Howdy Families & Friends!

This is a favorite time of year where the weather cools off a little, the leaves slowly begin to change, and we begin to feel renewed. The children have developed attachment bonds and strong relationships with their teachers allowing them to explore more freely. It is exciting to witness the process of children becoming more independent as they build confidence, explore new ideas, and challenge themselves.

Thank you to the Association of Former Students and the 2022 Child Care Relief Fund. Through these funds, we were able to award our families $30,550 in scholarships during the Fall ’22 semester. WHOOP!

Did you know the week of October 3-7 is Celebrating Campus Children’s Centers Week? During the week we will emphasize and showcase the services and support we provide to  the students, faculty, and staff at Texas A&M University. Stay tuned…!

IN THE NEWS

Recently, BGCC has been featured in a couple of magazines! The Texas A&M University School of Education & Human Development’s 2022 magazine, Celebrating Difference Makers: Transforming Lives includes articles about the work of early childhood educators in the Brazos Valley (pg.6). This edition features articles about myself, Erica Ritter, Director of Becky Gates Children’s Center, and Flora Harmon, former BGCC Instructional Coach, who are active members of the Brazos Valley Chapter of the Texas Association of Young Children (TXAEYC). Earlier this year, TXAEYC held an early childhood conference at Blinn College where representatives of BGCC presented and attended the conference. BGCC hosted the conference kickoff Open House for conference attendees on our new outdoor learning environment. Furthermore, in the Summer Issue of Spirit Magazine (Texas A&M Foundation), BGCC and landscape architecture students were highlighted for the playground design collaboration (pg.9).

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, October 14 & 15

BGCC’s fall professional development days are quickly approaching. Our teaching staff will be participating in training on Oct 14 &15. BGCC will be closed on Oct. 14 to accommodate this training. When teachers are given time for professional development children’s learning and outcomes improve! Topics to be covered in our professional development days include emotional literacy, anti-bias education, tools to assist with student behavior, outdoor & studio spaces, physical & cognitive development, reflective practice, and observations, assessments, & lesson planning.  In addition, our administrative and teaching staff have been working on NAEYC Emergent Curriculum training & a TAMU Coaching/Mentoring course.

ART COLLABORATION PROJECT

The children at the Becky Gates Children’s Center were able to participate in a collaboration with University Art Galleries and composer Nathan Felix. The children performed percussion along with an opera vocalist and cellist. The final composition will be premiering at the Forsyth Art Gallery in October! If you would like to attend, please scan the QR code in the flyer below to RSVP.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR, October 24-28

The fall Scholastic Book Fair is coming October 24-28! Teacher Wish Lists will be available again this year. Teachers will select books they would like to add to their classrooms and write those books on a piece of paper. There will be a Teacher Wishlist Area during the book fair where you can select a book for your child’s classroom. All you have to do is take a piece of paper with the book you wish to purchase, find the book, show the cashier the slip of paper, and purchase the book. We will create a tag for the book that it was a gift from you and place in the classroom. If you or your child would like to take the book to the classroom, just let the cashier know you will deliver the book yourself. BGCC earns scholastic dollars for the purchases you make. This means we can use our Scholastic dollars throughout the year to purchase new books and materials as needed.

FALL FAMILY FUN NIGHT, October 27

Fall Family Fun Night will be Oct. 27 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on the playground. Each classroom will have an activity for your child to participate in. Costumes are welcome!

FAMILY CONFERENCES

Teachers are busy working on assessments for family conferences. The Becky Gates Children’s Center uses the COR Advantage informal assessment for our children along with Learn the Signs. Act. Early. Family screening tool. Assessments are ongoing and assist teachers in making informed decisions regarding curriculum. Teachers observe children during play and throughout the day and document children’s learning, development, and interests. Documentation may include an anecdotal note, picture, video, etc. The teachers then upload data into the COR Assessment online tool (you see a lot of this documentation in the weekly storyboards!) Teachers can then track where children are developmentally and use that and their observation data to plan activities for the classroom.

FAMILY ADVISORY BOARD (FAB)

Our Family Advisory Board (FAB) met on September 20, 2022, and your 2022-2023 FAB lead representatives are Stephenie Bradly-Chair, and Tiffany Railsback- Chair-Elect. We want to thank you for your service! At the meeting, we elected our Chair-Elect and reviewed membership guidelines and goals from the previous year. It was decided to highlight the FAB members on the optional Family Directory that was recently distributed. FAB members were given a copy of the 2022 Annual Family Survey to review before the next meeting on November 8. It is at this meeting the FAB will establish continuous improvement goals for the 2022-2023 school year.