Rose Kindergarten

This is a wonderful, magical place for children. A wholesome environment with a beautiful outdoors. The owner, Diana Mei, has been teaching for over 14 years. With this wealth of experience, she brings a deep understanding and love of children to her school every day. Dedicated to learning more about children, she herself studies and provides her staff with continuing training. The school provides an encompassing Waldorf curriculum, from languages, art, stories, healthy food, animal care, gardening, crafts and, even, yoga.

Diana Mei has taught each of our four children and we have felt blessed that she has been the person to usher them into the experience of school. She is a a treasure amongst teachers of young children, in that, she can span being good with both children and adults. Diana is committed to creating a strong and thriving community and a healthful environment for children to explore. She provides two organic meals a day (a huge plus after packing lunches for my older two children for the last eight years). Diana also provides a learning space for the parents by having parent informational evenings every month as well as parent-​only pot lucks, where we gather to eat, drink and be merry. Diana teaches a parent toddler and a parent infant class on Mondays and/​or Fridays where she explores such topics as sleep, weaning, warmth, and food. In short, Diana is a teacher, a mentor and a gift to all parents who wish to deepen their understanding of the parenting adventure and what it means to raise children today.

We have three boys, and two out of the three have so far attended Rose Kindergarten in El Sobrante. Diana Mei taught at the East Bay Waldorf School before opening her own mixed-​age kindergarten (age 3 – 7). We have been part of the school for three years now. Every day, the children have organic home made breakfasts and lunches, often with the kids helping to bake. They play, garden, help with the chickens, make beautiful watercolor paintings, and also do yoga and Spanish, with the help of various teacher assistants throughout the week. The children are outdoors as much as possible. Because it’s a mixed age group, the older ones really learn to become and enjoy being «leaders» and helpers of the little ones, and the younger children love getting to play with the older ones, often their own siblings. Diana Mei is the best teacher we’ve seen, looking at and having been to other schools. She is gentle, warm, loving — things that you’d expect really from someone who’s watching your children half the day. But, it is *obvious* she loves to be with children. She is wonderful with girls and really holds together the boys. Often they DO have different energy but Diana is magical with keeping the group together. She connects the parents as well, with monthly parent get-​togethers and with holiday potluck events (Easter is a big one, with the kids hunting for eggs in her almost 1-​acre place). During parent conferences, it still amazes my husband and me how well she knows our children, not just giving us a synopsis of their day to day activities, but really understanding their nature AND accepting them. Give her a call or send her an email. She often has Open Houses. Rose Kindergarten also offers morning classes for parents and babies and parents and tots, a great way for parents to connect with each other and for them to learn from one another.