Early Learning Academy

I usually do not write review, but I think is unfair for Leigh R to give ELA 1 star without even experiencing the place. I think the teacher she mentioned is Ms. Aiki. She has a great sense of humor and she takes care of the youngest class-​2 year old. I am sorry that she rubbed you the wrong way.
ELA is a great school, I am so happy that I found this place for my son who is 6 years old now. He was here from 3.5−5 years old. I did a lot of research before sending my son to this place and I honestly think that this is one of the best place. All the teachers are caring and loving. The facility is very clean and new. Ms. Hao is such a good principle and she brings the best out of my child. My son learn to be discipline, read and write. They also have so much fun meeting with fireman, policeman, and even Santa during Christmas (volunteered by one of the daddy). Those holidays like father’s day breakfast, annual carnival are very thoughtfully planned and the teachers and community make a lot of effort to create magical experience to the children. Besides, they also have field-​trip annually. My son even came back during his summer holiday when he was already in Kindergarten. He had a hard time adjusting to summer camp and they took him back without question. I hug the teachers and cry during my son’s last day. I can’t wait to send my second child here when he turns 2.

Full disclosure, we haven’t sent our daughter here. But after our tour today, we definitely won’t be doing that.
First annoyance: there’s only street parking. This is a symptom of the area and not so much the school’s fault, so I would have been willing to let that slide had we decided that this would be a great fit for our daughter.
However, the woman who led us on a tour instantly put us off. My daughter, who isn’t even two, had a pacifier in her mouth because she had just woken up from the car ride. I asked my daughter if she could give me her pacifier, because she was now awake and we were inside. The woman then proceeded to tell my daughter/​us, «We don’t allow those here!» in a really sing song, almost mocking tone. Again, my daughter isn’t even two yet, and she’s on the tail end of pacifier usage anyways. I would have been fine with a no-​pacifier rule (would probably ease her transition to doing away with the pacifier completely,) but the way the woman said this was so incredibly condescending that it really rubbed me the wrong way.
As if that wasn’t enough, apparently our tour was scheduled about 5 minutes before the kids were due to wake up from nap time. We would have happily waited until the kids were awake, but the woman insisted on taking us into each classroom and talking about the school while these kids were still asleep. Maybe 5 minutes isn’t that big of a deal, but it showed a complete disregard of the children and their need for a nap. Couldn’t we have waited? Or even better, couldn’t you have scheduled us at a time that wasn’t nap time?
Despite all of this, I still kept trying to ask questions about the curriculum. Apparently «this is an academic preschool, we make sure they can read» was about the only thing they could tell me.
Perhaps the teachers are fantastic, and perhaps the kids here are really happy and transition wonderfully into Kindergarten. But first impressions matter, and this experience did not make me want to spend over $ 1000 a month and put my daughter in their care. We will be finding a different preschool for our daughter.

My daughter has attended ELA for a little over a year now and it has been great. I love that she enjoys learning there. She started going only p/​t and just recently started f/​t and they made the transition easy. At 3 years old she can write her own name and recently while reading with her, she was sounding out letters and realized that she was reading (3 – 5 letter words) I was shocked that she was doing this. Besides the educational things, they also offer fun things for kids and parents. I love the school carnival, mother & father daughter breakfast, school field trip and lots of other things. My friends with similar aged children are always shocked about how much this school offers. I highly recommend this little jewel.

I found out about ELA through a friend who enrolled his two kids there. After looking at various programs, I decided on ELA and do not regret it.
The staff are great and amazing with the students. I especially love the various events like the holiday program, mothers/​fathers breakfasts, carnival, etc. It’s also a great way to meet other parents and see the program in action.
As an educator, I really looked at curriculum and the academic focus on the programs I was researching and by far, ELA had the best. They have a reading program that encourages parents to read with their little ones, which is so important for their cognitive development.
If you are looking for a preschool program, check out ELA!

Having graduated this year from ELA, I figured it was time to write a more complete review.
Kiddo attended ELA from 3 yrs to 5.5 yrs old, from the «Chicks» classroom to the «Caterpillars». He has learned so much, gained a sense of self awareness and has such a love for reading and stories, and he had a wonderful overall experience. I am confident that Kiddo’s own experience reflects my enthusiasm and sentiment.
The school is well maintained, the staff are so dedicated– there are many holiday events (mother’s day, father’s day, spirit week, carnival, santa, etc) put on by the staff– so much work for them to put it on but they put in so much effort it for the children.
I visited many schools in various parts of the city and peninsula before deciding on ELA… There are many things that set ELA apart from the rest of the schools we saw, the dedication by all the staff, the well appointed and well maintained facilities, and the many events for the students and families made it all the more special for us.
Since he was 3 ¼ or so, kiddo has been able to read, and is now enrolled in a highly academic program and I am so glad ELA prepared him academically as well as socially.
It is a fantastic school and I am so happy with the choice to bring kiddo here for almost 3 years!

