Children's Center of the Stanford Community — Local services in Palo Alto

I must say CCSC is not as good as before. One month after I transferred my son to Palo Alto Montessori School, it was the first time that I heard my son say he wants to go to school. My son stayed in CCSC TKP for about a year, and almost every morning, he didn’t want to go to school. At first, I thought it was just because he is the kind of kid that does not like school. But the new school’s experience told me that: no, it’s not him, it’s the school. There are a few things that I observed about why my son doesn’t like CCSC: Aloe Vera has a weird policy that kids cannot bring toys to school. What makes this policy worse is: if some kids bring toys to school, the teacher will ask the parent to take the toy directly and immediately from the kid, even if the kid is crying heavily. This is a horrible policy that made my son scared of bringing toys to school, even though the new school encourages kids to bring toys and share the story of the toy every Wednesday. It took me a month to encourage my son to overcome his trauma. My son didn’t take naps when he was close to three. The teachers from Aloe Vera told me that if my son moved to LKP, the teacher there would call me to bring my son back if he didn’t nap, which I later found out was incorrect after talking with parents from LKP. The teachers even told me that they threatened my son by saying that mom would come to pick him up if he didn’t nap. The new school is totally different. First, they have two classrooms — one for kids who need naps and another for those who don’t. Second, the teacher told me that she asked my son whether he wants to nap, and she arranges it based on his answer. I ask them every day whether my son naps, and the answer is either “nap” or “no nap,” but no complaints!!! TKP has very strict rules about which toys you can play with. The kids are only allowed to play with the toys that the teachers bring out. And the toys are outside on the table for a short time. So what I observed is that the kids are in fact very bored when there are no toys. And if the kids want to play with toys that are not allowed, the teachers will stop them immediately. But at the new school, first, there are lots of toys available for kids to choose from during playtime. Second, the teacher told me that my son reached out to toys that the teachers don’t want kids to play with by climbing up a chair, and the teacher commented “good job.” They encourage adventure and innovation. Very weird sick policy. My son is frequently reported by the teacher as having diarrhea, which means he needs to stay home for two extra days. But the diarrhea signal is fake — my son only pooped too much on that day. Other parents also have similar experiences. I once observed that the teacher just took the toy from my son’s hand very rudely!!!! I am very regretful that I didn’t stand up immediately. CCSC does have some very good teachers. There is one teacher who is super good at Aloe Vera. All the kids love her. Once I entered the classroom, there were about 5 adults — three main teachers, one assistant, one co-op parent — and only 8 children. And all 8 kids were surrounding the super nice teacher. The other teachers were sitting far away from the kids and chatting. And the other teachers also did not like the nice teacher!!! While I talked to the nice teacher, I could feel that the mood among the other teachers was weird… Sadly, she transferred to another...

CCSC was so beneficial for our child, and we could not have asked for better care! We enrolled our daughter at 4-months in the Sprout classroom. Any worries that we had about her being too young for daycare quickly disappeared when we experienced the level of attention, care, and love given by her four teachers. They were so proactive when communicating to us about her day, her growth, her accomplishments. I do believe that my child has better social skills because of CCSC's highly interactive, play-based environment. What's more, the classroom environment (and really, the entire CCSC environment) was beautiful and serene. There were plenty of clean toys, art and photos of children on the walls, a calm, separate room for napping, and easy access for the children to go outside. I loved that the children went outside every day (except in bad weather) and that there was plenty of yard space for them to roam around while still within supervisable distance from the teachers. Finally, the teachers often gave us photos, art projects, and gifts made by the children throughout the day. It touched me that the teachers cared so much to think about the parents in addition to everything they did already to care for so many children. Absolutely endorse CCSC as a place where children can...

この1年間、家族全員とても素晴らしい時間を過ごすことが出来ました。娘はBKPクラスに入りました。始めのうちは、緊張してお友達と上手く遊べていない様子でしたが、先生方が明るく熱心にサポートして下さって、お友達もたくさん出来て、歌ったり踊ったりと、毎日楽しそうに通っていました。 おもちゃもたくさん取り揃えてあり、プレイグラウンドも広くて、自然がいっぱいで、子供らしく遊べる環境があります。個人的に私が好きなのは図書館です。とてもかわいいミニチュアハウスです。また、保護者参加型という点も素敵なポイントでした。ポットラックパーティーなどのイベントがあったり、ボランティアに参加したり、子供と一緒に幼稚園の雰囲気を楽しむことが出来ました。 ですが、やはり一番の財産は先生方です。いつも明るくポジティブ、エネルギッシュに子供たちに接していて、娘も非常...