Kids VT, September 2019

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FREE FAMILY SATURDAYS SERIES KICKOFF EVENT MISTER CHRIS AND FRIENDS

Saturday, September 14 at 10 am, please pre-register Look for events monthly through June!

MUSIC TOGETHER® CLASS

Mondays, Sept. 16-Nov. 18 from 10-10:45 am; ages 3 mo-5 yrs please pre-register

SESAME STREET LIVE!

Friday, September 20 at 2 and 6 pm

CIRCA: HUMANS

Saturday, October 19 at 8 pm

SENSORY FRIENDLY DRUMMING

Sundays, October 13 & Decemner 8 from 1-2 pm, all ages, please pre-register

RED KITE GREEN MOUNTAIN

Sunday, November 3 at 11 am and 2 pm

NATALIE MACMASTER AND DONNELL LEAHY

Tuesday, December 3 at 7 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Friday, December 6 at 7 pm

FINDING NEVERLAND

Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30 pm

FLIP FABRIQUE: BLIZZARD

Sunday, March 15 at 3 pm

PEKING ACROBATS

Tuesday, March 17 at 7 pm

THE SNOWY DAY & Other STORIES

Monday, March 23 at 6 pm

WILD KRATTS LIVE 2.0

Wed.-Thurs., April 15-16 at 6 pm

at 6 pm

is College Savings

September

The Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan is sponsored by the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, a public nonprofit established by the Vermont Legislature in 1965 to help Vermont students and families plan, save and pay for college. Before investing, please read the Disclosure Booklet carefully (available at vheip.org) or call 800-637-5860).

up for a chance to win $100 in college savings!

STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS

COPUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Cathy Resmer cathy@kidsvt.com

COPUBLISHER

Colby Roberts colby@kidsvt.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Alison Novak alison@kidsvt.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Mary Ann Lickteig maryann@kidsvt.com

STAFF WRITER/CALENDAR WRITER

Brett Ann Stanciu brett@kidsvt.com

ART DIRECTOR

Brooke Bousquet brooke@kidsvt.com

MARKETING & EVENTS DIRECTOR

Corey Grenier corey@kidsvt.com

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Kaitlin Montgomery kaitlin@kidsvt.com

PROOFREADERS

Katherine Isaacs, Kara Torres

PRODUCTION MANAGER

John James

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Don Eggert

DESIGNERS

Kirsten Cheney, Rev. Diane Sullivan

CIRCULATION MANAGER

Matt Weiner

BUSINESS MANAGER

Cheryl Brownell

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Adam Bluestein, Heather Fitzgerald,

T. Elijah Hawkes, Astrid Hedbor Lague, Elisa Järnefelt, Ken Picard

ILLUSTRATORS

Julianna Brazill, Marc Nadel

PHOTOGRAPHER

Andy Brumbaugh

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STAFF QUESTION

What was your high school mascot?

We had two at Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland — the GREEN WAVE and MOUNTIES

COLBY ROBERTS, COPUBLISHER

Mixed Emotions

to School School Issue

Stumble down the internet rabbit hole this time of year, and you’ll find competing narratives about how parents feel after sending their kids back to school. On one hand, you have viral photos of ecstatic moms (because it’s always moms) giving each other high fives in their bathrobes, or enjoying a fancy lunch out while clinking wine glasses together, celebrating the occasion like it’s a par-tay. On the other, you’ll find plenty of teary blog posts lamenting the fleeting years of childhood and the inexorable passage of time.

Neither of these depictions fully rings true to me. As a mom to a rising fourth grader and seventh grader, I’ve found that the first day of school comes with a wide range of feelings. As I watch my kids’ backpacks recede into the distance year after year, there’s always a witches’ brew of emotions that swirls inside of me. Pride, sadness, excitement, worry, delight, emptiness, gratitude, nostalgia, a ection and hope — I feel them all, plus other things I can’t even put into words. Which makes sense because, as writer Anne Lamott so deftly puts it, “There really are places in the heart you don’t even know exist until you love a child.”

At Kids VT, we mark this emotional time with our September Back to School Issue. On page 20, contributing editor Mary Ann Lickteig writes about Vermont’s last one-room schoolhouse, the Elmore School, where students in first through third grade learn together and observe sweet traditions like painting the colors of Elmore Mountain every fall and making paper hearts to decorate the post o ce boxes at the Elmore Store on Valentine’s Day.

On page 13, I write about a Burlington-based chair company started by a former surgeon that’s trying to revolutionize sitting in school with its ButtOn Chair, an adjustable plywood stool that allows for rocking in all directions. And in “Use Your Words” on page 47, Randolph Union High School principal T. Elijah Hawkes shares his vision for how schools can engage students in meaningful and relevant work to help their communities and the greater world.

We’ve also included lots of fun articles, like a photo collage of little libraries around the state (page 17), a piece on a chicken club for kids in Monkton (page 15) and a recipe for yummy madeleines — a back-to-school treat in France (page 18).

We know September is a busy time for families, and we hope our articles and calendar of events help make parenting a little easier for you. Whether your child is a first grader or a freshman, we hope it’s a great school year.

Our sports teams were the REGINA SADDLELITES — as in saddle shoes. They were part of the uniform at my suburban Detroit all-girls Catholic high school.

CATHY RESMER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

We were the NK (North Kingstown, Rhode Island)

SKIPPERS, baby!

An old seafaring man is pretty intimidating!

COREY GRENIER, MARKETING & EVENTS DIRECTOR

At my high school in Iowa, we were the GARRIGAN GOLDEN BEARS; I’m still proud!

MARY ANN LICKTEIG, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

CONTRIBUTOR’S NOTE

T. ELIJAH HAWKES (“Use Your Words,” page 47) has been a public school educator for 20 years. He is principal at Randolph Union High School, a public school serving students in grades 7-12. He was founding principal of the James Baldwin School in New York City. Find him on Twitter at @ElijahHawkes.

ALISON NOVAK, MANAGING EDITOR

Alison’s daughter, Mira, on her first day of kindergarten in 2012.

Notice

C is for Cannabis

Julianna Brazill illustrated

Back to School cover, which depicts Vermont’s last one-room schoolhouse, the Elmore School, on the first day.

TRENDING

The Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife is seeking volunteers to become “Let’s Go Fishing” instructors to introduce the pastime to the younger generation. Other classes we’d like to see: Intro to Cribbage, Cross Stitch 101 and Pickling for Beginners.

WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers, launched Kurbo, a new app aimed at helping kids as young as 8 track food consumption, physical activity and weight loss. As of press time, more than 85,000 people, concerned that the program would lead to eating disorders, had signed a petition on Change.org asking WW to lose the app.

Burlington’s Community Sailing Center launched the Free Sailing Program, a new initiative that offers weekend sailboat rentals free of charge from September 7-October 14. Just because school is starting, doesn’t mean those lazy days on the lake have to end.

A research group in Switzerland has been working on a vaccine for cats that will make them less allergenic to humans. Giving hope to itchy-eyed feline fanatics around the world.

YOGA POSE OF THE MONTH: WARRIOR 2

Try this powerful standing pose to build stamina, focus and stability for going back to school. Warrior 2 stretches the hips, strengthens the legs and expands the shoulders so we can breathe more deeply. It’s fun to add in a positive affirmation while in warrior 2, like “I AM STRONG!”

Star Swimmer

BY ALISON NOVAK

At 7 a.m. on Tuesday, August 13, while most 15-year-olds were likely still sleeping, Geo DeBrosse of Hinesburg was leaving Port Kent, N.Y. for a 6.5-mile swim across Lake Champlain.

Accompanied by his dad, John DeBrosse, in one boat; his mom, Suzie McCoy, and neighbors in a second boat; and his friend, Seb Jacobs, on a paddleboard, the rising freshman at Champlain Valley Union High School touched Vermont sand at Delta Park in Colchester at 10:45 a.m., followed by a lengthy soak in a hot tub.

The teen is no stranger to the water. He swims competitively for Burlington Tennis Club in the summer and the Greater Burlington YMCA Dynamo in the winter. Earlier in the summer he placed first in the state in his age group for the 50-meter butterfly and third in the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly.

The lake swim was the culmination of Geo’s 8th grade graduation project at Hinesburg Community School. He researched the variables involved in a long-distance lake swim, planned it for after the summer swim season and waited for a day where the forecast for the lake was calm, with light winds.

The water conditions turned out to be wavier than predicted but, said mom Suzie,"Geo persevered!"

#INSTAKIDSVT

Thanks for sharing your summer photos with us using the hashtag #instakidsvt. We loved this picture from Wandering Roots Farm in Fletcher.

Share photos of your family exploring new places this month.

HERE’S HOW: Follow @kids_vt on Instagram. Post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #instakidsvt. We’ll select a photo to feature in the next issue.

STEPS:

1. Bring your legs out wide, facing the long edge of your mat for five-pointed star.

2. Point your front toes to the front edge of your mat and bend your knee over your ankle.

3. Keep your back leg straight.

4. Inhale and raise arms to shoulder height

5. Gaze over your front fingertips and breathe.

Try it with a partner with front feet parallel to each other, gazing at each other with a smile!

Tag

Leaving Port Kent

Stopping for an energy snack

Relaxing after the swim

Victory!

SMILE for BACK TO SCHOOL!

Whether you’re considering clear aligners, retainers or today’s braces, an orthodontist is the smart choice. Orthodontists are specialists in straightening teeth and aligning your bite. They have two to three years of education beyond dental school. So they’re experts at helping you get a great smile—that feels great, too.

BY ALISON NOVAK

ART

Baby on Board

SMALL BUSINESS Blocks with Character

She’s an early childhood educator. He’s a mechanical engineer. Together, Becky and Josh Mandell of Underhill — parents of kids ages 2 and 5 — recently started ISH, a small business that makes uniquely shaped blocks for all ages. The company name is borrowed from the popular picture book by Peter H. Reynolds which, says Becky, conveys a message that there’s no perfect way to do things. When the couple became parents, the plethora of plastic, landfill-destined playthings they found didn’t align with their reduce-and-reuse values. Becky’s educational approach is influenced by the Reggio Emilia philosophy, which highlights the importance of self-directed learning and natural materials, while Josh works at Rutland-based Accordant Energy, which converts municipal solid waste to fuel. So they began experimenting with different materials to create their own toys, and friends and colleagues soon began asking for them. Their first product, uniquely shaped Tumi Ishi blocks, named for a Japanese philosophy of balance, focus and mindfulness, have multiple uses, from imaginative play to stacking to making patterns. The aesthetically pleasing blocks, which come nine to a set, are made of Vermont-sourced pine, ambrosia maple, black walnut, cherry and hickory. Josh buys slabs of wood from the Tree House Hardwoods & Millshop in South Burlington, cuts them into squares and rectangles, uses a sander to make facets on each one, then hand sands and rubs them with butcher-block oil to create what he describes as a “smooth, fine-finished feel.” Because the blocks are not uniform and made with different species of wood — each with its own weight and density — stacking them is a fun challenge. Said Josh: “I play with them equally as much as our children do.”

