-
November 2023 by Talia Ambar
Both of my children attended CLC Preschool, and I can't say enough good things about it! The teachers are all incredibly loving and supportive, and they create a warm and welcoming environment for the kids. The school is committed to play-based learning, and under Adela's leadership, the school provides kids with plenty of opportunities to play and explore.My children thrived at CLC Preschool. I highly recommend the school to any parent looking for a high-quality preschool experience for their child.
-
August 2023 by Gail S.
After several weeks of visitng preschools for my son, I stopped by the CLC and met Ms. Adela, the owner of the school. The enthusiasm and involvement of the teachers blew me away. The small personal touches, and individual attention given to each student made the enrollment decision an easy one. Every parent wants the best for their child. Our son thrived at the CLC, and Ms. Adela will always have a special place in our heart. Although my son has since graduated from preschool, we still love visiting and seeing all the ways they continue to grow their programs. We have nothing but fond and positive memories of the time we spent there.
-
August 2023 by Yoonho Kim
I've checked out MANY preschools in Mountain View and surrounding areas, and CLC had the most welcoming, intimate, clean, well-decorated and organized rooms and play areas out of ALL. Every week, new activities are toys are arranged in a well thought-out manner according to the childrens' developmental phase (age appropriate). Ms. Adela (the director) must have the biggest storage space somewhere for all these toys she rotates. Teachers are also very caring of the children and I can see that they truly love all of the students. All kids looked very happy and are excited to be there. This was my child's first school and the excellent teacher to student ratio (way better than most of the other schools) was a big plus.
-
July 2023 by Alisa Moskaleva
I highly recommend Children’s Learning Cottage! My daughter has attended for a year and has blossomed under the care of loving and knowledgeable teachers. Adela Alvarado, the director, has deep experience with young children and great connections to community resources. My daughter loves going to her preschool and spending time with Ms. Adela and the wonderful Ms. Suzie, her head teacher! And I am a better parent because of their advice and help. Choosing CLC was the best decision I made for my family!
-
July 2023 by Anne Stromann
We truly love this preschool! My son has been attending it for a year now and every morning he can’t wait to see his friends and lovely teachers. I’m always amazed by the endless creative ideas and projects for the kids. They bake, make ice cream and smoothies, do lots of arts and crafts, science, dance, sing, do yoga, have story time and regular park days, and many more fun activities. The teachers are aways super caring, communicative and supportive with lots of knowledge about child development. I’m so glad we found this special place and to see our son’s social, emotional and language skills blossom?
-
July 2023 by Sudisha Bhola
Wonderful school that lets kids be kids, fosters independence, kindness, body awareness and so much more. Its a place if love someone once told me & I fully agree. My daughter gets to do all the cool, sensory, messy play that I can only dream of doing at home. The director Ms Adela is wonderful, super knowledgable in child development and so loving. All the teachers are great too. I am grateful to have found the school.
-
July 2023 by Claudia Schroeppel
We absolutely love this preschool. Right when I stepped into the school and their little outdoor and garden space, I knew this was a very special place, where kids are not only allowed to be kids, but are encouraged to be kids who are inquisitive, creative, loving, collaborative and full of joy for learning about the world.Being an educator at the high school it is very important for me that kids learn early to recognize their emotions and are learning to find positive ways to express their feelings. At CLC the kids learn creative way to work through the toddlers‘ daily life’s challenges that are uniquely tailored to their temperament. Ms. Adela is amazing in her knowledge of child development and invests her time to get to know every child in her school. The three classes are small, which allows for personal attention for each kid.My son does amazing creative work, that is focused on the process of enjoying the creation not just the end-result. At times the kids do individual pieces at times they all collaboratively work on a big piece. I am so grateful, that my son gets to experience all of this, without any messiness in our home?. They do art, science, literature, child appropriate „cooking“ and learn to be independent, confident and empathetic. I was amazed one morning, when I asked Daniel (age 3), who loves running around outside in nature, if he would like to make a strawberry-banana smoothly with me at home. He beamed, then got onto his helper tower, peeled the bananas and cut them. With full focus he cut the strawberries, added them to the blender and then asked politely for some yogurt to add. He was not cooking with me, he was the „chef“ and I was the sous-chef. With carefully designed activities, CLC helps the kids grow a healthy self-esteem and a willingness to tackle and work through any challenge. They learn to think independently, work through challenges and find solutions. For us these are most important life skills for our son to grow into a happy, resilient, curious and life-loving young boy.A good friend of mine recommended CLC to us, since her two kids attended the pre-school, before the family moved to Europe. I fell in love with the school the moment I saw the unique, funky and playful environment. When talking with Adela, I enjoyed getting real straightforward answers to my many questions not just some rehearsed marketing speech. Leaving my son in their watch for much of the day, it is very important, that I know there is full transparency and real communication between our home and our son‘s educators. I am so grateful that we have found this wonderful loving home away from home for our son.
-
July 2023 by Galina Shubik
It’s a great place! My son was having some hard time adapting to everyday routine, as well as to a new language. Ms. Melissa and Ms. Adela gave him so much love & support that now he runs to the school with excitement every day! And I can see how much he’s learning and experimenting, this is the best childhood one can dream of!
-
July 2023 by Erin Chong
Both of my children have attended Children’s Learning Cottage, and I can’t emphasize how wonderful of a school it is. It encourages development of important human qualities like independence, kindness, and curiosity. I’ve seen both of my kids flourish there, and I would recommend this school to any parent!
-
July 2023 by Franziska von Ehrenstein
For us, this is the best preschool we could have found.The teachers are loving and patient with the children. They learn all the important things for later in a playful way.Our son loves it here and our second son is looking forward to going there very soon.
