Retoños Schoolhouse

Our Teachers

Karen Waleska Castro

Director & Head Teacher

Karen was born and raised in Honduras. From a very young age, she knew that she had a passion for teaching because she was always eager to help her classmates. Karen’s first experience with teaching was at the young age of 15 when she was given the opportunity to lead a student aid program at her high school.

Karen graduated from a private university in Honduras with a degree in Business Administration and with training in Child Development and Early Education. Karen began her early education career by working for four years as a primary English teacher at a bilingual elementary school in Honduras. Karen also taught English classes to youngsters between 12 and 16 years old. In 2013, Karen led a tutoring project for children with special needs and learning problems. It was that same year 2013 when she was presented with the opportunity to enter the United States, where she immediately began working as a teacher assistant in a Spanish immersion program. Through this program, Karen discovered how much she loves to teach Spanish. Karen worked 2 years as a teacher assistant and also taught Spanish to second and third graders in public schools of San Francisco. Karen then had the idea to explore new experiences and work on her own with two beautiful families teaching Spanish as a nanny.

Karen finds her inspiration in starting her own business by seeing how much she loves children and the satisfaction of conveying her roots through her native language. Karen is fully supported by her loving husband Nestor Bustillo who is also of Honduran origin and her precious son Nestor Bustillo Jr. who has changed her life.

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Teacher: Jazmin Stephany Marquez

Our amazing teacher’s assistant Stephany was born in Mexico, raised at San Francisco. She is native spanish speaker. Stephany has gained a lot of experience with young kids mostly with voluntering at children camps. She has worked with newborns, toodlers, and kids from ages 9-10 year old, she has also worked with kids with special needs from ages 3 years old to high schoolers. Stephany is persuing her career as Social worker and a minor in business. Overall, Stephany is a sweet, loving, sympathetic and has a very cheerful spirit.

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Testimonials

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“Karen and her team are the best. I adore them and the school.”

“Since it was a new school, we were a little nervous about joining Retonos, however, it has been nothing short of a wonderful experience. Maestra Karen and Stefanie are warm, engaging, and creative. We’ve been thrilled with the school so much that we’ve gradually increased the number of days to full time.”

“Karen (and Stephany) is the absolute best! We love having our son at Retonos. In fact, even though the new location is not easy for us, we keep him there because we love Karen and her programming so much.”

“Love everything about the school, my son is always happy speaking and singing in Spanish!”

“​Love the staff , they are now family!” - Jessica B.

“I feel safe knowing my child is in great hands with Retoños. The preschool staff is amazing. They treat the children as their own. My child Alejandro is learning so much and loves it there!” - Carlos C. ​

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Philosophy

At Retoños Schoolhouse, we believe that total Spanish immersion is the best way to learn another language. Therefore, learning Spanish in our school includes diverse and enriching experiences to make an easy transition from your child’s first language to their second! Kids will enjoy learning Spanish in class, during daily play-based activities that include dancing, acting, exploring, cooking, reading, building, etc.

We recognize that children are, from birth, creatures of multiple intelligences: observing, listening, absorbing, and classifying information in many diverse ways. At the same time, they are also absorbing the values and culture of family and community. By the time a child is approaching their third year, the experiences offered by preschool can serve as enrichment, and as a safe introduction to a larger, loving and caring community.

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Location

Retoños Schoolhouse is located in a beautiful single family home in 150 Station Ave. Daly City accesible from the 280 freeway and Mission. The school occupies a whole ground level with large rooms with plenty of sunlight and bright walls. There are plenty of activity areas for children to explore and learn Spanish: a sensory exploration center, a dramatic play area to unleash children’s imagination and conversational skills, a circle area to sing with instruments and dance with Latino music, a gymnasium to work on gross motor skill, an arts and crafts center, a quiet, cozy nap room with a reading area, and a fun stem room to encourage children’s natural ability to build and explore shapes and textures.

The school has been thoughtfully laid out and decorated to provide a safe, peaceful setting with plenty of toys, books, crayons, blocks, and other inspiring invitations to explore and learn in a Spanish immersion environment. Each child is provided with his/her own comfortable cot for nap time. Retoños Schoolhouse students will enjoy supervised play time in the beautifully designed backyard with their own play structure and sand box! Outside play-time will include gardening, imaginary playing inside our kid-sized wood cabin, eating on our picnic tables, and getting plenty of exercise with our yard toys.

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About our program

At Retoños Schoolhouse we develop language skills using a range of engaging research-based activities including games, crafts, dance and movement, singing, and more.

Kids have fun learning Spanish. For the whole time in our schoolhouse, students are completely immersed in the language thanks to our native-speaker providers, our developmentally appropriate curriculum, and the language-rich environment that is carefully crafted for them. The students learn Spanish vocabulary and language concepts because they are grounded in everyday experiences. This allows children to readily connect new learning to their lives.

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Admissions

Join the Retoños Schoolhouse community in four easy steps:

1. Explore our website

We’ve provided information about our philosophies and offerings to help you decide if our program may be right for your family.

2. Tour the school

Come see what makes Retoños Schoolhouse unique. Please schedule a tour by filling out the “Schedule Tour” form.

3. Accept Enrollment Invitation

After your tour, we’ll send you an enrollment invitation if we have a space available and if it’s a good fit.

4. Enroll

After reviewing your application, we’ll send an enrollment invitation. Upon accepting your invitation, you’ll pay your deposit (usually equal to one month’s tuition), fill out enrollment documents and review our Parent Handbook.