Becker Early Childhood Center 713-535-6400 www.emanuelhouston.org

Calendar Information

2016

Wednesday, May 4 Mothers/Friends’ Breakfast

M-F & MWF Classes 8:30 am

Thursday, May 5

Mothers/Friends’ Breakfast T/TH Classes

8:30 am

Friday, May 6 Leadership Shabbat

6:00 pm

Friday, May 13 Family Shabbat & Dinner

6:00 pm

Saturday, May 21 Pre-K Graduation

9:30 am

Monday, May 23 Dance Program

5:00 pm

Thursday, May 26 Last Day of School 12:00pm Dismissal

End of the Year Picnic

6:00-8:00 pm

Summer Camp Session 1

Tuesday, June 7- Thursday, June 30

Session 2

Tuesday, July 5- Thursday, July 28

What an amazing year we have had at Becker! Each year we do new activities with the children and you. We loved having our Dads and Friends join us for Shabbat. The concert was

amazing, and our new Passover Happening was a great success! A huge thank you to Jessica Segal and Alana Pulaski for leading our PTO to accomplish so many wonderful programs. We are

looking forward to next year with co-presidents, Jennie Buxbaum and Lucy Mosbacher. We have already begun planning and creating new programs. Next year we will have a special Bingo night for adults. Peri

Patel has already started planning and I know it will be a fun evening for everyone. Please contact her at peri.m.patel@gmail.com, if you would like to help.

Thank you for your support of our fantastic concert chaired by Brooke Reichek, Rachel Pasternak and Peri Patel. It was an amazing event that everyone enjoyed and we raised the money to renovate the Young Toddlers and Twos playground. We have begun by meeting with different playground designers and we plan to begin the renovations around June 1. Our plans include incorporating the garden and opening up the space by having a more natural plays environment with pathways for the bikes and cars. The climbing structures will be part of the landscape and include slides and a sandbox area. Please contact me at becdir@emanuelhouston.org if you are interested in helping in any way with the playground.

Please join us in congratulating Tracy Leiman, Kindergarten Bridge teacher, on the birth of her baby boy, Jack Alfred on April 20 and to Sarah Lurie, Twos teacher, on the birth of her baby girl, Georgia Jane on April 25. We know that they are enjoying this special time with their new little ones.

Each year at this time there are many good byes. Some of you are moving to new schools and others are moving out of Houston. We will miss each of you and wish you wonderful learning experiences at your new schools. Please come back and visit, we love to see how the children grow!

Through our experiences with you and the children, we learn so much. Your feedback on our end of the year survey also provides us with great information. All of this allows us to continue to develop and grow our program to best meet the needs of our children and families. If you have not done so, please take a few minutes to complete our survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/beckersurvey2016.

I have enjoyed meeting with many of you regarding your children and the school. Your feedback and information you provide me about your child helps us create the best environment for everyone.

Thank you for sharing your children with us. It has truly been a great year!

Katz’

Korn

er

News From Our New Becker PTO Presidents It’s hard to believe, but the school year is winding down, and we are looking ahead to the PTO for next year! Many thanks to Alana Pulaski and Jessica Segal, our out-going PTO presidents, for their help and guidance this year. We have a lot to live up to! If you have been thinking about becoming involved with the PTO or would like to be involved again, please contact one of us. If you have already been in touch with Alana and Jessica, thank you! There are opportunities for everyone – from the more time-intensive to some positions that can be done mainly at home over the phone and/or via email. Some committees are involved with one event only (like Book Fair), and some are ongoing throughout the year (like Shabbat Sacks). Examples of committee chairs include School Photos (twice a year, fall and spring; in charge of organizing volunteers to help assist the teachers with moving kids to and from the photo spot) and Screenings (also twice a year; in charge of organizing volunteers to help assist the teachers with moving kids to and from the screening room and entertain the kids while individual children are being screened). Both of these are positions that could be done mainly at home. If you don’t want to be a committee chair, we are always looking for volunteers to help the committees! Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or to volunteer. We are looking forward to a great year!

Jennie Buxbaum, co-President Jenniebux@gmail.com 281-382-3947 (cell)

Lucy Mosbacher, co-President Lucy.Mosbacher@gmail.com 713-301-1533 (cell)

Judy Lazor May 3

Paula Katz May 11

Elissa Pacht May 14

Monica Brooks May 19

Jennifer Falcon May 20

Fern Garza May 21

Marsha Klaff May 22

Elizabeth Perkins May 30

Leadership Shabbat Friday, May 6 at 6:00 pm

Please join us as Congregation Emanu El honors Becker teachers Julie Sacks, Nancy Zeidman, Rachel McBride and Peggy Arriaga for their many years of service to Becker and Congregation Emanu El.

