Category: Activities - Pasitos School, Spanish Immersion Preschool & Child Care in San Jose, CA

Miércoles Maravilloso/ Wonderful Wednesday

5/27/2020

Save the Abejas/Bees!

June is National Pollinator Month and Whole Foods has provided awesome activities to celebrate our lovely abejas!

At-home activities: Whole Foods

Sweet Potato Salad: Recipe

SA

Our amigos love making moco/slime and plastilina/playdough. But have you heard of OOBLECK!?
"Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid; it has properties of both liquids and solids". So, it's not as sticky as slime, and more liquid than playdough.

Here is an oobleck recipe from LiveScience:
Oobleck ingredients

1 part water
1.5 to 2 parts cornstarch
Small amount of food coloring (optional)

Mix ingredients

Start with the water in a bowl (or wading pool!) and add the cornstarch a bit at a time.
Keep stirring until it has a gooey consistency. You may want to use your hands.
When the oobleck is just right, slowly add food coloring, if you want. This can be a challenge to get it mixed properly.
Play with it.

Things to do with oobleck

Grab a handful and squeeze it. Let it ooze through your fingers.
Make a puddle and quickly drag your fingers through it.
Put it into a plastic container and shake it or quickly bump it against a table.
Jab at the oobleck and then slowly let your finger sink in.
Roll some oobleck into a ball. It becomes solid, but when you stop moving it, it will melt back into your hand.

Watch the video below to see a cool video of OOBLECK dancing!

Padres

Tips for Helping Families Support Children’s Emotions during COVID-19
We invite you to read this great article on how to help children through their feelings during this time. Click Here

¡Miércoles Maravilloso! Wonderful Wednesday

5/20/2020

Bee Life cycle from STEAMsensational
3D lifecycle
Supplies needed:

Paper plate
Markers
Clay (you can use play dough, polymer clay, or non-drying clay)

Post-It Puppets from Community Playthings
Puppets
Supplies needed:

Post- Its
Pen, colors, crayons,
Scissors
Glue (optional)
googley-eyes (Optional)

Playlist en español!
Pasitos Playlist
Enjoy these Spotify playlists including música en Español. Many songs may be familiar to the children because we play them in our classrooms. Enjoy!

With summer coming up we encourage you to look into purchasing EWG Approved Sunscreen!
A rating of 1 is ideal, especially for our amigos sensitive and vulnerable skin.

SA

Khan Academy
Khan Academy is offering a variety of resources for educators, parents, and students. Below are direct links to schedule examples, parent guides to Khan Academy, and how to sign up!

Yoga!
Yoga para Ninos
Here is a playlist to unwind, stretch, and breathe: Yoga & Meditation

DIY Puppets from Fairy Dust Teaching
Puppets to Create!
If you have mismatched socks, old pairs, etc. Use them to make new puppets!
Show us your creations using #pasitosathome.

¡Miércoles Maravilloso! Wonderful Wednesday

5/13/2020

Mira El Arcoíris!

Rainbows are exciting to spot after a rainy day. Our amigos and Maestra look forward to rainbow themed activities. Can you spot the rainbow on the right> ?

This week we have a 15 page PDF from STEMquest filled with Rainbow themed Experiments!

Some are super easy like #4!

We also invite you to read the article below on how to guide children through their emotions when dealing with challenging behaviors.

rainbow_science_experiments_.pdf
File Size:	1262 kb
File Type:	pdf

SA

Older friends can be more independent, and restless too. We love long term projects for our older amigos. It gets their brains working and engaged in something over longer periods of time.

Below are a couple awesome building projects. Share your creations on our Facebook or Instagram! #pasitosathome

3D Science: Here is a STEAM 3D Bee Here Activity.
Raft STEAM Project Kits available here.
Create a Foosball Table-check out the PDF on the right!

foosball_game_challenge_.pdf
File Size:	626 kb
File Type:	pdf

Padres
“Tantrums, meltdowns, sleep disruptions, and regression are all ways that children may show that they are having a hard time. So, what can parents and caregivers do to help?”

Here is an Article on helping children cope with challenging behaviors.

Our new Youtube videos!

¡Miércoles Maravilloso! Wonderful Wednesday

5/6/2020

¡Buenos Días Señor Sol!

The great outdoors
Some of us are starting to experience some "cabin fever". Being inside all day can really take a toll on our amigos. Now is a great time to spend some time in our yards, balconies/patios, and gardens. A nice way to spend time outside is setting up a picnic for snack or a lunch in the grass, gardening, or simply taking in the sol/ sun.

Maestra Tami and Maestra Monica have uploaded great videos on our YouTube showing how to make DIY plantable seed paper, and plant veggies and fruits con food scraps.