Find Ish on Facebook at facebook.com/ish.VTproducts. Ish blocks are available at Boho Baby in Essex Junction for $38 a set. The company will have a table at the Old Fashioned Harvest Market at the United Church of Underhill on Saturday, September 28 & Sunday, September 29.

Picture this: You load your two kids into the car so that you can drop off the older one at preschool. Afterward, you aren’t quite ready to head home. So, where do you go? This is the kind of scenario the folks at Shelburne Museum had in mind when they decided to offer STROLLER TOURS, a new program for parents or caregivers and children under 2. Several times a year, the museum will open an hour early to host a 45-minute tour of one of its exhibitions geared to adults with little ones in strollers or front-facing baby carriers. The museum is following the lead of other museums — including the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts and the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Neb. — that have designed programming to make the art experience more accessible to young families. The inaugural stroller tour, on Tuesday, September 24 at 9 a.m., will highlight works from the new exhibition, “Joel Barber & the Modern Decoy.” The exhibit features bird decoys, drawings, photographs and watercolors from Barber, who is known as the father of decoy collection. Holly Miller, the museum’s family and academic programs associate, will lead the tour, which will focus on Barber’s life and artistic process. Museumgoers “might be thinking they don’t want to hinder anyone else’s experience” by bringing young children into the museum, explained Miller. This program will provide the opportunity for learning with likeminded people and “will create an experience where parents don’t have to worry.”

Tickets for Shelburne Museum’s first stroller tour, on Tuesday, September 24 at 9 a.m., are free for members and $10 for nonmembers, and are good for general admission to the museum after the tour. Preregistration is required. Find more information at shelburnemuseum.org/event/stroller-tour.

THEATER Acting Out

Starting this fall, dramatically inclined young people will have a new place to hone their craft when professional theater company Vermont Stage launches a program geared to tweens and teens.

VERMONT STAGE YOUTH COMPANY AT MAIN STREET LANDING will offer 12-week sessions in the fall and spring, as well as a summer 2020 program, focused on voice, movement and acting. The goal, said director of education Amy Riley, is “giving kids a toolbox of performing that’s not just music-based.” An emergent company for 11- to 14-year-olds will culminate in an All-Company Showcase each semester, while a senior company for ages 15 to 19 will present a showcase in addition to fall, spring and summer productions. The groups will meet separately, but have lunch together every Saturday to learn from each other. Older teens can also choose a technical theater track, which will provide mentorship and hands-on learning in set design, lighting, sound, wardrobe and stage management. An Arts Alliance group for ages 15 to 19 will attend shows together, learn from professional actors and directors, and have input on programming. Riley, who performed improv comedy with the Second City Conservatory and Upright Citizens Brigade, spent six years as a teaching artist and producing artistic director for Flynn Youth Theater Company. Locally, “there are a lot of opportunities for kids in musical theater,” she said, but “we really wanted to create a program that is a holistic approach to performing arts.”

For more information about the Vermont Stage Youth Company, visit vermontstage. org/youth-company, email education@vtstage.org or call 862-1497. Auditions take place on Saturday, September 14.

Vermont Stage’s 2017 production of Fun Home

I’ve driven through Smugglers’ Notch, the Mount Mansfield pass that connects Jeffersonville to Stowe, many times. But recently, when a friend came to visit, we decided to make the Notch itself our destination.

As long as you’re not driving a tractor-trailer, the road alone — Route 108 — is enjoyable, though it gets very narrow at the top.

The Longstreet Highroad Guide to the Vermont Mountains describes how numerous rock falls and debris slides have occurred in the Notch since the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago.

Two events in the 1980s dropped bus-sized boulders there. This kind of “unruly behavior” is typical of mountain landscapes scoured by glaciers.

The dramatic geologic history of the area is apparent not only in the steepwalled cliffs and boulders, but also in the patches of young birches you’ll find along the road. These trees replaced the more mature forests that were destroyed by the 1980s boulder incidents.

During our drive through the Notch in July, we took time to check out two spots along Route 108. At the pull-off for the Smugglers’ Notch Visitor Center near the top of the notch, right under the towering cliffs, you can access a short, rocky loop that goes right by Smugglers’ Cave, which has a few entrances that are all fun to explore. Just watch out for the slippery rocks worn smooth by visitors. Right off the trail, you’ll also find opportunities for boulder-hopping and crevice-squeezing, which involved just enough difficulty to feel exciting to my 11-year-old but safe to this cautious mom. If you go on the weekend, aim to arrive early because the parking lot often fills up.

If it’s a warm day, search out the dramatic cold air pockets next to some of the boulders. Cold air, which is heavier than warm air, settles down in the spaces between the rocks, where it is protected from the wind — creating natural air conditioning.

The other stop I recommend is

just north of the entrances to Stowe Mountain Resort. Look for the parking area and the Barnes Camp Visitor Center, a large brown building. It’s staffed by volunteers Friday through Sunday in the summer and fall, but you can park at the lot any day of the week and follow an accessible boardwalk on a several-minute jaunt to a beaver pond.

At the end of the boardwalk is a beavers’ dam. Follow a fallen log with your eyes about 50 feet out into the pond and you’ll see a lodge. Both the dam and lodge are made of sticks and mud.

Once you’ve found these, you can see if anyone’s home at the time of your visit. If the water level is up to the top of the dam, and you see pointy blond beaver-gnawed stumps, each a few inches in diameter, along the shore, the pond is likely occupied. If the water level has dropped below the top of the dam, there is vegetation growing on the pond side of the dam and you can only find gray chewed stumps, the beavers have probably moved on. Their preferred winter food is pole-sized hardwoods. (In spring and summer they eat fresh green plants — wouldn’t you?)

The day we visited, two beavers swam right up to the boardwalk to

investigate us in the middle of the afternoon and gave us a few dramatic tail slaps when we ventured too close. I’m not sure if they lived there, or if they were just passing through; when I returned several weeks later, they were nowhere to be found and the water level was low.

Nearby, another beaver pond has drained, so an adventurous hiker could clamber off trail and explore the usually inaccessible beaver dams and lodges in a way few landlubbers get to do.

Each of these excursions can take a few minutes to a few hours, depending on how much exploring you want to do.

If your family likes to hike, you could even add a trip to Sterling Pond, Vermont’s highest elevation trout pond at 3,000 feet. The trailhead is across the road from the Smugglers’ Notch Visitor Center, and it takes about an hour and a half to hike the steep 1.1-mile trail to the pond.

Whatever you choose, Smugglers’ Notch is worth stopping for. K

Heather Fitzgerald teaches field ecology and environmental science at the Community College of Vermont and the University of Vermont.

Beavers’ lodge in the drained pond

Heather’s son, Jesse, taking a break while hiking the Smugglers’ Cave loop

Boardwalk to the beaver pond

Active Sitting

Since schools have existed, teachers have been telling kids to sit still and pay attention. But what if that pedagogical wisdom is all wrong?

That’s the assertion of Turner Osler, a University of Vermont professor and former trauma surgeon and research epidemiologist, who founded innovative chair company QOR360 with his son, Lex. The father-son duo recently began making a low-cost chair for kids, called the ButtOn Chair, using the same design principles they applied to their original adult chair. Their mission with both products, says Turner, “is not trying to make a better chair,” but “trying to upend the idea of what a chair is.”

Since 2016, Burlington-based QOR360 (pronounced Core 360) has manufactured backless chairs that feature a patented curved, plastic disc, dubbed a RedRocker, under their seats to allow rocking in all directions. Sitting on one requires moment-to-moment adjustment of posture, which the spine does reflexively. “It just kind of feels like floating,” says Turner. The chairs, which cost from $350 to $500, have an adjustable seat so users can sit with their knees lower than their hips, which allows the hips to open and spine to align in a natural, comfortable position.

The conventional chair, says Turner, provides support that distorts natural posture and contributes to a host of conditions including a weak core and back pain, which is one of the most common medical problems in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though back pain often has no known cause, some research supports the association between prolonged sitting and low physical activity with back pain in adults. Furthermore, sitting slumped in a chair, with the back curving like the letter C, is an improper position for the spine and often leads to back problems, California orthopedic surgeon Nomi Khan told NPR in 2018.

How about just sitting on an exercise ball? They’re too squishy, aren’t adjustable in height and dangerous if they pop, says Turner. Standing desks? He cites a 2017 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology that finds that occupational standing is associated with an increased risk of cardiac problems. And besides, he says, just because you’re standing, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re moving.

Now, with more than 1,000 adult chairs sold, the father-son duo has set

their sights on the youngest generation. Every day, millions of school kids sit for prolonged periods of time in chairs manufactured with just two design parameters — they’re cheap and they’re stackable.

There’s no consideration to “making a chair that might be helpful or useful or make anatomical sense,” says Turner.

So, along with a team of designers, he and Lex decided to find a way to make a chair that encourages active sitting — or, says Turner, “sanctioned privilege to squirm” — but on the cheap. The solution? An inexpensive, easy-to-produce version of their adult chair.

Their ButtOn chair, so named because its round wooden seat secured with a bungee cord looks like a button, is made with four pieces of plywood — around $5 worth — that click together with self-locking joints, no screws or glues required. In lieu of the RedRocker underneath the seat, the chair uses a significantly more pedestrian mechanism: a tennis ball. Notches in the chair’s legs allow them to be sawed down for shorter kids.

Back to School School Issue

to having 16 ButtOn chairs in his classroom this school year, in addition to a dozen traditional chairs, so that his students have options.

The Oslers have also enlisted help from Burlington’s ReSOURCE YouthBuild, a national program that helps 16- to 24-year-olds earn high school diplomas and acquire construction trade job skills. Under the supervision of Brian Hsiang, a YouthBuild job site instructor, program participants have assembled, sanded and varnished ButtOn chairs. Putting the chairs together “is a pretty neat process,” says Hsiang, “kind of like Tinkertoys.”

Fully assembled chairs, produced by Newportbased furniture maker Built by Newport, will soon be sold online for around $50 to $100, and the Oslers are in talks to bring ButtOn chairs to other local schools. Research is still needed to determine the positive e ects of active sitting, says Turner.

The wood parts are cut on a CNC router, a computer numeric control machine commonly found in community and high school maker spaces. The router follows computerized instructions — available for free download on ButtOn chair’s website.

