Montessori Schools of California

This school is fantastic! My son had been here for about 5 months and we couldn’t be happier with the staff teachers and environment. The programs that kids follow is diversified and encourages hands on learning. It took us a long time to find the right school for him and we are so thrilled to be a part of this family educators. My son is always so excited to go school to see his friends and his teachers especially. If you trying to find the right school for your child, don’t forgot to check this one out, as it is everything a family could ask for from a school.

I am REALLY glad to be the first reviewer of 2015. I chose this school for my child based off his dad’s recommendation and from the reviews I saw on Unilocal.I was misled. I don’t want you to be.
The only teacher’s that are still working at that school that are mentioned in previous reviewer’s reviews are Ms. Net, Ms. Alma. and Ms. Brenda. They’ve recently come under the authority of Pablo, the director who is a very VERY soft spoken man. Frustratingly soft, really. You want a director that has a backbone and can speak up for himself and his teachers. Pablo seems to be a newbie at early childhood direction so he’s a little shaky with his footing and therefor his authority. This trickles down to his teachers. The teacher’s in this program, while experienced, are overwhelmed by the 10:1 ratio of 3 – 4 year olds and you can read it in their faces. I’ve had the opportunity to drop in during the day to see how my child was being cared for and as the level of the noise in the classroom rose, the frustration on the teacher’s faces showed. I believe they have experience like i said, but I don’t think they have the support of the principal/​director behind them (due to his inexperience) and the kids’ behaviors reflects it.
My child began this school July 2014. We finally had enough by March 2015. Not even six months. Take heed. My son is 4 years old, African American and tall for his height (he’s the height of a child 5 – 6 years old but «young» for his age – can you see the problem? We didn’t at first, but later, Montessori SHOWED us how he was the «problem» and «made learning difficult for all the other children in the classroom». He’s adventurous, spunky and energetic – just like any other 4 year old. He was in room 2.
They began putting my child on «behavior» sheets telling me my son has been kicking teachers, hitting, spitting, the whole nine. Using words I’ve NEVER used in my home and being generally disrespectful. I hear them out. I go to observe my child. I wanna see what’s going on. What I saw was unexpected. I saw a completely chaotic environment – and I stayed for two hours. What I saw was three teachers who did not know hot to control a classroom. I saw one teacher trying to lead the group (of thirty, mind you) without getting the full attention of everyone. Since she chose to do it that way, the other two teachers were constantly putting out fires of fidgety little kids. It made me tired and I was sitting down! So, this told me that my child was getting lost in the crowd and chose (on his own) to act a certain way to get the attention of the teachers. In their eyes, and mine, this was seen as «negative» behavior and I would talk to my child about it. Constantly. But after that visit, I learned that I can’t expect my child to control himself if the teacher isn’t even able to control the class. I understood him acting out to be able to get his needs met in a sea of rowdy peers.
In addition to that, the classroom was a naturally «loud» classroom seeing as how the main entrance to the school was also the door to the classroom, so anytime it opened, the class is disturbed. Its automatic and its the way the school is set up. There are only three rooms. They are well equipped but for as much as tuition cost, they could get a building that could accommodate the size of the school. 30 3 – 4 year olds in one classroom is a LOT of kids. You want to believe that your child receives the attention they need, but really with a class size like that, its easy to get lost in the crowd.
If you choose to send your child here, know they can get lost in the shuffle. The expectation is high and anyone who doesn’t fit the mold is exited. We’re glad to be done with them and I wish we would’ve never sent our child to this school in the first place. If I were you, I would REALLY interview Pablo before enrolling your child and see what kind of feeling you get. If you get a funky «gut» feeling, go with it. I wish I would’ve looking back. I would never, EVER knowingly put my child through the emotional craze that we went through attending this school.

i love this school, every time i drop my girl into classroom, i receive a warm good morning! every teacher take care of each kid, they are very very nice, and has lots of patience, in my girl’s classroom, the main teacher MS. Nenita is a great teacher with 30 years experience, MS. Jocelyn and MS. Miyuki are also give their best to kids! the whole class is quite, well-​aligned, all the toys, books, clothes, equipment and stationery are in the proper position, all clean! i’m so glad to have my girl study here!

