Learn 'n Grow Office Hours: 7:30am - 2:30pm, Monday-Friday

Learn 'n Grow Early Childhood Education Center

Our nature-based preschool will provide outdoor exploration experiences for three and four year olds. Throughout the year we will enhance students’ understanding and connection to the natural world while building skills and the needs of the whole child.

Preschool plays an important role in a young child's growth and development. Children learn socialization skills that are so important for future peer relationships. They learn there is more than just "me" and that others have needs and feelings, too. Children learn to share their toys, their space, their thoughts and their love. They learn rules and limits in relation to their surroundings.

Our teachers will introduce early literacy skills. Children will learn that letters are in their name and will begin to write their names. Children learn about numbers and counting, they learn to cut, paste and paint. These activities are part of our program but are not the focus of the program.

The program is age-appropriate and children all have different developmental levels. Preschool is a time when young children sing, play, make friends and learn to explore more about their world.

Read more about what our students will explore and learn on our Learn 'n Grow Curriculum web page.

Our History

Learn 'n Grow Preschool began at Otsego Public Schools in the fall of 2007 with one 4-year-old classroom at Washington Street Elementary. There were just six students in the classroom in that first year. The following year, the program expanded to offer a 3-year-old program and both classrooms were full. By the fall of 2012, Otsego Public Schools expanded this tuition-based program to all three elementary schools in the district and allocated state funding to support two 4-year-old sessions to help at-risk families. In 2018-19, we had 92 students enrolled in two 3-year-old classrooms and four 4-year-old classrooms. All of those classrooms came together in the fall in of 2019 when the new Learn 'n Grow Early Childhood Education Center opened with an enrollment of 145 students!

Our new building is possible through the support of Otsego district voters who passed a Bond Extension in November 2017. This provided $5.7 million to construct a new, nature-based preschool in an undeveloped, wooded area of the OPS campus. OPS held a ground-breaking ceremony on the new building on November 14, 2018 and opened on September 3, 2019. 

Licensing

Learn 'n Grow Preschool is operated under licensing requirements of the State of Michigan, and administered by Otsego Public Schools. The school is operated solely on the basis of tuition with the exception of our at-risk spots or scholarship awards.