SPOTLIGHT ON AN ALUMNI SCHOLAR Meet Daniella T.
A Strong Start That Lasts: Daniella’ s Journey to Kindergarten and Beyond The early years are an important time for children to build the academic, social, and classroom-readiness skills that will follow them into Kindergarten and beyond. At Kids’ R’ Kids West Houston, our goal is to give children a strong foundation they can continue building on throughout their elementary years. This month, we’ re excited to share the story of Daniella, a Kids’ R’ Kids West Houston alumna who is now entering 2nd grade. Having experienced two different preschool journeys with their children, Daniella’ s family has a unique perspective on how early learning experiences can shape the transition to elementary school. Her mom shared the differences she noticed and how she feels Daniella’ s time at Kids’ R’ Kids West Houston helped prepare her for Kindergarten and continues to benefit her today.
Here is what Daniella’ s mom shared with us:“ Daniella’ s transition from Kids’ R’ Kids West Houston to elementary school was bittersweet. While she was excited to join her big brother at school, she was sad to leave behind the friends and teachers who shaped her social circle for over two years. Daniella made so many fond memories during her time at Kids’ R’ Kids West Houston, which truly set her up for success. The various themed days, family events, and everyday learning activities helped her blossom into an outgoing and positive learner.
We quickly noticed Daniella was prepared for this new chapter of her learning adventure, as we were told on every occasion by her teacher how great of a listener and overall student Daniella was. Daniella would sometimes come home from Kindergarten and tell us how sometimes classmates had trouble listening, sitting still, or being away from their parents, which led to distractions in class or delays of her favorite time of day, story time and recess.
My son Vincent attended the Cy-Fair I. S. D. high school-run preschool program in 2019-2020. While the preschool program was a great opportunity to have Vincent interact with his peers, it did not completely break him out of his shell. Thankfully, he had wonderful Kindergarten teachers in elementary school who helped him fill in gaps seen in either his learning or social exposure.
Daniella’ s transition to elementary school was completely different. Removing the fact her brother began elementary school in peak 2020 pandemic times, Vincent was not introduced to many of the learning concepts like Daniella was
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