Drop in Childcare Now Available!

UPDATE: Since this post, our school timetable has changed. We are now open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9am-4pm. Drop in care is available, dependent on space.

Los Cinco Sentidos - Vashon Island Nursery School

We have had a busy few months around here! (And yes, I realize I haven't posted in about two years.... I guess I should say "a busy few YEARS around here"!)

We are just finishing up the Los Cinco Sentidos (The Five Senses) unit!

My oh my, what a fun unit!

For the sense of SIGHT (La Vista)"Mira!/Look!"
 We made glow in the dark, glittery stars, experimented mixing black and white paint to discover gray scale, and made coffee filter flowers with water color paints and droppers. We also used our imagination to go camping in our dramatic play area! In our discovery center, we looked at kaleidoscopes, optical illusions, magnifying glasses and "View Masters" to experience 3D, plus we played and built with all kinds of different objects on our light table. It was a feast for the eyes!

Vocabulary:
Los ojos - eyes
Mira! - look!
La vista - sight
Ver  - To See
  Veo - I see
  Ves - You see
  Ve  - He/She/it sees
  Vemos -  We see
   Ven -  They see
 

For The Sense of SOUND (El Oido) "Escucha!/Listen!"
We played musical instruments, made our own maracas and kazoos, painted with cars, played with ramps and tunnels in the car and block center and sang and danced... A LOT! We got to listen to the sounds different levels of water in glass makes, and  we played sound games where the kids had to close their eyes and point in the direction the sound was coming from.

Vocabulary
Las orejas -  ears
Escucha! -  listen!
Oye! - Hey!
Me oyes? - Do you hear me?
Escuchar - to listen
  Escucho - I listen
  Escuchas - you listen
  Escucha - he/she/it listens
  Escuchamos - we listen
  Escuchan - they listen


For the Sense of SMELL (El Olfato) "Huele!/Smell!"
We explored the different smells in the garden, and made pictures with herbs, we painted with tea bags, smelly paints and pens, played with play dough that smelled of lavender, lemon and mint, and tried to match same smells in different containers. Plus, we read a lot of funny books like "David Huele!", "Big, Smelly" Bear, and "The Skunk Dog"

Vocabulario
El olor - the smell
"Que bien huele!" - It smells so good!
Oler - to smell
  Huelo  - I smell
  hueles - you smell
  huele - he/she/it smells
  olemos - we smell
  huelen - they smell

Huele a - It smells like...

For the Sense of Touch (El Tacto) "Toca!/Touch!"
We spent a lot of time playing in sensory bins! We played with water beads, a rice bin, cornstarch and shaving cream, and cloud dough (flour and baby oil). We also had balloons with different substances inside, and the kids had to match the ones that felt the same (not an easy task!). We also had a lot of different objects to explore on our discovery shelf, and we made textured play dough. : )

Vocababulario
Sentir - to feel
Tocar - -to touch
soft - suave
smooth - liso
rough - áspero
sharp - afilado
mojado - wet
seco - dry


For the Sense of Taste (El Gusto) "Taste it!/Pruébalo!"
This was a fun one for our taste  buds! We made some sort of recipe every day for snack! We made smoothies, popsicles, hummus, fruit kebabs and we painted with jello in squirt bottles, then scraped it up and ate it! This was probably the favorite of all!

Vocabulario
El sabor - the taste
un sorbo - a sip
spicy - picante
hot - quema/caliente
cold - frio
sweet - dulce
bland - soso
sour - amargo


All in all, the children had such a wonderful time, as did we, and we are excited to be starting our new unit next week - Plants and Gardening!  I have so many things planned, I can't wait!!!

Remember if you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me!

Sarah - sarahbunch77@gmail.com
            (206) 473-0445

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!!

EEEK! Wrong Email Address!!

