NEWS

Staying True to Our Word - What a Summer! What wasn’t happening here at Leila Day this Summer? We stayed true to our word and spent lots of time in the water, either here playing in the sprinklers, or over at the Rice Field Splash Pad. We found the shade of the forest and played down by the river. All the children got to witness and experience the incubation, hatching and first few days of life for 5 beautiful chicks. Click here to read full newsletter

Summer in Motion It’s hard to believe that we are starting our third two week session of our Summer Program, which means we are officially through the halfway point of summer here at Leila Day. The two week sessions fly by. With slight changes in the staffing from week to week and the mix of familiar and new faces with the children, each day feels safe and inviting as well as fresh and exciting. Click here to read full newsletter

The Shape of Gratitude The “ending” of the school year is arbitrary in so many ways that we have to work to find an authentic arc of the “year” and properly make a transition to the Summer. I find that authenticity in expressing gratitude and appreciation to all the people who have been a part of this Leila Day school year: the parents and families; the teachers, staff and board; and the children. Click here to read full newsletter

Narcissism, Curiosity, and Growing Up Curiosity either gets a bad rap (“curiosity killed the cat”), or it gets talked about as if it only exists in the mind, cut off from our bodies, biology, relationships, experiences, and the culture we live within. But for parents, educators, and caregivers, nurturing a child’s curiosity is at the heart of the teaching and care we provide for them. Click here to read full newsletter

Are You a Carpenter or a Gardener? Recently I cut my hair and was delighted with all the responses, especially from the children. Some of the younger children were genuinely apprehensive that I wasn’t the same person (it is also true of younger children that some just don’t even notice it). Some of the older children gleefully proclaimed that I was a “fake Charlie.” One particular child said, in front of his mother, with a calm sense of reassurance, “you look like a normal bo

What it means to be human On March 18 my daughter texted me in the morning “Happy St Patrick’s Day, do you remember that green sweater you used to wear when I was little?” Do I remember? My grandmother knitted it for me when I was 13 years old! And it still fits (kind of). Not that I was going into South class to explore St. Patrick’s Day. No, we were wrapping up our exploration of the Hindu celebration of Holi, a festival of colors, love, forgiveness, repair, and the coming

Social Emotional Intelligence at Leila Day I recently injured my knee and in sharing my experience with the children, experienced first hand how children develop empathy and compassion. First they identified with what I had gone through (hurting my knee like they have, going to the doctor, getting better etc.), and then they started to empathize, offering well wishes, hopes that it didn’t hurt, and curiosity about different parts of the experience. One of our “six competencie

Place based Education at Leila Day My goal with this monthly newsletter is to share with you the philosophy, pedagogical practice, and the body, mind and heart of what we are trying to do here at Leila Day. “Place -based education,” is grounded in how we learn from where we live and utilize the land and the community as the “third teacher” to support each child’s growth, learning, and wellbeing (the “first teacher” being you, the child’s caretaker(s), and the “second teacher”

Very early in its existence, the founders of the Mothers’ Aid Society recognized that childcare alone was insufficient for the well-being of children and their families. So the organization incorporated into its mission the support of working families. In 1883, the Society opened a laundry service to provide jobs for unemployed mothers. It is interesting to note that in 1885, the laundry brought in $10.12; however, the same financial report shows that the nursery made an adv

In 1900 the school advertised a 5cent/day charge – in today’s terms that would be about $7.25/week – and it was clear that many families could not pay the full amount. Fundraising was a necessity. To give you an idea of its importance, in 1885 it accounted for between 84% and 92% of income (depending upon the interpretation of some of the items in the 1885 Treasurer’s Report). Leila Day’s 2012-2013 approved budget projected that fundraising would account for 20% of income.

New Haven in 1878 seemed to be bursting at the seams. Every day, newcomers from Europe streamed into the city, bringing the population from 20,000 in 1850 to 100,000 in 1900. Many immigrants found jobs in New Haven’s homes, shops and factories, especially in garment factories like Strouse-Adler. Leila Day was founded in 1878 as the Mothers’ Aid Society of New Haven by a local group of wealthy women who recognized that women who worked all day were often forced to leave their

A Year End Letter from Our Director As we prepare for our holiday break, starting December 24 and running through January 4, it is gratifying to think about the early days of the school year as the children, teachers, and families were building the relationships of trust, care, and curiosity that are now coming to fruition. We reveled in the spirit of yesterday’s Winter Solstice gathering, and couldn’t imagine a better way to honor the “first day” of Winter, the glorious Sun,