Our son has learned so much since he started attending Montessori on Washington. His teachers Ms. Net, Ms. Jocelyn, and Ms. Miyoki are all wonderful teachers. We had him enrolled in a Church Preschool prior to attending here and his learning exploded since we made the switch. We decided to keep him at the school instead of attending Transitional Kindergarten at the local public school. I much rather pay $ 450 and have him learn something with a 12 to 1 ratio than send him to a free public school where he is one of 25 and mixed in with Kinder or 1 of 16 just TK students, but no other support in the classroom. The Montessori system works. I went to Montessori and I could read before Kinder. He is on his way to reading, he can read Stage 1, 2 and 3 Hooked on Phonics books that we have at home. He still is a goofy kid, getting in trouble for playing Spider Man and being disruptive with his buddy in class, so I’m not worried that his free spirit is being inhibited, we know he is still a social loving child with an imagination. He just is one who needs the structure more than most in his learning environment. We are looking forward to another year of Montessori and a well balanced education for our son! Thank you for doing a great job caring for our children :)

My daughter is in Room 2, I want to thankfully and Respectfully honor: (Ms. Nenita, Ms. Jocelyn and Ms. Miyuki) for being an awesome, attentive, caring, and wonderful teachers. I have so much respect with all the teachers in her class cause it takes a lot of effort to have lots of patience to work with children’s. You all work so hard for my daughter that is why I’m very amazed and proud how much my daughter has learned and accomplished with all her book materials. If you are looking for a preschool for your kids this is the place to go if your looking for a structured learning environment you will have no regrets…

Ok, so my son has moved on to Class 2, it’s time for an updated review. I continue to be elated with the school. Just last Friday I had the semi annual Parent Teacher conference and it only confirmed what I had thought of the school in the past. The teachers and assistants (Ms. Net, Ms. Jocelyn and Ms. Brenda) are incredibly dedicated, sweet (and firm when they have to) and really know what they’re doing. My son ADORES all of them. Ms. Net made a picture album with Tyler’s pictures in class and gave it to us during the conference. How super thoughtful and sweet was that. He’ll love having this when he grows up. He’s now 3 and he comes home talking about the seasons, days of the weeks, months of the year and the continents. It’s just too fun. The teachers encourage him in many ways and he’s a very secure and confident kid. They offer gymnastics class for kids on Fridays for a small fee, and my son attends. He jumps from 3 foot high places with the balance of a real gymnist! Love it, love it. They have tons of extra activities like something called Scientist Kids (or similar) where a person comes to teach them science projects, etc. This Friday there’s a mother and child tea time set up. My husband recently attended a Dad and Child Pizza night, etc. Really cute. Also, I LOVE that they don’t make me go out and do fundraisers. What you pay is it. And the tuition is super reasonable and you can take your child M-​F from 7 am to 6 pm. I love too that it’s near 880 freeway, my husband drops my son off and zips right on to the freeway. I will be moving out of San Leandro soon, but will continue coming all the way to this Montessori. It’s worth it in all aspects. Thank you Ms. Net, Ms. Jocelyn and Ms. Brenda. Thanks to you caring for my child I have peace of mind at work.

My son attends this school. He started in room 1 upon my request, just cause I felt comfortable with Ms. Alma. Just today he joined room 2, rom 1 was too young for him after all. He loves the instructors (Ms. Alma, Ms. Brenda, Ms. Net, Ms. Jocelyn). He’s very free spirited, yet a teacher’s pet :-). He just turned 3 and for a few weeks now he’s been talking about days of the week, parts of the bird (bones, etc.) and other things that wouldn’t have occured to me to teach him. His language skills have increased TREMENDOUSLY since he’s been there. 7 am to 6 pm schedule works great for me, even though he’s not there that long, but it’s nice to have that flexibility just in case it’s needed. I think the program is great for 3 year olds and older. Very glad we chose this school. At least so far!