The service is followed by an Oneg Shabbat.

The Becker Parent Survey has been sent out via email. Please complete the survey,

we value your opinion! Let us know if you did not receive the

survey through Constant Contact.

Come and join your child for a light breakfast and fun activities in your child’s classroom.

Be sure your child has someone to share this special morning with, moms, grandmothers, aunts or friends are welcome.

Help is needed the day of the event! If you would like to help set-up before the event, please contact

Jennifer Fink at jenfink@ymail.com.

8:30-9:30 am Wednesday, May 4th for M-F and MWF classes Thursday, May 5th

for T/TH classes

Mothers/Friends' Breakfast

Becker Buddies Wanted

Want to meet new and exciting people? Boy, do we have a job for you! If you are interested in supporting new families and helping them learn the in and outs of school life, become a Becker Buddy. To find out more about Becker Buddies or to sign up, email Grace Furr at grace_youn@hotmail.com.

Becker Pre-K Graduation Saturday, May 21

9:30 am Thanks to the Pre-K Graduation Team for all of your hard work!

To all who helped contribute to this wonderful upcoming celebration of

our Becker Class of 2016:

We could not have done this without you. Our sincere thanks! Graduation Chairs: S F , L K A R   

HELP THREES PARENTS NEEDED FOR GRADUATION!

It is a tradition at Becker to have parents of Threes help volunteer the day of graduation. This allows graduation parents the ability to enjoy the day. It would be a Mitzvah to volunteer,

contact Aymara Risch at maragirl7@aol.com

Jeanie Arnold Lisa Barrow Claire Getschow Nataliya Fabre Fawn Galbraith Shiv Halasyamani Tammy Mermelstein

Marjolaine Miller Meghna Sood Anoushka Tandon Patricia Trachtenberg Veronique Vaillancourt‐Si on Vivian Yeh

The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston cordially invites you to attend

“Teacher Appreciation Evening” recognizing our wonderful teachers and presenting the

25th Annual Ir ing L. Samuels  

Outstanding Teacher Awards  

for Judaic St dies honoring

Dolph Simon               Todd Weiss Monday, May 9, 2016

7:00 pm Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center5601 S. Braeswood

Dessert Reception to follow For more information, contact Lisa Klein at 713-729-7000 or

LKlein@houstonjewish.org

Bring your family, camera and dinner. Becker will provide the rest!

We’ll have watermelon and snow cones, face painting, and special entertainment.

Becker End of Year Picnic Thursday, May 26 6:00-8:00 pm

Shake, Rattle & Roll over to Baby Break Every Wednesday morning

in the Parenting Center, Room 205, 9:00-11:00am

Join other moms, dads, caregivers and their babies (4 months– 2 years) for a morning of

talking, eating, singing and playing!

Dates to Remember for Next School Year

Tuesday, August 23 Meet the Teacher

Wednesday, August 24 First Day of School

M-F Classes and M/W/F Classes

Thursday, August 25 First Day of School

T/TH Classes

Thursday, September 1 Back To School Night

We Love Our We Love Our

Becker Teachers!Becker Teachers!

Teacher Appreciation Week Teacher Appreciation Week

May 2May 2--66

School Safety Although it is the end of the school year we want to remind parents and caregivers that Becker children, no matter their age, are not allowed to ride the elevator without an adult. The elevator is a very dangerous place for an unattended child. Also, children should be have an adult by their side when walking the halls of Becker and most importantly when in the parking garage.

Passover Happening, Oy Vey What Fun! This years Passover Happening was the first of its kind and was a fun, interactive experience for all the children. Many Becker teachers and parents helped to make this wonderful event. Thank you to Pam Jenkins for working so hard to create this new experience for our children; Ms. Julie, who led the children in Passover music, Ms. Cindy Dohner, who told Passover stories and Ms. Lara, who helped the children create palaces out of the big, blue blocks. A BIG thank you to Sarah Goodpastor and Emily Schaffer for coordinating volunteers and making sure we had plenty of charoset for the children to taste. Thank you to the many volunteers who helped make this happening a success.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 Mothers/Friends’

Breakfast M-F & MWF

Classes 8:30 am

5 Mothers/Friends’

Breakfast T/TH Classes

8:30 am

6 Leadership Shabbat 6:00 pm

7

8 9 10 11 12 13 Family Shabbat

and Dinner 6:00 pm

14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Pre-K

Graduation 9:30 am

22 23 Dance Program

5:00 pm

24 25 26 Last Day of

School 12:00 dismissal

End of Year Picnic 6-8 pm

27 Teacher

In-Service

28

29 30 31

May 2016

Fern Garza Monica Brooks

Judy Lazor

Paula Katz Elissa Pacht

Elizabeth Perkins

Jennifer Falcon

Marsha Klaff