As we approach the last day of summer on August 7, and the first day of the 2026-27 school year, parents and children may have mixed feelings about the big changes to come.
A few classrooms moved up in June, but all other children moving up will do so on Tuesday, August 18. The ELS is closed the week of August 10-14 for professional development, and you will have the opportunity to meet your child's teachers on Monday, August 17th. Children moving into toddlers or twos will stay with their same classmates, with only a few exceptions in infant rooms. Preschool children are split up a bit but always have at least one friend from their current class placed with them. Preschoolers stay with their teachers for two years in mixed-age classrooms until they move up to kindergarten!
With all this change on the horizon, it's normal for children to show their uncertainty in a variety of ways. You may see heightened emotions or increased challenging behaviors, either at home or at school. Your child may have questions about where certain friends are going or what their new teachers will be like. You may even see things like difficulty falling asleep, potty training regressions, or an increase in physical activity as summer winds down. All of these things are normal and expected, and temporary!
Hopefully you were all able to attend Rising Night Info Sessions or watch the recordings. In order to help make the transition for our kids moving up in August smoother, I have lined PDFs for social stories about new classrooms for you to print and read at home. Teachers have also received hard copies of these to read at school with the kids. There is one for each move-up room, as well as a general one for brand new students. I've also linked the Rising Night Info Session presentation slides at the very bottom for your reference.
As always, teachers and admin at the ELS are happy to answer questions about age groups, milestones, teachers or anything else you are curious about. We're here for you!
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