Little Tree Montessori International School

Community Subscriber

El Cerrito, CA

To see Department of Social Services records on this facility, click on its DSS Facility License # below.

Type:
Childcare Center,
Preschool
DSS Facility License #
Owner:
Oak Hill Education, Inc.
(510) 233-0171
maria [at] ilovegrowingtree.com
Location:
El Cerrito
94530
2603 Tassajara Avenue
Maximum Capacity:
144
Language(s) Spoken:
Chinese,
English,
Spanish
Ages Served:
24 months - 60 months
Hours
8:00am - 6:30am
Affiliation:
Montessori
Additional Services & Features:
Pre-K program,
K-5 afterschool available,
Year-round,
Sibling discount,
Snacks provided,
Potty training support
About the Program:

Little Tree Montessori International School in El Cerrito offers bilingual immersion Montessori preschool programs for children ages 2 to 6 years old. Families may choose full or half day programs in either English/Mandarin or English/Spanish.
Our after school program serves elementary school children from Kindergarten (K) to 5th Grade. Our program includes homework support, as well as English and Mathematics learning. Families may choose either Mandarin or Spanish as their child’s second language study.
To schedule a school tour, please call: (510) 233-0171
Website: www.littletreemisg.com/elcerrito/ .
Address: 2603 Tassajara Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530

Parent Q&A

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  • Our child goes to Mira Vista Elementary and we are considering Little Tree Montessori in El Cerrito next year for their after school program. Does anyone have any experience with this program? We would greatly appreciate any insight!

    We haven't done after school at Little Tree, but have sent our kids there for camp, which they enjoyed.  Several kids from our kids school WCMS go to after school there, and have generally had a good experience. 

    My son goes to Little Tree for afterschool. Generally it has been a good experience. It is hard to tell sometimes because my son is not the most detailed narrator of his life, and with Covid restrictions, parents have less exposure to what kids are doing on a day-to-day basis than usual. But my son seems safe and happy enough there, and the school does take Covid protocols seriously, which has been a plus for us. The director has been extremely responsive to any concerns we have raised about our son's needs, and she is creative in thinking about solutions. I'd say that he hasn't gotten much out of the language component of the program but has enjoyed learning piano (the teacher seems great). Next year we'll likely switch to one of the school-based aftercare programs just because Little Tree's location is inconvenient for us, but it's been a good solution for us this year.

  • Hi,

    Wondering if anyone has any experience with Little Tree Montessori in El Cerrito? There aren't any reviews here and little else online since it looks relatively new. We toured it and it looked nice in person but was hoping for some first hand experience.

    Thanks!

    We send our two kids to the preschool there and have been happy. Things we like: Our kids didn't know Mandarin prior to entering, but they have been doing fine learning various parts of the Chinese language - counting, animals, continents, etc. The curriculum is very 'thematic' based, i.e. each week they are on a specific topic. This helps with getting the kids excited about 'dinosaur week', 'lego week', etc. My kids don't usually complain that they have to go to preschool, and they usually look forward to seeing their teachers and friends. We also like that the school has had a mask mandate all throughout COVID, and their policy did not waver even with the state's re-opening. Once, there was a COVID notification because a child's parent tested positive, and while worrisome, we were happy with how the school handled the situation (communicated with us clearly what had happened, disinfected the school grounds). The school did not close (the affected family had to quarantine of course), and there was no outbreak. I also like how the school frequently sends videos and pictures of what the kids have done. Things the school could do better: I noticed some staff turnover, and I was sorry to see that some teachers/staff that we really liked were no longer there. I asked once what happened, and the new staff member actually didn't know. I wish they would at least give us a heads up; perhaps we could've thanked the staff before they left. They also recently raised their tuition, and as this is our first year, not sure if an annual raise is typical, so you might want to just ask about that. Another thing - the thematic stuff can be saturating and a little too gender-stereotypical. This usually comes through in their communications for certain dress-up days (girls wear pink for Mother's Day dance, and boys wear white shirts), but honestly, we let the kids dress how they want to dress and we see pictures of other kids doing the same. This school feels very top-down in their management, in the sense that I don't know any of the other parents and I am not very involved with how the school runs its program. It isn't an intimate setting and often feels like I am just 'sending the kids to school', but so far, my kids are happy. Feel free to DM me if you have any more questions.

    My kid has been going to Little Tree since mid-April (and before that, my kid had never attended any preschool/daycare).  We started with 3 full days a week, and transitioned to 5 full days a week last month (July).  I honestly didn't expect much when we started my little one there, because we didn't see much reviews anywhere.  We just went with our gut feelings (and the fact that they had openings at that time).  I had a plan to transition my kid to another school by September.  Little did we expect, my kid is having such a great time there that we decided to decline the other school (which we love!!)  The following are what we love about Little Tree:

    1. All teachers and staff are fully vaccinated.  This is VERY IMPORTANT to us given the current pandemic condition.

    2. All kids are required to wear masks all day long, except when they eat, drink and nap.  The kids' temperature is measured before they can enter the school.  The kids have to wear "indoor shoes" when they're inside their classroom.  Again, important steps that we appreciate during this pandemic.

    3. The gate is closed during school hours, and anyone needs to be buzzed in to enter the campus.  This gives us a sense of security.

    4. The teachers are all very patience and caring.  Each kid is different and difficult in their own way.  The teachers try to understand their unique needs/challenges, so they can work with the kids.

    5. During the first few weeks after my kid started at Little Tree, the school kept me updated on how my kid is adapting by sending me emails and pictures.  They had also called to provide updates (especially on days that my kid was extremely upset during drop off).  This made me feel very good that the teachers are really paying attention to the new kid! :)

    6. The other school that I mentioned earlier, that we were going to send my kid to, is not a montessori school.  Now that my kid is at a montessori, I really appreciate this teaching methodology.  My kid has grown so much in this short period of time, even the grandparents are surprised!

    7. I love the fact that it's a bilingual (English/Mandarin) school.  My kid could only speak one of these two languages before starting school.  After 2 weeks of school, my kid began to use the other language with us.

    Hope this helps.  Best of luck in finding the school that your kid will enjoy!

Parent Reviews

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Check out Little Tree Montessori. We have been there for preschool and will do after school care this year. They also do pick ups at many of the local schools. 

I'd recommend looking at Little Tree Montessori on Barrett Avenue. They have an aftercare program that my kids have gone to in the past and we really liked it. The costs are surprisingly similar to that of EC Recreation's, although it is a little higher since they will pick-up your child from their respective school and bring them the Little Tree campus. They also have additional afterschool enrichment programs on site (e.g., Spanish, Chinese, piano, art, etc.) that you can look into for your child. More information is here: Afterschool Program | Little Tree Montessori International School El Cerrito. Hope that can help.

Not sure if they still are accepting registrations, butt we have our daughter enrolled in Little Tree International School on Barrett. It's not cheap for 5 days a week (about $630 for four weeks from 2-6pm), but that's certainly cheaper than hiring a babysitter). 

My son attends Mira Vista and goes to aftercare at Little Tree.  We are happy with them.  They offer extras (for extra $)  like art, piano, etc.  They pick the kids up afterschool and walk or drive them to Little Tree which is just across from Tassajara park on Barrett.  The transportation fee is not included in the tuition. 

https://www.littletreemisg.com/elcerrito/afterschool-program/

Hi! We also live in the El Cerrito Hills and send our 3 year old to Little Tree Montessori. It’s also Mandarin immersion which is something we were specifically looking for.