Valle de Ninos

Our Teachers

Aida Lane - Owner & Director

Aida Lane is the Director/Teacher of Valle De Niños. I am a native to San Francisco. I have been the Director/ Teacher at Valle De Niños since 2013 after teaching Preschool at Silverspot Co-op Nursery School In Brisbane, CA for 10 years.

I received a Teacher/Director award in 2009 from the California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools. I participated for 6 yrs. as a Parent/Teacher at Rocky Mountain Co-op Nursery School in San Francisco, CA.

I enjoy gardening, photography, biking and hiking, I am an Early Childhood Educator and Advocate. I have participated on the Board of Directors at Rocky Mountain, Creative Arts Charter school and Cross Cultural Family Centers.

Sofia Elias - Teacher Sofia graduated from SF State University with a bachelors in Psychology. She has worked with families in education and social services for 10 years.

Xenia Lane is a studying Child Development at CCSF and is Aida Lane’s daughter. She has experience babysitting and as an Assitant-teacher since 2016.​

All teachers and Assistants are fluent in English and Spanish.

Philosophy

Mission

Valle de Niños is a rich resource for parents as well as children. Through partnerships with parents as our early childhood program becomes a support system for families. By scheduling Parent gatherings at Valle de Niños, Parents can meet and discuss child development issues.

Our bilingual program will teach children English and Spanish through story time, singing, and daily activities.

Philosophy

Our philosophy of early childhood education is that children learn through play by experiencing and experimenting in a safe, secure, nurturing environment. By experiencing daily interactions they develop their social, cognitive and language skills through several outlets for experimenting - books, music, art, cooking, gardening, and the natural world. By facilitating these experiences children become engaged, independent learners. ​ Our school received a nature-based grant to supplement our curriculum through the Low Income Investment Fund in 2021. We have made many upgrades to our school by changing the yard surfacing from rubber padding to wooden mulch, tree stumps for climbing or sitting, installing a large mirror in play yard, using Safe-Sand in sandbox, installing wooden floors in the classrooms and bringing more nature into the classroom with plants, insects and fish tank.

Location

Our school is located in the heart of the city in sunny Noe Valley/ Mission neighborhood. We are located on Dolores St.. lined with Palm trees between 22nd and 23rd st. Close to public transportation from the 24th st. BART, 48 bus. and J-train. Our school participates in neighborhood walks to explore rain, leaves in the fall or butterfly eggs to raise caterpillars in our classroom. Once the children are ready for longer walks, we can explore our city by going on field trips to Billy Goat hill, Bernal Heights, Upper Noe and Corona Heights Park. In the spring and fall we visit farms at Elkus Ranch and Slide Ranch.

About our program

Valle de Niños nature play-based bilingual school was founded in 2013 by Aida Murguia-Lane after developing a play based Preschool program for 10 years at Silverspot Co-operative Nursery school in Brisbane CA. I enjoyed working alongside parents and a group of 20 children. I strived to help parents use their talents to bring purpose to the program curriculum by allowing them to do what they enjoyed through music, art, science , sports and engineering. I was fortunate that many families followed me to enroll their children at Valle de Niños when I opened. I had various siblings go through my program even up to 3 in one family. Children and their families become part of our family. Parents attend monthly parent-community meetings organized at Valle de Niños to get to know each other and to discuss child development and program curriculum. Parents volunteer time in the classroom by participating in morning circle time, art activities, reading to children and going on field trips, or family cultural traditions by sharing food and rituals. We offer dance, music and yoga activities. Parents enjoy supporting our advocacy program by participating in a demonstration marches around city hall demanding fair wages for Early Childhood Educators, and affordable childcare for families. fundraising and community activities.