Solecitos Preschool
Community SubscriberOakland, CA
- Capacity increased from 8 to 14 in December 2022
Spanish immersion preschool and daycare
From the moment we walked in, we knew Solecitos was the right place for our toddler! Indeed, our son has loved it from the moment he started at 17 months. He's now over two and has created such strong bonds with the teachers and other kids that he often does not want to leave at the end of the day.
Yalin and the other teachers are kind, generous, patient, and positive. They use intentional language and songs to create and reinforce positive community norms. Each month, Yalin sends out a newsletter with logistical updates and the curricular focus and a list of new vocabulary students will encounter. She hosts several annual events and field trips for families to get to know one another and create a broader community. Additionally, it feels as though Yalin, maestra Laura, and Liduvina are in true partnership with the families. For example, when we potty trained our son during spring break, they were incredibly patient and supportive as he learned how to transition his new skill to daycare.
We cannot more highly recommend Solecitos!
We feel so lucky that we found Solecitos for our toddler and for our family. The school has the warmth and intimacy of a small home daycare but the director and lead teacher, Yalin, brings expertise from teaching and being an administrator in other settings as well. She and the other teachers are clear about their philosophy of teaching and the kind of community they are building with the students. A lot of schools that are Spanish immersion hope that students will pick up the language if it is used frequently, but at Solecitos they have a curriculum and an approach that puts language learning more at the center.
The most important thing for our family, though, is that Solecitos is a positive, joyful, inclusive place. The teachers have a song for everything, and students learn positive behaviors by following a clear routine. The teachers set boundaries with kindness and clear expectations, and always keep a positive view of my kid even when he goes through toddler melt-downs.
It is easy to talk to Yalin, and I appreciate her perspective on my kid's development. Yalin is also very intentional about being inclusive of diverse families, in terms of race, language, sexual orientation, and gender. My partner is transgender, and we appreciate that Yalin asks questions about our family's experience and seeks ways to educate herself and the students about gender.
Solecitos is a very special place!
We were looking for a daycare for our almost-one-year-old and were recommended Solecitos by a colleague. It is a fabulous Spanish, small, in-home daycare that is joyful, caring and fun. Yalin posts pictures throughout the day so we can see what the kids are up to and it's so special - definitely not an experience we got at previous daycares. The maestras do a great job of creating age appropriate activities for the various kids, keeping them engaged and learning. We get updates about activity themes, holidays and the schedule far in advance, which speaks to their great communication. Definitely recommend Solecitos!!
My wife and I are so glad we picked Solecitos two years ago. Yalin Miller has created an amazing program that centers bilingualism, social-emotional learning, and community.The space is beautifully designed for young children, and Maestras Yalin and Laura (along with their whole team) are warm, nurturing, and incredibly thoughtful. Our daughter’s Spanish has flourished, and so has her vocabulary — ours too!
Each month features a fun theme — like plants, farm animals, or the human body — and the curriculum is full of songs, vocabulary, and hands-on activities that are developmentally appropriate and joyful.
Most importantly, we feel confident our daughter is safe. We get regular updates through the Brightwheel app, and Yalin is always communicative, even for small scrapes (which are rare). She’s also been an incredible resource in helping us understand how our daughter is growing and thinking. Several educators send their children here — and that speaks volumes.
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Mi esposa y yo estamos felices de haber elegido Solecitos hace dos años. Yalin Miller ha creado un programa increíble que da prioridad al bilingüismo, el aprendizaje socioemocional y la comunidad. El espacio está bellamente decorado y diseñado para peques. Las maestras Yalin y Laura (y todo su equipo) son cálidas, cariñosas y muy atentas. Nuestra hija ha desarrollado muchísimo su español y ha ampliado su vocabulario — ¡y el nuestro también!
Cada mes hay un tema divertido — como las plantas, los animales de granja o el cuerpo humano — y el plan de actividades está lleno de canciones, palabras nuevas y actividades prácticas apropiadas para su edad.
Lo más importante es que sentimos que nuestra hija está segura. Recibimos actualizaciones frecuentes a través de la app Brightwheel, y Yalin siempre se comunica con claridad, incluso cuando pasa algo menor como un raspón (¡que casi nunca ocurre!). También ha sido un gran apoyo para entender cómo va creciendo y procesando el mundo nuestra hija. Varios educadores mandan a sus hijes a Solecitos — eso dice mucho.
Solecitos is a top-notch daycare, and I'm SO glad I found it! Yalin and all the teachers are incredibly caring, generous, and patient with the kiddos. There are always well thought out, age appropriate activities and my daughter loves going there each morning. Yalin goes above and beyond, organizing family gatherings and celebrations to help the families get to know each other. There are healthy snacks each day, lots of updates via Brightwheel, and many hilarious art projects. I couldn't be happier with our daycare situation and I think you can't go wrong choosing Solecitos.
Attending Solecitos has been a fantastic experience for our son. He started there when he was a year and a half old, and while we were nervous about the transition, Yalin’s welcoming and nurturing approach helped him fit right in, and it was no time before he was excited to go to school every day. We saw him grow and learn so much at Solecitos. He became more social, more talkative, and more active through the daily activities, lessons, and topics of the month. He learned to express his emotions, improved his counting, and was always bustling with new songs, games, and ideas he had picked up at school. And he learned Spanish, of course! It was amazing to have him teach us words, or to watch him conversing with the teachers or students in a new language.
Solecitos was great for us as parents as well. Yalin was incredibly flexible and accommodating, and always willing to work with us on any issue. She created a loving, familiar environment, while using her extensive experience in child education to provide structure, including detailed reports on our son’s development. We were able to follow along closely with the activities through Brightwheel, and always felt welcome at Solecitos, whether during pick up and drop off or at the parties and events planned for families throughout the year.
We truly felt like part of the family in our time at Solecitos and are so thankful to Yalin, Laura, and the rest of the crew for the wonderful memories and skills our son built there
Yalin Miller is the perfect blend of professionalism, enthusiasm and sincerity. From the moment we met her after visiting 5 other daycares, we were firm believers that this was the place for our daughter.
Yalin does all the little things right. She updates us using the brightwheel app of the daily news at the daycare. We can even see photos of our daughter which gives us joy throughout the day. Yalin is very communicative and will spend time with us after we arrive to pick our daughter up to go over things. She has a lot of wisdom that can only be gained with experience. She feeds our daughter delicious, healthy snacks. Frankly, we love her and feel like she is family after only a short period of time.
The educational aspects of her lessons are seen daily when our daughter comes home with new words, new expressions and ways to interact with us. Our daughter has grown from a shy, careful baby into a confident and social toddler. Yalin has charisma and a powerful presence that espouses a positive, loving home. She is willing to spend the extra time to do the right things and every morning when we show up, the house is immaculately clean.
I can go on and on about how wonderful Solectitos is and how Yalin Miller has positively impacted our child. Just consider yourself lucky if you come across this page on BPN and are in need of daycare. We wish we knew about her sooner.
Peter Bolton
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