Dear Leila Day Families:
Let's say hello to April and Spring starting with a few important dates:
Very soon you will be hearing from the parent rep of your child's classroom talking about how we can raise lots of money for Leila Day through person to person fundraising for the Great Give, May 1st and 2nd. Please be on the lookout for this email because the money we raise during the Great Give is an important component of how we support our sliding scale tuition fees, how we pay teachers, and how we carry out our tremendous educational programs.
On Monday April 8th we will be celebrating the Solar Eclipse ( equipped with safety glasses). Afterwards, starting at 5:15, we will have a potluck. I'm sure Chef Marcos will make something special but bring something for your family and friends—just remember no nuts!
On Wednesday, April 10th, the Morning without Childcare Rally will be held on the New Haven Green. Because it was postponed we will be opening for our regular hours but we encourage you, if you can, to get down to the Green with your child between 8:30-9:30, or bring your child in at 9:30 so members of our staff can participate in this important rally to advocate for more local, state and federal funding, quality preschool affordable to everyone, a decent wage for teachers.
On April 20th we are collaborating with the Friends of East Rock on our first annual Leila Day stewardship event at East Rock. This is going to be a great event and there are limited spaces so please sign up today. Please sign up for the event here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c49adab2da6f9c16-greenspace#/
As you walk through our "curriculum arbor" at the main door you will notice one of Mary Holland's wonderful books Nature Day by Day in the Northeast and New England ( under the world map), and you can check out what is going on in the natural world each day. Please take the time to write in the notebook something you like to do in the springtime with your children, and what your child's favorite animal baby is! ( Morning Program Families please visit the main building and check all this out too)
Earth Day is April 22 and the Full Moon of Singing Frogs (Mohegan) is April 23rd.
April is the month when we can get outside, garden, make animal friends, find new places to play, hike, enjoy the freedom of getting out of our little bubble worlds, and experience the joy of exploring, learning from, and connecting with this good earth, in all its complexity and interconnectedness. Earth Day, April 22nd, inspires us to get outside with our children, and reaffirm our fundamental belonging to the earth and our ancestral connections with the natural world. Living in the Anthropocene Age, where human actions have radically transformed the landscape where we live and breathe, it is up to us to generate both the political will and the necessary funds of knowledge to make wise choices if we are to reconnect with the natural world and live in harmony with the Earth. Children, like the birds making their nests and singing in excitement, like the snapping turtles rising from the murky depths of the swamps with the earth on their backs, like the plants pushing up towards the sun, like the new-born babies figuring things out, participate in the affirmation, the work, and the play of the earth being reborn.
with much appreciative joy for all of you,
Charlie
April is the month when we can get outside, garden, make animal friends, find new places to play, hike, enjoy the freedom of getting out of our little bubble worlds, and experience the joy of exploring, learning from, and connecting with this good earth, in all its complexity and interconnectedness. Earth Day, April 22nd, inspires us to get outside with our children, and reaffirm our fundamental belonging to the earth and our ancestral connections with the natural world. Living in the Anthropocene Age, where human actions have radically transformed the landscape where we live and breathe, it is up to us to generate both the political will and the necessary funds of knowledge to make wise choices if we are to reconnect with the natural world and live in harmony with the Earth. Children, like the birds making their nests and singing in excitement, like the snapping turtles rising from the murky depths of the swamps with the earth on their backs, like the plants pushing up towards the sun, like the new-born babies figuring things out, participate in the affirmation, the work, and the play of the earth being reborn.
with much appreciative joy for all of you,
Charlie