This spring, Burlington sixth graders in Matt Chandler’s class at Edmunds Middle School tested the chairs and provided feedback. They thought the seats were a bit slippery, so the Oslers added a textured pattern to increase friction. But, overall, they gave the chairs favorable reviews. Fifty-three percent of kids surveyed at the end of the trial period said they thought they could concentrate better while using the ButtOn chairs, and 73 percent said they would want the chairs in their classroom next year. Chandler said he’s looking forward

Dr. Lewis First, chief of pediatrics at UVM’s Children’s Hospital, said there is some research to indicate that movement has positive benefits for kids’ behavior and cognition. He cites three recent studies published in Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics where he serves as editor, that note improvement in academic performance and behavior in association with increased physical activity at school.

Turner believes that practicing active sitting has the potential for long-lasting e ects. Just as “a regimen of fluoride and tooth sealant has radically reduced cavities in children,” he says, learning “good spinal hygiene” early may result in future generations free from back pain — all for the cost of a few pieces of plywood, a bungee cord and a tennis ball.

Learn more about the ButtOn chair at buttonchairs.org and QOR360 at qor360.com.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF QOR360

class

The ButtOn Chair

Turner Osler

A student at Edmunds Middle School tries the ButtOn Chair

Back to School School Issue

Every year it arrives like a national holiday but still catches me by surprise: in the middle of a summer day, I discover the first Back to School catalog in my mailbox. For a split second, I am back to being an 11-year-old, sensing the impending loss of freedom, the nervousness of the unknown and the excitement of getting a new pencil case.

It seems that no matter how much time has passed since my school days, the feelings elicited by this seemingly innocent catalog always catch up with me. The approaching fall carries a reminder that a new year is beginning, even more so than on New Year’s Eve.

Even though my daughter is not in school yet, I’ve started to think of fall as a time to create new routines. At this moment of our lives, that means attending library story time on Mondays, wandering in the woods on Wednesdays and learning a new yoga pose on Fridays.

MOM TAKES NOTES BY ELISA JÄRNEFELT

Layn Family Farm

Don’t plant your sweet corn beside your cow corn,” warns 8-year-old Natalie Layn. “Corn cross-pollinates, and your sweet corn will taste terrible.”

The vivacious ponytailed girl knows what she’s talking about. She’s part of the fifth generation of Layns to live on the 960-acre Monkton dairy farm where her father, Curtis, grew up.

Curtis and his wife, Heather, are raising Natalie and her two older siblings on the property, along with pigs, beef cows, llamas, peacocks, quail, ducks and geese. Their farm products also include maple syrup and felted wool.

Since 2018, Heather has run a chicken club for families to learn basic chicken care and decide whether they are ready for their own flock. This year, 22 local kids — from toddlers to young teens — signed up for the season, which began in the spring and ends in October. Attendance fluctuates; usually no more than a dozen members participate every other Sunday afternoon.

During each meeting, Heather, who grew up on a nearby farm, teaches youngsters what she calls “a small something” about the birds, like the names of their body parts, stages of their life cycle, and how to identify males and females. The children feed and water the hens, clean the coop and tend the birds — which might mean

treating them for mites by washing their feet and legs with vinegar and water and rubbing Bag Balm on them. Each child has his or her own chicken, identified by a foot bracelet. When the birds are eaten by predators like foxes, Heather explains it is a part of the life cycle. Monthly $7 dues enable members to take home half a dozen eggs after each meeting.

Though Heather claims not to be much of a carpenter, she and the Chicken Club kids took apart a donated coop and rebuilt it. Inside the enclosed yard, they constructed a swing set for the birds to use as a perch. Around the fence, the children planted a garden with nearly two dozen medicinal herbs for chickens, including calendula, sage and thyme.

Last summer, 17 Chicken Club members showed their birds at the Addison County Fair & Field Days, with over half receiving ribbons.

This spring, children borrowed incubators from the Layns. Three-year-old Orion Ronark, who lives down the road with his parents and baby sister, watched nine tiny quail eggs hatch in an incubator his family borrowed. His father, Andrew, says the little boy is fascinated by everything on the Layns’ farm — especially the animals and tractors.

Beyond learning to care for chickens,

children are encouraged to explore the busy farm. Heather, a former Marine, possesses a down-to-earth confidence and a welcoming personality. The hard work of farming ties her family to the farm. Visitors are always welcome, she says, because “we never go anywhere.”

Kelly Hedley’s son Chace joined the Chicken Club when it began, just before he turned 12. Chace — whom Hedley describes as struggling with human relationships due to a social disorder — named his chicken, a Silkie, Eggbert Einstein. Chace brought his bird to school for a visit, and his math teacher incorporated chicken questions into Chace’s schoolwork. At last year’s fair, the boy and chicken duo earned a blue ribbon.

Eggbert is housed in Chace’s coop at his father’s house, where Chace tends a free-ranging flock of five hens. Hedley says that learning how to care for chickens from Heather has strengthened her son’s social skills on the farm and in the community. For that, she’s “forever grateful.”

Heather and Chace

Natalie with Coco the chicken

Heather and Natalie Layn with chicken club member Orion Ronark and a foster dog

Orion Ronark with a chicken

What Do Parents and Caregivers Need to Know About Scoliosis?

KVT: Do kids ever come in with complaints related to scoliosis?

from front to back, forming an S-shaped curve when viewed from the side. However, in a small percentage of people, the spine curves to the left, right or both ways, forming a C or S shape when viewed head on. When that curvature is more than 10 degrees off midline, it’s clinically defined as scoliosis.

Dr. Lewis First, chief of pediatrics at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital, offers the straight facts on scoliosis, including what causes it, how it’s diagnosed and what can be done to treat it.

KIDS VT: How common is scoliosis?

LEWIS FIRST: About 1 to 3 percent of the population will have a curvature of the spine that is more than 10 degrees. For the vast majority of them, scoliosis is mild, painless and requires no intervention. We don’t address it unless the curvature is at least 20 to 25 degrees. The prevalence of moderate scoliosis that would require bracing within the general population is 2 or 3 per 1,000 children, and severe scoliosis that would require surgery is 1 per 1,000 children.

KVT: What causes it?

LF: In children, there is congenital scoliosis and neuromuscular scoliosis.

If it’s congenital, usually you’ll see the curve within the first two years of life, and that may be caused by the vertebrae not forming correctly in utero.

If it’s neuromuscular, it’s caused by a disorder such as muscular dystrophy or cerebral palsy. However, most cases are idiopathic, meaning they have no known cause, but they tend to run in families.

It’s usually spotted during puberty and in periods of excessive growth spurts. That’s when the spine tends to come out of line and starts to curve, for reasons we don’t completely understand yet. It’s important to note scoliosis is not caused

by bad posture or by wearing heavy backpacks. The vast majority of cases are mild, and once puberty is over, the spine will likely not curve any farther.

KVT: Is it more common in girls or boys?

LF: With mild scoliosis, there’s almost no difference by gender. But in cases of scoliosis above a 20-degree curvature, girls outnumber boys substantially — about one in 25 teen girls versus one in 200 teen boys. While the specific reason for the higher prevalence in girls is not clear, studies suggest that genetics, and hormonal and musculoskeletal differences between the sexes, play a role.

KVT: When and how do you screen kids for scoliosis?

LF: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends looking for it during routine health maintenance exams beginning at age 10, or with the start of puberty, and continuing until puberty has ended. About 85 percent of all cases will occur between the ages of 10 and 14. In a doctor’s office, we’ll ask the child to bend over and touch their toes so we can observe the curvature of the spine. If there’s a sideways curve, we have a device that can measure its angle. If it looks suspicious, we can follow it up with an X-ray to get a more precise measurement. If we see curvature of 10 degrees or more, we’ll recommend monitoring it every six to 12 months to make sure the curvature isn’t getting worse.

LF: Most of the time it’s asymptomatic. However, parents or caregivers may recognize signs of scoliosis in their kids, such as an unevenness of the shoulders when the child is standing up, or one shoulder blade that looks more prominent than the other. One hip may appear higher than the other, or one arm may appear to hang lower. It’s only after a curvature of 20 to 25 degrees that kids start to complain of symptoms such as back pain. In severe cases, of 45 degrees or more, scoliosis can press the ribs into the lungs and create breathing problems.

KVT: Once scoliosis is identified, how is it treated?

LF: Early diagnosis is key because we can start treatment early and prevent the curve from worsening. When the curve is beyond 20 degrees, we recommend a brace, which is like a thick plastic jacket that fits around the abdomen, from underneath the arms and running down to the hips. Kids need to wear it 12 to 20 hours per day, and are supposed to wear it until the end of puberty. But only 20 to 30 percent of kids with scoliosis will need to wear a brace, and only 10 percent will require surgery.

The operation involves putting rods in to straighten the spine, then grafting pieces of bone between the spinal cord bones to insure that the spine no longer curves to the left or right. The good news is, the surgery tends to have very good outcomes. Six to 12 months later, kids can usually return to playing sports and doing everything else they could before the surgery. But like any surgery, there are always risks involved such as bleeding or post-operative infection.

KVT: Anything else?

LF: Anything that makes a teenager feel different from his or her peers can be difficult socially. So when you tell a teen that they need to wear their brace 20 hours per day, you can imagine what their compliance will be. We recommend that parents be supportive and understand that, for example, if a teenager is attending a dance or going to the beach with friends, it won’t hurt them if they don’t wear their brace for a few hours. K

BOOKWORMS BY ALISON NOVAK

If You Build It

Little libraries blend books and community engagement

Nearly a decade ago, Windsor resident Amanda Smith learned about Little Free Library, a nonprofit organization that supports communities in creating freestanding boxes where people can swap books. She always thought it would be fun to start one of her own. So when her family moved to a neighborhood with lots of foot traffic a year and a half ago, she decided to make it happen.

On July 31 — an auspicious date because it’s both Smith’s birthday and Harry Potter’s — community members gathered to celebrate the grand opening of Little Free Library #91236 at the foot of the Smith’s Elm Street driveway. A woman who grew up in the house attended, as did Smith’s grandmother and the local librarian. They cut a ribbon and deployed a paper confetti cannon. The rectangular blue structure, mounted on a white post, was built by Smith’s husband and fatherin-law and is a replica of the TARDIS, the fictional time machine from the British TV show “Doctor Who.” (Smith and her husband are fans.) It has a solar-powered light on its roof, so visitors can access it at night, and two shelves — the bottom one with books for children, the top for adults. To get started, Smith stocked it with books, some of which were donated by the Windsor Public Library.

By registering at Little Free Library’s website and paying $39, Smith’s Little Free Library received a charter number and plaque, and is included on a map that shows little libraries around the world. According to the nonprofit, there are currently more than 90,000 of them in 91 countries — including more than 70 in Vermont.

