Academia de Mi Abuela

If you are looking for a Spanish Immersion preschool Academia De Mi Abuela can be a wonderful fit for your family. Our 2 yr old comes from an English only household and she knew 3 words in Spanish when she started 4 months ago. She now has an extensive vocabulary of both English and Spanish. If you are a non Spanish speaker I highly recommend the Google Translate or Duolingo apps, this will be key to facilitating your child’s learning outside of AMA. Here are some highlights:
–Teachers are truly loving and engaged
–Culturally diverse
–Convenient and safe location
–Staff communicate well with the families. Regular email communications are sent out, school wide and one-​on-​one meetings are held to stay up to date on your child’s individual progress.
— The facility has a garden the children help maintain. Menus are based on Latin culture and hand prepared. There is an emphasis on nutrition and staff members have experience caring for children with food allergies.

When I toured schools and day care centers for my 2 year old boy, no place seemed to have everything I was looking for. That’s until we came to Academia de Mi Abuela. Surrounded by woods in the Montclair area, AMA has a play-​based style and offers lots of outdoors time. It’s a mix of daycare with preK, so they’re very flexible with age but still have a structure that kids can rely on. The groups are smaller than in a school setting (10 – 12 kids at the most). And having a bilingual immersion environment was a must for my family but at AMA, more than just Spanish, they have a multicultural immersion program with access to many international cultures and diverse lifestyles: kids play soccer, dance capoeira, practice yoga, celebrate St Patricks day and they were the ones with the most cultural mix of students (not just white kids wanting to learn Spanish, but Indian, middle Eastern, Latinos from many countries, and gay/​bi and single lifestyle families). When my boy did his first tryout week, I saw another child who had just started and of course, was crying missing his mom. But he never cried alone: he was always held lovingly by the teachers who reassured him that mom would be back and that made me feel great. A week later, he had integrated just fine. The love the teachers have offered my son is second to mine and he loves his maestras and going to escuela. They helped me potty train him and they’re part of the team that makes it all possible for my kid. It was the best choice for our family. We couldn’t be happier

We love Academia de Mi Abuela! This was the first school we sent our son from our home at 18 months. We were very emotional about this and visited many schools and programs. What we loved about AMA was the love and affection given by the teachers. This was important for us. We wanted an environment that would be warm and caring. The academics and play was also very stimulating. It didn’t take long for our son to start running into the school to give each of his teachers hugs and wave us goodbye. The director is genuinely kind and was interested in our experience with the school. We highly recommend the school.

My daughter went to Academia de mi Abuela as her first school experience. She loved it aas did her mother and I. The teachers were wonderful and most importantly our daughter was always excited to go to school to play with her friends and have fun. She learned a great deal and the program kept getting better and better over the time she was there.

Our daughter entered AMA when she was 2 years old and over the course of two years, we saw her blossom into a confident and bilingual child who developed a love for school. Academically, she learned how to write her name, recognize letters of the alphabet, develop fine motor skills, recognize shapes and colors and develop good concepts of print. Socially, she learned how to share, take turns, ask for help, and be a good friend. Our son has also been attending AMA for the past year and he has grown to be a more assertive and playful young boy. The teachers at AMA are all very caring and go out of their way to ensure that each child is happy and successful. We also love that AMA focuses much of the programming on culture and the arts with an emphasis on social justice. Some of the things offered are added bonuses that make AMA a valuable place for children’s development such as soccer, ballet folklorico, capoeira, mural painting, and yoga. Overall, we could not be happier at AMA because we have seen our children grow to love school, develop their vocabularies in Spanish, and have been able to see them showcase their learning through public dance and singing performances. We highly recommend AMA to any family interested in a preschool that is like no other.

I have two daughters (a six year old and a four year old) and we have been members of the AMA family for the past five years. My older daughter started at AMA when she was three years old and my younger daughter when she was 10 months old. The reason that we have been so dedicated to AMA is because of the love, safety, and dedication that all of the AMA teachers, director, and staff members have shown/​given to our girls. The teachers at AMA make every child feel so special, smart, and loved. The teachers and director are a close community and they make AMA feel like a loving family. AMA incorporates a great combination of play based learning, expeditionary learning, and direct instruction with academics. My older child left AMA when she was ready to enter kindergarten at Manzanita SEED (a dual immersion Spanish/​English elementary school in Oakland) and she was more than ready academically for kindergarten. She entered kindergarten knowing all of her colors in both languages, her letters in both languages, her letter sounds in both languages, and her vocabulary in both languages was enormous. Her school readiness has a great deal to do with the teaching that goes on in the AMA classroom on a daily basis. AMA also fosters so many amazing enrichment activities during the school year such as mural painting, yoga, soccer, folklorico, gardening, engineering, music, and more! I would recommend this preschool program to anyone interested!!!

My two year old son just started going to la Academia de Mi Abuela. We couldn’t be more pleased! We looked at several preschools before making our decision. We were moving from Costa Rica and didn’t want to make our son’s transition even more difficult. We wanted a preschool where he felt at home, where he could play, learn and be surrounded by a growing community of children and families we could also connect to. We were welcomed by nurturing teachers, a very active parent community that could come by whenever they wanted to either pick up their children or participate in the day activities and Cynthia, the director, who was very helpful and willing to meet our son’s needs so he could transition into the environment at his own rhythm. It has been wonderful seeing parents come and go, children excited to get to their classrooms and seeing my son be part of such a wonderful Spanish speaking environment! I highly recommend A.M.A.

