Advice re: Preschool/Day Cares for Family moving to the East Bay
Hi All,
My family is moving up to the East Bay and looking for suggestions re: good preschools, daycares, and transitional kindergartens. We are likely coming up in January by which time our kids will be 4 and 1.5 years old. We are looking at areas between Piedmont Avenue and North Berkeley.
Any advice re: great TKs in Oakland/Berkeley (w Spanish Immersion a plus) would be much appreciated. We'd also appreciate any advice on preschools. We've been checking out A Room to Grow and Duck's Nest and are open to suggestions. Also, if there's a great program that takes kids from 1 to 5 years old, we'd be interested in hearing about it.
Once we figure out schools, we'll be able to figure out housing!
Thanks very much,
M, N, W, C
Oct 28, 2020
Parent Replies
Hi Margaux. My son just started at Colibri Preschool on Piedmont Ave, and he's loving it. It's Spanish-immersion for kids 2-5 (has a 2s, 3s and 4s class). Long hours (from 7am-6pm), they're being very covid conscious and abiding by Alameda County guidelines, and the teachers/admin have been so great.
I don't think they have immediate openings, but with guidelines changing all the time, I think these things are in flux more than before. And it's always worth looking into if you want to get on a wait list for next year. Both your kiddos could go then, I'd imagine.
Feel free to reach out if you have more questions.
I'm following this thread because we're in the same boat: We have a 4-year-old and a 2-year old and we're moving to Berkeley in December from out of state.
We sent out son to Mi Mundo Preschool (S Berkeley, though they've since opened in El Cerrito) for 3 years and cannot recommend it enough. It's Spanish-immersion and art-based, and though art isn't exactly James' wheelhouse he loved it and thrived. It is really well run and all the staff are great, and such great families too - a real community. The kids do need to be potty-trained to attend. Don't hesitate to reach out directly with further questions, and if you contact Lina (La Directora), feel free mention our names.
We love Colibri Preshcool in Oakland! It's Spanish Immersion. They have a 2s, 3s and 4s class. They just got approved for slightly larger cohorts and classes so they might have room. My oldest was there and now my middle one is. We'll definitely send our youngest (who's only 10 months now) there too. The owners are awesome. The teachers are engaged and creative. They have done a good job adjusting to Covid and communicating with us as parents what the policies are and each time there is a change.
Also, as far as TK goes in Oakland Unified I'm not sure there's Spanish immersion option. My oldest is in kindergarten at Greenleaf, a Spanish immersion elementary and middle school that has TK. But the TK is in English. We didn't look into that too much since we have an April birthday.