"Hello!

My name is Daniela S. and I have a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from American University. I taught Pre-Kindergarten for 6 years using an inquiry based approach to help learners research and study what they are curious about.

Currently, I lead an after school nature-based program that takes place in the Redwoods, as well as provide 1:1 literacy tutoring for children ages 4-7.

During my literacy tutoring sessions, we begin with movement, breathwork, and a social emotional check in before we review what we will work on that day.

We play phonemic awareness games, read books on Epic, and use journals and book writing to help strengthen reading and writing skills. At the end of our session, we reflect on skills we want to strengthen and skills that we are proud of.

When we support children in strengthening their foundation of literacy, it is important to connect their journey of reading and writing to why humans want to read and write. Children should interact with literacy in a way that is joyful, meaningful, rooted in what they are curious about, and connected to the importance of humans sharing information and telling stories. I want children to feel confident, proud, and excited to be a lifelong learner." less...