October Newsletter 2026

Teri Ann Cox
Executive Director of The Children’s Center

Dear Families,

I love books and reading. As such, I especially appreciate the focus The Children’s Center has on early literacy. From our modest little library outside of my office where children can check out books, to the Read It Once Again curriculum we use in our preschool program that has an intense focus on foundational skills, we aim to engage the children in our care with stories, early and often.

October is National Book Month, which promotes the love of reading and its importance in everyday life. Research shows curling up with a good book not only greatly improves vocabulary and spelling but also helps improve one’s memory and mental health. Reading to young children is vital because it provides exposure to new words and expressions, which leads to cognitive and language development. It also can foster social-emotional skills like empathy and strengthen the bonds between parent and child. Reading lays the foundation for future academic success.

In the month ahead, you will see lots of activities around reading and early literacy. Believe in Books will be stopping by the Center and Magic Moments on Wednesday morning, October 14. Each child will receive a book to add to their own home library. That same day, at 5:30 p.m. we will have our first Family Literacy Night of the school year. Please sign up on the sheet located at your child’s classroom and join us for a pizza dinner, special reading, and craft time. Every child will receive a copy of our featured book, llama llama red pajama, by Anna Dewdney. I hope to see you there!

Lastly, one of the key ingredients to high-quality ECE environments is ensuring that those caring for and teaching young children are reading and learning, themselves. As a friendly reminder – like the area school districts – there will be no school or childcare on Monday, October 12 at The Children’s Center. Instead, the staff will be meeting for the day and earning 7 hours toward their annual requirement of 18 hours of professional development. We will use the time as a group to review and practice our emergency evacuation plans and protocols, conduct several team-building exercises, and have break-out sessions based on individual interests. This year, the teaching teams will also be trained in Heggerty, a systematic phonological and phonemic awareness program used to build foundational auditory and oral sound skills for reading and spelling. I am thrilled to have Jackie Benson, a Center parent and reading specialist, teach our team the science of reading as we add this research-based instructional component to our early literacy curriculum.

Thank you for your support! And here’s to reading in the month ahead!

Teri Ann