We encourage you all to take some time outside and be observant of the environment around you. Questions to ask: What sounds do you hear?, What colors do you see? Why do you think the seasons change? What does the temperature feel like?
Preguntas: ¿Qué sonidos escuchas?, ¿Qué colores ves?, ¿Por qué sera que cambian las temporadas?, ¿Cómo se siente el clima?

Community Playthings: Here is a great Article on Gardening with Young Children.

Here is a great sample schedule from Daily Housewife

School Age Amigos
May the 4th be with you! Our amigos at Bachrodt and Pasitos always looked forward to celebrating “Star Wars Day”. They’d come dressed up and we would celebrate with Lego challenges and spaced-themed activities. We hope to continue the tradition! Here are some awesome space-themed Star Wars projects our amigos can do at home.

Steamsational.com has great craft activities here.
Star Wars Builds with Legos: Check out star wars themed lego challenges Here
Death Star Play-dough! This is an awesome sensory project, make your own "death star" galaxy play-dough. Here

Don't forget to join in on our Virtual Spirit Days!

Check out this week's new YouTube videos!

¡Miércoles Maravilloso! Wonderful Wednesday!

4/29/2020

Projects & STEAM

Here is Maestra Sandra and amigos planting beans using: cotton balls, water, and small cups.

Here is Maestra Lizbeth showing amigos the reactions of "acids" and "bases".

Projects are a great way to extend land create long term activities. Shorter activities like coloring pages and worksheets don't last so long and before you know it our amigos show signs of “bored-ness” and are ready for the next "thing". STEAM is also great because it integrates various subjects into projects that engage amigos! Below are some great science themed projects to keep amigos occupied.

Preschool Science
These are all fun and easy activities that will keep amigos entertained over time.

Rainbow flowers are perfect long term experiments. Have amigos take pictures so they track the flowers process over time.
Questions to ask: What do you think is happening to the flowers? Where is the color going? Maybe we can draw our guess?
En español: ¿Qué piensas que le está ocurriendo a las flores? ¿Dónde están los colores? ¿Quizás podemos dibujar lo que pensamos que está ocurriendo?

Planting Beans is also a lot of fun and a super easy way to track a plant’s life cycle!

kitchen_chemisty_mug_cakes.pdf
File Size:	987 kb
File Type:	pdf

SA

Instructables.com has awesome projects for different ages. You can also see who in your community is building/creating something! Maestra Gloria selected a couple down below.

Extra water bottles or plastic containers? Here is a great way to repurpose them!
Plastic Bottle Planters
https://www.instructables.com/id/Plastic-Bottle-Planters/

Recycled Notebook: Clean out your journals, notebooks, papers and create this cool book.
Recycled Notebook Project

Too many DVD’s or CD’s? Make art!
Recycled CD Art

Please remember to tag us #Pasitosathome so we can see and showcase the creations our amigos make!

earth_day_week_activities_.pdf
File Size:	2864 kb
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For our Padres

The Environmental Group is known for their strict eco-standards. They have a great “Skin Deep” list that rates the ingredients, skin irritants, and products used on skin. Skin Deep

With summer coming up we encourage you to look into an EWG Approved Sunscreen!
A rating of 1 is ideal, especially for our amigos sensitive and vulnerable skin.

Green Seal is also a great website to check for certified “green-seal” safe products.
https://greenseal.org/certified-products-services

Check out this week's new Maestra YouTube Videos!

¡Viernes Fantástico! Fantastic Friday!

4/24/2020

¡Feliz día de la madre tierra!

Here are some songs we like to sing at Pasitos

1. "A la madre tierra, damos gracias
Por los alimentos que nos da.
Damos gracias, damos gracias
Por la salud y el bienestar.
Gracias, Gracias por la familia, los amigos y la comida".

2. To the melody of “The more we get together”“
Reducir, Reusar, Reciclar, Reciclar
Reducir, Reusar, Reciclar
Es fácil de hacer
Porque tú mundo es mí mundo
Y mí mundo es tú mundo
Reducir, Reusar, Reciclar
Es fácil de hacer”.

We hope you all were able to unplug from screens and devices in exchange of spending time outside and in nature.

PK activities:

Life skills are great opportunities for building independence!

Laundry teaches sorting, matching, and loading/unloading offers physical and motor development. Have children help out by sorting their own clothes by color, size, or category. Sock finding is also a fun activity! How many pairs can you match? Let's race!

Have children help with taking out trash. They can help recycle and sort items, hold the dustpan, and grab a new trash bag.

