Banana Fana Preschool

Our Teachers

Gloria Morales Nova

Director and Head Teacher

Gloria is a San Francisco Native who was born and raised in the Ocean View neighborhood. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology with a Minor in Criminal Justice from San Francisco State University. She has also completed some courses in Early Child Education From City College of San Francisco. In addition she caring for her own son, Isaiah, Gloria has over ten years of experience in caring for children. Gloria has a “child-like” soul which allows her to play, sing, and dance with children. She believes children are so curious and that curiosity brings her so much joy. Her mother and father were born in Managua, Nicaragua which allowed Gloria to grow up in a Nicaraguan culture at home. Gloria has traveled to Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico where she fell in love with the vibrant colors and has brought each country’s culture into her classroom.

Dickmar Nova- Co-Director and Teacher

Dickmar is Gloria’s husband who was also born and raised in the Mission District in San Francisco. He brings diversity into our program and proof that “male” teachers can be gentle, understanding, have patience and much fun towards young children. Dickmar enjoys showing the kids new games and ways to explore their minds. He believes that kids grow and learn in the outside classroom as much as the inside.

Banana Fana Preschool also has a bigger teacher community! We appreciate our teachers- Miss Lizzette, Ms. Jesse, Ms. Wendy and Ms. Michelle!

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Babaloo

Class pet

We will be joined in the classroom by Babaloo, our sweet cat. Babaloo is curious and shy, but can be loving and fun once he warms up. He will be a member of the classroom, although mostly off on his own upstairs.

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Testimonials

“We will always remember the warm welcome, the immediate love and patience. Trusting someone with your kids, is one of toughest things you need to face with, and with Gloria Elena Nova it was an instant click. It was clear from the first moment that our little girl will get all the warmth she needs to overcome the language barrier, new culture and environment. Sending our love and endless appreciation and love from Israel” -Eran

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“Our daughter has thrived at Banana Fana.

We began a few days each week and then moved to full time. We are absolutely thrilled with the care, attention, and education she has received. We explored many different in-home day care options when we selected Banana Fana and were delighted with the choice we made. 

I teach at Stanford and found her location to be easy to manage as I dropped her off and scooted down the 280 to campus. We often took the extended care option which was a huge help to us as both my husband and I work full time.“ -JD

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Philosophy

Explore Curiosities/ Explorar Curiosidades

Children at Banana Fana are able to learn through direct, hands-on experiences with people, objects, events, and ideas in Spanish and English. They impact their own learning by interacting with different materials, each other, and the teachers. We believe that with cooperative play and creative activities, kids reach their social, emotional and physical milestones naturally and with ease. Our teachers offer emotional and intellectual support to the students, but also allow children to make and pursue their own decisions. Teachers thus expand children’s thinking with diverse materials in the classroom and nurturing interactions. We help children become more independent, responsible, and confident. This helps them to be ready for school and ready for life.

Banana Fana Preschool is where young children will get the tools and support they need for their healthy development. We carefully design our activities to adequately nurture the emotional, intellectual and physical growth of our students. We provide lots hands-on learning opportunities, children are free and encouraged to explore their curiosity.

Why “Banana Fana” as the school name? Gloria was inspired to launch her own in-home preschool out of her desire to build a career that allows her more time to be with her son, Isaiah. As such, Gloria wanted a name that is also inspired by Isaiah. When Isaiah was born, Gloria and her husband Dickmar would sing The Name Game to Isaiah (“Isaiah, Isaiah, bo-baya, Banana-fana -fo-fayah, Fee-fy-mo-mayah, Isaiah!”). Til this day, Gloria and Dickmar call Isaiah their “Isaiah Bobaya”, and thus Banana Fana was born. Today, during circle time, Gloria and her students sing The Name Game and it is proven to make every child smile.

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Location

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Banana Fana Preschool has relocated to Oceanview/Ingleside neighborhood as of May 2019. We have a generous amount of space which allows our students to choose where they would like to learn and play. There are five rooms in our home where we have thoughtfully laid out materials for our program.

When you enter through the side door our first room dedicated for our students is our “Dramatic play area”. In this area children can whip up amazing dishes, dress up as a police officer or princess, or even design their own home with our doll house. There is also an area for the children to read and play.

Our second room is our “play room” where we have our manipulative toys, art station, private area and blocks. Children can build cities with our large train tracks, build castles with our magnatiles, or they can relax in our reading nook. Their imagination will allow them to learn and grow.

Downstairs we have a room designated for arts so children can tap into their creative side. Paint, markers, play doh, crayons and crafts everywhere! This room will also be for our “non nappers” than have outgrown naptime!

We have a beautiful backyard with an amazing amount of space that allows our children to run, skip and jump! Outdoor playtime is a very important part of our program.

Our final room is our special infant room where we will have 2-3 infants with one teacher. In this room our infants will work on their gross motors, social and emotional learning, music and more!

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About our program

Use of Spanish in the classroom/ Uso del Español en el aula

Research shows that young children are uniquely suited to learning a second language and there are many developmental benefits that arise from learning language at a young age. Gloria wants Isaiah to grow up speaking both Spanish and English. As such, she has designed her curriculum at Banana Fana to involve a mix of English and Spanish language and provides opportunities for all the children to learn and engage with Spanish. For children who are already exposed to Spanish, Gloria and her team speak Spanish about 90-100% of the time with those children. For children who are not previously exposed to Spanish, Gloria starts off with Spanish yet translating in English. Once the children have been exposed to the Spanish language more, she and her team speak “El Español” to the students . Gloria is passionate about the Latin Culture and music. At Banana Fana, children are exposed to the Spanish language through “musica” throughout the day and they sing and dance while hearing great Spanish nursery rhymes.

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Parent Involvement

Our goal is to provide a program that is like a second family for your children and we hope to have close relationships with the parents. While we ask that parents do not stay past drop-off each day as that can disrupt transitions, we do welcome parent volunteers in the classroom. Parents have the option to volunteer one day in the classroom every 2 months. Please let Gloria know if you are interested in helping in the “classroom”.

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Admissions

We are currently enrolling for 2020. Please ask us about our enrollment tuition special!

Join the Banana Fana community in four easy steps:

1. Explore our website

We’ve provided information about our philosophies and offerings to help you decide if our program may be right for your family.

2. Tour the school

Come see what makes Banana Fana unique. Please schedule a tour by filling out the “Schedule Tour” form.

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. Do not submit an application if you have not toured.

4. Enroll

After reviewing your application, we’ll send an enrollment invitation. Upon accepting your invitation, you’ll pay a $150 enrollment fee, fill out enrollment documents and review our Parent Handbook. We offer scholarships for families who qualify through San Francisco’s ELS program. Please check if you qualify here- https://www.earlylearningsf.org

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