Oruguitas Preschool
Community SubscriberOakland, CA
To see Department of Social Services records on this facility, click on its DSS Facility License # below.
At Oruguitas Preschool, our mission is to foster a love of learning and growth in children through a holistic approach to development. We believe in nurturing the cognitive, physical, and social-emotional aspects of each child, while embracing and valuing the cultural diversity of the Bay Area. Our Spanish Immersion setting provides an inclusive and immersive learning environment, where children can thrive and reach their full potential. We understand that no two children have the same style of learning or skills however we believe that all children have the power to learn, are creative, and can succeed with appropriate assistance and help.
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Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.Our 2 year old son attends Oruguitas preschool, and we could not be more happy with it. Lupita is wonderful, the kids obviously love her, and she has become a great resource for us as we navigate all the milestones (potty training, managing feelings, etc.) along the way. On top of all of that, it is amazing watching our son learn Spanish in spite of the fact that it isn't spoken at our home. He excitedly sings songs, counts, and points out objects in Spanish, which feels like a magic trick.
Lupita is also great with parents! The updates we get throughout the day are a blast, and she always communicates clearly and considerately as things come up related to illness, sleep schedules, or any of the other logistical aspects of daycare - we always feel like we're on the same page with her, which is a great feeling.
In short, we wholeheartedly recommend Lupita and Oruguitas Preschool to any parents looking for the perfect spot for their kids!
We had our child with Guadalupe (Lupita) at Cande's daycare and she is phenomenal. She is caring, connects with kids, very professional and has incredible energy.
She is one of our son's absolute favorite people. From the time we started at Cande's, Lupita formed a close bond with our son. She did an amazing job using a variety of media to teach our son basic Spanish. She infused a spirit of fun into everything, and was in close communication with us about anything that came up during the day.
We absolutely trusted Lupita to provide a caring and supportive environment for our child.
It’s with such pleasure that I write this reference for Guadalupe (or Lupita as she’s known to us) and her new venture Oruguitas! She is one of our son’s teachers at Cande’s Daycare and a big part of making this place more than just a daycare.
She and Cande worked hard to build a community for the parents around the school. Lupita shows up for birthday parties and Halloween events during her time off. She is very thoughtful in the type of activities that she prepares for the children. She is a trained professional and it’s clear that she applies her education in the curriculum of the preschool.
It’s also clear that it’s not just a business for her. She really cares about the children and you can see this from the way the children interact with her outside of daycare - it’s so natural it’s like family.
Our son adores Lupita. He started out pretty shy and now has so much confidence. Plus he speaks Spanish! Watching him grow and develop during his time there has been amazing. We can’t sing her praises enough!
After a year of doing what can be a 45-60 min commute we’ve decided to find somewhere closer. We kept our son with Lupita and Cande for this long because we’ve been so happy. It’s been a heartbreaking decision but we will be staying in touch with Lupita.
We attempted to send our 21-month-old child to this daycare and it did not work out. I was excited about this daycare because the children in attendance looked very happy, and there were an impressive array of activities available.
This was our child’s first experience with daycare, as he had previously been in a nanny share. He also has some difficulty with separation, and requires support and nurturance in order to do it successfully. We had informed Guadalupe that he has a tendency to vomit when distressed, and she said accepted him into her program knowing this. On our child’s second day, he struggled to separate and calm down, and as expected, he vomited. Within 15 minutes of dropping him off, Guadalupe texted us, saying that she was not sure he would be able to continue in the daycare if he continued screaming. When he was picked up about two hours later, he had a stuttering breath from an extended period of crying and stood alone while the other children ate snacks at the table. As we left, she handed over the bag of soiled clothes and did not even say goodbye to our son.
Later that day, I called Guadalupe to discuss what had happened and what she had tried. She said she could not hold him or have him in her lap because the other children would expect that level of attention from her. From her description of her response to his distress, we get the sense that he was sat down and left to regulate his feelings with very minimal support. Guadalupe rounded out the conversation by acknowledging that it was only our second day and that different approaches could be used over the next two weeks to get our son more comfortable. We then planned how she would support our child in feeling more comfortable during the adjustment period.
When we arrived the following day, our child was expectedly upset to be there. When Guadalupe opened the door and saw him crying, she looked at him and said she thought his distress was impacting the other children. He then vomited out of stress again, and she said that she could not accommodate him. She did not even attempt to utilize the plan we discussed the previous day to support him.
By contrast, our son was able to soothe within 15 minutes on the first day at his new daycare, and was no longer crying at all by the third day.