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December 2023 by Sharon Kam
I had my daughter in Little Tree for 1.5 years, starting in Room 3 with Miss Mercy & Miss Lily, then Room 1 with Miss Ola and Miss Jana.The switch from inhome daycare to preschool was pretty stressful for me but apparently this is good practice for kindergarten and beyond for the kiddos. It's a big change for the kids too, but with that comes a lot of opportunities. There's a try out interview for a reason -- there tends to be a decent amount of structure and worksheets which took some getting used to, but ultimately got my daughter to learn better focus skills. Miss Mercy really ignited my daughter's interest in art and magic (she now calls many things "magical" and it is a delight), Miss Lily was always so kind with her persona and patience. My daughter begged me to get her teachers to come to her bday, and Miss Mercy stopped by and made her and every child there feel special. It was beyond and so kind.For Room 1, we had to leave early -- only 5 months in :( But in that time I saw incredible leaps in her development. We've been trying to teach our daughter to read for literally a year, but since joining Miss Ola's class, she basically has learned everything we've been trying to teach her. In fact, she started schooling my husband and pointing out certain phonetics as "digraphs" which we both had to Google and figure out what that meant. I'm sure some of this has to do with her age and development, but even in the back to school nights I really noticed the care and diligent observation from the teachers that really catered to her learning style and focused on kindness / being a helper. Chinese with Miss Jana has been great as well. Since joining Little Tree, I feel secure at family reunions knowing that elders will be happy with my children's Chinese even though I personally don't speak the language.I will also note that the front desk woman, Bai, has been an immense help in making sure I was organized and in sync with all the events of the school. I also loved how every morning she would call out "Good morning [my child's name]!" to my daughter very directly and warmly from the admin office. It gave her a sense every morning from the start that she was mattered and she belonged.It's a busy place with a lot of working parents, but the teachers are phenomenal, the location is amazing, and it is getting better all the time. Specifically, hours have shifted from 9 AM start to now 8:15 AM to accommodate parents with other kids in school. Also, early on I missed certain deadlines for events and then they started posting deadlines at check in / check out so I never missed a deadline again :)Lastly, I'll mention the extracurriculars & food are both wonderful and reasonably priced! Compared to art classes at art centers they're about 1/3 of the cost and my daughter really enjoyed them. The food they offer is Chinese which is a nice touch. Having a bilingual preschool was a hopeful turnkey to linking my kids to their heritage, and having authentic Chinese food has been a wonderful add-on.Growing up I had a really bad experience in preschool and I'm just thankful I survived. As a parent I feel like placing my child here I did one thing right to give my daughter the chance to securely explore and discover who she is. When we left we got a preliminary compilation of the graduation book of various creations from our daughter and our own wishes from the experience. It brought a tear to my eye to see how we all changed and developed from the experience. I never get used to how quick the time goes and how much changes, even in just 1.5 years <3
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December 2023 by Angela T.
The teachers and staff at Little Tree are wonderful and truly care about the students. My kids are well prepared for kindergarten and learn so much about the world around them! I appreciate that the teachers are communicative and help with social emotional learning as well. My kids feel a great sense of pride and responsibility when teachers assign them jobs in the classroom and it translates to their willingness to participate in helping around at home. The teachers also teach a lot of fun songs, performances, and prepare fun activities. My kids are so eager to tell us all about their days and perform what they have learned. I highly recommend Little Tree!
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December 2023 by Shawn P.
This is a wonderful environment to send your child. My son attended this school from age 3 until age 5, and then attended the sister location, Growing Tree in Saratoga for kindergarten. The teachers here are warm and caring and foster an environment where children explore, learn, and socialize in a safe setting. He is 10 years old now and we still go back to Little Tree on occasion because he asks to visit his former teachers, and they are so delighted to give him a hug and see how he's grown. They taught potty training in the school, feature bilingual instruction, emphasized personal accountability/making good choices, and overall provided a foundation for learning that has carried on to this day. Don't believe the negative reviews here. If you want a safe, engaging, positive, caring, and fairly priced place to start your child's education, this is a great preschool.
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October 2023 by Brian L.
