2026-2027 Back to School Newsletter
Hello ELC families, and welcome to the 26-27 school year at the East Moline Early Learning Center! We are so excited to launch this school year. If you have walked through our hallways this year, you might have noticed a bit of an 80s and 90s vibe. We have had neon colors, retro music, and a big theme this year: Back to Play; the Power of Love.
This theme is about much more than nostalgic fun. It is our core commitment to how your children will grow, learn, and thrive with us this year. I would like to share why we are intentionally taking a step back to earlier days—and why it is the best thing we can do for your child’s future.
I invite you to think back to your own childhood for a moment. When you were four or five years old, what were you doing?
Chances are, you were outside until the streetlights came on. You were building forts out of couch cushions, making mud pies, riding bikes, making up games with neighborhood friends, and letting your imagination run wild. You were not sitting at a desk with a stack of worksheets, and you did not have an electronic device in your hands.
Over the last decade or two, early childhood education across the country underwent a massive shift. High-stakes testing and academic pressures started creeping lower and lower, turning preschools into mini-kindergartens. At the same time, screen time exploded.
The result? Kids are more stressed, more anxious, and less physically active. And ironically, despite all the early academics, research shows that children are not actually arriving at elementary school better prepared.
So this year, we are slowing things down and bringing our practices back to what the research—and our hearts—tell us actually works. While PLAY is exactly what we do here at the ELC every day, we are making an intentional commitment to getting “back to play,” while also focusing on building relationships with peers and adults.
When you hear us say “play,” we want to be clear: play is not free-for-all chaos, and it is not a break from learning. In early childhood, play IS the rigor.
When your child builds a tower out of wooden blocks with a friend, they are not “just playing.” They are practicing geometry, physics, spatial reasoning, turn-taking, and frustration tolerance when that tower knocks over.
When they spend time in our mud kitchen outside, they are engaging in sensory integration, early chemistry, and deep oral language development.
When they negotiate who gets to be the caregiver (mom or dad) in dramatic play, they are developing executive functioning, empathy, and self-regulation—the exact skills that make a successful adult.
This year, our promise to you is simple:
We are prioritizing hands-on, active learning. You will not see a pile of repetitive worksheets coming home in backpacks. You will see photos of dirt under fingernails, complex block builds, creative masterpieces and playful interactions with peers.
We are maximizing outdoor, physical time. We are maximizing our outdoor play because fresh air, risky play, and physical movement are essential for brain development and social-emotional learning.
We are fostering real-world connections. We do not use classroom screens so your children learn to look each other in the eye, talk through conflicts, and build deep friendships.
When your child leaves our doors at the end of this school year, our hope is that they will be confident, creative problem-solvers who love learning and know how to navigate the world around them. We are so grateful to partner with you on this journey. We invite you to join our 'throwback tour' at home, too: turn off the screens an hour earlier, let them get messy in the backyard, and give them the gift of unstructured time. Thank you for trusting us with your wonderful children. Let's make this the most playful, transformative year yet. Welcome to the East Moline Early Learning Center School Family!
Ms. McCullough, Principal
Ms. Hill, Secretary
Ms. Thornborough, School Nurse
Attendance Reminders
Strong school attendance is one of the most powerful predictors of student success, academic growth, and lifelong confidence. Every day your child is here, they build essential skills, deepen friendships, and contribute to our vibrant school community. Missing even two days a month can add up to significant learning loss over time, which is why we are committed to partnering with you to ensure every student arrives on time, every day.
To help support this effort and simplify communication, we are introducing a new, automated attendance notifications system. Starting this year, if your child is marked absent for morning attendance (or afternoon if that is when they attend here) and we have not received prior notification, you will automatically receive a text message from our Attendance Assistant.
What You Need to Know:
Prompt Updates: The automated text will alert you immediately if your child is absent.
Easy Replies: You can respond directly to the text message to confirm the absence and provide a reason (e.g., illness, doctor's appointment), removing the need to call the front office.
Contact Information: Please double-check that your primary mobile number is up to date in Skyward so you receive these alerts seamlessly.
Thank you for your continued partnership and for prioritizing your child's daily presence at school!
Ms. Hill, Secretary
Ms. Schofield & Ms. Beciri, Family Educators
