All about Babies...

We received a visit from the mid-wife last week at La Puerta Abierta.

Teacher Ana is 36 weeks pregnant and our students have been excited to learn about her baby bundle within.

 Kara, a visiting nurse, mid-wife and friend showed us how a baby develops inside the womb using seeds and fruits to represent the size of the fetus during different stages of development.

 And then we learned how to care for new born babies.

What's in a Doctor's Bag?

Dr. Judy and Dr. Diana visited us this month with a giant black doctor's bag stuffed with the useful props of their profession.  We were excited to learn about their work and to explore the tools that they use every day to provide good health to their patients.  We learned new words like steth-o-scope and listened to the beating hearts of our friends.

Thank you Judy and Diana for such a warm and heartfelt visit!

Pizza Time!

Thank you Chef Molly and Chef Brian for teaching us all about pizza and sharing your recipes with us today.

For the Love of Learning

We're celebrating of first month back at school at La Puerta Abierta where we have been cooking up innovative educational activities created to invoke a love for learning in our young students.

We cultivate a love for learning at our center by having loads of fun every day in a safe, nurturing and exploratory environment.

We've been  making music with our new music teacher Gaspar.

We've been exploring our new play garden built with the help of Natik  and Ulew Atitlan volunteers.  

We've been expressing ourselves artistically 

and theatrically.

We've been reading.

We've been forming friendships

and celebrating our silly selves!

A Life Filled with Wonder is...

 

a wonderful life.

 

Exploring treasures from the sea!

Ladybugs!

 

I adore the ladybug collection that our kindergarteners have been creating.  We'll be celebrating Father's Day on Monday and all of our exceptional fathers will receive a hand painted critter, made with love by their child to take home with them. 

 

 

Sunshine, Rain and Seeds

The rains have started in Guatemala and we've been working on turning our old sand box into a plant box.  Happy growing little seeds!

 

 

Busy Bees

Wow!  Here we are in March of 2013 and we're well into our third month of learning and exploration at La Puerta Abierta.  The days pass quickly with a group of 19 preschool students and 20 kindergartners and new a month  begins before we even  realize that the previous one has ended. 

We've been busy...

Busy exploring

 

Busy drawing

 

Busy playing

 

Busy making new friends

 

Busy celebrating

 

 

Busy painting

 

 

Busy working

 

Busy learning

 

Here's to our exceptional 39 busy little bees at La Puerta Abierta and our fantastic team of teachers!

 



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.