Mi Escuelita en Español

Our Teachers

Ines Portugal Director and Lead Teacher

Inés Portugal is an educator, a mother, and the founder of Mi Escuelita en Español. She is deeply passionate about supporting children, their parents, and her community. A proud Latina immigrant, Inés draws inspiration from her beautiful and intelligent daughter, Vida, who motivated her to pursue her dream of designing her own educational program.

With over 20 years of experience in early childhood education, Inés has dedicated her life to teaching and nurturing children. Her career began in 1998 in Peru, where she majored in Education and earned her qualifications as a Preschool Teacher. After moving to the United States, she continued her studies, earning an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education from City College of San Francisco. She also completed the LifeWays Early Childhood and Human Development Training and currently holds a Child Development Program Permit, the highest credential issued by the State of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing for preschool educators to teach, lead, and supervise early childhood programs.

Inés is a proud member of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America and LifeWays North America. She is also pursuing her International Waldorf Teacher’s Credential.

In addition to her expertise in early childhood education, Inés is a Licensed Massage Therapist in San Francisco, CA. She has worked in various professional settings, including Katherine Michaels School, Centro Las Olas, Child Care Careers, Let’s Play in Spanish, and as Director of the Spanish Program for Tree Frog Treks.

In 2010, Inés founded Mi Escuelita en Español, a magical space where children learn, create, and explore in Spanish. Her program reflects her love for teaching and her belief in the power of language and creativity to nurture young minds.

Beyond her work at Mi Escuelita, Inés mentors aspiring childcare providers, supporting women entrepreneurs in launching their own programs. She volunteers in the Latino community, contributing her time to organizations such as the Mission Cultural Center and programs that assist families affected by domestic violence. She also actively supports her Peruvian community in various capacities.

Inés continues to share her love of teaching as a Spanish instructor at schools like Golden Bridges School, Alta Vista, and The San Francisco School, working with kindergarten students.

Her dedication to education, her community, and her family is at the heart of everything she does, making her a beloved leader and teacher in her field.

Testimonials

A Truly Magical Daycare Experience!

We moved to San Francisco mid-year and needed a daycare for our children, aged 1.5 and 4.5 years. Mi Escuelita was the perfect place for both my kids. Ines seamlessly helped my youngest learn how to be away from home (this was her first experience with childcare out of the home) and continuously engaged my spirited, energetic 4.5-year-old. The daycare offers a wonderful mix of structured activities where the children learn to follow directions in a group, and creative play-based time. Ines never worries about children being too messy and lets them have the fun they deserve to have! My children would come home having gone through three batches of clothes, and I loved that! She sees the beauty and uniqueness of early childhood, nurturing and protecting it with all her heart. Ines also organizes lots of activities and celebrations that families can be a part of, creating a sense of community and joy. In the few months we’ve been there, she’s genuinely made us feel like we are part of the community and her family. She also teaches this love of community to the children. Within their first few weeks, they had a coffee station outside the school giving free coffee to the community. The kids made signs and sang songs inviting people to come have coffee. Ines and Mi Escuelita are truly unique, loving, and magical. We feel incredibly fortunate to have found such a wonderful place for our children!

• Melanie Staehelin

Philosophy

Proudly founded in 2010. Celebrando 15 años al servicio de la comunidad!

Located in Portola District-San Francisco!

Please watch our “Mi Escuelita en Español Online Virtual Tour” to get a glimpse into the magic of our program.

Mi Escuelita en Español is inspired by the Waldorf and LifeWays Early Childhood programs. We focus on five core areas of child care: warmth, rhythm, activity, nutrition, and rest. Our program is 100% Spanish immersion, offering children the gift of language and culture from their earliest years.

We are also proud to be affiliated with NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), which connects us to the highest standards in early childhood education and a professional community committed to children’s healthy development and learning. We provide an environment that supports the following early childhood development areas:

1. Practical life skills and abilities: through building, cooking,  baking, gardening, cleaning, sorting and other activities experienced in the home. 

2. Lifelong literacy and language skills: through nursery rhymes, seasonal verses/songs and repetitive finger/gesture games during meeting time and transition activities.

3. Imaginative and creative play: problem solving skills, small and large motor skills through a variety of experiential and sensorial opportunities with natural and age-appropriate indoor and outdoor toys.

4. Reverence for nature: outdoor play and gardening which provides opportunities to experience “nature toys” such as sand, water, seeds and plants.

5. Social skills and care for others: through awareness of others feelings, abilities and uniqueness, as well as opportunities to take turns, share and help each other in our daily activities.

6. Healthy habits through: a balanced rhythm of play, clean-up, eating and nutrition.

7. A lifelong love for learning: discovery, exploration, invention, wonder and joy for purposeful work and play in our daily lives.

Monday through Friday Open for Enrollment

Mi Escuelita en Español is a Spanish immersion preschool offering a nature-based, Waldorf-inspired, Forest School program centered around creative and imaginative play. Play-based curriculum is entirely in Spanish and focuses on providing children with socialization, rhythm, activity, nutrition, and rest. Children learn through practical life skills and lessons including nursery rhymes, songs, repetitive games and transition activities, cooking, baking, cleaning, gardening, sorting, imaginative and creative play, problem solving, small and gross motor activities, and sensorial opportunities using natural textures including sand, water, seeds, and plants.

