Adios Verano!

We had such a fun summer at El Gato! We explored the construction theme in dramatic play, did all kinds of messy art and sensory play, and we spent most of our outside time in the water (no pictures for obvious reasons ; )) I cant believe the school year is just about here, but what is even more shocking is that I am ready for it. Excited even! Bring on the 2015-2016 school year!!

Evelyn Kiggins!

¡¡Hola Familias!!

*** While working to change the preschool into a licensed daycare, I found the amazing and ever-so-talented Evelyn Kiggins to take over my position as lead teacher for the 2011/12 school year. I have since returned as lead teacher.  

We are experiencing some very exciting changes here at El Gato con Botas!! We have a new teacher for the remainder of the year!! Evelyn Kiggins is taking over for me! She is a fluent, native Spanish speaker who's parents are from Cuba! So exciting! Besides tons of experience working with kids and also having a natural, easy-going approach with children, she is an artist and her husband is a musician!! The second she walked into the classroom, the kids gravitated toward her. I am just so happy to have found her and I know she will bring amazing things to our school!!

Evelyn and Xan. The blur is from my new Lensbaby!

¡Cosquillas!

Halloween 2011

What a day, what a day!!!

I'm going to let the photos speak for themselves, but here is a little bit about what we did:  We started the day with our regular open play time. We always have a craft every morning, on Halloween it was potato stamps and Halloween stamps. We also have a magnet table where there are all kinds of magnets, robots made out of tin cans that the kids can build, and pipe cleaners inside a jar of water the kids can move with magnets.

At snack time, we all shared a snack! We had some yummy apples with cinnamon, some apple mouths with almond teeth, a vegetable platter, and I made homemade pumpkin soup from scratch! (And the kids actually ate it!!)

Later, after outside playtime, we had our Halloween party. We played with "moco" (gak), had a beanbag toss game, made pumpkin spider votives and had a table to make recycled Halloween monsters. WOOOOOOO!

At the end of the day, we had a special treat - frozen ghosts!! (frozen bananas on a stick coated in shredded coconut. Another big hit! All in all, it was quite a day. Muy muy divertido!!

En un Mes...

There´s still some Room!! ¡Ven y disfruta con nosotros!


We still have a few openings, if you know anyone else who may be interested in sending their 3-5 year old on Mondays and Tuesdays. As of now, I am only offering class on these two days.

We are having so much fun at El Gato con Botas!!  The first month was a time to get to know each other, the school, learn the basic daily vocabulary, and just learn how to be a preschooler. Sometimes that takes some getting used to!  Listening to your teacher speak another language takes a bit of getting used to too!

Now that we are a month in, I am getting to spend much less time speaking in English which makes the school much more beneficial and fun for everyone. (I speak in English when there are conflicts between children so they can learn how to "solucionar sus problemas".)

We spent the first month learning some basic vocabulary:
hello : hola
goodbye: adios
my name is: me llamo
what's your name: ¿cómo te llamas tú?
what´s her/his name?: ¿cómo se llama ella/el?
good morning: buenos dias
good afternoon: buenas tardes
good night: buenas noches

Body Parts
el dedo: toe/finger
el pie: foot
la rodilla: knee
la cadera:hip
el codo: elbow
la mano: hand
el hombro: shoulder
la cabeza: head
los ojos: eyes
la boca: mouth
la nariz: nose
el pelo: hair

"What´s your style of teaching?", you may ask.

I believe in play and in doing and in having fun!!!

I don´t teach with specific vocabulary lists. I don´t drill, and I don´t stress. We sing songs like, "¿Hola, cómo estas?", we dance to "Juanito" and we say each child´s name when we sing: "¿Cómo te llamas tú?"  We do things together like arts and crafts. This week we made stained glass pumpkins "calabazas" and stuffed pumpkins. They painted and stamped leaves (hojas). We also learn through discovery. This week we had a new magnet table (mesa de imanes) and in another space in the room they learned how to use a dropper to make different sized drops (gotas) with colored water (agua). And of course, we play... in the kitchen, with play dough, building with blocks, doing puzzles, outside in the mud pie kitchen or in the sandbox.

That´s it. I don´t sit down and test them on their vocabulary words.

We talk. We play. We have fun.

I believe children need to thoroughly enjoy school to make learning something they will enjoy and look forward to throughout their entire lives. I feel we have a pretty laid-back approach to participation. If we are doing an organized activity,  the kids are always welcome to come over and partipate, or they can play quietly. I invite them to come over and meet our new puppet friends, Rita la Araña (the spider), and Mari Carmen la Bujo (the owl), and sing songs, or read stories but sometimes they decline, and that's ok too.

I am so impressed with these kids. They have learned so much vocabulary already just by being in class. They know things like "lávate las manos" (wash your hands)and ¨"hacer pipi" (go potty) and "ven conmigo" (come with me), and they play well together. I am so excited to see where this year leads us.