Smith and her 3-year-old son enjoy visiting the book box in the morning to add new titles and to see what people have left. In August, she put supplies including markers, crayons, glue sticks and folders in the box as a back-to-school giveaway. And she’s excited to add decorations for Halloween and Valentine’s Day. She hopes to add a dog leash hook and a reading bench soon, and she’s even created an Instagram account for the box — @allonsyvt.

For Smith, the project was a good way to combine her interests in reading and community service. Plus, she says, little libraries just make people happy.

At right, find more photos of booksharing boxes around the state, submitted by readers on Facebook. To find one near you, check out the searchable map at littlefreelibrary.org. K

1. Route 2 in Bolton 2. Main St. in Isle La Motte 3. Bayside Park in Colchester 4. Roy Mountain Rd. in Barnet 5. Baxter St. in Rutland 6. Colchester Ave. in Burlington

7. Jericho Center, next to Jericho Country Store 8. Boynton Ave. in St. Johnsbury 9. Lake Raponda Rd. in Wilmington

Amanda Smith’s Little Free Library in Windsor

Madeleines

Two varieties of a French classic

When my mother, sister and I traveled to southwestern France last summer for a family wedding, we ate some of the best food of our lives. One traditional French dessert that I was eager to try was the madeleine, a bite-sized, buttery, scallop-shaped sponge cake. However, we couldn’t find them in the small town of Aurignac, where we were staying, or the bigger city of Toulouse, where the wedding took place.

A boulanger finally told me that, in fact, madeleines were only available during back-to-school time. In my research, I have not found anything to back up this claim — and maybe it was just a regional peculiarity — but they certainly were not readily available in July. We finally resorted to buying pre-packaged madeleines at the grocery store. They were fine, but not exactly what I was hoping for.

Because it is back-to-school time here, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to bake madeleines of my own. To get the scalloped shape, you’ll need a madeleine pan, which comes in full-sized and mini varieties. I recommend a nonstick one. You’ll find them at any good kitchen store or online, often for less than $20. In my recipe research, I discovered a few tips which make the baking process more or less foolproof.

First, be sure to cream the eggs and sugar well, until the mixture gets really thick and creamy. Second, to get the classic hump on the back of the madeleine, chill the batter for at least an hour. Resting the batter helps to fully hydrate the flour, which, in turn, helps the cakes rise. Third, chilling the pan in the freezer for a few minutes before adding the batter and baking makes the humps even more likely to appear.

You must be very gentle with the batter after the eggs and sugar are creamed, so that it stays aerated. I used a spatula to fold in the remaining

ingredients, rather than a stand mixer. Instead of just pouring the melted butter into the batter and mixing it in, whisk a bit of the egg-sugar-flour mixture gently into the butter first, almost like tempering eggs for a sauce. This way, the butter mixture blends more easily into the batter, without the need for heavy mixing.

It is also important to butter the pan. If you do not have a nonstick pan, you must butter and flour the pan. You might make the most beautiful madeleines in existence, but if the molds are not properly prepared, you will end up with beautiful madeleines stuck in a pan.

These cakes do not keep particularly well, though I

DIRECTIONS

have found that freezing them in a tightly sealed container is a decent way to make them last. Pack them frozen in your kids’ lunchboxes and they’ll be ready to enjoy by lunchtime!

I made two kinds: traditional vanilla-lemon and a Vermont-inspired maple spice. When it comes to flavor, let your imagination run free. I have seen chocolate, lavender-honey, almond and hazelnut madeleines. I have even seen more ambitious bakers pipe a filling like lemon curd right into the hump of the madeleine! Glaze them, like I did, or simply dust them with confectioners’ sugar. However you prepare them, they are best consumed with a cup of co ee or tea, dreaming of France.

Back to School School Issue

1. Melt butter and let cool.

2. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip together eggs and sugar until thick, creamy and light yellow — about 5-8 minutes on medium-high speed.

3. Mix together dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Sift the dry ingredients into the creamed eggs and sugar, and use a spatula to gently fold together until all of the flour is incorporated.

4. Take a little of the batter and gently whisk it into the melted butter and extract — or butter, brown sugar and maple extract in the case of the maple spice madeleines. Pour this mixture into the batter and fold gently with a spatula until it forms a smooth batter. Chill for at least an hour, and up to 3 days.

5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare the madeleine pan by brushing with melted butter

(and dusting with flour, if your pan isn’t nonstick). Chill the pan in the freezer for at least 5 minutes.

6. Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each mold. Do not overfill, and don’t spread the batter out; it will spread on its own.

7. Bake for 10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Turn the madeleines out onto a cooling rack, and butter, flour and chill the pan again for the next batch. Repeat until all of the batter is used.

To glaze: Mix together glaze ingredients. (Use more or less confectioners’ sugar depending on your preferred consistency.) Dip the scalloped edge of each madeleine into the glaze and dust with more confectioners’ sugar, as desired.

Serve immediately, or freeze in a tightly sealed container once completely cooled.

INGREDIENTS

VANILLA-LEMON MADELEINES (MAKES 30)

• 6 tablespoons butter

• 3 eggs

• 2/3 cup sugar

• zest of one lemon

• 1 cup flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the vanilla-lemon glaze:

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

MAPLE SPICE MADELEINES (MAKES 30)

• 6 tablespoons butter

• 3 eggs

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (to mix with the butter, do not cream with the eggs)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 cup flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon maple extract (optional)

For the maple glaze:

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/4 cup maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Jewel of a School

Traditions are strong at Vermont’s last one-room schoolhouse

The Elmore School begins classes this fall with a 42 percent increase in enrollment over last year. A spike like that might find other schools scrambling to hire teachers, converting closets to classrooms and sending students they still can’t accommodate to other schools in the district. But none of that will happen here.

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the year, teacher Annamary Anderson tucked her 5’ 10” frame onto a student chair and sat at a child-sized table in her classroom quietly stu ng envelopes with the welcome letter she sends to families. All of the new kids are assigned to her classroom, but she won’t have any extra help. She and her assistant, paraeducator Ericka Bellavance, can

handle it. This is their 15th year working together. All they need to do to accommodate the increase in enrollment is bring five more desks up from the basement.

Education works a little di erently here in the last one-room school still operating in Vermont. Opened sometime in the 1800s, the Elmore School had 52 students on the roll one year — though it’s unclear if they all attended at the same time. It now includes grades 1 through 3. Twelve students were enrolled last year. This year, there are 17: eight first graders, five second graders and four third graders.

While the magnitude of the tradition they continue can’t possibly register with them, their experience here is bound to shape them. They will know the names

BY MARY ANN LICKTEIG

of everyone who goes to their school and probably consider all of them friends. They will have outside shoes and inside shoes, a practical necessity in a place with five seasons — one of them named Mud. They will bring lunch from home and eat at their desks. Because there is no cafeteria, there is no hot lunch, except on Fridays, when families take turns bringing it in.

Every morning between 7:45 and 8:00, from his stool behind the cash register at the Elmore Store, Warren Miller will see them outside raising the flag and saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

Flag raising is one of the

jobs students are assigned daily. Others include reporting and recording the weather, collecting trash after snack, collecting recycling, holding the door, and the two jobs most coveted last year: feeding Autumn, the guinea pig, and pulling the rope that dangles from the school’s original bell to signal the start of each day and the end of noon recess.

Back to School School Issue

People say the Elmore School is the heart of this town, population 872. It sits in the center of Lake Elmore village, along Route 12, right across from the Elmore Store, where students decorate all 220 post o ce boxes with handmade Valentines, and Elmore Town Hall, where they go for library,

JULIANNA BRAZILL

big art projects, concerts and indoor recess when the weather is bad. The school’s two picture windows, which allow the sun to warm the wood floor, provide a view of those two buildings and the 219-acre lake right behind them. A daydreaming student here is lulled by the rocking of the water and the hulking mountains of the Worcester Range that rise behind it. If, as Anderson says, every moment is a teachable moment, this scene provides the ultimate lesson in adjectives: stunning, idyllic, pastoral.

“Elmore is a dream place, in actually every way,” said Faith Boudreau, who taught at the school from 1992 to 1999 and whose four children are alums.

Starting school here is “like entering a family,” said parent Meredith Martin Davis, who practically interrupted herself explaining all of the traditions she loves: the beginning-of-the-year and endof-the-year school picnics, which often are followed by soccer games that older kids join like they’ve never left; the fall day when all of the students set up their acrylics and canvases behind the Elmore Store to paint the colors on Elmore Mountain and everyone driving by says, Oh, today’s the day; Elmore School thinks today is peak; Authors Night, when every child, after writing and illustrating a hardbound book, stands on the Town Hall stage and reads their story; field trips to the fire station, to Elmore State Park and to Martha Twombly’s house down the street for stories and snacks. Twombly went to the school, and her mother’s first teaching job was there.

Davis nominated Anderson for the Educator Innovator Award, which Anderson won in 2018 from National School Choice Week, a public awareness effort to celebrate opportunity in education. “She’s an amazing woman — like [on] every, every front imaginable…” Davis said. “She seems like she was born to teach, but I’m sure she’s cultivated it over time. She strikes this balance between creating structure and rules and sort of norms of how the classroom’s going to operate so that it doesn’t feel chaotic to adults or kids there. But at the same time, it’s fun… If somebody’s not doing the right thing, she has a look, and they come right back into line. And then she has this smile that just lights up, and her heart is big, and every kid there knows that she loves them.”

One dad commented that his son never wants to go home, Davis said, and the other parents understand. “Actually, we all have to coordinate so we can get all our kids to leave.”

When they finish third grade and leave for the last time, they do so with a framed certificate with pressed

flowers — handmade by Anderson — and a memory book that contains a letter written to them by every student they overlapped with during their time at the Elmore School. “I think they leave here with high self-esteem and the feeling that they matter and that they have a voice. And boy, that can take you far,”

in August. There were seven, said Miller, who co-owns the store with his wife, Kathy.

“Nine!” yelled Kathy and Anderson from the back of the store.

“Oh, just put down eight; split the difference,” said Jerry Kitonis, 74. He went to the school for six grades and said

chimney and a cantankerous classmate whom we won’t name, though Smith does. The teacher was Mrs. Tallman. “And she was quite a large lady, and she wore those lace-up shoes that come halfway up your leg and have thick heels in the back…” Smith said. “One of the bricks had a chip out of it there, so there was a crack, maybe half an inch wide or so where you could look inside of the chimney… This kid there … he went around the back of the school and put his lips up to that crack there and he yells, ‘Mrs. Tallman, you’re a big, fat watermelon!’ All of a sudden, we hear those shoes hitting the wooden floor, clunk, clunk, clunk … She grabbed [the offender] by the ear and took him in.” The rest of the kids scrambled to the windows, Smith said. “Kids were standing on top of kids watching what was going on in there, watching him get a spanking.”

