Caterpillar's Wonderschool

Our Teachers

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Hi! I am Ana Lanuza, the founder of Caterpillar’s Wonderschool Daycare. I was inspired to start my own program because I loved working with children and love how inquisitive their little minds are and how eager they are to learn. I have 26 years of experience working with young children.

I continue to enhance my knowledge in Early Childhood Education. I have an AS and Social behavior in Science all in infant and toddlers development. I am also parent of three wonderful sons.

My passion in child development started when I worked at Edgewood Center in San Francisco for the primary intervention program in the primary grades school base. I worked with children that had difficulty adjusting to school. The program lasted twelve-week for each child and focused on non-directive play. The goal was to support children come out of their shell and learn to adjust to school.

My goal is to continue to support little minds and to provide a strong foundation in their early education, and to keep their interest in learning.

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Testimonials

“Ana Lanuza took care of my children on a part time basis (20-30 hours/week) from September 2016 - June 2018. My son was almost 2 when he first started spending time with her and he took to her immediately. This was a pleasant surprise for us because he had always been quite shy and chose his relationships carefully. In our experience Ana has always exuded responsibility, honesty, patience, kindness, warmth, and independence with our children and we recommend her wholeheartedly.

One of my favorite qualities about Ana is her confidence, maturity, and independence. She is not someone who texts or calls me with every little thing that can and does go wrong in a toddler’s day. She has always accurately prioritized the questions that warrant our input immediately and leaves the rest of the details to be shared at the end of the day. We love how she has always offered a detailed verbal summary (and often pictures and videos throughout the day!) regarding the days ups and downs as well as how our son slept, ate, and interacted with his share care mate. Her wisdom and experience as a mother of three boys has always felt like an added benefit to our working relationship which has evolved into a true friendship. Ana is honest, responsible, and reliable which sets her up perfectly for her next venture in running a daycare center.

Ana is as comfortable being silly and loving as she is acting as a disciplinarian and role model to our children. This is an important quality for me in looking for a caregiver because I don’t want my children to think that they can walk all over someone who is not a parent. She has always asked how we handle certain rules or consequences at home because she wants to keep her rules in alignment with ours. Ana is wonderful about letting the boys get messy, be loud, and just explore whatever they want to do. It has always been clear to me that she was greatly interested in early childhood education as she has recommended various games, books, and parenting practices to us in the time we’ve met her. She has definitely helped me increase my patience and understanding about the different development phases that our children have experienced throughout the years.

Each day with Ana is a new adventure and our child constantly looked forward to jumping into her van each day. I can’t think of a better playmate, friend, caregiver, or trusted resource for any family.”

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Amy

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“My children have been attending Caterpillar’s for 5 months now and they absolutely love it. The director Ana is great with the kids. She attends to them as if they were here own. She’s very organized with her program and has many great daily activities where the children learn colors, letters, numbers, manners, playing nicely with other children just to name a few. Another great note is she’s bilingual (Spanish) and now our children are learning a second language. I highly recommend Ana and Caterpillar’s family daycare.”

Andres.

We have loved our time at Caterpillar’s Wonderschool, but the timing is here for Fiona to move on to a pre-school (and pre-k) with kids her age and older. We cannot thank Ana and her crew enough for the love, attention, and generosity they have shown to Fiona over the past year.

Please let us know what you need from us for the next steps.

Thank you!

Matt Black & Emma Shutko

“We absolutely love the environment and staff at Caterpillars. It is wonderful to have a space where we know our child is loved and cared for.” - Kate M

Philosophy

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At Caterpillar’s Wonderschool, we support children through play and exploration in an environment of love.

We provide a safe and developmentally appropriate home environment for each child. By creating a stimulating and educational experience, we promote each child’s social/emotional, physical and cognitive development while also providing them with opportunities to express themselves. This helps children become life-long learners by observation, listening and understanding their own interests and needs.

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Location

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Caterpillar’s Wonderschool is located in a welcoming, bright single-family home in the Lower Dimond neighborhood.

We’ve designed our care environment with play and learning areas that allow children to explore various developmentally-appropriate activities based on their interests. Some of our favorite areas include dramatic play area (for self-expression and empathy), block area (for gross motor skills and problem-solving), and reading / cozy area (for literacy, relaxation, and respite).

Children have some outdoor time everyday in my private outdoor space. Connecting with nature is vital to a child’s happiness and growth, and we want to create an enriching environment where children feel free to explore and play.

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About our program

At Caterpillar’s Wonderschool in Oakland, children thrive through hands-on experiences that stimulate their cognitive and motor skills, foster independence, and nurture their social and emotional growth. Our specialized program excels in early childhood education by focusing on experiential learning opportunities.

Admissions

Join the Caterpillar’s Wonderschool community in four easy steps:

1. Explore our website

Read through our program to see if we might be the right fit for you and your family.

2. Tour our program

Come see what makes Caterpillar’s Wonderschool unique by scheduling a tour or reserving a spot at an Open House event.

3. Submit an Enrollment Application

If you would like to enroll, please submit an application. Please note that we require tours for all prospective families. Please do not submit an application if you have not visited the program.

4. Enroll

After reviewing your application, we’ll send an enrollment invitation. Upon accepting your invitation, you’ll be prompted to fill out enrollment documents, review our Parent Handbook, and pay an enrollment fee.