The Children’s Centers have been busy Walking Across Texas and growing professionally. On February 17, the Children’s Centers hosted professional development for approximately 40 student employees. Kim Hodge, Instructional Coach, presented on Assessing My Emotional Intelligence. To learn more about our new Instructional Coach see CSCC’s Center Spotlight. Texas A&M graduate students, Folu Seton, Matthew Kline, and Aliana Chavez presented on Creating Cultural Competence and Inclusion in Early Childhood Education respectively. Krista Van De Flier, Instructional Coach, presented on Supporting Active Learning. Our teaching and administrative staff will attend professional development workshops during the morning hours and attend the Keynote at the Texas Early Childhood Summit on March 22 hosted by the School of Education and Human Development Institute for Early Childhood Development and Education, and on Saturday, March 23 attend the Texas Play & Development Conference put on by the Brazos Valley Chapter of the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children at Blinn College.

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather getting our steps in for Walk Across Texas (WAT). The Children’s Centers are finishing week 3 of WAT. Both centers have classrooms with over 100 miles so far and our three adult teams are in 7^th, 11^th and 13^th place under the TAMU Education and Human Development league.

While children are outside, they are beginning to observe nature and are taking an interest in gardening. We are excited to introduce gardening to our children promoting a sense of responsibility, sensory experiences, developing fine motor skills, establishing healthy eating, introducing new vocabulary words, and building self-confidence. In addition, good nutrition in young children not only contributes to their physical growth, but to their intellectual and emotional development as well. We celebrate National Nutrition Month and National CACFP Week in March. This year’s theme is eating the rainbow! Be sure to check out our recipe of the month “Rainbow Kabobs” and BGCC’s Center Spotlight to learn more about students who help prepare nutritious meals and snacks. Updated spring/summer menus will be shared soon and begin on April 1.

We are beyond excited to share our graduation save the dates for the Children’s Centers.