The Elmore School used to be called the Lake School. It shows up on town maps dating back to 1859. Built with stacked plank walls, the original building measured about 720 square feet. Around 1986, the “kitchen” (used mostly for storing school supplies and meeting with students in small groups) was added, bringing the square footage to 1,242. The exterior isn’t clapboard anymore. It’s got a green steel roof and white vinyl siding, but a former superintendent says when she wins Powerball, she’s going to put the wooden siding back on. There is no pot-bellied stove; the school is heated with oil. No outhouse, just a kids’ bathroom and an adult bathroom — both indoors — with a sink in between. The kids don’t write on slate tablets, though one of the blackboards is slate and it’s much smoother to write on and easier to erase than the other, newer blackboard. Students share 10 MacBook Airs and five iPads and store their work in the cloud. They blog.

The Elmore School has Wi-Fi, a new foundation and a security system with a camera that allows Anderson and Bellavance to see the playground and who is at the door, which is locked during the school day, a sad reality in 2019.

How has a one-room school managed to survive?

said singer and songwriter Jon Gailmor, whose three children went to Elmore in the ‘90s and early 2000s.

History of the school is scant. That may be partially due to the fact that this was one of several one-room schools in Elmore operating at the same time. Exactly how many sparked debate at the Elmore Store over the lunch hour one day

that, when he was there, kids in different grades took turns going to the front of the room for lessons with the teacher, but he learned the most sitting in the back, watching the other kids. He grew up to be a principal in Wolcott.

Recorded in no history book, but etched in 73-year-old Philip Smith’s memory is the story of the school’s brick

“I would say three things,” said Tracy Wrend, superintendent of the Lamoille South Unified Union School District, which runs the school. “One, an excellent teacher; two, strong community support; and three, tremendous partnership from the Morristown school district.”

Elmore kids go to kindergarten at Morristown Elementary School, five miles away in Morrisville, and then back to Morristown in fourth grade. The

MARY ANN LICKTEIG

Teacher Annamary Anderson preparing for the new school year

COURTESY OF THE ELMORE SCHOOL

Izzy Wills and the post office boxes she and other students decorated for Valentine’s Day

Jewel of a School

CONTINUED FROM P. 21

schools have collaborated for decades and have had aligned curricular expectations, policies and procedures — even a common report card format — to make the transitions as seamless as possible. They officially joined forces three years ago, when voters in Elmore and Morristown voted to merge their school districts. The issue, however, divided Elmore, tending to pit retirees against parents of young children. Those in favor of the merger saw it as a way to mitigate sharp increases in property taxes while keeping the Elmore School open, while those opposed lamented the loss of independence and of school choice for upper grades. Elmore families had been free to send their children to any public school for grades 7 through 12 as long as they provided transportation. Most chose Morristown schools, but the merger made that mandatory.

What no one saw coming was the State Board of Education’s decision to force the joint Elmore-Morristown district to merge with Stowe under the state’s district consolidation law, Act 46. The two school districts and the supervisory union encompassing them jointly appealed but lost in court. The merger took effect July 1. The newly created Lamoille South Unified Union School District has one board, one budget and seven schools.

What this means for the future of the smallest one is unclear. The Elmore School will stay open for at least four years — unless the people of Elmore decide otherwise — because the articles of agreement establishing the new district require that. After four years, it’s up to the voters in Stowe, Morristown and Elmore.

“It’s very clear that the Elmore community values the Elmore School and is committed to maintaining that,” Wrend said. The Morristown community “respects and appreciates that as well,” she said. “And beyond that, we are just in the beginning stages of redefining who we are as a community, at least as far as education is concerned.”

For now, the Elmore School is open. Anderson has decorated the welcome bulletin board and picked her theme for the year: Explode into our Dynamic Classroom! Students start each day making the Morning Loop, walking counterclockwise around the room to hang up their backpacks, put their homework

folders on Mrs. Bellavance’s table, check the job chart and Velcro their laminated photos to the attendance chart.

This is Anderson’s 20th year here. A Philadelphia native, she earned a master’s degree in early childhood education at Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan and spent the next nine years teaching in independent schools in New York City. She moved to Vermont in 1986, worked as the director of the Johnson State College Child Development Center for 13 years, and had been a kindergarten teacher and a first grade reading specialist at Morristown Elementary for one year when the Elmore job opened up.

“It’s a great place to work, I tell you,” Anderson said. The job was only sup-

posed to last for one year. Teacher Faith Boudreau was on maternity leave and planned to come back, but she found out she was pregnant again, so she gave up the job, had four children in all, started a preschool story hour and now volunteers as the Elmore School’s librarian.

Flexibility, both she and Anderson agree, is a huge advantage of a one-room school. “Time becomes an ally instead of a foe because you are completely in charge of your schedule,” Boudreau said. Said Anderson, “If my math class is going

a little bit longer, I’m not going to worry that I’m messing anybody else up.”

Anderson teaches nearly every subject, including music. She plays cello, recorder, piano and guitar. A dad, certified to teach physical education, volunteers twice a week; a Spanish teacher comes once a week from Morrisville; and a custodian cleans on the weekends. Anderson and Bellavance vacuum, sweep and clean bathrooms the other days. Students are occasionally bused to Morristown Elementary for assemblies. Any needed support — such

as help from specialists in math, reading, behavior, and speech and language pathology — comes from Morristown, too.

Mostly, though, Elmore is a one-stop shop. Kids can’t even be sent to the principal’s office. Instead, there’s a “time away” area in the block corner. There are no weekly faculty meetings and no workplace politics. “Not that I know of,” Anderson said, realizing she can’t speak for her assistant. “She may have some that I don’t know about.”

Lena Boudreau, 18, remembers what it felt like to leave Elmore for Morristown in fourth grade. Entering the bigger school — it now has 258 kids, including 60 in fourth grade — “was a shock, for sure,” she said. The summer before, “I decided I wanted to learn every single kid’s name in the whole school because I thought that would be a good idea. But, clearly that didn’t work.” She remembers her first week vividly, “walking up to random kids and saying, ‘Hi, I’m Lena. I came from Elmore School.’”

In June, she graduated from Peoples Academy in Morrisville ranked second in her class of 71. Class valedictorian Gabby White also attended the Elmore School. All of the Elmore graduates got together for a photo and to sing the Elmore School song, which Elmore students wrote with Gailmor’s help in 2003. Some of the grads were a little shaky on the verses, but they all remembered the chorus: “Like our lake, we shine. We’re strong as the hill behind. A rare and precious jewel, we’re the Elmore School!”

The Elmore School, Lena said, taught her that mastering skills allowed her to move to the next level. “You could push yourself as hard as you could because you didn’t necessarily have to do first grade math in first grade.” So, when she got to high school, “I just wanted to do as well as I could.” She didn’t feel compelled to compete with other students. “I was doing it for me.” She’s now a freshman at St. Lawrence University, planning to major in English on a pre-law track.

Her mom plans to remain working as the Elmore School librarian for many years to come. Asked if she thinks the school will remain open, Faith said, “I’m going to say yes. Because it should stay open. It’s a lovely beginning for students. It really, really is.” K

Annamary Anderson awaiting the start of her 20th year at the Elmore School MARY ANN LICKTEIG

COURTESY OF THE ELMORE SCHOOL

Students paint Elmore Mountain

I think they leave here with high self-esteem and the feeling that they matter and that they have a voice. And boy, that can take you far.

FORMER ELMORE SCHOOL PARENT JON GAILMOR

While our parents might have been able to pretend that marijuana didn’t exist when we were growing up — and avoid the discomfort of talking about it — if you’re raising kids in Vermont today, there’s no hiding your head in the sand. To date, 33 states, including Vermont, and the District of Columbia have passed medical marijuana laws. And since 2012, 10 states, including Vermont, and the District of Columbia have legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

With the widespread normalization of cannabis, even proponents of legalization might agree that the messages kids are getting can be confusing. Like no generation before, kids today are growing up in a society where cannabis is mainstream, uncolored by War on Drugs-era stigma. They are seeing cannabis as legal, safe and “medical.” They are also seeing it in an array of new forms — including vaping pens, edibles and beverages — that would make Bob Marley blush. At the same time, mounting evidence supports the idea that marijuana use by young people can impact learning and memory, exacerbate depression and anxiety, alter normal brain development, and increase the likelihood of addiction and other mental health issues in later life. All of which suggests that simply brushing pot off as “no big deal” is not quite A+ parenting.

Wherever you stand on the spectrum of 420-friendliness, you owe it to yourself and your kids to have some kind of conversation about weed. That means starting when they’re as young as 8 or 10 — or even younger if they’re asking questions — and keeping up the dialogue as they move into the critical high school years, when peer pressure peaks. (By 12th grade, about 40 percent of kids have tried pot at least once.) It won’t always be easy. But, experts in prevention say, it’s worth it.

“Young people do care what parents think, even though it frequently doesn’t feel that way,” says Marcia LaPlante, director of community services and planning at the Vermont Department of Health’s Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs. “It takes a lot of factors to help prevent early substance abuse among young people. Family and parents are a key piece of the puzzle.”

Here are some facts, expert opinions, and real-life stories to help inform the dialogue in your home.

C is for Cannabis

BY ADAM BLUESTEIN

of pot available is daunting. There’s so much more to try, and for parents to know.”

Even though fewer teens may be using cannabis in states where recreational sales are legal, they are increasingly consuming it in new formulations that concern experts because of their high potency, unpredictable effects and kidfriendly presentation. “It’s very commercialized here,” says Christian Thurstone, director of Behavioral Health Services at Denver Health and medical director of STEP, one of Colorado’s largest youth substance abuse treatment clinics. “We have gummy squares, cookies, candies, pizzas and brightly colored sweet sodas. Smokable marijuana buds, which used to be around 10 percent THC [the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana] are now routinely in the 20 percent range.” And concentrated cannabis extracts used for “dabbing” — heating them on a hot surface and inhaling the smoke — often test between 60 and 90 percent THC. Meaning, they can get you very high, very fast. In Colorado, where recreational sales began in 2014, the percentage of high school students who consumed cannabis edibles climbed from 2 percent in 2015 to about 10 percent in 2017, while those who dabbed increased from 4 percent to 7.5 percent.

EVERYBODY’S NOT DOING IT

Let’s start with some good news. Kids today aren’t as into drugs as they used to be. The most recent Monitoring the Future national survey on adolescent drug use, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and conducted by researchers at University of Michigan in 2018, found that the number of teens who reported using any drug — excluding marijuana and inhalants — in the past year continues to decrease. It’s now the lowest in the history of the 44-year-old survey of 8th, 10th and 12th graders.

