1. Children enjoy learning. Words, letters, numbers, and other symbols are fascinating playthings, just as are dolls, blocks and trains. Children, like serious scholars, seek order and attempt to integrate bits of information into some kind of pattern.

At Circle Preschool, daily activities were designed to assist the child in giving coherence to his world. The same sequence of events was maintained every day to create a familiar and orderly progression. The childred had the security of knowing what comes next and what choices were available to them.

Teachers submited lesson plans one month in advance to the Director, who coordinated them to offer children maximum variety. Some projects involved systematic study - of birds, bugs, magnets, the solar system, the anatomy of the human body - and continued over periods of several days or weeks. On the other hand, number concepts were embedded in activities ranging from peg boards to cooking classes. On any given day the children chose among at least three activities, and participated in all or in just one of special interest to each of them. Teachers keep day by day written evaluations of their lessons.

2. For the child, doing, learning and growing are inseparable. The philosophical adult may say "I think" or "I am" but the child revels in "I can!" Children do for the pure satisfaction of doing, often without concern for and end product, and nearly always without interest in some extraneous or deferred reward. They are rewarded by sharing their enthusiasm and by receiving attention and approval.

The young child is an almost compulsive imitator, learning by copying the activities of others. Since effective learning depends on appropriate feedback, the role of the teacher may be as guide, audience or example.

3. The child learns through interaction with his environment, which includes not only buildings, equipment, and materials, but other children and adults.

Circle Preschool had among its resources a diversity of staff and children. Faculty were recruited from Bay Area colleges and universities and included as many men as women. To fund an economically integrated enrollment, Circle Preschool had a scholarship program which has received contributions from individuals, from the Aquinas Fund, and from State and Federal sources. It was also been possible for parents or grandparents tp arrange reduced tuition rates in exchange for service contributions.

The world outside the school also provides territory for exploration. Field trips help the child to understand the world around him. The location of the school - less than half a mile from the center of Oakland - made available the resources of the community. Nearby places to visit included Oakland's Lake Merrit Nature Center, the zoo, the fire station, the post office, the University of California art and anthropology museums, bakeries, gas stations, the Oakland Rose Garden, Tilden and Redwood Regional Parks, and more.

4. Generally, children tend to have a positive direction in their development, and each child has their own unique pattern. Progress for one child may be in the ability to join group activities; for another, playing independently, or joining other children in a game of their invention. Ultimately, the child should be able to move with confidence from one kind of pursuit to another. Adults and other chilren can guide spontaneous curiosity, facilitate learn, and add to the pleasures of growing up.

5. Freedom is necessary for the development of happy, creative, confident children. And freedom means choice - the ability to choose between real alternatives. Given all the opportunity in the world, the child who does not have the skill to draw a circle is not "free" to "create" whatever he wants. The child who does not know how to interact with other children is not "free" to play with them. To promote children's development of skills, technical or social, is to expand their range of alternatives, give them choices, and give them more freedom.

Celeste Myers, Circle Preschool's Founding Director

Celeste Myers’ story is an almost unbelievable tale of creativity, pragmatism, fortitude and inspiration. She literally changed lives. Unable to find a preschool environment where her son could thrive, she just did what had to be done -- she created her own preschool! As a behaviorist, the school she envisioned would provide an environment that had a predictable routine, provided a sense of security, and allowed children the freedom to explore their physical environment, both inside and out. Circle Preschool was born. It was a place where the magic of childhood was free to grow and change. Lessons were learned, friendships were forged, discoveries were a daily occurrence, problems were solved. Students worked together, with the help of their teachers, to listen to each other’s ideas and establish group goals. We also cried a little, but we laughed a lot.

The Staff and the Space

To offer the rich environment that was Circle Preschool, with four adults in every session, Celeste had to get very creative with staffing. She hired a strong core staff to teach with her and supplemented that staff with graduate students, work study students and conscientious objectors needing a place to do their alternate service. She wanted half of the staff to be men. It was quite an eclectic mix of philosophies and skill sets. Every teacher or aide who organized an activity had to write it up on a simple template: materials needed, goals or objectives, steps in the activity and which children participated. These write ups became the Live Oak Curriculum.

Regular staff meetings focused on principles and approaches to childhood development. Celeste encouraged an active exchange of ideas. She understood the value of all the different back rounds and interests and what they could bring to the educational experience. This included giving over one of the school’s larger rooms to a teacher who wanted to create a space for Montessori materials. She believed every activity or time in the schedule was an opportunity for language development.

Her first Circle Preschool was a large house with an enclosed front patio big enough for all the children, a huge back yard with redwood trees, swings, a sandbox and plenty of “wild” ground to find many different treasures. The inside had two large rooms for activities, a kitchen for cooking projects and two bathrooms. It was hard to imagine a more perfect space, but Celeste did. With the financial wizardry of an entrepreneur, she bought a large lot a block away and built a new school with two separate classrooms, a gym, kitchen and bathrooms and a huge backyard. The student capacity was doubled! Now, at the risk of incredulity, the other two campuses she opened must be mentioned. Fortitude indeed! It is unclear if she slept during this period of expansion, but the results were nothing short of phenomenal. Like the main campus, the other two sites were both wonderfully unique in their own way and provided that much more opportunity for students and teachers.

Diversity

The student profile at Circle was diverse by design. There were well to do students and scholarship students. There were both African American and Anglo students on scholarship. There were students with a variety of disabilities enrolled through a federal grant (one of a handful in the country), putting the school at the forefront of what is now typical mainstreaming. Celeste also wrote a grant funded by the state to give disadvantaged preschool students tutorials and exposure to an educationally rich environment so they would have increased readiness for kindergarten. It was a resounding success.

Alums

All the success, expansion and educational strategies only partly tell the story of Celeste and Circle Preschool. It was truly a place where lives were changed and magic was made. People who only dropped into teaching for a year or two on their way to something else and people who went on to careers in teaching all benefited from Celeste’s vision. Students loved coming to school and would sometimes come back to visit, especially if they had a younger sibling enrolled. Although a little shy initially, they would soon be exploring their old haunts, especially the big slide and the playhouse. The unique educational setting that was Circle Preschool valued the individual as well as the group, and the welcome matt was always out. Students, teachers and parents could feel it! Celeste began this educational journey looking for a place for her own preschooler and created an environment that allowed the three and four year old students to be the stars of the show.