I just got a call from the second person who said she's tried to email me and I haven't gotten back to her. What?! I promise I'm not that flaky!! I took a look and realized that my email address was wrong on the website!!! The correct email address is:
sarahbunch77@gmail.com

If you know anyone who has tried contacting me to no avail, please pass this memo along! ; )

Oh, and feel free to email or call. This time I promise I will get back to you!

Open House June 4th!

Come visit us!!! We are having an Open House on

June 4th 

from 10am  to 2 pm. 

This will be the perfect time to come see our cozy space, meet me, and chat about the school.

I will also open up fall registration on June 4th. You can either stop by the open house to pick up a registration form, or request one via email, and I'll send it to you. sarahbunch77@gmail.com


We don't have a sign up yet, so just look for the balloons!

The address is:
10745 sw 110th st
Vashon, Wa
98070


I am really looking forward to meeting you all! 
If you have any questions, please call me! 206 473 0445 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            206 473 0445      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Postponed. Progress Made.

Hello all!  Yes, you may have already guessed, I am not as far as I wanted to be by this point. Therefore, I am postponing the open house, and the grand opening of the preschool. : ( Boo!

The open house is now scheduled for Saturday June 4th. The summer program has morphed a bit as well. Instead of two months of "summer school", I will be opening up on Monday, June 27th, and will be offereing 5 weeks of summer camp-like programs with some very exciting themes including La Playa, El Circo, and Fiestas!  I will give more details about the camps soon, but here is a quick run down:

• Children may choose one week to come, and attend every day, just like a standard summer camp, or they may come a couple days a week for a month, as they would during the regular school year. The choice is yours.
• I will open registration up during the open house for both the summer program and for the school year.
• During the summer, El Gato con Botas will be open from Monday to Friday.
• Keep checking back. I will continue to update with details.

In other news...

Last Saturday I had a work party to set up the play structure and clear out some blackberry bushes from the property. I want to send out a huge huge THANK YOU to all of you who helped out!!! Thank you to my lil brother, Geoff Bunch for helping me all week long! I am going to miss you so much! Come back soon. Your nieces adore you and so do I.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank my mom, Diane Jurgensen and step dad, Roy Jurgensen for constantly helping me out and supporting me throughout this very challenging time. You have no idea how much I appreciate it! Thank you to Jenny and Marty Mickelson for helping me out nearly every single day. You two are incredible. Thank you for recruiting Ed and Tony (I don't know thier last names, but these two AMAZED me. I was awed by their generosity and willingness to help) And thank you SO SO MUCH to all of my friends who came and helped and who make my life so much better by being a part of it: Hailey and Mike Thompson, Jesse and Elicia Johnson, Claudia Campbell and Melody Zavis. Anyway, thank you all!  You all rocked my world and my heart. I can not tell you how much it meant to me.

Summer Program Plans

Hello everyone, and welcome to El Gato con Botas, Spanish Immersion Preschool!!!  We are ECSTATIC  to be here.

At the moment I am working on getting the preschool space all set up,  the back yard all landscaped and beautiful with a new play structure, and getting all my ducks in a row! If all goes according to plan, I will be offering a summer program starting in June. This program will be an introduction to the preschool, to Spanish, and to me and is really meant for those children who are interested in carrying on with the program next year.  Like the yearly program, we will spend our time together engaged in self-guided play, music,arts and crafts projects, puppet shows and outdoor free play as well as some organized games and other activities - all in Spanish.  Summer is a great time to do this because we can take advantage of the sun (I hope!!!) The summer program will run just like the yearly program. It is not a summer camp, so the hours, tuition, and all that other jazz will be exactly the same.

I will be opening registration up around the middle of May, and it will go on a first come, first serve basis. Spaces are very limited, as I already have my daughters in the class, and will only be taking five more each day, so keep that in mind. I will post the details here when I have them! : )

I am very excited to get to know all of you, and really hope this program will be a success. I promise I will give it all I have, and I'm confident I have a lot to give.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you!
Sarah