When it comes to marijuana use among 8th graders, daily, past-month, past-year, and lifetime use all declined from five years earlier. Among 10th and 12th graders during that same period, past-year use was unchanged, holding steady at 30 percent among 10th graders and 38 percent for 12th graders, despite many states changing cannabis laws during this period.

What’s more, a 2019 study by

researchers from Montana State University, the University of Oregon, University of Colorado Denver, and San Diego State University found that in states with recreational marijuana laws, there was actually an 8 percent decrease in the likelihood of teens trying marijuana, as well as a 9 percent reduction in the odds of frequent marijuana use. The study’s authors suggest that it’s more difficult for teenagers to obtain marijuana in these states, as black-market drug dealers are replaced by licensed dispensaries that require proof that buyers are 21 or older.

But parents and addiction experts stress that these numbers don’t tell the whole story. Katherine Harang Hunter, a mother of three kids, ages 10 to 16, in Boulder, Colo., offers a snapshot of what Vermont could look like if legislators pass laws to allow retail sales here. “There’s a dispensary within a mile of wherever you are,” she says. “They’re more prevalent than liquor stores. Having so many kinds

Vaping — of nicotine and marijuana — is on the rise everywhere. In the 2018 Monitoring the Future survey, 7.5 percent of 12th graders in the U.S. said they vaped marijuana in the past month, more than a 50 percent one-year increase. Because a vape pen delivers a higher concentration of THC than a joint, it can be hard to properly gauge dosage.

Published studies show that kids who use a greater variety of cannabis products present more symptoms of cannabis use disorder, says Thurstone. And he has observed that toxicology screens of teens seeking substance abuse help routinely show higher THC levels than in the past.

“It’s really up to parents to talk about the differences between smoking and vaping and edibles,” says Harang Hunter, whose husband, a surgeon, sees an alarming number of vaping-related fungal infections, chemical burns and mouth sores. “My hope is that with a regulated environment, it will become more like alcohol, where the effects are really predictable. We’re not quite there yet with weed.”

Now that it’s legal, what do we tell our kids about marijuana?

MARIJUANA AND THE DEVELOPING BRAIN

Marijuana’s long-term effects on the brain and body are understudied and widely debated. But research suggests that, in addition to common short-term side effects of memory loss, impaired judgment, and mood changes, up to 30 percent of people who use marijuana may develop some kind of substance-use disorder, meaning they are unable to stop using despite a negative impact on their health, work or social life. Those who start using before age 18 are four to seven times more likely than adults to develop a marijuana-use disorder.

Teenagers today may be less aware of these hazards than they were in the past. The Monitoring the Future survey found that only one in four 12th graders think that regular marijuana use poses a great risk, versus about half of 12th graders who thought so 20 years earlier. But the idea that “a little bit, now and then, is fine” was challenged by a recent study by University of Vermont researchers, published in the Journal of Neuroscience in January 2019, which showed that even very limited exposure to marijuana could impact brain development. Studying MRI scans of 14-year-olds who reported smoking pot just once or twice, they found a significant increase in gray matter volume in the amygdala and hippocampus, which regulate emotion and memory, and in other regions of the brain, compared to peers who never consumed. The large effect from such a small dose was surprising. But UVM Professor of Psychiatry Hugh Garavan, the study’s coauthor, says that more research is needed to understand exactly how cannabis causes these brain changes — and what they might predict about future use and problem use.

The effect of the increase in gray matter isn’t yet clear, either. On one hand, it’s the opposite of what you would expect in the normal brain maturation process. “Usually, you would be losing gray matter volume at this age,” Garavan says, in a process called pruning, which strengthens remaining brain connections. On the other hand, he says, “it could be that the activation of cannabis receptors in these parts of the brain is leading to the growth of new neurons.”

While hesitant to draw any hasty, unscientific conclusions, Garavan, a father of two teens (who “of course, don’t

do anything wrong”) says, “There’s a good amount of converging evidence, from animals and human studies, that cannabis — like other drugs — might be more problematic for maturing teen brains than for adult brains. A prudent approach would be to be very cautious.”

Cautious isn’t a word you typically associate with adolescents, though. In fact, sensation seeking, the attraction to new and exciting experiences, peaks during adolescence. Sensation seeking supports the acquisition of new experiences that help the brain develop. At the same time, the UVM study also found that measures of sensation seeking were higher among the teens who had experimented with marijuana than among their peers who abstained. Given all that, what can you say that might encourage your kid to make good choices about cannabis — if not sticking to the straight and narrow, at least being relatively safe?

PROCEED WITH CAUTION

“We don’t encourage ‘The Talk’” says LaPlante, from the Vermont Department of Health. “It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. Do not call a ‘family meeting’ to talk about pot.”

Instead, starting when kids are in elementary school, she suggests, “use naturally occurring opportunities to talk about it. Here in Vermont, there’s a lot of talk about cannabis — you hear about it, see signage — and there are a lot of TV shows that make jokes about marijuana, which they may or may not understand.”

Regardless of their age, LaPlante recommends letting kids take the lead.

“Ask them to tell you what they know,” she says. (The Department of Health’s ParentUpVT.org website offers tips for talking with kids at different ages, and a “Marijuana Talk Kit,” which offers sample “scripts” for handling common kid and teen questions and arguments: “But it’s natural!” “But it’s legal!”) Keep things simple with young kids, for example: “Some people use marijuana for medicine, but it is harmful for kids.” As a child gets older, LaPlante says, you can get more specific about health effects,

and problems with different consumption methods, like edibles, which take longer to give users a “high,” often leading users to consume too much.

Even if you’re trying to steer them toward abstaining entirely, “scare tactics are shown not to work,” says Thurstone, the Denver psychiatrist. “So take that off the table.” With kids in middle school and high school, LaPlante suggests framing discussions about substance use in the context of larger life goals, talking about how drugs could get in the way and limit their future options.

Remember, your goal as a parent should be to keep lines of communication open, which is also the goal of the Safety First curriculum developed by the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance and being piloted with 9th and 10th graders at several schools in New York City and

she says. “But we still do that in the drug conversation.”

Simon says that drug-related harms for teens generally break down into four major areas: physical, academic, social-emotional and legal. Practically, if teens are going to use, Simon says, they should know what they’re getting into. Encourage them to learn what they’re putting into their body, and particularly to avoid edibles and vaping cartridges from unknown sources, whose potency and purity are impossible to gauge. (One advantage of licensed dispensaries over the black market is that products are tested and clearly labeled.) Discourage mixing cannabis with alcohol or other drugs, and advocate a try-a-little-andwait approach to consumption. And be super clear about driving under the influence — car accidents are the leading cause of death for teens. “If you smoke, you should wait three hours before driving,” says Thurstone. “With edibles, the party line is to wait four hours, but individual responses are very different.”

Parents can also help kids to be mindful of context — conveying why it’s not a good idea to get high with random strangers, or to blatantly consume in public. You should also point out that advertising their drug use on social media could get them in trouble at school — and worse.

San Francisco. Rather than promoting “abstinence — or else,” the curriculum emphasizes harm reduction, providing kids with accurate information to help them make safer, healthier choices. It’s based in part on a sex education model, says program manager Sasha Simon. “When we’re teaching kids about sex, we know we shouldn’t shame them,”

One thing that can get lost in policy discussions about cannabis is that, even in states with recreational sales, the purchase, possession and consumption of cannabis by anyone under age 21 is illegal (with some rare medical exceptions). But the punishment for getting caught varies widely. Kids should familiarize themselves with specific drug policies in their states and cities. (In Vermont, it’s worth emphasizing the dangers of bringing weed across the border from Canada, where it is federally legal, to the U.S., where it is not.) If they’re going off to college out of state, make sure they appreciate that drug policies might differ there.

Scare tactics are shown not to work. So take that off the table.

DENVER PSYCHIATRIST CHRISTIAN THURSTONE

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LEADING BY EXAMPLE

In talking with teens, says Thurstone, “nothing is more powerful than a warm, positive, loving relationship with one’s teenager. It’s also pretty clear that kids and parents do better when there are clear expectations around substance use — what you will and won’t tolerate. That’s a tricky line to navigate.” It can be especially so if you use cannabis yourself.

In surveys of parents who use marijuana, Thurstone has found “broad agreement that they didn’t want their kids to use it.” Some of them, he says, kept their use hidden. Others were very open about it, saying, “I use, but I don’t want you to.” Says Thurstone: “I don’t think we have the data to say which is the better way.”

For some people, there’s just no way around the conversation. “I smell like it every day when I walk home,” says Amy Bacon, culinary director at the Champlain Valley Dispensary headquarters, where she oversees production of cannabis edibles sold to qualified medical customers. With her three kids, ages 11 to 17, “I try to normalize it,” she says. “Our discussions about cannabis are about ‘Mom’s work,’ about the legitimate reasons people use it, and ‘Please don’t eat an edible!’” Since she’s kind of a local canna-celebrity, her kids end up fielding a lot of questions at school, she says. And they’ve even become advocates. “When my youngest son was in third grade and their teacher told them that all drugs are bad, he raised his hand and said, ‘That’s not true — my mom makes healthy marijuana!’”

While working to destigmatize cannabis in society, Bacon still hedges a bit when it comes to her kids. When her daughter found her husband’s vape pen in the house recently, Bacon explained that it was “an herbal blend that helps you to sleep.” Which was not technically untrue. (If your line is that you use cannabis to relax sometimes, make sure your kids also see that you have other ways of unwinding, advises LaPlante.)

Emily, a mother of two “super conservative” teenage girls in New

Hampshire who asked that her name be changed to protect her privacy, has “age-appropriate” conversations with them about drugs and alcohol, with an emphasis on safety. On the subject of her own consumption — a couple of vape hits “more or less every night in my bedroom”— she says, “I’m very vague. They know I believe it should be legal, and that I do it from time to time.” But in her conservative town, knowing she used cannabis, she says, “would definitely change the way people thought about me. It’s not something I’d admit to most people.”

Whether or not you use, just like with alcohol or tobacco, you need to establish house rules about pot, making it clear what you will and won’t tolerate. Daly Richards, a single mother in the Bay Area, smokes occasionally at home and knows that her 17-year-old daughter sometimes smokes with friends. There’s a strict rule against other kids getting high in the house, though. “I don’t want to be liable for anything that goes wrong with other kids,” Richards says.

If you do consume, make sure you’re not inadvertently sharing your stash. “For parents who use, keeping cannabis well secured is a very wise idea,” says Thurstone. “The most common place for kids to get alcohol and cigarettes is from home”— and there’s no reason to think that weed should be any different.

