Happy Together Preschool

Our son has attended Happy Together Preschool for nearly two and a half years. We consider ourselves lucky and blessed to have found such a wonderful, nurturing environment for him to learn and grow through his toddler years.



The directors, Monica and Tim, along with the teachers, are true advocates for children. They have been instrumental in shaping my son’s social and emotional development, while fostering his creativity and curiosity. For him, preschool is not just somewhere to pass the time – he knows that it’s a place he belongs and has purpose.



The play-based school is guided by principles of nonviolent communication –- as a result, it’s helped my son grow into a sweet-natured, thoughtful and confident little boy. I am amazed at his ability to communicate and empathize with others. The things he’s learned at school have profoundly enriched our lives at home as well.



We wholeheartedly love and enthusiastically recommend Happy Together Preschool.

Our 3 year old son has been going to Happy Together Pre-school for 6 months now and it has been an amazing experience for him and our family! The school is small, 12-15 kids / day, between the ages of 2-5 and provides lots of individual attention which is particularly great for shy or less outgoing kids. Our son has made lots of friends, absolutely adores his teachers and can't get enough of the ample playtime in the natural playscape backyard that offers fun and safe exposure to nature..something that is not always easy or readily accessible in an urban setting. Happy Together's play-based and nonviolent communication approach has really helped our son develop. The teachers, fellow students and their families are amazing. I highly recommend this school to anyone looking for a truly great pre-school to nurture their child's sense of self and to teach them a healthy approach to building meaningful relationships with others, young and old!

My daughter attended Happy Together from age 3.5 to age 4.5. She loved the setting, the activities, the Spanish songs they learned and the very loving teachers who work there. I loved the substantial school days -- it was important for me to be able to get some work done while she was at school -- and my daughter got a lot done too, it seems, based on all the art she brought home. Nice landscaping to make an interesting campus out of a rather small area. I also liked the way they observed the Jewish holidays culturally, but not religiously, which works with the way we observe the holidays.

I like the school's commitment to gentle communication with clear boundaries, environmentally sensitive use of resources and how clean, organized and positive the atmosphere always is.

I am writing to give my highest recommendation to Happy Together Preschool on Grand Avenue. My son started at Happy Together when he was just under 2 ½ years old and he will soon be 5. He is clearly filled with joy whenever he hears it’s a “school day,” and has not once, in those 2 and a half years, said that he didn’t want to go. This has brought a peace of mind to us as parents for which we are extremely grateful.

Monica Haddad and Tim Silk, Director and Co-Director of Happy Together have adopted as their motto, “Creating a more peaceful world one child at a time.” I have been inspired throughout my son’s time at Happy Together by how deeply, sincerely, and thoughtfully, Monica and Tim (and the rest of the teachers) apply themselves to this ideal. While this is a motto to which I can imagine others paying only lip service, Monica and Tim and the rest of the staff at Happy Together are clearly unified around creating peace and psychological wellness for the children. They work at it moment to moment, one child interaction to the next. The level of equanimity, patience and skill they use to foster empathic, caring, and yet authentic, interactions between the children is amazing.

While there are many outstanding things to note about Happy Together (play-based, emergent curriculum, green classroom, healthy snacks, daily creative projects with interesting materials, Spanish language/Jewish cultural teachings, music, visiting fire truck), the truly unique aspect of Happy Together is their philosophical inspiration coming from the principles/teachings of Non-Violent Communication, and from research coming out of The Greater Good Center at UC Berkeley. Under the guidance of Monica, these influences interact to create an environment at Happy Together that feels safe, calm, and consistent, yet is also energized with creativity, spontaneity, and social connectivity. Through modeling, mediating, and teaching, the Happy Together staff inspire the children to increased emotional awareness and tolerance/understanding of each other; they give them language to identify and express what is going on inside them and between them.

I first heard the echo of Monica and Tim in my son when he was around 3, and we began to have an argument about something. He said, “Is this a dilemma?” He identified that a “dilemma” was when people both wanted different things, and had different feelings in a situation. His recognition of conflicts and the drives/emotions behind them, and his patience in seeking mutually acceptable ways of solving them have grown continually since then.

I could say much more, but I will leave it at this: Happy Together has been a truly wonderful, enriching place for us (parents included). The individuality of our son has been delighted-in, and he has been loved and cared for in a way that has left a lovely, peaceful, indelible mark.

