SCOTT LINNETT / Union-Tribune Founder-director Laura Johnson opened her Preschool Performing Arts Academy, a project she dreamed about for years, in May.

SAN MARCOS – Laura Johnson walks into a two-room building in a small San Marcos strip mall each weekday brimming with pride and joy.

The front room doubles as an office and quiet area for computer work and reading. The other room has walls decorated with the ABCs, numbers and the words of colors. A stage with a keyboard, speakers and microphones placed at a child's height is prominent. Out back is a play area.

It's a vision Johnson dreamed about for years, and made happen in May when she opened the Johnson Preschool Performing Arts Academy on Grand Avenue.

“It felt good,” she said. “I felt like I had done what I had set out to do. I still can't believe it. . . . I ate, drank and talked this for years.”

The preschool combines Johnson's interest in education and the performing arts. She spent about 20 years working at group homes and alternative schools, and has sung professionally at restaurants and hotels.

Johnson is the preschool's director, but she doesn't have teaching credentials. The teaching is left to Pam Patterson, a credentialed teacher with 32 years of experience. Patterson's goal, she said, is to prepare her young students for kindergarten, using materials and lessons typical of a kindergarten class.

Patterson also teaches students how to follow rules, such as getting them to sit quietly on numbers printed on a floor mat while she shows them a map of the United States. Children who get too hyper are docked playtime.

The kids also sing along to tunes such as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” that they will be performing at their show next month.

“I know how to do songs,” said Madison Pitt, 4.

Patterson said she works with each child individually. For example, Madison is learning to read short sentences such as “Cat sat on Sam. Sad Sam. Sad Matt. Sam sat. Matt sat.” A 3-year-old classmate is learning to identify a square and the letters that make up the word.

The children also have two instructors – Lamar Lacañgan of O.Y.I.E. Music, a nonprofit organization, and Tarua Hall of the Oceanside Dance Academy – who help students with music, dance and stage presence.

The private preschool has three students now and room for a dozen more. It charges $700 a month for a child to attend Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., including lunch and a nap time. One evening a month, the preschool also looks after children while their parents get a night out.

Eventually, Johnson said, she would like to open five such schools for 3-to 6-year-olds.

Patterson, who also is the preschool's assistant director, is joined by two others. David Seyller is the program coordinator and James Moore manages the office. Patterson and Seyller are Johnson's former colleagues at UHS Schools, a chain of private schools, with a location in Vista, for at-risk and special-needs students. Moore is Johnson's brother-in-law.

Before working at UHS, Johnson was a program coordinator at New Haven School, a private school in Vista for male students with special needs.

After being around 16-and 17-year-olds who struggled with reading and social skills, Johnson decided to start at the other end. “It's been proven that a good quality preschool puts your child ahead of others,” she said.

For more information about the Johnson Preschool Performing Arts Academy, call (760) 744-9700.

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Linda Lou: (760) 737-7574; linda.lou@uniontrib.com