Banana Fana Preschool

Our Teachers

Gloria Morales-Nova

Founder,  Executive Director , Board President

Gloria was born in our lovely city of San Francisco and attended preschool at ER. Taylor elementary in the Portola District and it was a wonderful experience. All her life she attended public school in San Francisco, and it has inspired her to create a diverse community where children are encouraged to respect, honor, and love one another. She realized that San Francisco has become a divided city where she has seen the good, the bad and the ugly from our city but at the end of the day, San Francisco is beautiful, and our children are our future. Gloria is honored to be able to serve and assist families in a neighborhood that brings back many wonderful childhood memories. She intends to help create amazing memories for your children too!

​She graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Psychology and a Minor in Criminal Justice. In 2021, she will obtain 32 ECE units and a Program Director’s Permit from the State of California along with an Administrative Certificate from City College of San Francisco. Her in-home location has been open since 2016 and is part of the Early Learning Scholarship program to help support families in San Francisco. 

​Gloria is  excited and blessed to be able to serve your family and our community. 

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Testimonials

If I could give Banana Fana Preschool 10 stars I would! My child has been attending for about 5 months now and he really enjoys it. Wonderful teachers. Definitely made the right choice by choosing Banana Fana preschool. - Ana, mother of 4 yr old

We love Banana Fana!I have an active an curious toddler so I love that Banana Fana teaches their little ones through play and spend most of their time nurturing the little ones active spirits with lots of time in their backyard/outdoor space. Gloria and all of the teachers are wonderful and I can see that my son loves them and learns so much when he’s with them. The teachers are very communicative and responsive to all my questions and concerns regarding my toddler and his needs. They provide a great variety of healthy meals/snacks for my son so I love that they are exposing him to new, different and toddler friendly foods while he’s there. Gloria and her staff works with all the families individually when it comes to the first days of transitioning to Banana Fana so I was reassured and at ease throughout the transition process. Overall we are so happy to be part of the Banana Fana family and we love receiving many photo updates of our son smiling and learning so much throughout each and every day!- Christine, mother of 2yr old

My experience with Banana Fana Preschool has been exceptional. I was a very nervous first time mother and leaving my baby was a great concern for me, even though I knew I had to let her go to grow and learn. My daughter loves her school, teachers, and friends! There’s not a day where she wakes up and doesn’t want to go to school (best feeling ever for a parent). I love everything about Banana Fana preschool. Their mission and passion for the children warms my heart each day! I’m grateful and very blessed to have my daughter be a part of this program. Thank you Banana Fana Preschool!! Alicia, mother of 2.5 yr old

I want to highly recommend Banana Fana preschool. They just opened a location in the mission and our almost 3 year old son recently started there and loves it. I’ve been very impressed by the teachers and leadership, and their passion for children cognitive, emotional and personal development. The school is also highly communicative during the day and provides regular updates which I love. - Joey, mother of almost 3yr old

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Philosophy

We are a play-based supportive Spanish Immersion preschool and focus on school readiness in an organic way which encourages children to learn at their own developmentally appropriate pace. We value trust, safety, communication, diversity, and security. Our educators at Banana Fana Preschool use Creative Curriculum approach for our classroom. 

Growing children need support with their social emotional development. Social emotional development is an important component in our program that prepares our students for school readiness. Preschool social-emotional skills include being able to get along and cooperate with others, focus attention, manage strong feelings, and persist at challenging tasks. These skills deserve focused attention during the preschool years because they are critical for long-term school and life success.

We believe that every child should have an opportunity to feel part of a community. We are committed to serving children and their families with diverse developmental needs. We value our future generation and want to help them to understand their peers. Inclusion gives children a sense of belonging and offers them security that they are valued for their abilities and encouraged to continue. At Banana Fana Preschool, we are committed to support families that need extra support with their child. If needed, we will work closely with Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) from the school district and family directly.

At Banana Fana Preschool, we are committed to support all families.  Our diverse classroom is one in which both the students, educators and families are accepting of all people, regardless of their race, culture, religion, etc.

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Location

We are located at the corner of 23rd st and Folsom st in our sunny and vibrant Mission District.

About our program

Our Mission location is a preschool to help support our community in many ways. We will strive to offer affordable preschool for families that need the support from their community to enroll their child into a high-quality childcare in a diverse environment. Our school will aim to support our educators and their families with benefits that will help them feel secure about their future and their families. Banana Fana Preschool is where children and educators will be growing together. A place where children will explore and grow together like a small garden. Banana Fana Preschool is steps away from a community garden and students will get the opportunity to watch plants grow while they too are growing.   We will thoughtfully layout our educational sections within the space so it can provide the children with a set of ways to grow - through reading, dramatic play, manipulatives, gross motor movement, etc. Just like some plants require shade while others require full sun, some activities require more focused attention, while others are for letting out energy and creativity. The layout of the space will help shape these specific environments.

We are a Spanish Immersion Preschool and 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. Teachers provide opportunities for all the children to learn and engage with Spanish. For children who are already exposed to Spanish, our team will speak Spanish about 90-100% of the time with those children. For children who are not previously exposed to Spanish, we will start off with Spanish yet translating in English. Once the children have been exposed to the Spanish language more, our team will speak “El Español” to our students.

Advantages of a bilingual brain - Early Childhood Development (msu.edu)

Admissions

Join the Banana Fana Preschool 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 our program

Come see what makes Banana Fana Preschool unique. If we are currently hosting tours, you can request or schedule a tour at the top of this page. If we are not currently hosting tours, you’ll see a “Request Info” button at the top of this page; if you submit your information using this button, we will notify you when we start host tours again in the future.

3. Submit an Enrollment Application

If you would like to enroll, please submit an application at www.wonderschool.com/banana-fana-preschool-8412/apply – 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 pay your enrollment fee, fill out enrollment documents and review our Parent Handbook.