Our Staff • Nuestro Personal
DIRECTOR / HEAD TEACHER: BETHICA QUINN, MA
With over 20 years of experience in the classroom, Bethica Quinn remains passionate about children’s play and its potential for learning. Bethica earned her MA in Early Childhood Education from Mills College and later served for six years as a Head Teacher and Co-Director at the Mills College Children’s School. She opened Centro Las Olas in 2007 in collaboration with a group of other committed bilingual mothers. During her time at Las Olas, Bethica has served as a Mentor Teacher, welcoming college students into the classroom to further their experience and learning in early childhood education. She has also worked with First Five San Francisco, with City College of San Francisco, and with the San Francisco Unified School District to offer training to other teachers throughout the city. Her heart is always in the classroom, however, and she can be found wondering, communicating and relating with children every morning at Centro Las Olas.
TEACHER: ROSALINA RODRIGUEZ
Rosalina joined the Las Olas teaching team in June 2007. An amazing classroom presence with the ability to create deep relationships with young children, Rosalina is also a committed learner and is constantly investigating and reflecting on her work with children in order to improve her practice. For this work, Rosalina was honored with the 2014 Excellence in Teaching award from First Five San Francisco.
COLLABORATION WITH LAS CABRITAS
Our sister program, Las Cabritas, is specifically designed to meet the needs of two year olds through a first experience of group play based in the natural environment. Each year, Las Olas will admit a small group of children in this younger age range. These children will have the option to attend Las Cabritas for one year and then join the group at Las Olas the following year.PARENT-TEACHERS
The program is designed as a parent cooperative program. This means that each child in the program would have a family member working in the program one day per week. However, if there is nobody in your family who speaks Spanish fluently, or if your work schedule does not permit you to participate, we have a limited number of spaces available with the option to pay a non-participation fee instead.
NOTE:
Please be rigorous and honest with yourself and with us about your level of Spanish proficiency. The program will only work if the adults who are working in the classroom can serve as high-quality language models for the children. This means speaking fluently and clearly, eloquently and playfully. They must be able to support the children’s developing language, comfort them in difficult moments, and set limits and negotiate conflicts. If you cannot do all of this in Spanish, please opt out of the parent-teacher option. It is for the good of your own child’s experience as well as that of all the other children and the program as a whole. Of course, if you have a lower level of Spanish proficiency and would like to come and hang out in the classroom to practice your Spanish, we would welcome you on a volunteer basis.
Our Schedule
8:30 a.m. Staff and parent/teachers for the day arrive to set up
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Children play and explore the activities available inside and outside. Some children engage in special projects in the art room. Other children help to prepare a healthy lunch. Reading, writing, dramatic play, blocks, art projects, large motor play, and manipulatives are also available.
10:00 a.m. Snack is available when you are hungry.
11:40 a.m. Meeting time for children in their pre-kindergarten year to share work and discuss projects in progress.
11:55 a.m. Clean up
12:10 p.m. Circle time. Songs, stories, and sharing about the events of the day.
12:30 p.m. Wash hands and eat lunch.
1:00 p.m. Time to say goodbye until tomorrow.
1:30 p.m. Staff and day’s parent-teachers finish cleaning and lock up.
