Sunshine Preschool at CEID

My son was in the preK class there for one year. It was his first real school and it was a sweet experience. He was in the sunshine class. When I visited and observed  they said they use sign language in addition to speaking. But after a year there, I rarely saw signing during drop off or pick up or when I visited for special events.

But I know the teachers are proficient at signing, and they did use it during circle time and more structured times. So if the sign language is a big draw for you, it might help to know that my son didn't get that much exposure to it. He ended up learning about 3 signs total (no, stop, good morning), going 3 mornings a week. But maybe he just wasn't paying attention! 

However! The teachers were overall kind, patient, engaging and thoughtful. Lots of free play opportunities balanced with structured times. The student population and teaching staff are both ethnically and culturally diverse, and the diversity of abilities among the kids was a plus for us.

Especially when they had recess or did activities with the other 2 preschool classes for kids with hearing loss and other disabilities. In those classes they do use signs all the time. They had a rotating schedule where the kids from sunshine spent the morning with one of the other classrooms. My son loved going in ms. Kim's class and looked forward to it. They also did music and story time every week with them. 

The only drawbacks were that the classroom is small and the outdoor space is small. But for a 2-3 year old that might not be that big of a concern. The outdoor space has a garden and they also took walks and visited the nearby playground sometimes. 

One thing that was a little concerning to me was that the teachers were sometimes checking their cell phones during free play(not engrossed) or talking to each other a lot about personal topics. But the pros by far outweighed the cons for us. We stopped going because we traveled so much it made no sense to keep his spot. But it'sa special place for sure.