Alison

Award-Winning Educator & Experiential Learning Advocate

Resources

Bookings

Fun With Spanish!

Mondays

β€’

3:30pm - 4:30pm

10 Classes

1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/23, 3/2, 3/9, 3/16, 3/23, 4/6, 4/13

Grade TK

Enrollment pending

Mission Education Center

1670 Noe St, San Francisco, CA 94131
Fun With Spanish!

Mondays

β€’

4:30pm - 5:30pm

10 Classes

1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/23, 3/2, 3/9, 3/16, 3/23, 4/6, 4/13

Grades K-5

Enrollment pending

Mission Education Center

1670 Noe St, San Francisco, CA 94131
Whimsical Pastry Decorating and Creations

Tuesdays

β€’

3:15pm - 4:15pm

12 Classes

12/2, 12/9, 12/16, 1/6, 1/13, 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/24, 3/3, 3/10

Grades K-2

14 students

Imagination Station: Art Without Limits

Wednesdays

β€’

3:15pm - 4:15pm

10 Classes

3/25, 4/1, 4/15, 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/13, 5/20, 5/27, 6/3

Grades K-2

Enrollment pending

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Experiences

This exciting multi-week experience dives into Spanish through catchy songs, lively word games, and delightful coloring activities. Each session offers fun practice, encouraging the development of budding Spanish skills with a mix of music, art, and games.
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Embark on a delightful journey to discover artistic treasures hidden all around. Using natural materials like leaves, stones, and twigs, explore creativity and cultivate a deep appreciation for the environment. Paint, sculpt, and collage while fostering imagination outdoors.
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Sweet adventures await in this scrumptious series, where kids can express creativity through cupcake and cookie decorating. They'll explore pastry art, mastering the use of a pastry bag to create colorful frosting and whipped cream. They'll shape marzipan animals and craft whimsical pastry critters, turning ordinary treats into extraordinary edible masterpieces. Fine motor skills will be honed, and confidence in artistic abilities will soar. A yummy way to learn and play!
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Where colorful beads become building blocks for creativity. Dive into the spinning world of textures and designs, crafting unique jewelry, stunning wall hangings, and vibrant keychains. Enjoy art, pattern-making, and fine motor skill development.
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This joyful experience invites young artists into the colorful world of arts and crafts. "Imagination Station" provides a fun, supportive space to experiment with various materials and techniques. Young creators can build important skills while painting, sculpting, and crafting unique art pieces.
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About Alison

Alison, a distinguished educator with a rich background in both profit and nonprofit sectors, brings her passion for experiential learning to life in unique environments like open classrooms and art programs. Her diverse teaching portfolio includes Spanish, enriched by her year in Mexico, and various creative pursuits such as arts & crafts, beading, and cooking, fueled by her experience as a chef and caterer. Alison's impressive career also features leadership roles in international humanitarian efforts, earning her a White House award for environmental programs.

Class reflections

Fun With Spanish!

🌈

February 3, 2026

Mission Education Center

Most of the students are kindergartners, and therefore have a very short attention span. I also don’t believe many if any of them chose Spanish, or particularly want to learn it. This means that a substantial portion of the Class is less than Interested. I have a lot of different tricks, so I pivot a lot from one project style to another, and that works with them. Just fine. There was one kid who cried for half an hour sitting at the table with everybody else Missed her mother. Another kid was poking holes and all the paper we were drawing on and so on. Has mentioned early. Several of the kids are ashamed to speak Spanish because they’re native Spanish speakers. We’re still learning English and they feel they’re not supposed to be speaking Spanish. I try to encourage them and have spoken to them about how beautiful their countries are and how important it is to know both languages and they should be proud to speak Spanish. Some kids speak Spanish fluently and others speak almost no English. I’m focusing on very basic things like colors, numbers, words and just getting them used to hearing the language.

Whimsical Pastry Decorating and Creations

🍭

January 28, 2026

Mount Tamalpais School

Had the make candy sticks, which was gluing with frosting different gummy and dried candy onto a stick to make a design and then covering it in a glassine bag. And tying it with a ribbon. They loved it. They couldn't get enough candy in their mouth at once, and that's how it goes. Not a good day for all.

Fun With Spanish!

🌟

January 27, 2026

Mission Education Center

And I really appreciate that. You offer three ways to report back. That's awesome. I did not realize the kids were going to be so young and I think we did just fine anyway. I understand that they will be the same kids every week, which is not what you had thought at the end of the class. I learned that this is an after-school program. That's only in Spanish, regardless of the subject. There are many kids in the class, who are from Spanish-speaking families and their parents, don't want them to lose their Spanish and also want them to learn how to speak it grammatically correctly and how to write it. So that was a Twist. I figured a out, which is very helpful to know going forward, the school was super helpful and Parking was easy. So everything was good. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

Whimsical Pastry Decorating and Creations

🍦

January 21, 2026

Mount Tamalpais School

Great

Class was rambunctious, unable to stay in their chairs, polite, and friendly as in the previous class. The average age is first grade, and they did not have the dexterity to do something like use a pastry bag. They also have almost 0 attention span when they are a group. So this means that whatever we do needs to be very nonspecific as far as an activity or decoration goes. Today we made Oreo chocolate truffles, and then everybody had ice cream sundaes with different toppings. They chose themselves ranging from strawberries and bananas to chocolate sauce, whipped cream, coconut, marshmallows, and gummy's. They had a blast!

Whimsical Pastry Decorating and Creations

🍫

October 23, 2025

Mount Tamalpais School

Perfect. I would only say that it was quite expensive for me and I put in more money than I would have liked to. It cost me about $40.

I brought chocolate cups, which we piped with chocolate mousse, and then they decorated if they wanted with hazelnuts or chocolate chips, and then I had skull sugar cookies, which were decorated and finally 6 inch wide sugar cookies that I gave them a variety of things to use for decoration suggesting they do a face. They ate a chocolate mousse cup along with apples and carrots that I brought, and then we wrapped everything up with ribbon from Indian Saries and different colored tissue.

Whimsical Pastry Decorating and Creations

πŸŽ‰

October 23, 2025

Mount Tamalpais School

Great

I was extremely prepared, had a chocolate cup a skull cookie, and a large sugar cookie for them to decorate with different feelings and toppings. They had fun doing things like using brownie crumbs to put a beard on their cookie face and then they wrapped everything up with tissue paper at the end With satin ribbons.

Testimonials

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When you receive feedback from an experience or series, it will show up here!