Leila Day

🌟 Exciting update! 🌟

We’re moving! To make it easier for families, alumni, and friends to stay connected with everything happening at Leila Day, we’ll be sharing all updates, photos, and stories on our official account: .

Here's the link: www.facebook.com/leiladayschool

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As we reflect on our Lunar New Year learning this year, we feel so grateful to the parents who visited to share their families’ cultures, traditions, customs, and foods with us.

Their stories sparked weeks of exploration—through reading, art, singing, dancing, learning to use chopsticks, deep dives into the legend of the Nian monster, hongbao excitement, playing the Korean board game yutnori, practicing sebae (a respectful bow to elders), and ultimately celebrating together with a joyful school-wide parade.

We were especially grateful to learn about the many ways Lunar New Year is celebrated across East and Southeast Asia, and how traditions continue to evolve through global diasporic communities.

For anyone looking to grow their classroom or home reading list, some of the books we enjoyed together included:

📚 Ruby’s Chinese New Year by Vickie Lee — a playful take on the legend of how the zodiac animals were chosen.�

📚 Lunar New Year by Hannah Eliot — introducing traditions like cleaning homes to sweep away bad luck, giving red envelopes (hongbao), lighting fireworks, and sharing symbolic foods like dumplings and noodles.�

📚 A New Year’s Reunion by Yu Li-Qiong — a touching story about a young girl whose father returns home for the holiday.�

📚 The Nian Monster by Andrea Wang — a lively tale about a clever girl who uses Lunar New Year traditions to outsmart a monster in Shanghai.�

📚 A Sweet New Year for Ren by Michelle Sterling — about a young girl helping her family prepare pineapple cakes for the celebration.�

📚 Cleversticks — about a boy who learns to use chopsticks with confidence and creativity.�

📚 Maisy’s Chinese New Year

🎶 Songs included “Sha Ha Mo,” a joyful Chinese children’s song about a little frog jumping!

Leila Day takes the stress out of buying, packing, and prepping food. Our chef prepares healthy homemade breakfasts, hot lunches, and an afternoon snack in our sun filled kitchen every day — all included in the price of tuition. We know that little learners do their best when their tummies are full, and we love handling the food, so families can gain more time to handle the hugs. Now enrolling for our 2026-2027 school year! Curious to see us in action? Join us Saturday, November 1 from 9:30-11:30am for our Open House. No RSVP needed, children welcome. Visit our website to see our affordable tuition rates based on family income. #LeilaDayNursery #FoodProgram #EarlyLearning #HealthyFamilies #AllergyAware #InclusiveMeals #SchoolMeals4All #IncomeBasedTuition #SlidingScale #AffordableEarlyEd

Is it still a field trip if it's mostly spent in a river?
- with North Class

playbasedlearning

Easty peasty: East Class made it to the top of East Rock!

“Back in my day, we had to ford a stream (both ways) to go to the Eli Whitney Museum… and we liked it!”

-Morning Program kids in the year 2100

Our family hike to the top of East Rock over the weekend!

Exploring nature's classroom! 👩‍🌾 The North Class and the K-Team had a blast at Yale Farm tasting fresh strawberries, feeding chickens, and discovering new plants. 🍓🐔🌱

A mom from East Class came to help beautify the yard!💐

Morning Program cooling off in the shade by the riverbank.

North Class investigating whether it really is sandpits all the way down.