Pasadena, CA
Cottage Co-Op Nursery School

Parents' Comments

Parent #1
The program is unique in that parents get to participate in the classroom and are directly involved in their children's education. That aspect is great, but I feel the conflict resolution between the children and the structure in the classroom is lacking. The kids basically do what they want and I witnessed bullying and hitting that went on a great deal. We were not supposed to say no to the children and simply try to talk it out and redirect the child. The hitting turned to kicking, hair pulling and even biting. Redirection did not work and we struggled with this all year.

Parent #2
The teachers are outstanding at handling conflict resolution with the kids. My children has learned so much about empathy from listening to the teachers and observing them as well. It has a great community feel about it. The Director along with the teachers are always available to talk should you have any concerns about your child.

Parent #3
The strengths include the fact that it has a very tight-knit and diverse parent community (including both working and stay at home parents) that want to play an active role in their child's early childhood development. As parents, we work together in the class room and socialize together outside the class room. Each day, each class has two parents working in the class room. Because parents work in the class room, the parents get hands on experience observing the approaches of the skilled teaching staff and implementing those approaches in class and at home. The teachers are always open to discussing and working with parents to address developmental issues pertaining to their child. And, numerous high-quality parent education opportunities are offered by the school. For me personally, I feel that Cottage Co-op has made me a much better parent, and I know other current and former Cottage parents feel the same way. Another huge strength is that the school has wonderfully skilled teachers that provide a play-based emergent curriculum. As mentioned in responses to other questions, the teachers are very skilled at teaching the children to express themselves, problem solve and resolve conflicts. The teachers view each conflict between the children as a learning opportunity as opposed to something that must be immediately shut down. They teach the children to gain their own voice, to express their wishes and desires and to navigate through conflicts. For example, rather than telling children arguing over a toy that they must share, the teachers will work with the children in a conflict to get each to identify what happened, their feelings and desires and to assist them to come to some resolution of the conflict whether it be to take turns, play together with the toy, etc. I have heard from several parents whose older children have graduated from Cottage and gone onto kindergarten and grade school that their children ar masters in the play ground at helping their peers to problem solve and work their way through conflicts. And, I have observed the same thing at local parks where Cottage kids as young as 3 and 4 have helped to resolve other kids' conflicts. The teachers are also extremely creative and innovative. They try to teach the children awareness of the environment by using recycled goods for various projects. A few examples include, having a work station that involves making a huge city from, for example, all white plastic goods that one would normally recycle or throw away; placing paper on old turn tables from the 70s and having the kids use pens to explore the designs they can create when turning on the turntables and drawing on them with the pens, etc.

Parent #4
The families we have met at Cottage have become our closest friends. We go on family vacations together as well as babysit each other's kids. We will remain friends long after our children graduate from Cottage.

Parent #5
It is rewarding to be part of your child's learning process at a very young age.

Parent #6
It's a warm nurturing community, with very engaged parents and very caring teachers. I think our class (parents, more than students) has had a little rockiness with losing the long-term lead teacher a month into the school year and the new director, just getting her feet wet with a host of challenges, suddenly had to become Teacher #2, and she frankly didn't have the background in progressive, developmental early childhood education. The children, on the other hand, have been very well matched with each other, and extremely cohesive as a group. There has been some concern that the progressive focus isn't always being maintained, but the new director is on a learning curve, replaced a very popular, long-term director, and always open to input. My one weakness at the school is a lack of sufficient diversity or a pro-active approach to attaining a more diverse student body?the school waits for applicants, rather than doing effective outreach through the community.

Parent #7
Just visit and observe this school. Ask questions. Watch.

Parent #8
I think Cottage's play-based curriculum is the best way for my daughter to become a thinker and a lover of learning. She can learn ABCs and writing at home, but at Cottage she learns cooperation, empathy for others and effective communication.

Parent #9
Cottage is so unique. It is based on the whole child developmental approach to learning?unstructured play. Initially, I was concerned that our daughter was just going to a daycare facility versus a academic learning preschool. My husband (being right-brained) really liked the school with his belief that the unstructured nature would foster creativity. But my mother would say "Is she just going to play all day?" I would have to admit that the first three months I (being left-brained) was torn but after conversations with the Director and teachers, I felt more confident that we made the right choice. Now it is three years later and our daughter and ourselves do not want to leave the school. She has grown up so much and has blossomed into a beautiful and confident little girl. I attribute a large part of that to the great teachers at Cottage and the whole philosophy of the "whole child" approach. She has learned so much because Cottage made it fun. The children become teachers to each other and that is why they excel. Plus, the children love having the parents in the classroom as helpers. It always makes them feel so secure. We are now looking at kindergarten and having to apply at some of the private schools. We did our Chancey-Bruce screening with concern and trepidation but of course our daughter, in our opinion of the results, flew past the developmental benchmarks. Cottage for us is a great preschool. Don't get me wrong. Not everything with Cottage is perfect. The Co-op nature has issues but like anything we feel the positives by far outweigh the negatives. Cottage has given our child a great foundation to hopefully become an eternal learner. It is developmentally appropriate for children at that age. It is also such a great community feel which you would never get at the traditional drop off schools. Cottage is truly unique. This experience for our daughter and ourselves will always be a fond memory.

Parent #10
Best thing about it is the parent community and commitment to parent involvement and education. School has genuinely helped me to be a better parent.

Montessori? Waldorf? Play-based?

What school type is right for your child? Is one model better than another? What does the research say?

View an example from the Savvy Source guide to learn more.

Trace around your child's foot, with shoe on, on a piece of white construction paper or card stock. Have child cut out the shoe print and add a spooky face. Glue it to a popsicle stick and you have a ghost stick puppet!

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