Upcoming Events:
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OCT. 23rd Vt. Higher Ed Collaborative 8:30-2:30 Weaving Together Play,
Language and Literacy Christine Hertz Hausman registration required
28th VTAEYC Conference Workshop Clay in Early Childhood Classroom
​ registration required
NOV. 5th Steering Committee Meeting 7:30-8:30 email for link
susanvt1028@gmail.com
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6th Northern Lights Community of Practice 6 Part Series
Part 1: 6:00 - 7:30 via Zoom registration required
What does it mean to be a Reggio-inspired program in a Vermont Early
Childhood Program?
16th In-person RIVET gathering: 9:00-12:00 Celebrating the uniqueness of each child and nurturing their multiple and diverse literacies
Camp Meade Middlesex, VT. 12:00 -1:00 ONE Arts Studio at Camp Meade Please email Susan at susanvt1028@gmail.com if you are planning to attend
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20th Vt. Higher Ed. Collaborative 8:30-3:30
Weaving Together STEM, Play, Literacy and SEL in Early Childhood
Christine Hertz Hausman
registration required
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20th Northern Lights Community of Practice: Part 2: 6:00 - 7:30
registration required
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DEC. 5th Steering Committee Meeting 7:30-8:30 email for link
12th Northern Lights Community of Practice: Part 3: 6:00 - 7:30
registration required
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WHAT'S HAPPENING?
​RIVET 2024-25
Gatherings and Events
VTAEYC 2024 Annual Conference
October 28 & 29, 2024
Clay in Early Childhood classrooms?
Let’s play!
What can clay teach us about children? What can children teach us about clay? These questions will guide this session. Teachers from Montpelier Children’s House, Burlington Children’s Space and Stepping Stones (Burlington) will share stories/images of infants’, toddlers', and preschoolers' clay encounters and offer hands-on examples clay "set-ups". Their stories will highlight clay as a truly open-ended material that invites exploration and creative expression of feelings and ideas while promoting feelings of joy, well-being, and belonging. Clay is accessible to all: its transformable properties engage children (even those who don't typically participate in group experiences) as they manipulate the medium alongside their peers.
Participants will also be invited to share their experiences with clay: What are their stories? How did they incorporate clay into their learning environments and daily schedules? How did children interact with the clay and each other? What barriers did they encounter? How did they talk about clay as a learning material with their colleagues, administrators and families? What community resources did they tap?
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Presenters: Jerry Geier, Cecelia Puleio, Heidi Smith
Monday October 28, 2024 11:00am -12:30pm
RIVET 2024-25 Professional Development Gatherings​
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Celebrating the uniqueness of every child
and nurturing their multiple and diverse literacies:
A three part series
Join RiVET for an energizing and affirming three-part series as we celebrate the authenticity and joy found in how children express their thoughts, emotions, and creativity. Through interactive workshops and collaborative discussions, we will broaden our definition of literacy beyond reading and writing and will explore the concept of the 100 Languages of Children. Together we will listen for and honor the diverse languages children use and empower each child’s unique voice. This will be an opportunity to deepen your understanding of literacy and foster a nurturing environment that values both expression and connection.
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November 16, 2024 Camp Meade, Middlesex, VT
February 18, 2025 TBA
March 29, 2025 TBA
The Development of a Network of Reggio-Inspired Hubs of Study and Practice
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Funded by a Turrell Landon Award, RIVET launched a pilot program in 2023 in Addison County to serve as a prototype toward the creation of a Vermont Network of Reggio-Inspired Hubs of Study and Practice. Specifically, Mary Johnson Children’s Center, the Addison County Parent Child Center and Bristol Family Center served as its community partners. In 2024, RIVET received a Building Bright Futures grant to work with 5 programs in Chittenden County (Burlington Children’s Space, The Janet Munt Family Room, Pine Forest Children’s Center, King Street Children’s Center and the Burlington Forest Preschool) and has also contracted to collaborate with the Montpelier Children’s House in Washington County.
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The professional development program includes a series of in-service days, classroom visits, and on-line group discussions to begin the study of the Reggio Approach and its implications for these Vermont contexts.
RIVET plans to build on what it learns from these experiences to guide its efforts to create a statewide network of programs that serve diverse communities and missions but share a view of the child as having rights and rich in potential. RIVET plans to collaborate with other programs across Vermont to build a network that will serve as a resource and source of inspiration by changing the current prevalent narrative that focuses on young children’s needs and deficits to one that recognizes young children’s rights and potential.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE SERIES
What does it mean to be a Reggio-inspired program in a Vermont Early Childhood program?
This multi-session community of practice will provide a forum for Vermont early childhood educators to support each other’s understanding of the values/principles of the Reggio Emilia approach and to explore the pedagogical implications of concepts such as the image of the child, the 100 languages, the environment as a third teacher and the role of the teacher as researcher in their own Vermont contexts.
This community of practice series is designed for intermediate to advanced practitioners who already have a working knowledge of the Reggio Emilia approach and are interested in both deepening and contextualizing their understanding through discussion and dialogue with Vermont colleagues.
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These sessions will be facilitated by RiVET Steering Committee members Cecelia Puleio and Jeanne Goldhaber and will meet 6-7:30 pm on 11/6/24; 11/20/24; 12/12/24; 1/8/25; 1/22/25; and 2/5/25.