Portland French School has a great Pre-K program - if you are interested in developing a "whole" child - including language arts, mixed with play and learning, this place is terrific. The teachers are fantastic and attentive.
We've had our kids (3.5 and .8) in ChildRoots for a few months and it's a great school so far. It's high points are; Environment/facility is beautiful and thoughful, hours are as early as 7:30 until 6pm I believe, cost is reasonable, they cook and eat together, the school emphasizes getting your hands dirty and there are many attempts to socialize the kids across ages. Perhaps most importantly, the staff are very caring and working hard to make the school experience a positive one for kids during these early years.
Criticisims: We wish it was more diverse but for a school it's size it's pretty good and that could be said for PDX as a whole, I suppose. The outside space is well designed, but it would be great if it had a "real" green play space attached - but I haven't seen this anywhere in Pre-K - to make up for this however, the teachers take a lot of walks with the kids and play at a nearby elementary school (Buckman). It's a wholesome place... and we being from Brooklyn are trying to suss out how much energy and vitality is in the class room vs. a soft, quiet meditative environment - as we love a little chaos and it's important to us to have a balance to keep the kids energized, curious and well... kids. I think they go off what they see in the kids - if they are rambunctious they amp it up a little, if not they pull it back - try to tone match them somewhat.
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