Last year, we had the privilege of sending our 4 year old to be a part of the founding class at the West Orange Early Childhood Learning Center. When we met with her teachers for the first time, we mentioned that we really wanted our daughter to learn the social skills she needed to be successful in kindergarten. In Ms. Carolyn’s class, she not only learned social emotional skills, but she also showed an early readiness for academics as well. Ms. Carolyn saw this and began to challenge her, helping to foster an excitement and love of letters and numbers. When I asked what her favorite memories of Pre-K were, she quickly told me that she loved doing the calendar time, playing nicely with her friends, and writing letters, numbers, and shapes. She also said she loves her teachers, and that, “Ms. Carolyn knows EVERYTHING!” She is currently 5 and in Kindergarten at Hazel Elementary, and she is doing great! She definitely developed the foundation she needed for a fantastic kindergarten experience.

This year, we have had the amazing opportunity to send our 3 year old into the program, also in Ms. Carolyn’s class! Her favorite parts of the program are building, playing with blocks and cars, reading books, coloring, and having a class job. It has only been a few months, but already she is showing a tremendous amount of growth in the way she tells stories, sets goals, and follows through with a plan.

From a parent perspective, we are incredibly grateful to have participated in the program for the past two years. The program and curriculum have been highly engaging. Ms. Carolyn is beyond effective with this age group, and my daughters have both shown consistent growth and a love of learning during their time with her. The partnership between Ms. Carolyn and her assistant, Ms. Trish, has been very strong. We are continuously kept informed about class activities via Class Dojo, and we receive important school wide updates and reminders through email. The WOECLC has been an incredible gift to our family, and we look forward to the future of this program.

We could not be more happy with the West Orange UPK program at the West Essex YMCA Peanut Shell. Since starting at Peanut Shell in the fall, we have seen such a wonderful difference in our son’s willingness to share what he does each day and talk about school, his teachers, and his classmates at home. His teacher, Ms. Amy, recently told us that he is also participating more in class discussions, something he never did at his previous school. We feel much of the progress he is making behaviorally is due to the warm and welcoming environment of the Peanut Shell family. We are exceedingly happy with our experience so far and look forward to watching our son continue to grow, develop, and progress the rest of this school year and next! 

Amazing place. We enrolled our child here through the West Orange Public School District's program in the Fall of 2023. Our child is excited every morning when we leave for Valley Settlement House and at the end of the day when we are picking him up, he is usually so immersed in what he is doing he does not realize it is time to go home. Teachers and staff are friendly and supportive. Best decision we made and we hope that the West Orange Public School District continues to support local preschool programs like the one at Valley Settlement House.