Trust in their abilities and watch their confidence soar.

Discover Montessori for Infants

A 14-month-old carefully lifts a small, open glass to her mouth. She drinks her milk, then gently places it back on a small table. If it tips, she cleans up the spill herself, with a small sponge. When done, she gets up and pushes her tiny chair back to the weaning table, and toddles off in search of her next activity.

She is independent. She purposefully controls her movements. She acquires dexterity and the deep confidence that comes from becoming capable and feeling trusted.

How do you build confidence?

At LePort Montessori, the magic happens in a prepared environment, where trained, caring teachers help each child gain the independence skills she so urgently wants to achieve.

Low weaning tables, tiny chairs and open cups are just the beginning. Watch our infant video and see what high-quality infant care looks like. There are no battery-powered toys, high chairs, bouncers or other containers that restrict babies who are meant to move and explore.

INDEPENDENCE.

In Montessori, that’s a word we write in all caps—because it is that important.

Earned confidence. Independence matters—because being able to do things by yourself, without help from a parent or teacher hovering nearby, and knowing you can do it, is the foundation for earned confidence. Trying things, failing, learning from mistakes, and getting better through your own efforts, achieving mastery, autonomously, is what helps children develop a can-do attitude. Independence protects them from the anxiety that riddles too many college students today—college students who, through the helicopter parenting they received never had the benefits of seeing themselves as capable and in charge of their lives.

Capable bodies. Independence matters—because it is through using their body to achieve their goals—to drink out of a cup, to button their jacket or tie their shoes, to climb a tree or ride a bike—that children develop gross and fine motor skills they need as children to do well in school, and as adults to have access to any career that requires dexterity (think everything from chef to fashion designer, from scientist to surgeon).

Practical skills for living. Independence matters—because it is the life skills a child needs to develop to live a full life. Step by little step, children in Montessori joyfully develop the skills that they need to become the successful adults of tomorrow. As a bonus, these independent children are happier today—and are more fun to live with for parents!

At LePort Montessori, we help children become independent from an early age. We trust in their abilities. We support them with a carefully prepared environment. Our teachers observe—and coach just enough to help them succeed. We delight in seeing their confidence soar.

The Knowledge for Life Journey Toward Independence

Independence is woven into everything we do at LePort Montessori. Here are a few, select examples, from infancy through junior high/middle school, on how our students develop independence and the active, can-do attitude that it delivers.

Infancy

The Cup

Montessori babies at an early age transition from bottles to small cups—real, child-sized, open glasses or ceramic cups. Cups that spill when put down without care—not sippy cups that contain drinks even when thrown down. With these small cups, our babies learn every time they drink:

They learn that actions have consequences. You can’t just drop a cup like this on a table. It will spill. Thus, the child learns to be thoughtful with what she does.

They practice motor control. Dumping a sippy cup takes no skill. Putting an open glass down so it doesn’t spill, requires careful hand-eye coordination. Practicing this every day—along with using a fork or spoon to self-feed—helps our babies learn to coordinate their movements.

The Weaning Table

Independence means being actively in charge of your life. In contrast to many other daycare centers, where babies are moved about by adults from one container to another—from a crib, to a high chair, and on from there to a playpen or bouncer or exersaucer—in Montessori, we set up our environments so babies can move independently:

They eat at a low table. They can sit down and get up as they need.
They get their diapers changed at a floor-height changing table they can crawl onto—or standing up at a bar they can walk to.
They nap on a floorbed—which they can enter and exit without an adult’s help.

Toddlers

The Montessori Throw

Being able to take care of your own needs without someone else’s help is key to feeling empowered, feeling capable. We teach children early on how to get dressed. It gives them that feeling of being capable—and it makes it easier to go through a day with them (less fighting to get out of the door!):

Putting jackets on with the Montessori throw. It’s hard for a 2- or 3-year-old to put a jacket on the adult way. But this trick allows them to do it successfully, at a young age. Their smile says it all!
Learning to manage clothing closures with Dressing Frames. Buttoning, using a zipper, closing hooks and tying laces are all learned skills. The Montessori Dressing Frames isolate these skills, and allow toddlers and young preschoolers to practice them purposefully—so they can get dressed all by themselves.

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The Snack Routine

Contributing at home, even in little ways, can be very motivating and confidence building. In the classroom, toddlers do much to run their community. One of the most impressive parts is setting the table for lunch and snack, and, by the end of the school year, running their lunch routine quite independently. This simple routine builds independence in several ways:

Teaching a life skill. Setting a beautiful table, and sitting down for a meal together is quickly becoming a lost art—yet research shows that family style sit-down meals are an important predictor of life success, for all ages.
Coordinating movement. Moving a table with a friend and arranging chairs; carrying a plate, walking carefully, controlling arms and hands as you set it down; picking up a small pitcher, controlling its movement as you pour, setting it down so it doesn’t tip and spill: all this is in-class gymnastics for toddlers. It builds coordination and strong, poised bodies!

Primary

(Preschool / Kindergarten)

Plant care

Care of the environment is an important independence skill. If we want our young adults to make beautiful homes, to live in places that inspire rather than in messy dumps, we need to help them learn all the skills that go into that. Maybe more importantly, we need to have them experience the joy that comes from keeping your environment pretty.

