Montessori Method

Self-Education in a Prepared Environment

The "prepared environment." Our classrooms are large, open spaces, framed by low open shelves which display a variety of educational materials or "works" from which a child can choose freely. The attractive materials—made from brightly painted wood, ceramic, metal, or glass—are specially designed to be "self-correcting" and lend themselves to repeated practice. A child using them can independently gauge his own performance, without needing constant feedback from a teacher, and so learning becomes a natural, self-reinforcing process. Classroom furniture is child-sized and can easily be moved about by the children, who thereby learn to adapt the classroom space to many different uses.

The Montessori "directress." Our teachers guide their students' exploration of the enticing prepared environment. Each teacher has trained herself to observe carefully, identify a child's needs and personality traits, and then use that knowledge to encourage the child to investigate developmentally appropriate activities. The teacher provides her student with language to name what he learns. She models social skills, so that children learn to interact with grace and courtesy towards each other and adults. In a warm, nurturing way, she provides the limits and guidance within which the child is then encouraged to freely explore.

The "demonstration." Instruction in our primary classrooms is one-on-one, or in small groups. The teacher first introduces an activity that is at the right level of difficulty, i.e. that is challenging but achievable within the range of the child's abilities. She presents the activity while seated next to the child, moving her hands slowly and precisely so that he can observe her actions. She then has the child repeat the activity. Once the child has been shown how to do an activity in this way, he is thereafter free to choose it at any time and work with it for as long as he likes. As he repeats the activity over time, he acquires mastery of both the motor skills involved, and of the abstract concept—such as length, or color—manifested by the material.

The "work period." Our full day program has two extended work periods, a 3-hour morning work period and a 2 hour afternoon work period. During these times, children choose their "works" from the shelves, and carry them to a work space they select – a low table, or a mat they roll out on the floor. Each child works independently (or, occasionally, with one or two freely chosen partners) with the material for as long as he is interested. Once he completes his work, he returns it to its proper location, and is free to select another work, or take a break, maybe have a snack, and then select his next activity. The classroom is structured, but unlike traditional setups the structure recognizes the child's need to develop his capacity to make independent choices.

Thinking and Life Skills = Independence and Self-Esteem

Concentration skills and an active mind. Learning, in Montessori, is not an adult-led process of transmitting knowledge, but rather a process whereby the child teaches himself (with the adult functioning as a guide). The first skill a child needs to acquire is an ability to sustain attention, to concentrate. By offering him activities which he naturally finds interesting, and which lend themselves to repetition which the child enjoys, he learns to focus his mind – and to appreciate his developing ability to solve problems all by himself.

Independence and self-esteem. A toddler or young preschooler will spend a lot of time with "practical life exercises", which help her develop the ability to take care of her own needs, and to care for her environment – to dress and undress, to prepare foods, to pour water. Our materials are designed – and the teachers trained – to help the child learn how to break down the required actions, to perform them step-by-step, and to do them repeatedly. For example, the "dressing frames" isolate the skill of buttoning with an attractive material; our children enjoy buttoning and unbuttoning, over and over, until they master the skill.

As he acquires skills, the child experiences the pride of independence. At an age during which he might otherwise throw tantrums over wanting to "do it all by myself", but not be able to accomplish the desired task, he instead learns to do it – all by himself. By perceiving himself as a capable, efficacious person, he acquires real self-esteem – and comes to regard effort as a positive; he becomes an eager learner who seeks out new challenges (which of course he finds in abundance in our classrooms.) In this way the classroom setup perpetuates both the child's intellectual growth and the accompanying self-confidence.

Mature social skills. In Montessori classrooms, children are taught to respect each other and to act with "grace and courtesy" – to walk around another child's mat, to avoid interrupting when others are speaking, to say "please" and "thank you." Like everything else in the classroom, social interactions are voluntary (within reasonable bounds) – children choose whether to work alone or together, whether and when to share. Under the expert guidance of the teacher, a Montessori classroom becomes a benevolent and civilized social environment, where children appreciate each other; quarreling over toys, fighting and bullying typically do not happen in a Montessori school – and if they ever do occur, the teachers provide careful guidance meant to teach the children how to address such situations amicably in the future.

Academic skills – writing, reading and arithmetic. Somewhat older children – from about 3 ½ - 4 years – learn handwriting and reading by a similar, carefully sequenced process. For instance, children use sandpaper letters and sound games to associate sounds with alphabetic symbols. They naturally develop a sense of quantity by encountering numbers everywhere in their environment – counting snack items, arranging rods by length – and then explore a wide range of math materials to further develop their skills.

By the time our children graduate from their third year in our primary class, they have usually acquired the ability to read full books (not just phonetic three-letter-words); they can handwrite sentences; they know addition, subtraction, division and multiplication into the thousands – and are more than prepared for the most challenging elementary curriculum.

Expert Teachers—College-Educated, Montessori Trained—Who Genuinely Love Their Students

At LePort, we understand that to offer an authentic, high-quality Montessori environment, we need to invest in the best Montessori teachers, and support them in the classroom.

Each of our classes is led by a fully-trained Montessori "Directress", who has completed a year-long training program through a nationally-recognized training organization, such as the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) – after completing a full Bachelor's degree. Our typical teacher has at least three years of teaching experience, and many of our teachers have been Montessori teachers for at least a decade. Because we recognize and appreciate the irreplaceable value of a dedicated teacher, our teachers choose to stay with LePort long term. And because they consistently receive the professional support they need, they are able to maintain the passion, excitement, and enthusiasm necessary to successfully guide their students.

Each classroom is supported by an Assistant, who has completed 12 Early Childcare Education Units, and whom we train to meet our unique standards. Many of our Assistants fall in love with Montessori, and pursue further training; some become Directresses themselves.

To ensure consistent high-quality teaching, we also employ several regular substitute teachers; they come into classrooms to support breaks, vacation times or cover when a directress falls ill. We also regularly send experienced academic consultants into each classroom to provide feedback to our teachers and offer on-the-job training.

With a deliberate approach to supporting our teaching staff and helping them do their best, we ensure your child always has the best, most nurturing teachers to guide her development.

Meet our Heads of School: Each of our campuses has a dedicated, experienced educator who is not assigned to a classroom, and thus has the time to observe, supervise, coach, substitute and do what is necessary to ensure the absolute best experience for your family and child.