You might also want to keep in mind that seeing messed-up grownups is a turnoff for the majority of teens. In the Monitoring the Future survey, nearly 70 percent of 12th graders said they disapprove of adults smoking marijuana regularly.

In some ways, having it all out in the open, giving kids a chance to form their own judgments, may be one of the big benefits of legalization. Says Harang Hunter in Boulder: “My kids see that it’s not taboo — it’s not rebelling to use it. They just think it’s stupid and smells bad, and costs a lot of money that they’d rather use for other things.”

So, put that in your pipe, and … well, you know. K

FALL 2019

We don’t encourage ‘The Talk.’ It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. Do not call a ‘family meeting’ to talk about pot.

MARCIA LAPLANTE, VT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

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Tech with a Human Touch

BY ALISON NOVAK

In this virtual age, let’s sink our hands into what is real.

In this age of light-speed communication, let’s learn how to use our inner voices.

In this age of increasingly powerful machines, let’s learn to use the incredible powers within.

Once a week, middle schoolers at Lake Champlain Waldorf School in Shelburne recite these words, adapted from an article by education professor Lowell Monke, before their Cyber Civics class. Verses like these, learned by heart through repetition and delivered in unison, are a common way to begin and end classes at the independent

preK-8 school, says sixth-grade teacher Rebekah Hopkinson, who began teaching Cyber Civics last school year. The words act to orient students to the work at hand, ground and focus them, and tap into their inner lives.

At first, it may seem incongruous that a class focused on technology begins with such a decidedly heartfelt and low-tech sentiment. However, that would be to miss what’s at the core of Cyber Civics. Developed in 2010 by Diana Graber, a California Waldorf charter school parent with a master’s degree in media psychology and social change, the three-year middle school curriculum posits that the most important digital literacy skills are, in fact, social and behavioral skills.

During the curriculum’s first year, which can be taught entirely without technology, students mull over thorny questions like how their online actions impact the reputations of others, why the attributes of online communication may contribute to inappropriate or bullying behavior, and what to do if they witness or become the target of online hate speech. In the second year, students learn how to find, retrieve, analyze and use online information. And in year three, the focus is on media literacy and how to use critical thinking skills to evaluate media messages.

The curriculum’s focus on social and behavioral skills as the foundation for media skills is in line with the Waldorf

philosophy, said Hopkinson. Of the 300 schools across the country and abroad currently using Cyber Civics, 130 are Waldorf schools — including one other in Vermont, Upper Valley Waldorf School in Quechee.

Founded by artist and scientist Rudolf Steiner in the early 20th century, Waldorf education aims to help students cultivate their intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual sides through a strong focus on classical academics and the arts. Students study Greek and Norse myths and medieval history and take part in regular handwork lessons, where they learn skills like knitting, weaving and crocheting. In Waldorf schools, computers and digital technology are virtually

Cyber Civics teaches middle schoolers to think critically and ethically about the digital world

Lake Champlain Waldorf School students Maggie Goff, Sebastien Mateo Baker-Djele and Juliette Macon (left to right), during a Cyber Civics lesson last school year

Back to School School Issue

absent from the elementary school curriculum. And Waldorf schools suggest that families limit technology use at home as well. Even so, said Hopkinson, the omnipresence of technology is an undeniable reality, and it’s important for schools to address it.

She harkened back to the words of Steiner, who said it’s the job of the Waldorf teacher to teach the children of today. “And so it’s our duty to have the spiritual courage to shift and to change with the times,” she said.

She recalled a pair of lessons last school year in which students were asked to examine their “digital diet.” For 24 hours, they tracked how they spent time on a weekend day, breaking it down into categories like physical activity, sleep, eating, television, gaming and iPhone use. Subsequently, students went “cold turkey” with technology for 24 hours. In reflecting on the experience, many expressed that it was easy for them to control their own behaviors around technology, but more di cult to avoid screens in their daily lives. “‘I couldn’t get away from it, even though I really tried,’” she recalled them telling her. “That was really revealing.” It also hammered home the point, she added, that, “Unless you remove yourself from society, this is not a choice.”

Cory Waletzko, who has been teaching Cyber Civics at the Upper Valley Waldorf School for two years, put it this way: “Digital technology is such an enormous part of our changing world. We would be remiss as a school to not be having students talking about this technology and the impact it can have on our lives.”

The curriculum begins with a unit that puts digital technology on the timeline of human history, enabling middle schoolers to see that it’s just another human tool that has both benefits and drawbacks, like trains or televisions, for example. When students are introduced to the concept of digital citizenship, discussions center around what it means to be a citizen in any group, whether it’s a soccer team or a church or an online community. In these ways, it aligns well with the Waldorf concept of developing an understanding of the big picture before moving to the particulars, said Waletzko.

Last May, Hopkinson led her sixth graders in a Cyber Civics lesson called “A-Okay or No Way,” part of a unit that tackled online identity, the risks associated with sharing personal information online and hate speech. According to the curriculum, the lesson was designed to get students to start thinking about the balancing act between sharing aspects of

their identity and maintaining their privacy.

Hopkinson launched into the lesson by asking the class, “What is a selfie?”

“It’s a funny take on yourself,” one student replied.

“Is it something new?” continued Hopkinson.

It’s about five to 10 years old, a student guessed, adding that people have been making self-portraits for a long time. The class talked for a minute about a few self-portraits they’d seen previously by Vincent Van Gogh, M.C. Escher and Frida Kahlo, and what the images revealed about the artists.

Then Hopkinson bridged the past to the present with a question: “How can posting personal information online impact your digital reputation?” Students volunteered di erent scenarios gleaned from previous lessons. If a friend tagged you in a video in which you were toilet-papering a house, that would be bad for your digital reputation. But if a friend tagged you in a photo in which you were doing community service or participating in a rally, that could bolster it.

After watching a short video that underlined the point that online privacy can be a ected by others, the class did a short exercise where they had to decide for themselves whether di erent scenarios were acceptable by moving to signs around the room labeled “A-Okay,” “No Way!” and “Maybe.”

“Mike” uploading a photo of his dog on his social media account was met with a resounding “A-Okay,” while “Laurie” using her mom’s login and credit card number to order a dress without permission got a unanimous “No Way!” Other scenarios were murkier, and spurred discussion. Faced with a situation in which “Joe” made online videos, posted them on a site and, when no one liked them, opened a fake account to like and comment on them, the group disagreed. It’s dishonest, several students said. But, said one boy, “it’s not like you’re harming others.”

No definitive agreement was reached which, it seemed, was just what the lesson aimed to teach. After all, said Hopkinson, one of her main goals is to help students understand what they encounter online, to be aware of the risks and to weigh them against the rewards.

“The conversations my students have around ethical considerations in digital spaces reveal that most kids want to do the right thing,” Hopkinson said. “But the right thing isn’t always clear.” Cyber Civics allows students to grapple with

PARENT POINTERS

In her 2019 book Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology, author and educator Diana Graber — creator of the Cyber Civics curriculum — gives parents practical tips for helping children navigate the increasingly online world. Here are a few of the key takeaways from her book.

• Graber cites researcher Alexandra Samuel, who suggests there are three types of digital parents. The digital limiter is focused on minimizing their children’s use of technology; the digital enabler trusts their children to make their own decisions online; the digital mentor plays an active role in guiding their kids onto the internet. Samuel found that the children of digital limiters were twice as likely to access pornography and post rude or hostile online comments than children of digital mentors. If adults don’t act as technology mentors, Graber asserts, “kids will be left trying to figure out vast digital spaces without the adult role models or guides they need. Or, even worse, when they do find access to technology, they may binge on the forbidden fruit they were shielded from.”

• When using your smartphone or tablet around young children, narrate your actions in real time, Graber says. For example, “I’m not sure what to make for dinner tonight, so let’s look for a yummy recipe together,” or “The zoo is so much fun! Can I take a picture of you, so we can look at it later to remember what a good time we had together?” Not only does this help kids understand what technology is used for, “it reminds you that you may be using it more than you need to.”

these issues from an ethical and critical standpoint in class, before they’re faced with decisions online, so that they can interact with media in positive ways.

It’s not just kids who are grappling with issues around technology use. Hopkinson said that a primary reason the school decided to introduce this curriculum was because parents were regularly asking for support when it

• Empathy, Graber asserts, is a critical skill that young people need to navigate their online social lives. But how do parents raise empathetic kids in a world in which digital communication — with its “lack of eye contact, facial expression, human touch and voice intonation” — is ubiquitous? Graber shares insights from educational psychologist Michele Borba, who recommends a host of actions parents can take to foster empathy, including setting up digitally unplugged family time: teaching kids to look into others’ eyes; reading books and seeing movies that are emotionally charged; and connecting emotionally with your children during mealtimes, bedtime and car rides.

• Graber suggests creating developmentally appropriate “digital on-ramps” to introduce children to technology slowly and thoughtfully. These focus on the meaningful, productive and creative uses of technology in order to foster positive lifelong tech habits. Some of these on-ramps include:

-For ages 0 to 2, videoconferencing with a loved one while your child sits on your lap.

-For ages 3 to 6, sending texts and photos together to relatives and friends.

-For ages 7 to 9, using creative apps, like a digital sketchbook, together or keeping a digital journal while on a family trip.

-For ages 10 to 12, showing your kids how to download and read e-books and music, or doing school research together.

came to managing their kids’ technology use. “Parents don’t know where to start because it’s such an overwhelming topic, and I think parents themselves are feeling overwhelmed and addicted,” she said.

Last year, while teaching the curriculum, Hopkinson held several informational evenings for parents to explain

Diana Graber

ART MUSIC THEATRE MOVEMENT

both the curriculum and the content of Graber’s book. “What seems to rise to the surface during these meetings is, ‘How can I set limits for my child when I, myself, am still trying to figure out my relationship with my phone?’” she said.

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She believes that Cyber Civics gives parents the opportunity to reflect on their own relationship with technology. “I think that, in the teaching of kids — because parents are so invested in their children forming healthy habits — there’s the opportunity to examine their own,” she said, “so that parents can be more conscious of their own behavior, so they’re actually modeling what digital citizenship could look like.”

Waletzko of Upper Valley Waldorf School recalled the experience of students going without technology for 24 hours. Some of the adults in their lives also opted to go tech-free for a day. The experience showed her students that “adults around them are striving, just as they are.” And families shared with her that “they were able to reconnect with each other” after doing the exercise together.

as a parent. After a year of the curriculum, she’s confident that her daughter has already begun to develop skills that will help her understand the impact of her digital footprint and how she behaves online.

“I trust she will be going into this with understanding,” Brennan said, “and know that she can navigate it better now.”