Taking care of classroom plants is an important part of the care of environment curriculum in Montessori. Children learn to actually see what is around them, to notice a dead leaf, to notice spilled earth, to think about the needs of these living things.

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Sewing

Care of self for slightly older children means taking care of their clothing and shoes. Sewing on a button, repairing a broken seam, and polishing shoes are all skills children learn in our Montessori classrooms—as are folding laundry, and packing a suitcase. Every one of these tasks are enjoyable to children. Every one of them helps them use and better coordinate their muscles. When 5-year-olds master these skills, there’s no worry they’ll be heading home from college to have their parents do their laundry for them!

Food preparation & serving

Too many young adults don’t know how to cook: eating out is on the rise, and eating in with friends, over a home-cooked meal, is in decline. Our preschoolers, throughout the three-year-cycle of primary (ages 3-6) learn how to prepare foods. They start simply, by cutting a banana with a butter knife—and over time, work up toward harder fruit. They often bake, learning to measure ingredients, to clean up—and even read recipes in their third, kindergarten year in the primary program. Seeing the pride in the face of one preschooler when he serves the food he prepared to a peer is all the evidence you’ll need to see just how much confidence and benevolence comes from these simple tasks.

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Elementary

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Going Outs

In the elementary years, the child’s horizon broadens, beyond the classroom and to the world. While in traditional schooling, field trips are all-class events, and organized by teachers, in Montessori elementary, children organize their own Going Outs. These are short field trips related to something the children are interested in—whether that may be research on a certain animal, and a trip to a zoo, or an excursion to a local library to find more books on a topic, or a visit to an architect for a child who is interested in architecture.

Children do all the work for these trips—from coming up with the destination, to figuring out how to get there (Walking? Public transport with a chaperone? A parent volunteer driver?), to identifying cost and opening hours (via web site or phone call). They also execute on the trip—including finding their way there, even if a parent does the chaperoning and driving. All this is real preparation for living, for being independent out in the world—a skill too many teenagers are lacking today.

Student-Moderated Class Meetings

Being independent also includes being able to resolve conflicts and setting rules that work for the community. In Montessori elementary, teachers take on more a role of a guide, facilitating class meetings that children lead. This can include figuring out how to get lunch done more quickly, so there is more time for recess—or discussing how to be more respectful and supportive to a student with food allergies.

Rather than relying on adults to solve problems for them, Montessori elementary students thus develop the skills to take ownership of their community relations, and solve problems more and more by themselves.

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Autonomy in choosing and managing projects

Independence for learning means owning what you do, and reasonable autonomy in deciding what, where, how and with whom you learn. In our Montessori elementary program, we provide students with a clear framework of work they need to accomplish, then give them autonomy on much of the details.

For example, a student will know that he needs to write a research paper in the next three months—but it is up to him to choose whether to work on it intensively for two weeks to get it done, or spread out the work. He chooses a topic within a range of topics (e.g., a deep-dive on a culture/country and how they met their fundamental needs, such as clothing, transportation, food, shelter—but he chooses which country or culture to work on). He chooses to work on it alone—or with a friend. This independence leads to both deeper engagement—and, over time and with practice, helps children develop the ability to independently complete projects, to corral resources, to not just answer set questions, but to also come up with questions to ask. This intellectual independence and ownership is precisely the skill set they will need to thrive in college and beyond.

Middle School / Junior High

Leading school-wide activities

By middle school, LePort students are ready and eager to take on a leadership role not just in their class, but for the broader community. What specifically they do varies from school-to-school (after all, in Montessori, we believe in following the child!), but it’s not unusual for our 13- or 14-year-olds to take ownership of organizing school-wide events, such as the annual Color Competition at our Irvine Spectrum and Fountain Valley schools, where LePort students from 1st – 8th grade get into green and blue gear, and compete in a wide range of spirited, fun activities.

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The Yearbook

In several of our schools, the 8th graders own creating the upper school yearbook. It’s one example where our students put into practice many of the skills they’ve learned throughout their time at LePort—to take photos, to use computers productively, to write, to edit, to collaborate, to plan, to make mistakes—and to learn from them. Of course, if students have a drive to run another project entirely, we fully support them: thus, in the past, some 8th grade classes have produced other large, student-initiated projects—such as a history book, written by older students, and sold to the school community.

Learn more about LePort Montessori

Explore our locations and programs. View upcoming events at a school near you. Contact us to schedule a tour. Or join our interest list to stay informed.

Trust in their abilities and watch their confidence soar.

Discover Montessori for Infants

How do you build confidence?

INDEPENDENCE.

The Knowledge for Life Journey Toward Independence

Infancy

The Cup

The Weaning Table

Toddlers

The Montessori Throw

The Snack Routine

Primary

Plant care

Sewing

Food preparation & serving

Elementary

Going Outs

Student-Moderated Class Meetings

Autonomy in choosing and managing projects

Middle School / Junior High

Leading school-wide activities

The Yearbook

Learn more about LePort Montessori

Our Locations

San Francisco

Los Angeles

Orange County

San Diego

Brooklyn

Northern Virginia

Our Programs

Infant

Toddler

Preschool/Kindergarten

Elementary

Why Montessori?

The Knowledge for Life Journey

Our Passionate Professionalism

Beautifully prepared environments

Stay in touch with LePort Montessori