Daniela Moore: Focussing on the whole child in revitalized Kindergarten

Year: 2018 – Province: Ontario

Certificate of Achievement Recipient

Daniela Moore

Baxter Central Public School
62 Denney Drive
Egbert, ON L0L 1N0

Telephone: 705-424-9992
Website: http://bax.scdsb.on.ca/

 

Type of setting: Kindergarten for children ages 3 to 6 years

With her years of experience and infectious enthusiasm, Daniela Moore revitalized the Kindergarten program at her elementary school and rekindled her then teaching partner's joy in school. Previously, Daniela had successfully switched the Kindergarten program at another school from half to full days.

Philosophy of care

Daniela's mission is to understand the unique development of each child and then to create an environment that allows them to learn and thrive. She engages in evidenced-based strategies—integrating technology, cooperative learning and music—and takes a differentiated approach to meet each student's needs.

Support of child development

  • Harnesses children's strengths to bring improvement in other areas: Daniela challenged twins who struggled with early reading and writing but loved to build things to research possible creations online and then write about them; this work led the children from printing random letters to understanding what they were writing and beginning to be able to read it
  • Eschews over-planning to capitalize on learning opportunities as they arise: reading a book about the Titanic led children to develop a fact board about the ship and build a model; at another time, coloured cups, straws and rulers became an elaborate city with an underground sewer system
  • Capitalizes on technology, such as a SMARTBoard in one of the learning centres and YouTube videos showing physical activities, to enhance learning and development

Involvement with parents, families and the community

  • Makes significant contributions to the wider school community, as choir director, organizer of a book club for intermediate girls and the driver behind a new program about empathy
  • Employs open and honest in-person communications with parents to communicate good and bad news; researched and implemented software (Seesaw) to send daily updates to parents, including pictures, videos, news and reminders
  • Advocates for other early childhood educators with the school board, and shares her knowledge of full-day Kindergarten at annual professional development conferences

Rave reviews

"Daniela has shown me how to remain composed when small disasters strike, how to make order out of what can sometimes appear to be chaos, how to embrace the smallest spark of an idea that a child may have and how to develop a bonfire of learning through inquiry."

Teaching partner