-
July 2023 by Itzik Elyahou
I can't believe Emma's time at CLC is almost over.Thank you miss Adela, Suzie, Melissa, and the rest of the team for being like a family to our most precious.We will forever be grateful for the wonderful fun, educating, stress-free, experiences Emma had!
-
June 2023 by Gil G.
For the past 2.5 years, our son has been attending CLC, a preschool that we absolutely adore. He initially started in the ladybug class with Ms. Suzie and has now progressed to the dragonfly class with Ms. Melissa and Teacher M. Every teacher at this preschool does an exceptional job of engaging with the children, imparting knowledge, and inspiring them in various ways.Throughout the day, the preschool offers a diverse range of activities. These include engaging in circle time reading sessions, participating in cooking activities, going to the park, joining yoga classes, and playing in the backyard, which boasts an array of enjoyable structures. The staff goes above and beyond to ensure the mental and social development of the children. An example from this year is the introduction of music and dance, where Andy Z visited CLC multiple times to entertain and engage with the kids. Our son returns home every day brimming with captivating stories and exciting experiences to share.Adela, the owner, does an extraordinary job of fostering a sense of community among the families. Whether it's through events like Mother's Day, Father's Day, or the Halloween parade, parents are encouraged to spend time with their children and witness firsthand why they are excited to attend CLC every day.I could continue to praise the exceptional qualities of this preschool, but if you're searching for a place where your child can truly feel at home, then this is the ideal choice.
-
June 2023 by Alex S.
We started sending our 3 year old here about four months ago and we couldn't be happier with our decision. The teachers are so thoughtful, caring and experienced, which made for a super easy transition. I was worried about starting a new school because he had trialed another preschool that he didn't want to go back to after the week. But he immediately took to CLC-after his first day he told me "I love my new school". Honestly that alone is worth a five star review. Since then he has grown so much. Every day we get updates about their activities, from books they're reading to recipes they're making. The school is wonderful about communicating with parents-there's an app and Adela is very responsive if you need to text the school about something that can't wait.We've had a great experience here. Thanks so much CLC!Update*** I posted this review a year ago, so updating it since we now send our 2 year old here, too! Both my kids LOVE school. Shout out to Ms. Melissa, Ms. Suzie, Teacher M, and Ms. Nandini. They've treated our children like family and take such great care of all the kids here!And special thanks to Ms. Adela who is AMAZING at what she does. This school is so special. Glad we found it.
-
June 2023 by james l.
I rarely write reviews, but am compelled to do so for CLC because I know how valuable childcare information is to parents. Of course these reviews are always subjective, so I will first share my background and values and then describe my experience at CLC.Background: I am a 40yo Korean-American male who grew up in the bay area and work in edtech. I live in Mt.View, about 10 minutes from CLC, and have a 5yo daughter (half Korean, half Vietnamese) who started going to CLC when she was ~3.5yo and just graduated last week. We wanted to send her a year sooner but got delayed due to Covid. Value: I value safety, creativity, and empathy in my kid's learning environment. Hands-on and outdoor activities, arts and music, and diversity. My CLC Experience:My wife found CLC after looking up several other places between Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. We didn't require any particular style (e.g. Montessori, bilingual), but did care about the vibe of the place and the staff, including the energy and communication level of the teachers.We liked working with Adela, the owner/director, because she had been doing this for decades and was able to answer our questions as first-time parents with clarity and confidence. She has assembled a great group of teachers (more below), and has been very responsive via email/school app/whatsapp throughout the last two years. Considering that we were in the thick of Covid for most of it, Adela did an amazing job navigating through all the issues, sensitive topics, and setting expectations with transparency and respect.The teachers at CLC are absolutely amazing. There are 3 classrooms by age group, and my daughter started in the middle one (Ladybugs) then went onto the oldest one (Dragonflys). In the process we worked with a handful of teachers - the main Lady bug teacher left mid-year to join a preschool in her neighborhood as a Director (which shows the high quality of teachers at CLC), and the teacher who took over, Ms.Suzie, did an absolutely amazing job the rest of the year and is dear to our heart. Ms.Melissa, the Dragonfly teacher, has been equally amazing - she brings the confidence of a calm, collected leader required to handle older kids. And all the other teacher who've helped along the way - Ms.Nandhini, teacher M, etc. have all been great. They all share genuine love, care, and empathy towards the kids.The facility is relatively small and feels very home-y (which we preferred over larger operations). It is essentially a converted home, with a room per class and a shared bathroom, kitchen, and an indoor hangout space. There is an outdoor play space in the backyard - it's spacious with a play structure and tables/benches and a mini garden, and a covered nook area that feels cozy and charming. They do a great job keeping the place clean and organized (I believe they have cleaners come regularly) without making the place feel too sterile. CLC has diversity, with various ethnicities among the kids (German-Chinese, Jewish, Brazilian-Danish). I'm not sure if such interesting backgrounds are common, but we really appreciated connecting with the parents who were mostly from those countries and spoke the languages. It felt very global. I could go on and on, but our experience at CLC has been overwhelmingly positive. I realize there are lot of factors and each kid/parent is different, but I can say with confidence that most, if not all, the parents in my daughter's cohort have been very happy with CLC. It is a small operation with limited availability, so if you're interested do reach out to Adela and get a tour. I hope this is helpful!Looks like their FB page is most up to date: facebook.com/childrensle…
-
July 2021 by Pooja P.
We are grateful to Adela and her team for providing a strong foundation for my daughter.CLC is an extremely well run preschool with a great sense of community. If you are looking for a play based environment with a creative curriculum, community feel and loving teachers, this is your place!Thank you CLC for creating the best memories for us!