We would like to extend a warm welcome to our newly enrolled families – we are glad to have you as part of the Becky Gates Children’s Center Family! We have many exciting events planned for the Spring 2023 semester – we hope you will be able to join us for spring classroom celebrations, Parent Café, Spring Family Fun night, and other events we will be hosting in the coming months! In February, many classrooms will be exploring differences and learning about kindness using ideas from Dr. King, Ella Fitzgerald, and others. This past month, classrooms were already hard at work on new projects such as building a robot, constructing an igloo, making snow, and framing a building. Additionally, our toddlers have been busy creating music on the playground. Thank you, parents, for donating supplies for our playground music wall – it looks and sounds wonderful!

Spring is in the Air, “the first blooms of spring always make my heart sing” ~S. Brown.

Classrooms are busy cleaning out their winter garden beds and thinking about spring plants. Children have begun planting seedlings so the plants will be ready to go into their garden beds in March. Thank you, Dan Goldberg, for always helping with our gardening adventures! Classrooms begin the Early Childhood Learn, Grow, Eat & GO! Curriculum in spring.

Walk Across Texas

Walk Across Texas begins February 11 and ends April 7, 2023. Becky Gates Children’s Center will have an adult team, Becky’s Toddling Troup, and each classroom will have a youth team. Walk Across Texas! Youth is an eight-week program designed to help our youngest Texans establish the habit of regular physical activity using a fun and motivating team approach. Each team may include an unlimited number of youth participants, all working together towards the goal of 832 miles to make their way across the state of Texas. The top three classrooms who walked the most miles will win money to purchase classroom materials! 

Playground Workday

Our playground needs sprucing up! Plan on joining us on Friday, March 3 from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. for our Playground Workday! Our wooden materials such as picnic tables, benches, etc. need a fresh coat of safe sealant and wood chips need raked. If you cannot attend, we are accepting donations of small foam rollers, foam brushes and drop cloths. Be sure to wear clothes that can get dirty.

Read Across America

It is time for the annual Becky Gates Children’s Center Read Across America Day! We are inviting you and the Division of Academic & Strategic Collaborations and others to read to our children on March 2. If you enjoy reading to children, click here to sign up to read to one of our classrooms! We encourage diverse books in all languages! We can’t wait to see you on Wednesday, March 2, 2023. 

Tips for Guest Readers

1. Find out something about who is going to hear you read. Knowing whether the second-grade class has a number of English-language learners or that the fifth-grader you’ll be reading to has an unusually short attention span should influence your selections when choosing read aloud material.
2. Choose a book that you like and will enjoy reading aloud. Before you share a book by reading it aloud, read it yourself—several times if possible. This helps prepare you for kids’ questions, gives you the ability to easily move the book around so that kids’ can see any illustrations, and lets you polish your act with appropriate pauses, silly voices, and apt facial expressions.
3. Come prepared with more than one selection to read. Some books might not connect with your listeners. If so, don’t force the issue. Just acknowledge that the book isn’t going over well and try another title. The other reason to have plenty of books in your repertoire is equally important: you may be called for an encore!
4. Make sure both you and your audience are comfortable. Your audience isn’t going to be happy if they can’t see the pictures and neither will you. Dress for the possibility of sitting on the floor or in a child-size chair.
5. Don’t read too fast. Or too long. You’ll lose your audience. Consider the listening skills of your audience when choosing your books to share.  
6. Give credit where credit is due. Before you start reading, be sure to point out the title, author, and illustrator of the book you are about to read. This helps kids learn new authors and build their own list of favorites.
7. Get help in making your reading selections. Teachers and librarians can offer excellent suggestions. Look to Read Across America for recommendations of stories that lead to lots of conversation. Find additional guidance in choosing great read alouds from Reading Rockets. 
8. Help kids relate to the book. You selected the book for a reason. Share your thoughts about why you like the book and why you think they might find it interesting and enjoyable too.

About NEA’s Read Across America

The National Education Association is building a nation of readers through its signature program, NEA’s Read Across America. This year-round program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources.

Spring Pictures

Say Cheese! Spring pictures will be taken February 20-23, 2023. Group classroom pictures and PreK graduate pictures will be taken this time. Scheduled times for classrooms are below!