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San Francisco, CA
Circle of Friends

Parents at this school would recommend this school to other parents.

Review this preschool

neighborhood: Cow Hollow ·  Telephone: (415) 345-9184  · Website: www.circleoffriendssf.com

• Summary
• General Info
• School Philosophy
  & Day-in-the-Life
• Curriculum &
  Teaching Approach
• Quality of
  Teaching
• Home/School
  Connection
• Discipline,
  Health & Safety
• Ages, Schedule
  & Tuition
• Application &
  Admissions
• Kindergarten
  Placement&Tips

General Approach to Learning

	Play-based
	Play-based with some structure
	Predominantly teacher-led instruction
	Montessori
	Waldorf
	Co-op
	Reggio-Emilia

source:

Director's Comments

The school has a structure environment fostering a harmonious balance between artistic and musical expression, cognitive instruction, social and emotional interaction and physical exercise where self confidence is supported and developed by providing a positive school experience.

Social Skills & Work Habits

OVERALL RATING (4.3)
This school has increased my child's:
Ability to listen and follow directions
Ability to sit still for longer periods of time
Ability to be a part of a group of children
Self-sufficiency and independence
Awareness of others’ feelings
Cooperation with other children

source:

Curriculum and Teaching Approach

	PLAY-BASED	PLAY-BASED WITH SOME STRUCTURE	MOSTLY TEACHER LED	NOT FORMALLY IN CURRICULUM	CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT
Language					Yes
Oral language	-	-		-
Nursery rhymes, poems, songs	-	-		-
Storybook reading	-	-		-
Emerging literacy skills	-	-		-
Cognitive Development
Math and number sense	-	-		-	Yes
Time & space	-	-		-	Yes
Sci. reasoning/physical world	-	-		-	Yes
Music	-	-		-	Yes
Visual arts	-	-		-	Yes
Physical activity	-		-	-	Yes
Other subjects taught	We provide the children with an exposure to the French language and culture through songs, poems, games, and cooking projects. Our music instructor is a Jazz musician and a certified Orff Music Instructor. We offer piano lessons to children 3 yr. on up.

source:

Director's Comments

Our approach is to provide an environment of fun and creativity with enthusiastic and loving teachers.

Parents' Comments

Parent #1
Music, French, reading, and writing are a huge part of the school curriculum at school. The students learn really great songs that are either original or creative jazz songs. We love hearing our daughter sing songs she learns at school.

Parent #2
Part of the children's day is structured and part is free play. They come home with very complex art projects that would have to be supervised for a 2,3, or 4 year old to complete. Here they are split into even smaller groups of 2 or 3 while the other children have story time or music or free play.

Parent #3
There are definite projects in music and art: in music, learning songs, and in art, projects which incorporate learning the alphabet, one's own name, color, shapes, elements such as background and foreground and so on--but not in a pedantic way. For instance, the teacher would have them trace a letter and draw a picture when they came in, ; then they would move on to circle time (2 per day: one in French, the other in English) and come back to a more complex art project. The kids remained engaged and had several things going on throughout the day but were never overwhelmed.

Parent #4
Music and Language are a huge focal point of the program as one teacher is also a professional Jazz Musician and another teacher is a French Teacher...the kids love "Circle" and learn many different songs in their native languages and also world religions