I wanted a positive, nurturing environment emphasizing social and emotional learning (where kids respected boundaries and each other without negative discipline), that had teachers who truly knew and valued the children as individuals, and that had excellent parent-teacher communication. I was also seeking a place for my daughter where she would have the space and autonomy to explore their surroundings, where she would be nurtured to focus on process rather than product, and where she would be able to be happy. Then I found Happy Together Preschool. It was all of these things:



1. Positive, nurturing environment that fosters kindness and autonomy. Each of the teachers is gentle, but finds ways to encourage children to self-regulate and help them learn how to engage productively with each other, whether they are high-energy kids or kids who might be considered shy. I have seen crying children gently nurtured into giggling, confident participants, and children whose behavior might have been labeled disruptive elsewhere gently guided into other ways of participating. Whenever I arrive, I see children having a delightful time, while respecting each other’s space and needs in profound ways for kids of that age – I’ve seen compassion in these preschoolers that I can only admire. In this environment, my daughter has learned to become kinder and much more aware of the feelings of those around her. The children have many experiences (planting, cooking, art, science experiments) that stimulate their curiosity, but because of the peaceful environment and thoughtful use of indoor and outdoor space they are not over-stimulated (as was frequently the case at her previous preschool). Children have a great deal of freedom to choose different activities, and each day there are wonderful activities set out that enable children to explore materials – to build, paint, create, and think. Heck, some days I want to stay to play!



2. Caring, observant, supportive teachers and community. I love knowing that my daughter will be treated with respect, given both space to explore and support, as needed. In talking with the instructors, it is clear that they know her well and value her deeply – as they do every member of their preschool community. There are huge advantages to the wonderful adult-child ratio, and one of them is that the children really are supported as individuals in ways that a larger center with less adults simply cannot do. Children also get lots of language interaction with adults in English and in Spanish (a language in which my daughter has fallen in love, through her experiences at the preschool). I feel as though the community of families is particularly open and welcoming of differences – it means a lot to me that families that do not “fit the mold” are celebrated.



3. Responsive and Communicative. When I drop off my daughter, I feel as though I am entering a peaceful, happy oasis where people listen, authentically smile, and take both children and adults seriously. Every week, there is a detailed email about the previous and coming week’s activities, complete with wonderful quotes from the children. But what matters most to me is the fact that the staff are wonderful communicators around individual children’s needs.

Being first time parents we were reluctant to move away from the nanny-at-home form of childcare to which we have grown so accustomed. After many interviews with a variety of childcare providers, we were very pleased to land on Happy Together Preschool as the option for our daughter Juliette (now 2.5yrs. old).



The directors of Happy Together Preschool, Tim and Monica, are clearly passionate about the program they have created and what that means to how we shape the minds of our curious little ones. With a fun, nurturing, creative, and thoughtful environment, Juliette has flourished at school and at home.



We fully recommend Happy Together Preschool. This has been a wonderful introduction to the many years of schooling our daughter will see in her years to come.



Thank you HtP!

My twin girls attend Happy Together Preschool and we love it. I am a pediatric Occupational Therapist and have worked in many early childhood educational settings, and therefore was pretty picky about what preschool we chose. But it has met my high expectations, and my girls love going. My girls had been home with me exclusively for the first three years of their lives, but Monica and Tim and the other teachers made the transition to preschool an easy one for them. The student teacher ratio is low so that the teachers are able to give the children the individual attention they need and take the time to intervene when problems arise, specifically helping the children learn better social interaction and communication skills. My girls are shy and would probably get lost at a large center based preschool, so I appreciate that their teachers know what's going on with them each day. It feels like the teachers here really love children.

Every time I have observed I have been amazed at the calmness of the classroom, especially considering it's full of 2- 4 year olds! But the teachers are great at facilitating child's play. They also have a well rounded curriculum, with lots of cultural activities included, one teacher who plays the violin for the children, another bilingual teacher and lots of indoor/ outdoor choices for the children. we couldn't be happier.

My daughter attends Happy Together Preschool. She turned 3 two months before starting. They do accept children as young as 2. My husband and myself wanted a low student to teacher ratio and after looking at numerous places HtP was exactly what we were looking for. The teachers, Monica and Tim, are attentive and work with the parents and the children to have a smooth transition. They foster communication among the children and are wonderful at allowing the children to engage in their own interests while developing and learning. They offer fun and interesting activities for the children. I find myself to be very critical and it has been a relief to have my daughter attending a preschool that I feel is a second home to her. She loves talking about her teachers and her friends at school. They also invite outside folks from the community to share what they do (librarians, dentists, fire fighters, police officers), which provides excitement for the kids and important information.

Our daughter has been attending htP for several months now and I can’t say enough wonderful things about it. This was her first experience with childcare outside our home, and Tim and Monica have made it a wonderful transition for all of us. They’re extremely attentive and accommodating, especially with the younger ones just starting. When our daughter first started we thought there was going to be some major separation anxiety for her, especially since she tends to be hesitant with new surroundings and situations. But she was having fun and comfortable there from day one, it was a happy surprise. As well, they were so patient when our daughter, soon after starting, decided that she was ready to toilet train. I’m sure her decision was influenced in part by the toilet training modeling of the older children at school, but I also attribute her readiness to her comfort level there.

 

Tom and Monica are very attentive and wholey engaged with the children during the school day. Our daughter is completely at ease there and always looks forward to school. Monica especially has an insight into the early childhood development that has been such a help for us in navigating through our daughter’s more challenging developmental stages (she’s 2 1/2). Overall, htP is a warm, calm and creative environment that we all enjoy being a part of.