February News and Notes

Dear Parents:

February is upon us, the month of the Full Snow Moon, February 25th. February is also Black History month so you will most likely hear about some special books and projects children and teachers are using to explore African-American and African culture and the many contributions Black people have made to American culture and the world (as a side note there is an excellent exhibition, open to the public, at the Beinecke Library on the Yale campus, highlighting scrapbooks and collections of memorabilia of Frederick Douglas, the letters of James "Jimmy" Baldwin, and the political cartoons of Ollie Harrington). The Lunar New Year, celebrated by many different cultures, including, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Tibetan, is of great personal importance to many of the families at Leila Day and is of general interest to everybody. And finally, we have a lot of fun with Mardi Gras, playing brass band music, marching and making parades, and bringing music, laughter, and light to some of these dark days of February.

As a school faculty we are paying special attention to dramatic play, how we stimulate and cultivate each child's imagination, and how children use dramatic play to explore gender roles, the relationship between self and other, what is possible and impossible, and construct different versions of reality. To this end, depending on which class your child is in, you may hear them talking about driving a train across the world, hanging out in a bear cave, building a rocket ship to go into space, making music in a medieval castle, taking care of babies, or creating a time power planet inhabited by dragons where people can move freely between the past and the future. Our purpose as teachers and a school is to provide the space, the proper invitations and engagements, and the freedom for the children to explore the world and become the wonderful human beings they already are.

Our school winter break starts February 19th and the following weekend, Saturday the 24th, from 12-2, we will have a Leila Day family event at the Ralph Walker Skating Rink. I am trying to negotiate a group discount but if you have any trouble paying the fee send me a line and we can figure something out. Please keep our school and our kids safe and healthy with Covid testing when there are any symptoms or possible exposures and through prudent masking. Let's have a great February together for it is indeed, as Louis Armstrong (and the Ramones) sing "A Wonderful World."


With love and respect,

Charlie Malone