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I am writing to recommend A World of Peace Afterschool program at Live Oak Park (N. Berkeley). My son, who is a kindergardener at LeConte Elementary, has been at AWOP during this school year. Our experience has been excellent. We love the fact that he gets to spend his afternoons in the beautiful Live Oak Park and in a mixed-age environment. We find it to be the perfect mix of structured and unstructured time. We also appreciate that the program stresses citizenship values (sharing, including, kindness, thinking of others, etc.). We are so happy with the program and highly recommend it to families looking for part or full time afterschool care - it serves kids from both Albany and Berkeley schools. Erin
Re: Afterschool Program in North Berkeley for 3rd grader
our daughter loves AWOP (a world of peace) and has been attending many years. The staffing ratio is 6 kids to one counselor which is the highest of any afterschool program we looked at. It's also in Live Oak which has more open space than any aftercare spot around. We're very happy with it. b.
In contrast, when I pick up my son at A World of Peace I'm likely to find him playing a game of spoons with kids ranging from K to 5th grade and they're all having a blast. Often there's a game of wall ball in progress with a line of kids waiting their turn. If conflicts arise between kids, AWOP's director Karen Cagan gets involved. Karen knows how to listen to kids, how to talk to kids, and how to get kids to talk to each other. AWOP goes far beyond after school care. The program teaches kids how to play cooperatively and resolve conflict, and I really value this. Berkeley parent
Re: Looking for after-school care in N. Berkeley
A World of Peace after school program is at Live Oak Park. It's run by
Karen Cagen, apeacecamp@gmail.com 292-0263. It's a wonderful program
that I can't say enough good things about, and every other parent I've
talked to feels the same way. The kids love it. I consider Karen to be
a wonderful resource and presence in my kids lives. There are several
other recommendations in the BPN archives which attest to Karen's
abilities, the quality of the program's activities, and its emphasis
on teaching cooperative social skills. To what others have said I
would add that Karen hires skilled young adult counselors who organize
games, play with the kids, mediate arguments, etc., and most
importantly give the kids attention. On most holidays and all the
other days that BUSD schools are closed,
Karen offers fun field trips.
N Berkeley Parent
This aftercare is a rare find these days. Not only do the kids have lots of engaging activities & projects and both indoor & outdoor time, they also really focus on teaching children about getting along. The staff were all kind & responsible and my son really liked them. There's a strong emphasis on teaching the children the values of respect, sharing, diversity & peace--all while the kids are having fun.
They also hold a summer camp: A World of Peace Summer Camp-- which we have not yet attended but I'm sure will be lots of fun for the kids.
To top it all off, this is a very reasonably priced aftercare program so this past year my son attended a better program & we saved money at the same time. I highly recommend it! holly
I just wanted to recommend A World of Peace After-school program at Live Oak Park in N. Berkeley because it still has a few openings this year. It has drop-in for $40/day if you want to try it. My kids love it -- the program uses the L. Oak facilities -- really good play structures and swings/ basketball court and the really big auditorium there. It is on the smaller side which really resonates with both my kids. I have a K and 4th grader. My K loves the indoor/outdoor baseball and my 4th loves the cooking on tuesdays and craft projects like knitting. You can also take advantage of the classes like pottery, sewing, and carpentry the city of Berk (Live Oak Park) offers although we havn't tried them yet. Call Karen Cagan (director)510-292-0263 for more info or feel free to email me with questions. Michele
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