Philosophies & Goals

     Reaching Hearts Preschool (RHP) is a play-based Mandarin-English bilingual preschool focused on Whole Child Development, offering a program for children ages 2 to 6. We look at your child as a whole rather than someone who only needs the ABCs and 123s before entering kindergarten.  We look forward to fostering your child's cognitive skills, physical skills, emotional skills, social skills, and life skills for the preschool years and beyond. 

RHP Values:

Play-based Learning.  According to Dr. Kathleen Stassen Berger, a prominent author in early childhood education, ages 2 to 6 are the play years.  Learning should be conducted in a fun and playful way.  In our school, your kids will learn math through cooking, science through hands-on experiments, geography through "traveling," and so on.  It is our goal to prepare your children for kindergarten through learning in a fun way.

Adopting the Best Practices of Other Approaches.  On top of being play-based, our school also includes the best practices from other educational approaches.  We strive to integrate Waldorf's whole child development, Montessori's child-sized and child-directed learning experiences, Reggio Emilia's natural light and communal learning environment, and the emerging approach that uses children's individual interests to customize the curriculum. We want to make use of all the best possible strategies when teaching your children. 

Developing Life Skills.  In addition to academics, life skills are crucial.  From 20+ years of experience supervising young professionals, Stanford students, Foothill students, preschool and elementary school aged children, and recently youths in the Bay Area, RHP’s founder and head teacher has learned that preschool children are capable of learning the beginnings of many life skills.  Areas RHP emphasizes include conflict resolution, problem solving, and self soothing. Survival skills, like cooking and sewing, are also introduced at an age-appropriate level. It is our passion to pass our personal experience on to your children to make them brighter, stronger, and happier.  

Vygotsky's Scaffolding. At RHP, most of the program involves teacher-aided activities.  Children have the chance to receive information through independent exploration, then the teacher follows up with a more focused explanation of material.  For example, children can learn how to make the color purple by dropping a drop of red food coloring into a drop of blue food coloring.  The hands-on experience is much more fun than memorizing the answer or hearing it from a teacher. It is our desire to instill in your child a joy of learning through their own discoveries.

A Home-setting.  If you have ever been to the prestigious Google Children's Center or the Children's Center of the Stanford Community, you would find that both centers are decorated very much like homes.  Why?  The home-setting provides comfort, security, and peace to young children.  When children feel safe, they feel comfortable to explore new learning opportunities around them. We give our best effort to help your children feel safe and loved.

Beige and other natural color decorations.  Both Children's centers at Google and Stanford also mainly use beige and other natural colors for decorations. Why?  Natural colors help sooth children's temperaments, so that stimulation mainly comes from children's projects rather than from the colorful carpets.  It is our practice to provide a relaxing environment with stimulating learning experiences.

Religious Faith.  Our school is open to students with any or no religious backgrounds. However, Christian concepts like sharing, loving one another, and Jesus’ unchanging love (no matter who someone is or what they have done) will be taught in school. According to scientists Christi Barnford and Kristin H. Lagattuta from UC Davis, children experiencing anger between the ages of 4 and 8 feel better after they have prayed.  Children with religious beliefs have a higher resilience when faced with difficulties. This finding has also been published in Dr. Berger's book, The Developing Person Through the Life Span. It is our hope to help children understand they are always loved by a mighty God in every situation they will face throughout their lives.

Communication with Parents/Primary Caregivers.  No one knows a child better than his or her parents/primary caregivers. At the same time, our program means children will spend a fair amount of their time at our school.  We want to share with you what we have observed, touch base about at-home developments, and work together to nurture your children's potential. Therefore, it is important for us to communicate with you regularly through informal chats, emails, and parent-teacher conferences. We look forward to putting our best to raise your children with you.  

If you have any questions about the above philosophies and goals, please feel free to contact us at Info@ReachingHeartsPreschool.com.

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