Berkeley Parents Network: Sunshine Preschool (Berkeley, Ca)

Berkeley Parents Network

Sunshine Preschool (Berkeley, CA)

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > Preschools > Sunshine Preschool

www.ceid.org

note: there is another preschool in Richmond that has a similar name: Sunshine Play School

March 2009

I'd appreciate some recent reviews of Sunshine Preschool at CEID in SW Berkeley. Did your kids enjoy and engage in this unique program? Did you ever find it too structured? Did the kids get enough time outdoors? Thanks for your thoughts. We're looking to start our 2 year old there in the Fall. sally

Both of my children currently attend Sunshine Preschool, and we are very happy there. We love the small size, and the wonderful student to teacher ratio (generally 4:1). The teachers are kind and caring, and clearly find joy in the children they work with. They plan fun activities and follow the children's lead when they have ideas of their own. My children are learning a lot of sign language, as am I.

I also enjoy the interaction with CEID. It is an amazing opportunity for children to interact with other children of different abilities. They have music with the deaf class, and the older Sunshine kids each have a chance to make weekly visits to the deaf class (for a month) for the regular morning activities. The organization has a wonderful sense of community. I am very grateful for the experiences my children are having.

Please contact me if you have any questions. Laura

Feb 2009

Re: Looking for a preschool with an afternoon session
Sunshine Preschool at CEID has afternoons only as an option. It is a wonderful mixed age small class of about 12 students. Often fewer in the afternoon, which I believe goes from 1 to 5. My son only attends in the morning, so I am not very familiar with the afternoon routine. Please email if you have any questions. My son has been very happy there. Laura

Nov 2008

Re: Looking for a Small Size, Structured Preschool
Just in case you're interested in potentially the best of ''both'' worlds, I want to mention Community Education Sunshine Preschool, based at the CEID West Berkeley Center. I did baby signing with my daughter when she was an infant and toddler. A family saw me signing to her in an airport last year and highly recommended this preschool that their hearing son attended. I looked into it a little, and they have separate classes for the hearing and the hearing impaired, but I think they all learn ASL (American Sign Language) and maybe have a little interaction--at least worth looking into! www.ceid.org All the Best finding the Best Preschool for your Child, Michelle

Nov 2006

Hello there, If you have any experiences with the Sunshine Preschool that you'd like to share, I would sure appreciate hearing about them. We are considering sending our little guy (he'll be close to 3) there next year for preschool. Thanks for the help
grateful for the advice

Our son has been at Sunshine preschool for three months. Here's my list of Pros and Cons
1 - Small class size. There are up to 15 kids in the classroom at any given time. (many times a lot less) This is much better than many of the teacher/student ratios we saw at other preschools.
2 - In only three months he has already learned quite a bit of sign language. It's pretty incredible and will give him the same benefits of learning any second language
3 - We really like the inclusive environment. It's a really positive thing for kids this age (and any age) to learn how to get along/communicate with people that are different than them. It's amazing how quickly our son has adapted and how easily it seems he can communicate with the deaf/heard of hearing children and staff.
4 - They constantly have new and interesting activities... Just in the past few weeks they have gone on a nature walk, visited a pumpkin patch and made applesauce just to name a few.
5 - The classroom is warm and inviting and they have a great outside play area.

Cons
1 - In the three months our son has been at Sunshine two of the aids have gone on to persue other opportunities. While this is expected and understandable to some degree, two aids leaving within a few weeks of each other was tough. I'm hoping that there will be more stability with the new aids they bring in because it's really important for kids this age to have that stability.
Overall I'd say we're happy with Sunshine and feel our son is in a warm, stimulating, interesting environment where he is learning and growing by leaps and bounds.
Happy Sunshine Mom

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