 Mi Escuelita en Español  overview programs schedule: 

Monday to Thursday will run from 8:30 am to 2 pm in Silliman Street, SF. We are located in a beautiful house with two separate classrooms and a spacious backyard with a muddy puddle pool and a big tree with a hammock for the kids!

Our location offers the best of the next places:

• Portola Library
• One block away to Palega Park recreation center
• Creative playing in the nature at McLaren Park
• Outdoor adventures at Glen Park 
• Some of our monthly activities include: local artists and singers, parents coming to talk about their jobs, mindfulness routine, donkey therapy with Caring Cowgirl, tea party and multicultural holiday celebrations.with music and costumes.
• Field trips depending on the season to Lemos Farms,San Francisco Fire Department, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Ocean Beach, Stow Lake, among others.

Friday will run from 9 am to 1 pm at Glen Canyon.

Mi Escuelita is offering “Forest School” for children ages 2.5 to 5 years old only on Fridays. Drop Off and Pick up Location: Passenger Drop off by Glen Park Rec Center, 70 Elk Street for Fridays. Please also provide a packed lunch and bottle of water.

Here is an overview of the Rhythm of the Day:

•  9:00 am Students Arrive/ health check & hand washing / Opening Circle & announcements.
•  9:20 am Open space for Play time for at least 30 minutes.
• 10:00 am Hand-washing/ snack time & drink water. Be sure to hydrate!
• 10:30 am Hike Explore Play/ Art project.
• 12:00 pm Bathroom break, wash hands and lunch.
• 12.30 pm Literature time, review of the day and songs.
• 1:00 pm End of program, pick up. 

Parents are advised to send their kids to school in appropriate clothes to spend the half day outside. Rainy or sunny, we’ll be there.

About Forest Schools: Forest schools or nature based preschools as they are sometimes called are a type of early childhood education that takes place in forests or woodlands. The curriculum is fluid, focusing on learner-led outdoor play that encourages curiosity and exploration. Forest schools differ from traditional outdoor education in that learning is not focused on scientific inquiry but instead led by the child’s own curiosity and interests in an unstructured way.

You can learn more about the educational benefits of Forest Schools on the Wonderschool blog here.

NEW Saturday & Sunday Program: Escuelita en Español is happy to announce that we are now accepting SUBSIDIES from “The Children’s Council of San Francisco”

More Families are eligible for Child Care Assistance in San Francisco

Location

We are located in the beautiful house with two separated classroom and big backyard from 8:30 am - 2 pm (Mon-Thurs) or 9 am - 1 pm (Fridays) in Glen Canyon. Our program is designed to engage children’s senses and help them respect the simplicity of the Earth. We create a space that helps students understand sensory observations and engage with the world around them.

About our program

A gentle transition from home-life to grade school, Mi Escuelita en Español is a Spanish preschool experience for children of 15 months to 5 years of age.

We offer a beautiful, nourishing, homelike environment for children to experience the world at their own pace and learn through their senses. Children are guided by an experienced and loving Early Childhood Educator with an emphasis on natural materials and open-ended playtime.

What makes our program special:

• Spanish immersion, Waldorf Inspired, Play-based program
• Forest School every day.
• Intimate program, incredible teacher.
• Support of social-emotional development and child-led problem solving
• Community building: families that join our program will be a part of it forever
• Expert teacher working toward her Waldorf credential
• Teacher Ines has over 20 years of experience working with children
• Involvement with nature and the environment
• Amazing nature art projects
• Dairy verbal report about each child and Parent- Teacher Conference
• We take frequent neighborhood adventures and field trips every season to learn what’s going on the world around us
• Active school Facebook posting for you to see what your child is up to (posting occurs 2 days after the activity)
• Community Events
• Spanish Immersion Outdoor Summer Camp
• Mi Escuelita en Español is a LifeWays Representative Program in San Francisco. Our approach to working with children and families is based on concepts taught in the LifeWays training with particular emphasis on Rudolf Steiner.
• Mi Escuelita en Español’s exciting New Partnership with Tinkergarten! We continue to offer the best outdoor learning activities experience for children in San Francisco! -​ Mi Escuelita en Español is happy to announce a new collaboration! Francisco Herrera is a Singer-Songwriter, and Community Leader. Francisco Herrera has produced 7 albums (including 2 children’s music albums in Spanish), writes scores for film and theater, working with producers like the late great Saul Landau. Francisco Herrera delights Mi Escuelita’s students one a month with an interactive music class.
• Announcing Mi Escuelita en Espanol’s great new collaboration with Tree Frog Treks! They will bring amazing rescued animal ambassadors & hands-on science projects every month to our class. Our guest science teacher will teach this enrichment class in Spanish.

Admissions

Children who are Spanish-dominant have the option of attending two or three days a week. We recommend that children who are still mastering Spanish attend five mornings a week. We try to balance our program by age, gender, and level of Spanish proficiency to the best of our ability.

Join the Mi Escuelita en Español 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. Please also visit the Lifeways website at www.lifewaysnorthamerica.org to learn more about how a Lifeways program develops.

2. Tour our school

Here at Mi Escuelita en Español we know that choosing a preschool is a family decision–so we welcome your entire family to join on the tour. Please bring your child with you to meet Ines, interact with the space, and see what makes Mi Escuelita en Español unique.

3. Submit an Enrollment Application

If you would like to enroll, please submit an application. Please note that we require tours for all prospective families. Please do not submit an application if you have not toured.

4. Enroll

After reviewing your application, we’ll send an enrollment invitation. Upon accepting your invitation, you’ll pay your enrollment fee.

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