Early Childhood Education
3 months old to 5 years old (varies per site) Chinatown YMCA, Mission YMCA, Peninsula Family YMCA, Stonestown Family YMCA
A Trusted Partner in Early Childhood Education – Our YMCA Child Development Centers offer high-quality care for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. We prioritize building strong emotional bonds between children, families, and peers. By creating a safe and nurturing environment, we help children reach their full potential.
our mission statement
The mission or our early childhood education programs is to provide a supportive, nurturing environment that enriches the development of the whole child and helps to provide a foundation for the entire family.
Our Philosophy
Our primary focus for our Early Childhood Education program are to create and strengthen emotional bonds between children and families. We believe children need to feel emotionally and physically safe in their environment to reach their highest potential.
We understand that children develop at different rates and we incorporate that belief into every aspect of the program. We provide opportunities for children to engage in developmentally age-appropriate activities that focus on the child’s whole development which includes social-emotional, physical health, language and literacy, and cognitive development.
Our Goals for Children
Children will learn and demonstrate growth in the following four primary areas of development.
- Language development: comprehension and verbal communication
- Pre-literacy and reading skill development: phonetic sounds, recognizing and naming letters, shapes, and numbers
- Fine Motor Development: the use of small muscles for object manipulation and grasping, for coloring, drawing, and writing
- Gross Motor Development: the use of the large muscle movement such as sitting, crawling, walking, or running
- To develop healthy habits for self-care, hygiene, and nutrition
- To develop positive self-esteem and self-awareness and interpersonal relationships
- To develop and demonstrate a sense of independence, trust, and cooperation
- To recognize emotions of self, show understanding and empathy for others
- To appreciate and respect all aspects of diversity in all families, other children in our program, and their community
- To develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills
- To learn about objects and relations between cause and effect
- To develop pre-reading and early literacy skills, and language acquisition
- To learn math language and mathematical concepts such as counting by rote, one-on-correspondence, and simple age-appropriate arithmetic such as addition, subtraction, measurement and data, and geometry for preschoolers
- To close the achievement gap by meeting the child’s developmental and learning needs
- For children to become confident learners
Our Core Values:
Honesty, Caring, Respect,
and Responsibility
We look to the YMCA core values when implementing our curriculum. We use Honesty, Caring, Respect, Responsibility in all our work. We provide high-quality care and early childhood education for all children from three months old to six years of age.
At the Y, we understand that we are developing leaders of the future who will display strong character, as well as curious minds, and healthy bodies. Our staff’s role is to guide and teach children with love, respect, and creativity. Caring is focused on teaching the ability to show compassion, forgiveness, generosity, and kindness. Honesty is shown by speaking the truth and encouraging the children to behave with integrity and fairness. We foster respect by welcoming, understanding, and accepting all families and cultures and abilities. We provide a relaxed and nurturing atmosphere where self-esteem, independence, decision making, and self-control are supported to help the children understand their choices while also learning about responsibility. We teach these values in our preschool programs through appropriate guidance, facilitate learning by providing opportunities for hands-on learning experiences that allow exploration and discovery through play.
Our Curriculum Statement
We use the Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP), Program for Infant-Toddler Caregivers (PITC), Creative Curriculum, and inspirations from Reggio Emilia, all of which are implemented in our programs through play and by creating a positive indoor and outdoor learning environment and experiences for children.
Read our entire Early Childhood Education Curriculum Statement below:
Our Early Childhood Development Centers
Alice Chalmers Preschool
670 Brunswick Street
San Francisco, CA 94112
(628) 250-3542
Services: Toddler and Preschool Childcare
Operated by: Mission YMCA
Edwin & Margaret Lee Tung Lok Early Childhood Learning Center
75 Vallejo Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 576-9622
Services: Infant, Toddler, and Preschool Child Care
Operated by: Chinatown YMCA
Gateway Child Development Center
559 Gateway Blvd
South San Francisco, CA 94080
(650) 873-8145
Services: Infant, Toddler, and Preschool Childcare
Operated by: Peninsula Family YMCA
Mission Preschool
4080 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 452-7566
Services: Toddler and Preschool Childcare
Operated by: Mission YMCA
Lutheran Church of Our Savior (LCOS) Preschool
1011 Garfield Street,
San Francisco, CA 94132
(415) 333-9622
Services: Toddler and Preschool Childcare
Operated by: Stonestown Family YMCA
Villa de Kapuso Child Development Center
2350 San Jose Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 586-6900
Services: Infant, Toddler, and Preschool Childcare
Operated by: Mission YMCA
Get in touch
Want to chat about how your child can thrive at the Y?
Email Executive of Early Childhood Development, Anne Señores, at [email protected] to set up a call.
The YMCA of Greater San Francisco is a trusted Early Childhood Education provider for cities and companies across the Bay Area. If you or your employer are interested in partnering with the Y for preschool services, please get in touch with Anne.
Upcoming Events
Feb 24
Preschool
Mission Preschool – FY24-25 – Preschool TWOS – WAITLIST
Feb 25
Preschool
Mission Preschool – FY24-25 – Preschool TWOS – WAITLIST
Feb 26
Preschool
Mission Preschool – FY24-25 – Preschool TWOS – WAITLIST
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