Empowering Children and Families with High-quality Literacy Programs

We Love All God’s Children Initiative

As part of the Texas Annual Conference We Love All God’s Children initiative, it is our mission at Bear Creek UMC to empower children and families with high-quality literacy programs.

And since September is Literacy Awareness Month and Books and Popsicles is beginning in just a couple of weeks, this felt like the perfect time to give the church an update on all we are doing to love all God’s children and promote literacy in our community.

This summer we ended a successful Hungry For Books Summer Reading Program. The BC Library is now servicing our BCUMCS preschoolers with weekly book checkouts. Our Library Committee is doing wonderful work keeping our library open and stocked with books for children and adults. We are now in our second year of our community children’s story times.

This year we are kicking-off Books and Popsicles every Wednesday beginning October 5th. There is so much fun and exciting work to be done. Please consider joining our R.E.A.D. volunteer team. We need retired teachers, librarians, and anyone with a love for reading to help us get more books into the hands of children.

Meet Patty Oliver

Patty Oliver leads our We Love All God’s Children literacy initiative volunteering as our R.E.A.D. Literacy Specialist. In her role, she will select books and coordinate activities for children to support a love for reading in our community.

She has great expertise in the areas of children’s learning and literacy. She is currently a Literacy Specialist at The Monarch School working with children with neurological disorders and learning disabilities. She is also an Adjunct Professor at The University of Houston where she teaches master’s and doctoral level students pursuing careers in education focused on literacy.

A message from Patty

As part of R.E.A.D. (Read for Excitement, Adventure, and Discovery), we will be starting Books and Popsicles. During that time, children and families will pray, sing, listen to a read-aloud, complete an activity, and of course, enjoy popsicles!

This year I will be choosing the read-aloud books built around the theme Friendship Makes My World a Better Place. One of the classes I teach at the University of Houston is Children’s Literature, so I have lots of books and ideas to share with the children. I am looking forward to a great year of books and fun!

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Join us for Books and Popsicles Wednesdays, 4pm beginning October 5, 2022 in the Worship Center. Email bckids@bearcreekumc.org for an opportunity to volunteer or for more information.