season or different social-emotional experiences that support the overall development of children's communication and expression.

• Our teachers are highly trained in preschool classrooms and create a customized environment crafted to their unique abilities, interests, and learning styles.
• Teacher encourages preschoolers to explore and discover, to collaborate with classmates, and to take ownership of their education.
• Teacher encourages self-directed learning that promotes self-confidence, independent thought and action, and critical thinking, while fostering social-emotional and intellectual growth.
• Teachers gently guide students to help maintain the organization and cleanliness of this environment to keep it orderly and attractive, and to help your child understand how to care for materials and clean up after themselves—skills you will be happy to observe carrying over in your home.
• Children work with specially designed manipulative materials that invite exploration and engage the senses in the process of learning.
• All learning activities support children in choosing meaningful and challenging work at their own interest and ability level. This child-directed engagement strengthens motivation, supports attention, and encourages responsibility.
• Uninterrupted blocks of work time (typically 2+ hours in length) allow children to work at their own pace and fully immerse themselves in an activity without interruption.
• Your child’s work cycle involves selecting an activity, performing it for as long it remains interesting, cleaning up the activity and returning it to the shelf, and choosing another work.
• This cycle respects individual variations in the learning process and facilitates the development of coordination, concentration, independence, and a sense of order while facilitating your child’s assimilation of information.
• Health and wellness are important elements in the everyday routine of Best Buddies. Our primary students set the table to make every meal feel like one at home with family and friends, allowing for bonding and forming connections. Children bring food from home; the menu incorporates a wide variety of meals combining many international cuisines. Each meal includes a balance of nutrients, vegetables, and healthy grains and also tastes delicious!