For Immediate Release
March 13, 2008

Early Childhood Education issues explored in one-day Celebrating Childhood conference at UCR Extension

RIVERSIDE, CALIF. – Early childhood professionals and care providers will gather at UCR Extension from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 15 to learn creative methods of including nature, science and math concepts in the classroom. The conference, titled Celebrating the Discoveries of Childhood: Nature, Science and Math, features keynote speakers UCR mathematics professor Pamela Clute, who will discuss "Building Blocks for Passionate Learning in Mathematics," and educational consultant Saied Jacobs, who will talk about "The Child as an Inventive Scientist."

Conference participants will also see professional storyteller Karen Kraut perform "La Hormiguita (The Little Ant)." Daniel Porcu, puppeteer and ventriloquist, will perform "The Outer Space Ventriloquist Show," which introduces young children to the space frontier.

The conference is $85 for credit, $55 for noncredit and $35 for early childhood program participants. For more information, call (951) 827-1662 or e-mail ecfs@ucx.ucr.edu.

To register online, visit www.extension.ucr.edu or call (951) 827-4105 or toll-free at (800) 442-4990. To receive a free UCR Extension catalog, which includes a complete listing of all our current courses and certificate programs, call (951) 827-3806.

UCR Extension is the continuing education division of the University of California, Riverside. Extension offers more than 3,800 courses and 90 certificate programs in a variety of academic programs, including agriculture and landscape, arts and humanities, business and management, education, forensic investigations and public safety, teacher’s credentialing, English, environmental management, geospatial analysis and technology, health services and behavioral sciences, information technology, languages, law and public policy, Native American studies, natural sciences, and yoga.