Other home skills: Organizing utensils, drying dishes, and arranging Tupperware drawer.
Books or library- sort and re-sort, patterning. Load dishes, set up table for meals, and help prepare simple foods.

Additional:
Here are some more activities to celebrate Madre Tierra

Song: Madre Tierra-José Luiz Orozco

SA activities:

We understand many of our amigos y familias are overwhelmed with the at home and online assignments. Do take some time for breaks. Stretch hands, wrists, and neck when working on laptops, iPads, and computers. Below are fun and engaging websites that amigos might enjoy.

Code.org at home: Here are free at home computer science activities! https://code.org/athome

Scratch: is also a great animation program for amigos. If amigo/a attended our robotics summer camp week, this may look familiar! https://scratch.mit.edu/

Sphero: Sphero Online

Click here to make “Madre Tierra” moco! Slime/Moco

Here is a list of Spanish Podcasts

¡Miércoles Maravilloso! Wonderful Wednesday

4/15/2020

let's explore our senses!

Sensory activities are Maestra Gloria's favorite! There is a lot of hands-on experiences, physical, and language development happening -plus it's fun, messy, and the children love it.

One great activity is creating hábitats/habitats for animales/animals. You can start by asking children to pick an animal (toy, stuffed, etc), and then ask:
Where do they live? How can we create his environment? What do we need? Water, sand, rocks, etc?

Here is the link to examples of three Habitats.
Flashcards: Here are some flashcards of animals and their environments.
Below is our amigo Pedro exploring with his dinosaurs, shaving cream, y agua!

What habitats will you create?

DIY activities for all ages

Honey & Oatmeal Soap

This is a fun DIY we’ve done with our School Age students. This recipe is great for sensitive skin!
You can add essential oils like lavender, spearmint, and eucalyptus for scent.
Most ingredients can be found at Whole Foods or Sprouts in the Beauty & Health section.

Whole Wheat Bread

Easy recipe and yummy! You can substitute flour for almond flour or gluten free flour. Maestra Gloria tried this and it came out beautifully.
You can sprinkle some pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, or sunflower seeds.

Moon Sand

Super easy all you need is:
8 cups all-purpose flour (not gluten free)
1 cup baby oil or another oil that you'd prefer

Fairy Houses

Many of our School Age amigos have helped out in our garden, take care of the classroom plants, and have begun planting too. Fairy Houses are great projects that you add seeds too and watch the sprout.

Resources

Access to Children's Books: EPIC! Has released a bunch of great books for children 12 and under! They have a variety of books and in Spanish too.

RAFT: K-8 activity sheets

Snapology in Santa Clara: Free online programs

Below is a PDF of a list of live webcams to various museums and zoos!

zoo_and_aquarium_webcams.pdf
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¡Miércoles Maravilloso! Wonderful Wednesday

4/8/2020

Below Our Awesome And Easy Sensory Activities Maestra Sandra Has Done With Amigos En G2, Yoga Activities & STEAM Resources For Our School Age Amigos.

Questions for extended learning:
How does it feel in your hands? Is it soft? Can we add textures?
Preguntas en Español: ¿Qué piensas que va a pasar cuando mezclamos los ingredientes? ¿Por qué pasa esto? ¿Quizás podemos agregar colores? ¿Qué podemos encontrar en la casa que des el mismo color? ¿Cómo se siente en tus manos? ¿Se siente suave o duro? ¿Piensas que podemos agregar texturas?

Running out of daily ideas/themes?
April "oddball" Holidays from Soccer Mom Blog
April 2nd – International Children’s Book Day
April 10th – National Siblings Day
(Related Reading: How to Encourage a Sibling Bond with a Large Age Gap)
April 14th – International Moment of Laughter Day
April 11-17th- NAEYC Week of the Young Child
April 18th – International Juggler’s Day
April 20th – Lookalike Day

¡Hacemos Yoga!

Yoga has benefits for children and adults.

Here an article with some easy poses-Yoga para Ninos

Here is a playlist to unwind, stretch, and breathe: Yoga & Meditation
How relaxed do our amigos look alongside Maestra Lizbeth? Show us your yoga moves!

School Age amigos

Maestra Stephanie y Maestra Marlene guided yoga and stretching in G3 after upon entering the classroom!

