Berkeley Urban Garden School

We highly recommend the Berkeley Urban Garden School!  The dedicated teachers provided a fantastic environment for our son to thrive in.  We speak other languages at home and our son’s English language skills were delayed as a result.  He became a chatterbox in the English language after starting at BUGS.  Our son had ample opportunity to explore his personal interests with the help of his highly qualified teachers.  He also enjoyed painting, drawing, and ceramics as well as music.  Our son also had fun gardening, learning about various plants and bugs, and going on nature walks.  We thank all the teachers for the wonderful experience that we and our son had at BUGS!

Our experience at Berkeley Urban Garden School (BUGS) exceeded all of our expectations!  I didn't expect to find both a loving and enriching experience for my son along with finding a community of parents and teachers that we'd feel so connected to. Molly creates a community around the school that has been invaluable for my family and one that we are still connected to, even though my son started kindergarten last year.  I highly recommend this school--if you're looking for a project based learning pre-school, you won't be disappointed.  The kids influence the curriculum, developing new projects regularly, which keeps them engaged and helps them to learn collaboration and find their own voices.  I can't say enough positive things about the day-to-day, but I also want to emphasize that BUGS really served as a second home for my son.  The teachers' warmth and love for the students is without question, making it so much easier for me to drop off my kid each day knowing that he was surrounded by people who truly cared about him. Please contact me if you have any questions about the school--it is a very special place that we feel so lucky to have found!  --Tamar 

Hi everyone! I am writing to recommend BUGS wholeheartedly! If you are looking for a rich, loving, and wonderful place for your kid to learn through music, storytelling, arts, kind and respectful social interactions, & projects that teach academic skills: This is the preschool/childcare that you have been looking for!

Our son, Max, entered Berkeley Urban Garden School (BUGS) when he was two years old and he enjoyed every single day of it until he started kindergarten this year. In fact, we loved what they are able to offer and the community that was created there so much that we enrolled Max on  BUG's Wednesday's afterschool art and music classes! But let me tell you a bit more about why we love BUGS so much: 

1. Finding the right place for Max was hard for me: I have 20 years of experience on the field of education and child development and a PhD in Education. To say that I was picky on what I thought a child care should be, is the understatement of the year :)  But it was just walking in at BUGS and both my husband (whose career is in something else) and I felt we were in the right place. BUGS is the place where children are able to grow, to develop, and to learn in a rich and balanced way. Pre-literacy, pre-math, science, music, art, community and social relations, poetry, story telling: all happens in a natural way, through projects and investigations generated by the kids. 
2. When Max started he was really little and Molly and all the teachers kept a journal to help us understand what happened during the day and to talk with Max about it. Communication has been always great at BUGS for us! 
3. The teachers at BUGS are both caring and highly experienced and they know how to create spaces and activities for children to learn independently but also from one another. Molly, Claire, Dana, Melissa, and Sarai were all wonderful teachers for our son, and each one brought her own personalities to bear and to enrich Max's experience (and ours!). I loved when Max came home saying he was a poet because they created oral poetry with Melissa; or when Molly would intentionally prepare an environment that would lead to exploration  and then she would --so skillfully-- support Max in his investigations, letting him think independently and  scaffolding when necessary. Or when Claire and Dana would play instruments while teaching Max a rich variety of songs that he still remembers. Max felt respected and trusts them and values them a lot. When I asked him now why BUGS was a good school he said "Well, the teachers are great! and there is music, stories, and all sorts of art!"
4. Molly, the force behind BUGS, creates community not only with the kids, treating them always with respect (and asking for kindness in return) but also with the families: Once a semester she will cook for all the families, and bring life music with some of her musician colleagues (Molly, Claire and Dana are also musicians and artists!). Parents and grandparents we would just get there, and chat, and listen to music and have fun, and learn about each other. That created a wonderful space and model for our kids about community. Max is really close to all his cohort and knows all the parents as well, it is like an extended family! We have become close friends with many of the families and the teachers and continue to be part of each others lives even after starting kindergarten!
5. Max has started kinder being a rounded kid. He feels confident about his learning, he enjoys exploring and experimenting, he loves stories and has started writing and reading by himself, and he is as kind to others and as reflective as a 5 year old can be! Having no other family members around, we know that a great part of who Max is now is thanks to BUGS. And we could't be thankful enough!

If you are in doubt, go check it out! :)

Irenka