I toured the Montclair location several weeks ago. Unfortunately not up to my standards. Not super clean. The infants room did not have much for them to do. Our first thought was that our son would be bored. I also noticed curtains hanging off of electrical wire instead of proper curtain rods. The director seemed upbeat but I did not buy into her philosophy. Just not great. The quality did not reflect the price at all, considering we had paid similar at a much better daycare.

I toured this school last week and had mixed feeling about it. The director was very nice with big plans for their new school location in Montclair, my only concern was the 1 hour time slots the children get for outdoor play with little to no sun exposed. Outdoor time is a big deal for me: my son is outside 4 hours a day playing ball going down slides, playing with plants… the toddler and infant area was really old, windows were sealed, no fresh air coming in. The kids were wondering around in costumes while the teachers sat there watching. I just didn’t feel the facility was at its maximum potential. The teachers were loving and sweet, a little sluggish… think this place has a ways to go but its on the right track!

I Love this School for my Daughter! If your looking for Spanish immersion and a great community of involved families then definitely check out AMA. My daughter was in Casa Celeste with Miss Mimi and Miss Lani, both very sweet wonderful teachers. Maestra Mimi is the best preschool teacher my daughter has ever had, which is saying a lot since she has been to six, preschool/​daycare combinations in three different counties. Maestra Mimi provides just the perfect balance of formality and structure to warmth and fun! They also have great extracurricular teachers like Coach Raul (soccer) who all the kids love, and Chipa (capoeira). The food is healthy and Latin inspired, my daughter now asks me to make Picadillo for her at home. Sad to be moving on to TK this year, we will miss AMA!

We have a daughter in Casa Lima (2ish-​3ish year olds). We have been happy with AMA. Here are some of my thoughts:
— Excellent group of loving, caring maestras
— Very enriching environment with lots of activities involving art, writing, music, dancing, soccer, etc…
— Lots of time for free play
— Food provided by AMA– in our opinion excellent and actually much healthier than food provided at our prior daycare (much more emphasis on healthy fruits, veggies, beans, etc)
— Hours work for our work schedules
— Spanish immersion (Of course!)
Some FYI type things
— Staff turnover was high early on, which can be hard on toddlers. I think Cynthia knows this and tries to make transitions as easy as possible
— The facility is noisy outdoors in the outdoor play area, being adjacent to Mountain Blvd
Overall we are very pleased with AMA and our daughter’s growth there!

We recently moved to the area and were fortunate to have found AMA close to our new home. When I first started researching child care and preschool options for our 2 and 4 year old I was horrified with stories of wait lists, exorbitant tuition and other challenges. Also it seemed as though our mid-​year enrollment may have been a problem at a number of the schools we researched. None of those were problems at AMA.
We were able to get both children enrolled less than a month ago and they are quite happy. They love the weekly soccer class, singing, art projects and seem to be eating quite well (they were telling me about Don Patty at dinner the other night). My youngest is potty training, and we have a regular dialogue with the teachers about her progress at home and during the school day. Both are making great progress with the language acquisition, Kindergarten readiness items for my 4 year old (shoes and jacket on by himself, learning to recognize and write letters), and preschool items for my 2 year old (sharing, coloring, etc).
During a recent school holiday (but not work holiday) one of the teachers was available to watch the kids in our home. Nice perk for working parents without an established list of babysitter options.
The highlight of our experience at AMA came just last night from my 4 year old. While we previously had a Spanish nanny and the children have a substantial base with the language, there has been a bit of an adjustment for my 4 year old as he was previously in a French immersion school. Basically he taught me a Spanish word last night at dinner!!! Very proud accomplishment, for the school, teachers, staff and parents!
Bravo y enhoabuena AMA!

AMA is wonderful! My two year old started at AMA in July of 2013. We were a little apprehensive about her starting at a new center, concerned that it would be a difficult transition. It took her several months for her to adapt to her previous child care center and she never really was happy to be there. The warmth of the teachers at AMA made my daughter feel comfortable immediately. Within a week, she was excited to «go to school» everyday and at pick up she didn’t want to leave. We love that AMA is a Spanish immersion center as we would like our daughter to be fully bilingual. Her father speaks to her in Spanish at home, and it is great to have a center that reinforces her language development. The curriculum is fantastic and rich with cultural lessons as well as plenty of learning through music, art, science, and play. We love that the day is well structured and balanced with activities that foster social development, academic learning, and physical fitness. My daughter loves doing yoga and learning dances. She also enjoys the weekly soccer lessons. We also appreciate that the teachers communicate our daughter’s progress through daily logs and parent conferences. AMA is a very well-​rounded child care center, and we are thrilled to be a part of the AMA family!

My daughters have gone to Pumpkin Patch Leaning Academy (now Academia de mi Abuela) since they were 2 and my youngest is now graduating from there. Over the past 3 years that we’ve attended, the Director, Cynthia, has grown her school from a small in-​home program to now a large 3-​classroom school. Early on there were some issues with staff turn-​over, but now she has settled on a truly stellar group of loving, attentive teachers. They are young, energetic, and implement Cynthia’s creative and challenging curriculum very well. The art projects are amazing – I like that they don’t «correct» the childrens’ work (for example, one project came home with a completely sideways rainbow, and I love it!). Cynthia’s two greatest assets are her teachers and her curriculum. Despite being an English-​speaking home, both of my daughters now understand basic Spanish, can speak rudimentary sentences in Spanish and are ready for Spanish immersion kindergarten. They learned the basics to be ready for kindergarten and made some great friends along the way.

My daughter has been at A.M.A for just two months and she is loving her new school and her new teachers. My LO’s command of Spanish has grown by leaps and bounds.
The site is spacious and safe and has turned out to be a great transition from home based care we used previously.