All Smiles

All these smiles make me want to smile!  Do they make you want to smile too?

 

 

Miss Ana blows bubbles to her students at our Friday morning Mommy and Me class as she says good-bye to the children and their families. 

Exploration

 

 

Monday mornings carry with them an element of surprise at La Puerta Abierta. New themes, new songs, and new treasures in our sensory bin await our students' arrival.They loved exploring our sensory bin this morning  which was filled with magnets and small objects.  Our young scientists quickly discovered which materials would stick together.

 

Y

 

Lerning the letter Y the fun way!

 

 

 

Feliz Dia De La Independencia

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Guatemala!

World Tour!

We're traveling the world with our preschool students this month at La Puerta Abierta.  Our first stop was in Europe.  We visited France and learned to make crepes.  Our students agreed that crepes looked a lot like big tortillas, but were much tastier.

Then we jet-setted to Asia and stopped in China.  we cooked chow-main and learned to eat with chop-sticks!

Our next stop was in Africa. We made colorful Masai necklaces and one of our class-mates and his mother taught us about the cultures and traditions of Ethiopia. 

We're currently in Australia, learning about kangaroos, koalas and coral reefs!

In the coming weeks, we'll explore The Americas and Antarctica.  We're excited to visit Brazil, the United States and the South Pole.

Touch

Our days are fun and messy at La Escuelita Puerta Abierta where we encourage children to learn and explore through the sense of touch.

The Wonderful World of Insects

The last week of July is packed with festivities in Santiago Atitlan.  July 25 marks the celebration of our Patron Saint  and the begining of La Feria.  Children gather excitedly in the center of town to ride the rickety ferris-wheel, vendors sell sticky cotton candy and local bands play marimba music late into the evening hours.

In addition, local schools organize to create a community parade which is traditionally one of the biggest events of the year. This year the parade theme was Protecting the Environment of Santiago Atitlan.

At La Puerta Abierta, we chose to represent The Wonderful World of Insects.  Our students loved dressing up as their favorite bugs!

Let your Garden Grow!

For the past 3 months, La Puerta Abierta has been collaborating with K"aslem Mandala, an environmental education and youth leadership program based in San Lucas Toliman.  Esperanza, Juan and Cesar have been teaching us all about the wonderful world around us and have helped us create our first school garden.  Our radishes are nearly ready to pick!

We send out a big THANK YOU to the fantastic team at K'aslem!

A Day on the Farm

We've been learning all about the bountiful life on a farm throughout the past two weeks at La Puerta Abierta.  We finished our unit with a trip to a honest to goodness farm in Tzanchaj.  Children and animals had a great time!

Celebrating our Amazing Mothers

May is the month of mothers in Guatemala.  Last week, we honored the mothers of La Escuelita Puerta Abierta and showered them with songs, poems, presents and cake!

Exercise is Good for the Body and Soul!

Happy Earth Day!

 

Celebrating all living things, big and small!

Easter Bunnies!

Happy Easter from La Puerta Abierta!

Happy Valentine's Day!

And We're Back....

The 2012 school year began just over a month ago and in addition to welcoming 19 new preschool students, we also greeted 15 of our returning students from 2011 into our recently established kindergarten class. We're delighted to have one more year to work with our preschool "graduates" and we are ecstatic to share our program with so many new children.

We're off to a productive and positive start to the school year. We've been painting, cutting, singing, dancing, laughing, reading, building and creating. We're looking forward to sharing snapshots our our days at La Puerta Abierta with you via our blog. Enjoy!