Here is an example of a "Lego Lunes" challenge, create your name/nombre o last name/apellido. #legolunes #legochallenge

Stories en Español- running out of libros? Aqui hay mas!
Khan Academy is offering a variety of resources for educators, parents, and students. Below are direct links to schedule examples, parent guides to Khan Academy, and how to sign up!
- Khan Academy
  - Schedules for School Closures
    - Printable's
      - Parent Guide: GUIDE
Liks.co is an innovative STEAM website that is now offering free weekly “challenges” and courses for School Age children! All in Spanish, different STEAM related projects and activities become available weekly throughout the COVID break.
- LIKS.CO
- LIKS Challenge (Espanol)
Lego Challenge: A lot of our SA amigos enjoy legos, magnatiles, and blocks. HERE is a great month long calendar with challenges to create! What else can you construct?

¡Miércoles Maravilloso! Wonderful Wednesday!

4/1/2020

What Have You Been Reading? ¿Qué Has Estado Leyendo?

Aquí están unos amigos leyendo libros sobre emociones y monstruos.

At-home activities: At Home Activities
Age appropriate activities for children 36 months and older from Lovevery!

Children’s List of Books: Optimal Brain Integration
Here is a wide range of books on diverse topics such as Divorce, Anger, Bad Days, Emotions, and Moods.

Hicklebee’s Bookstore: Support our local bookstore by ordering online, or curbside pick up from 10am-2pm.
Audio books can also be purchased through Libro.FM.

Hicklebee’s Online Storytime: See their Facebook page for more information.

Writing: Keyboarding without Tears is a great program to help build keyboarding skills. You can create a free account for your child to use through the end of July. Check out this Crayon Grip video!

Science at home:
Check out this super easy experiment from Community Playthings, all you need is some beans!
Plastic free option: use egg cartons instead of the baggies.
Bean Sprouts

Family Resources:
Trauma Podcast: Trauma Informed Parenting
Trauma by definition is a “distressing experience”. We can all agree that during this time we are all facing some distressing experiences. This podcast is informative and offers tips on how to buffer trauma in young children.

“This episode has it all -- neuroscience, parenting, and real life stories. Dorothy Stewart and Alexandra Dutton are joined by Julie Kurtz, MFT who has written two books on trauma. She works with young children who have experienced trauma as well as their teachers and caregivers. Trauma is experienced by 50% of children under the age of 8. The good news: With knowledge of how to help children feel safe and discuss their emotions, we can help them move past events that can otherwise permanently affect their brains.”

Inclusion Collaborative is offering a Free Zoom training for parents and families on Creating and Maintaining a Schedule for Children!

¡Miércoles Maravilloso! Wonderful Wednesday

3/24/2020

at home actividades

Check out these awesome sensory recipes from Mother Could.

Spanish Stories to read aloud to your child. Or ask your older child to read these stories to your younger child. A great way to get some reading practice and foster positive sibling interactions. Cuentos Infantilies, offers great libros!

Do you use Amazon Music? Sometimes we like to listen to the Relaxing Latin Playlist during nap time or other peaceful times throughout the day. Their Latin Coffee Shop playlist is also mellow and features all Spanish songs. Here is a nap-time playlist created by Maestra Gloria on Spotify: ¡Pasitos A Dormir!

For School Age Children
Keyboarding without Tears is a great program to help build keyboarding skills. You can create a free account for your child to use through the end of July.

Visit a Museum
Virtual Museum Tours: Each week you can pick a day to “visit” a museum. Have children dress up and pretend to “get ready” to visit a museum of their choice. Let their imagination guide you.
Questions to ask/ Preguntas : What do you think we will need on our visit/ Que ocupamos para nuestra visita? Do you think we need binoculars?/ Piensas que ocupamos prismaticos? Should we write some notes or drawings of what you saw?/ Quizas podemos escribir notas o dibujar lo que miraste?
  Extended Learning: What did you see at the museum?/ Que miraste en el museo? Where else can you see these artifacts?/ Donde mas haz visito estos articulos?
Use Google Earth to locate the museum and see it’s location on Earth. Where else we go “visit”, have you been to Paris, Africa, Antartica? What would you need if you were to visit? Let their imagination guide you!

Visit a Farm/ Visita una granja!
Virtual Farm Tours:  Have child (ren) pick a farm to "visit".
Questions to ask/ Preguntas: What animals do you see?/ Cuales animales ves?, What sounds does that animal make? Que ruido hacen esos animales? What color are they?/ Que color son?

Have you checked out Maestra Pamela's Circle time? Maestra Alma has a special guest at her circle time! Maestra Monica also added a new video, check them out below!

Pasitos School Instagram

Pasitos School

Pasitos is an eco-friendly, bilingual community based on learning and fun. Through a play based Reggio inspired curriculum, children gain the necessary literacy skills to make them successful in both Spanish and English. At the same time, they build social and emotional skills in working with peers and the maestras. Together these skills help open their minds and language capabilities. Teachers interact with the children to build strong academics and positive social skills.

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