We love Little Tree Montesorri!My two older kids graduated from there a few years ago and my youngest also graduated this past June. My kids have been there since before the pandemic, and throughout it. Some of the highlights:- great variety of food for meals (for the American and Asian palate), and while my kids may not always enjoy certain dishes, I appreciate the fact they are able to get a variety and are exposed to different kinds of food.- Great teachers - my 3 kids have been in each classroom, and all of the teachers have been warm, caring, friendly and at the same time able to be assertive. Ms Mercy in room 3, Ms. Ola in room 1, Ms. Christina and Ms Saras in room 5, just to name a few of the notable teachers that my kids have have talked about and appreciated over the years. Also, they all started with Ms. Fong in room 4, and her caring, loving manner helped make the transition from home life to daycare smooth for each child.- Flexibility and support from the administration - Ms Amanda (principal/administrator) has been open and accommodating from day 1. She not only helped with matters related directly to the school, but also helped when she learned that my older kids (who were going to continue a mandarin program for elementary school) would benefit from some additional chinese instruction, by providing extra focused Chinese lessons for them to ensure they were prepared for the next level. Can't say enough good things about Little Tree and would highly highly recommend!
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February 2023 by John M.
I've sent my two children here. They both really love this school. The teachers are great. The administration is great. The place is clean. The learning environment is encouraging and inclusive! I feel confident dropping them off at this school each morning--knowing they are in good hands.Highly recommended!
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December 2022 by Jerry Y.
Great teachers, campus is amazing, and a well ran program. My kids have gone here for 5+years now and learned a lot of mandarin and ahead academically even during covid. A+!
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October 2022 by E M.
My review is long overdue but I really have nothing but positive praises for this daycare center. We have had 2 of our sons go through Little Tree, each for several years. Both children learned so much and picked up good work habits. Their social-emotional health was nurtured by the teachers and both kids often sang "walking feet, gentle hands, be kind, be safe, have fun" at home which is what the teachers teach the kids. The teachers work so hard to provide a fun and enriching environment - I was always SOO impressed and thankful for all the events Ms. Amanda and her staff put on - singing/dancing performances, special visits from professionals (dentists, firefighters, police, optometrists, etc), frequent photo opps for special holidays, and frequent holiday celebrations w/ historical teaching. Additionally there were many enrichment options which both my children really loved.Our oldest child had difficulties with transitions and leaving behind friends (whom were a few months younger) and Ms. Amanda was willing to work with us to delay his transitions. We really appreciated that so much! That made our lives easier. He loved Ms. Cecilia, Ms. Ola, and Ms. Christina and always welcomed their hugs.Our youngest child had multiple food allergies when he enrolled and although we were always so anxious about his health, the school accommodated him and reassured us with their knowledge of how serious food allergies were. Ms. Amanda always alerted me to any treats they might have in goody bags (they were all food allergy friend/nut free as the school is nut-free, but we had additional allergies) which I appreciated! The teachers all even welcomed myself meeting the teachers to review how to use epi pens and when to use them. However, many of the teachers already have their own personal experience with food allergies and were knowledgeable which was reassuring. We later enrolled our child in a food allergy program and the school accommodated our scheduling needs around this food treatment program.The communication with the school was always personal, quick, thorough , and Ms. Amanda and teachers always took any concerns of ours seriously. Our kids were nurtured, loved, and grew so much in a positive way when they were enrolled. The school felt very safe and was a positive environment for my kids. They took covid precautions very seriously, which we appreciated. Our family has made good friends there whom we continue to keep in touch with even after graduating LTM. We really miss LTM at this time and almost wish they had other grades so we could send them there instead of public elementary school!
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September 2022 by Jewelz T.
This is my perspective of this preschool. My eldest child graduated from this program. She started several months prior to the pandemic and graduated over a year ago and had learned a lot of what was taught in the beginning of her first grade class. She did not fall behind during COVID and continued virtual learning at the beginning of the pandemic. The crafts they bring home are treasures, the enrichment classes are all great. We don't speak Mandarin and since this program, my son is starting to reply in some instances to us in Mandarin at home.The teachers are great, the facility is clean and my children love them.
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September 2022 by Stephanie F.