I enrolled m\y 2 ½ yr old daughter to this school. This review is for the 2 year old program. To described the 1^st day of school as chaotic and weird is an understatement. It was a mad house starting from the parking lot backing up all the way to the street. We parked at the plaza next door. Since it was the first day for my daughter, my husband and I stayed with her until we’re comfortable enough to leave her there. When we got there, class has already started and there were obviously 2 new students because they were crying. One little boy was even rolling on the floor crying. We thought it might be a good idea to leave our daughter there anyways. So, we got up to head over to the next classroom and observed to see if our daughter will be fine or not. As soon as she turned around and didn’t see us, she has the look on her face that I will never forget. She looks haunted with fear that she lost her parents and she started to cry. When she cries, she cries LOUD and UGLY. She blew her snots all over the place and rubbed it all over her face and hair for extra measure. So, we decided to stay for a bit longer realizing that it might not be a good idea to leave her alone afterall.
For 2 hrs, we observed some very disturbing events. First, the teacher is beyond exhausted from all the duties she has to do from snack time to play time to singing time to catered to the crying newcomers. But the crying babies keep on following her around because the kids are just trying to find some kind of comfort from the teacher.
Next when come singing time, the teacher doesn’t even have the energy to sing at 11AM. She just turn on the CD and just kind of nodded along. Even worst, the 10 kids there seem like they just got dragged out of bed. Total zombie mode. They just have a blank look on their face and didn’t even sing to songs as simple as ABCs. I’ve been to enough group play dates at library, malls, and even book store. I’ve NEVER seem 2 years old like that!
When it’s free play, there can be no interaction whatsoever with each other. Everyone just kind of do their thing. If there’s any type of contact, the teacher and her aid will tell them to get back into their seat. We couldn’t get her out of the school fast enough. She might learn more from the ants in our backyard than this type of environment.
I’m not a full time mom. I work 50+ hrs a wk and I understand that some parents just don’t have the time to pick the daycare for their child. I’m not saying this is a bad school. Its just a bad school for my free-​spirit daughter. It was a traumatizing first experience for myself and for my little girl. She suffered nightmares and having separation anxiety after that. Now, every night I’ve work, she’ll stand by the door and not let me go. It’s been 2 months and its just now getting better.
I called Mr. Pablo, the director to ask him about my $ 600 deposit after the 1^st bad experience. He said he’ll called me back to let me know if I can apply it to later use. It’s been 2 months, I’ve yet heard from him. My daughter is just another another number in his 60 + students; $ 1100/​month enrollment day care empire. No one seems to care and its just sad!

Montessori @ Washington is a great school. We have 2 kids enrolled at this school and both of them learned so much from their daily class and activities. Our daughter is in Room 1 with Ms Alma and Ms Zola, both of the teachers gives us an update about the progress of our 3 year old girl, she has learned to trace letters and numbers, she sings the alphabets all the time and always eager to go to school. Their class is very structured and our daughter enjoyed her school so much. She has learned a lot and gained a lot of self confidence, such a pleasant experience for our little daugter to be with Ms. Alma and Ms. Zola!
Teacher’s Ms Nenita, Ms Ali and Mr. Edgar in Room 2 where our son goes are friendly and gives an update about the performance of our 4 year old son. Ms Nenita is very empowering and motivating, she cares and gives positive feedback about our child and she connects with him to help him strive for the best. It’s amazing to see how disciplined our son.
Between us, the parents and the teachers at Montesorri, we know that we picked the best school for our kids, we want to provide an excellent foundation for our kids and we are very lucky for our son and daughter to be enrolled at Montessori.
We highly recommend this school to all parents, it is very clean, they focused on educational plan for each child, good manners and respect, academics and social needs of kids. It is very well structured and a great foundation in learning!
Thank you to the Montessori @ Washington staff and to the school Director Mr. Pablo for a job well done. Keep up the great work and more power to all of you!

Teachers are very friendly and respectful! My daughter attended this school and now my son is with Ms Nenita as his teacher and Ms Ali and Mr. Edgar are the assistant. They all great and my son loves all of them! My son has learned and improved a lot from didn’t understand much of English and now speaks and writes. Ms Nenita is very open and stay on top of her students. She will let me know when my child is not doing his work so I can work with him right away. There is parent observation day which I love it. I can get a chance to know the teachers and how well my son is doing in the classroom. There are two parent conferences in the year. You will receive all the activities your child has done during the school year and development.