6/24/2009

The UC Merced Early Childhood Education Center opens its doors on Monday, June 29th and is enrolling children ages 6 weeks through Kindergarten entry.  We have professional educated teachers who are excited to work here at UC Merced and to be a part of this new program serving young children.  The building is ready, the teachers are excited – all we need are the children to arrive!

The Grand Opening on June 4th hosted over 300 people of all ages as they had the opportunity to visit each classroom, the different playgrounds and enjoy some milk and cookies.  Barnes and Noble brought books for guests to purchase to add to our library and each book will be used.  Thank you to all who attended to see the facility and where UC Merced’s youngest students will be given a quality early care and education program to participate in.

Michelle Obama’s Garden for Young Children is being installed during this summer.  The children will be able to plant for an autumn harvest.  Besides the assortment of fruit trees in the yards (persimmon, apricot, pomegranate, apples, plum, orange, lemon, lime, peach and fig) the children will grow vegetables, fruits and herbs to add to their snacks and cooking projects.  The Garden will be a placewhere the children decide what to plant, care for their crops and then harvest them.  Additional space is available to expand the gardening opportunities to include flowers to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, more produce and a labyrinth of bamboo to play in.  This second phase of the Garden will take some fund-raising efforts, but it is our goal to expand the gardening opportunities for the children at the ECEC.

For more information regarding the ECEC, the program, philosophy, the waiting list and tuition prices – please visit:  http://ecec.ucmerced.edu