As parents who live and work in San Francisco, my wife and I found it incredibly difficult to get into a quality pre-​school near our home. We searched and got on waiting lists but in the meantime, we found Early Learning Academy (ELA). Although ELA is in Colma, it’s only a block from BART, which turned out to be very convenient at least a couple of times a month. But most importantly, Ms. Hao and the teachers provided our son a well-​balanced mix of learning & play in a wholesome, caring, and clean environment.

I’ve never tried any other preschool so i have nothing to compare. I did notice an improvement in my daughter after only 1 week, who was begging to go to preschool. I was going to put her into a school in September to learn mandarin. At that age they are a little sponge, if the prices don’t go too high I’ll keep her in. They mentioned raising them recently and still have a deposit down on another pre-​school just in case.
They bring home work every week so you get an idea of the curriculum and you can go over the work with your child at home so you can see if they are learning and verify they did the work themselves.
There is no drop off zone or parking so you have to park in the red zone during pick up and drop off.
update: in the end my child did learn a lot of stuff, but she can barely read or spell anything. i don’t think she can add either. I was hoping she would learn these things, but overall she did learn a lot of other things like matching, counting, abc’s, built confidence, socialize, songs, dance, met police, firefighters, etc.

My 3.5-year-old has attended Early Learning Academy for about half a year now. I think it has been very good for her. In a nutshell, my daughter likes her preschool, seems happy and excited about the things she learns, and seems to be flourishing. The routine seems to be good for her. The staff are very friendly and supportive and have been willing to work with us on a number of issues. And compared to the $ 60/​day we were paying for all-​day daycare – which is already comparatively cheap – this school is a veritable bargain.
Here’s a brain dump of all the details I like about the school.
«ACADEMIC» LEARNING
They are very organized post a calendar so you can see the daily activities. My daughter is solid on ABCs and is starting to read words. She could also count to 30 going in but now can count higher, which also translates to counting objects, not just rote numbers. Every week she brings home a packet of things they’ve worked on such as reading and writing uppercase/​lowercase letters and numbers, recognizing patterns, matching, and so on. She can already write her name which is great.
SPEAKING/​THE WORLD AROUND THEM
Every week they have show and tell, talk about their weekend, and sometimes get special guests in like a mailman, police officer, firefighter, pharmacist, or librarian. My daughter has also learned the days of the week and how to describe the weather. They celebrate holidays with artwork and special activities that sometimes involve parents, which is fun to see.
ARTS
We love the painting, drawing, and craft activities. She likes telling us about the blobs she’s drawn which might be a whale or her family. :-) She used to only scribble but now can color somewhat within the lines. Her cutting skills have greatly improved in the time she’s been there.
MUSIC
I love that my daughter will burst out in song after song that she’s learned in school! They even do a holiday performance and I was wowed that they learned 4 songs in a couple weeks.
HYGIENE
My daughter started 95% potty trained and they really worked hard with us trying to figure out the best position b/​c she kept spraying her clothes on the unfamiliar toilet. She’s only had a few accidents since then, but I’ve never heard an unpleasant or judgmental word about it. They’re very supportive. They teach good hygiene and the kids learn to wash their own hands.
PLAY
Because the location is fairly new, the outdoor play equipment is in great shape and looks like a super-​fun place to play. My daughter learned to ride a tricycle here without my even knowing. One day she just hopped on a friend’s trike and I was delighted.
STAFF AND GROUNDS
They are really wonderful. When we started, my daughter was clingy and for months said she didn’t want to go to preschool (even though she was fine when she got there). The staff worked on soothing her and now she goes no problem and talks about her friends and what happened that day.
As I mentioned, they also worked hard on her potty position to help things go down into the toilet instead of spraying out. For a while none of us could figure out what was going wrong but they tried all kinds of things until they found what worked for her.
My child is not a great napper and gets wild and overtired if she doesn’t rest, but we are working together with them to find incentives and methods to get her to sleep, and lately it seems to have been working.
Any time we have a medical issue come up, they are very willing to watch her during the school day and report anything of note.
The school has a very structured, dependable incident reporting policy where they’ll write up anything worth noting, such as a child bumping her head, etc. There is a sign-​in and sign-​out and an alarm on the door so you can hear if someone leaves. So I feel it’s a secure environment. The neighborhood is safe, too.
There is a parent group that helps out and distributes newsletters so we’re always aware of events and communication from the school.
They provide snacks and assist with having kids eat their packed lunches. There is an emphasis on healthy eating which I love.
The only reasons I give it 4 stars instead of 5 are:
— Because staff is limited, they don’t have someone to lead a group of kids who are non-​nappers or nap-​fighters like my child, so even if some kids aren’t napping, they need to be lie quietly which is hard for my daughter. On the other hand, the director personally helps my child get to sleep so I know they are super-​committed to trying everything within the scope of their staff.
— It would be nice if they occasionally did some project-​based work like a Reggio Emilia school but they don’t bill themselves as that (they are play-​based with some academics) so this is just wishful thinking on my part.
— Some other schools do more field trips which would be fun.
These are pretty minor nits, though. Overall, we love the school and would highly recommend it!