We have great experience with Little Tree. I have two kids there right now and they both love going to school. They often talk about their school life when I pick them up. Most of the time, they tell me how much fun they have and how they like their friends and teachers. We sent our older kid to school late, around 3 years old, due to pandemic. She was not adapting to school well at first. She didn't know how to make friends when everyone in class already has his/her own little group. The teacher was able to assist her making her little circle and teach her how to approach people. We are forever grateful of the great start of her social life.To my standard, the school is very careful about children's health and safety. We are asked to do Covid tests every week, and mask on the whole time in school just to keep all kids healthy at school. At a time like this, it is exactly what I am looking for. It certainly give us parents a peace of mind.On the safety portion, I feel the teachers have done what they can to keep the kids safe. However, the teacher student ratio is there, so being mindful of what to dress the kids to play safely in school has been our priority. After all, we all have to do our part to help our kids thrive.
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September 2022 by Tina H.
My son has gone to Little Tree since he was two. Prior to that, we had a nanny caring for him because of Covid. I tried really hard to try to schedule playdates or make a quarantine pod with a family with a child of similar age, but because I worked at a hospital, many families were justifiably hesitant. I was worried my son would have a hard time socializing, but soon after starting, I observed notable changes. His grammer and speech improved. He could explain things in detailed sentences in both English and Mandarin. He was more social, learned to put things away, and help with little things around the house. He also finally made some friends, that he always tells me about, and we were able to schedule a first play date, which he was overly ecstatic about. One big thing Little Tree helped us with was potty training. They gave us guidance on what to do and reinforced teachings at daycare. I would highly recommend this school to anyone looking for a Mandarin bilingual program.
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September 2022 by Harley L.
If it's possible, I would like to give negative star for this school! My daughter went to this preschool. On 08/29/2022, she got injured badly in the classroom. When we arrived there to pick her up, we saw her mouth was full of blood, and there was a big bandage on her chin. There is a surveillance camera in each classroom, so we requested the recording for what happened at first time. Then we took our daughter to an ER immediately, the diagnosis was chin laceration and her chin got cut so deep that she needed several stitches. Her oral wounds and bruises were so bad that the physician couldn't even treat them at that time. The second day (08/30/2022) we took her to see a pediatric dentist. Her molar tooth got fractured into three pieces, and we are still not sure if the nerve was exposed, if so, the whole molar tooth needs to be removed. One of her front teeth got loose. On the same day, we got a call from the director Amanda saying there was an issue with the hard drive and there was no recording for that day! Up until now, we still haven't received a reasonable explanation of how this happened. All we got from Amanda was "she just fell on the floor and there was nothing on the floor, the floor was quite clean." and "the teacher in the classroom didn't see how that happened" and "she might got tripped by her own dress". Five days passed, we still haven't received any accident report from the school! How can you trust this school and send your kids here?
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July 2019 by Luhua Xu
Both of my daughters had their preschool here. We moved from Arizona, where my older one had already 1.5yrs pre-school experiences before moved in, where she was in English only place; the younger one start right from here.
The reason I choose this school:
1. Close to my work place and my home.
2. Bilingual. They teach Chinese and English. For kids from Chinese family, this is a easier start point.
3. Each room is large enough for kids to play, and they have a large outdoor play area as well.
4. Tuition is reasonable as compared those really expensive ones. You know what I mean if you are in this area.
There are five rooms for different ages. Each room come with 2 teachers. One Chinese and one English teacher.
Here is what I observed:
1. Language development: Most of the kids are from Chinese families. For those parents who want kids to continue develop Chinese skills, this is a good place to start. As the kids here speak mostly in Chinese as well. However, the English language development might be behind other kids at their age—though this is not really a concern as kids pick up things quickly.
2. Leaning: They do learn a lot from the school, especially in pre-K class. They teach even more than what K does in public school.
3. Schedule: class hrs are 9-6pm. All rooms have mandatory 1-3pm nap time. My daughters struggled on that, as they don’t nap anymore since 4yrs. In which case they still had to stay in the beds.
4. Understand their policies to avoid surprises.
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July 2018 by Jerry Yang
Awesome school. Great teachers and solid program for the kids
