My kids were in another school last year and did not want to go to school and now they love going to school

My son loves this school

Me encanta y mi hija esta super contenta

Looling for the best way for kids to learn? Well I truly believe this is the place, here they really focus on their development more than getting a school grade. In my experience the A+ doesn't pay the bills yet doing what your passionate about usually does ! And getting to understand your passion can only happen by experience rather than by passing state exams, etc...

So far it's an amazing school! The concept is unique and more kid friendly. The set up feels more like an interactive kids museum, encouraging kids to explore, discover and question.. very inviting. I am so happy my son is attending CIJS!

If you are considering CIJS for your little one, you are heading in the right direction. My 7-month-old daughter just finished her first week there and we are beside ourselves with pure joy over how amazing this school and staff are. First, the administration staff is outstanding as is the owner and teachers. In the first week alone, we had frequent correspondence with the owner, the accounting manager, the office administrator, the director, and the teachers. It felt like “All Hands-on Deck” and that made me feel like we had an army of caring professionals ready to help our baby adjust to her new normal. As busy as they are with over 100 children in their care and double the number of parents calling and emailing them daily, they make you feel like you are the only parents who have a child enrolled there. They handled us and our neurotic and worried emails and phone calls with kindness and compassion at every turn. I was amazed at how proactive they were, too. For example, they would often write to us FIRST to tell us how our sweet girl was doing during her transition. They were excited to share good news of the behaviors she exhibited that showed she was adjusting better and better each day. I can say with 100% certainty that they held our hands as much as they held our daughter’s hand during this transition. Now for the teachers. Passing your child over to someone else’s care is honestly the most nerve wracking, stressful, and heartbreaking thing we’ve ever done. By day three, our sweet girl was enjoying her time in daycare. She was napping, taking a bottle, eating solids, sitting up without wobbling, playing, and thriving. We saw an immediate difference in the way she played at home after her second day. She was reaching better and more often, babbling to her toys, putting her toys in containers, and while it was subtle, it felt significant after only two days. We enjoy getting our daily reports and pictures of how our baby girl spent her day and seeing all the new things she’s discovering, the new friends she’s making, and the new skills she’s learning! She surprises us every day! I am also so pleased that her teachers have carved out time in the day to spend quality one-on-one bonding time with our girl to help her get acclimated and to build that relationship and trust. You can see it on my daughter’s face at drop off that she knows she is in a safe place and even though she misses us, she knows she’s okay. We were warned of a 2-week turnaround for adjustment in many cases, so we were preparing for an emotional two weeks. We were SO happy to see a corner turned after three days. This is a testament to the care, compassion, patience, and kindness our baby girl is receiving from her amazing teachers. I cannot say enough about them. We feel so blessed! We are only a week in, but we are just in love with this school, the staff, and clear and positive RESULTS we are seeing in our little girl. That’s what counts. She’s thriving and happy. What else can you ask for?

I am a parent of a previous student of CIJS. I believe that CIJS provided my son with the best preschool experience a child can receive. His teachers were all experienced, caring and engaging. My son loved going to school and trying new things in the separate art, gardening, music and cooking classes. I greatly appreciated the daily email updates with details and photos of the students engaged in all kinds of activities, especially outside helping in the garden or on the playground playing imaginative games. He is on track with all of the developmental milestones and learning appropriate for his age and beyond, thanks to the amazing education provided by CIJS. Grateful to have found this school!

We have sent both of our boys to CIJS. Our older son, now 6, attended last year for the free VPK program, and our younger son started out in the 2-year-old program at the same time and is now in the 3-year-old room. Both of them have thrived at the school, and we watched our more introverted older son, who fought us daily the year before about attending a different Montessori-based school, develop so much more enthusiasm for learning over the year he spent at CIJS. We love the Reggio Emilia-based teaching style used by CIJS; it seems to be the perfect balance between the sometimes aimless Montessori style and the rigid classroom structure of more traditional schools. The children are taught language math, science, social studies, and more in an organic way that is guided by the interest of the entire class. For example, if the kids show a lot of interest in insects one week, the teacher will create a one or two week unit with Insects as the main theme while teaching biology (insect parts, life cycle, etc), math (have the kids count/add/subtract using bug shaped markers, or read the Very Hungry Caterpillar), letters and spelling (bug-related terms), art (making paintings or models with found objects), and other subjects all under the umbrella of the main theme. It's the way the kids naturally want to learn--not in one hour segmented blocks of individual subjects with no links to one another, but as an integrated whole. I really believe this style teaches the children how to learn, think, question, and explore on their own, not just regurgitate answers memorized by rote. We receive daily emails describing what was covered in class with photos as well as paper slips for our younger son with individual notes on his meals, diaper changes, potty training attempts, etc. When the boys experienced any minor bumps and bruises during play, or even when my younger son had a stronger than average reaction to an insect bite, we were called immediately. The teachers and staff all genuinely love the students and provide some of the most detailed progress reports at parent conferences I've ever seen. ;) Your children will be able to meet the state standards for their grade; the teaching style may be more creative than we are used to seeing in public schools, but the teachers are always reinforcing the things the kids need to learn in the midst of the fun. Bonus: As secular parents, we appreciate finding such an innovative school without the onus of a religious affiliation.