As a parent of a 3-year-old son herself, Hopkinson says teaching this curriculum has made her less scared and restrictive about using technology around him. She sees herself as a digital mentor and frequently employs a technique Graber suggests. When using her phone, she narrates her actions aloud so her son can see how technology can be used to do productive things, like find recipes.

“And when I am mindlessly checking out, scrolling through my news feed, that is a check for myself, so that’s been a very useful tool,” she said. With Cyber Civics, she hopes to empower her students, not only to understand what they’re presented with when they visit a website, sign up for a social media platform or communicate with

Say you saw it in

Amy Brennan is the parent of a 13-year-old daughter in Hopkinson’s class, as well as a 9-year-old and 4-year-old who attend Lake Champlain Waldorf School. She said she felt “excited and relieved” when she learned at the beginning of last year that the school would begin using Cyber Civics. She described her generation of parents as “the guinea pigs” and the first to understand “how impactful this technology can be,” both in positive and negative ways. Having educators who are helping to give kids a sense of responsibility around technology makes her feel supported

someone online, but to create their own social norms around technology.

Right now, she said, we can go to a live theater performance and see people on their phones, or go to the grocery store and see young children staring at screens while riding in shopping carts.

“Maybe those are the norms we want to see, but it’s going to be up to this generation to decide that,” she said.

“I think that if their consciousness is raised to where they feel that they can shape the future of digital technology, that would be a success.” K

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the University of Vermont Medical Center on Facebook and get

Families produce big prints with heavy machinery at the Helen Day Art Center’s STEAMROLLER PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP. Saturday, September 14, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Sushi Yoshi in Stowe.

Week to Week

SUN

SEPT

TAM Trek: Runners lace up to raise funds to support the Trail Around Middlebury, in a 10K, a 19-mile course and a 2-mile family fun run at 10 a.m. Refreshments and festivities greet finishers. 7 a.m.-noon, Wright Park, Middlebury.

20

Sesame Street Live!: Young fans of this television show have fun shaking it up with Cookie Monster and company. 2 p.m. & 6 p.m., Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington.

1 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: Moms, dads and children have fun with free court time and use of equipment. Open to all experience levels. Middlebury Indoor Tennis, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Info, 388-3733. FREE

Soldiers Atop the Mount: During this living history weekend, reenactors honor the 1776-1777 history with an interactive Baldwin Trail Walkabout for visitors on Saturday, a Sunday reading of the Declaration of Independence, and camp life and skill demonstrations. Mount Independence State Historic Site, Orwell, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., $6; free for children under 15. Info, 948-2000.

CHITTENDEN

Art Play Day: Little ones and caregivers drop in and get messy with multiple materials to spark imagination. Ages 18 months to 5 years with caregiver. Radiate Art Space, Richmond, 10-11:30 a.m., $5 per child; $8 max per family; $40 for a 10-visit punch card. Info, 324-9938. Essex Open Gym: Energy-filled kids flip, jump and tumble in a state-of-the-art facility. Ages 6 and under, 1 p.m.; ages 7-12, 2:30 p.m.; ages 13 and up, 4 p.m. Regal Gymnastics Academy, Essex, 1-5:30 p.m., $8-14 per child. Info, 655-3300.

Family Gym: Indoor playground equipment provides tiny tumblers a chance to run free. Ages 7 and under with caregivers. Greater Burlington YMCA, 10:15-11:45 a.m., $5-12; $15 per family. Info, 862-9622.

Winooski Farmers Market: Local produce, farm goods, artisan crafts, kids’ activities and tunes come together on the banks of the Winooski River. Champlain Mill, Winooski, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, downtownwinooski.org. .

LAMOILLE

Stowe Farmers Market: Agricultural and craft vendors and live music make for a bustling atmosphere. Stowe Farmers Market, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Info, 472-8027.

2 Monday Labor Day

3 Tuesday CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: Fledgling architects assemble creations collaboratively with colorful blocks. Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick, 3-5 p.m. Info, 472-5948. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: Kids on their way home from school stop in the library for rotating relaxing activities. See williston.lib.vt.us for specific info. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 2-3 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Auditions for Adult Roles for Lyric Theatre Company: Aspiring thespians ages 16 and up try out for creepy and kooky roles in The Addams Family song and dance November production. Details at lyrictheatrevt.org. Lyric Creative Space, South Burlington, 5:45-10:15 p.m., preregistration required by 6:15 p.m. Info, 324-3651.

FREE

Lego Fun: Budding builders bring out the blocks. Children under age 9 must be accompanied by a responsible caregiver. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-4 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Old North End Farmers Market: Fresh fruit and veggies, breads and baked goods, prepared foods, pickles, and more draw a crowd. Dewey Park, Burlington, 3-6:30 p.m. Info, 324-3073.

Tinker Tuesdays: Kids investigate what makes technology tick by taking apart objects and designing new creations. Use the library’s materials or bring in computers, keyboards or other old electronics. Winooski Memorial Library, 3:30-5 p.m. Info, 655-6424. FREE

Classes

List your class or camp here for only $20 per month! Submit the listing by September 15 at kidsvt.com or to classes@kidsvt.com.

Build Your Own Skate Deck: Ages 9-12. Wednesdays, 6 weeks, 3:30-5:30 p.m.,  9/18-10/23. $335 ($95 material fee included). Have you ever thought your child should put down their iPad and pick up a hand plane? Do you wish your child could safely learn the basics of timeless crafts in a stateof-the-art woodshop? Then this class was designed for you and your family! Under the close supervision of a woodworking professional, your child will be guided through the creation of their own skateboard including training on how to safely use hand tools and select power tools. The class also includes paints, aniline dyes, and custom made Generator vinyl stickers. Wheels, trucks and bearings included. Location: Generator Makerspace, 40 Sears Lane, Burlington. Info, generatorvt.com, 540-0761, education@ generatorvt.com.

Metal / Jewelry: Ages 9-12. Wednesdays, 6 weeks,  3:30-5:30 p.m., 9/18-10/23. $255 ($15 material fee included). Have you ever wondered how metal jewelry is made?  Have you ever wanted to make your own pieces of metal jewelry or small sculptures? You will learn techniques for sawing, filing, sizing rings, and experimenting with applying textures to metal and the rolling mill. Learn to use the torch to solder your pieces together.  From jewelry to small sculpture this class is all about having fun being creative and mastering the skills you need to make projects of your own design. Location: Generator Makerspace, 40 Sears Lane, Burlington. Info, generatorvt.com, 540-0761, education@generatorvt.com.

Woodshop: Make a Stool: Ages 9-12. Wednesdays, 6 weeks,  3:30-5:30 p.m., 11/612/18 (no class 11/27). $255 ($15 material fee included). Build your own stool ... then, sit down and relax!  Create your own step stool for your bedroom or a space needing a seat.  Under close supervision of a woodworking professional, your child will be guided through the creation of their own stool or chair including training on how to safely use hand tools and select power tools. Students will get the chance to use a table saw, jig saw, and orbital sander to build their hardwood creation.  Students will design their own seat and leave with the amazing piece of work. Location: Generator Makerspace, 40 Sears Lane, Burlington. Info, generatorvt.com, 540-0761, education@ generatorvt.com.

Tuesday Night Trail Running Series: Athletes of all ages and abilities choose between 2.5K and 5K courses or a short “cubs” race — with a 10K option on the second Tuesday of each month — during this fun evening race. Catamount Outdoor Family Center, Williston, 5:30-8 p.m., $10; free for children under 18. Info, 879-6001.

Sculptural Lantern Making: Ages 9-12. Wednesdays, 6 weeks,  3:30-5:30 p.m., 11/6-12/18 (no class 11/27). $255 ($15 material fee included). Do you need a light for your room? Not only will you learn Illustrator,  Photoshop and the laser machine... you will create a lantern with a silhouette of your choice which will be illuminated when the light is on! Choose a lantern shape and utilize mold making techniques to craft the outer shell. Learn digital design using Illustrator & Photoshop to create silhouettes for the inside of the lantern. Next you will learn to use the laser cutter to cut the silhouettes for your lantern.  Once the pieces have been laser cut, you will assemble and hand stitch everything together to create your own illuminated sculpture! Location: Generator Makerspace, 40 Sears Lane, Burlington. Info, generatorvt.com, 540-0761, education@ generatorvt.com.

Halloween!! Make a Mask That Lights Up: Saturday,  10 a.m.-1 p.m., 10/19. $50. By pairing conductive thread with sewable LEDs and a small battery, curious kids can add a flash of color and light to a piece of ordinary fabric. In this class, participants will use laser-cut felt to create a personalized wearable that lights up even the spookiest Halloween night. Don’t worry if you don’t yet understand how a circuit works; you’ll learn! Children under 8 years old must be accompanied by an adult. Location: Generator Makerspace, 40 Sears Lane, Burlington. Info, generatorvt.com, 540-0761, education@generatorvt.com.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: The future of our nation lies in the courage, confidence and determination of its people. Our Kids BJJ Program promotes self-esteem, selfconfidence, character development and a physical outlet with discipline, cooperation with other children, respect for peers and adults, perseverance and a healthy lifestyle. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will help your kids to learn realistic bullyproofing and self-defense skills that they can use for the rest of their lives! Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu builds endurance, patience and self-respect. Give your kids the ability to get stronger, gain confidence and build resilience! Our sole purpose is to help empower people by giving them practices they can carry with them throughout life. Remember you are raising children, not flowers. First class is free! Please stop by our school at 55 Leroy Rd., Williston; call 598-2839; visit vermontbjj.com or email julio@bjjusa.com to register your son or daughter!

FRANKLIN

Adoption Support Group: Families facing adoption issues and challenges join forces in a respectful setting. All welcome. Franklin County Seniors Center, St. Albans, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Info, 524-1700. FREE

4 Wednesday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: Crafts, cheeses, breads, veggies, eggs and more vie for spots in shoppers’ totes. Middlebury VFW, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

CHITTENDEN

Auditions for Adult Roles for Lyric Theatre Company: See September 3.

Cub Scout Adventure Night & Open House: Cub Scout Pack 607 invites families with both boys and girls to meet local volunteers to check out opportunities — camping, building campfires, playing games, learning leadership and many more ways to have fun. Grades K-5. Shelburne Community School, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Info, 922-4445. FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: New mamas tote their pre-crawling kids to an all-levels flowing yoga class focused on bringing the body back to strength and alignment in a relaxed and nurturing environment. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga, Essex Junction, 10:45 a.m., $17; $120-140 for a 10-class pass; childcare for ages 6 months-6 years available. Info, 899-0339.

Yoga for Kids: Young yogis stretch to the sky with professional instructor Melissa from Evolution Yoga. Ages 2-5. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:45 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: Local vendors peddle farm-fresh produce and fruits, handcrafted breads, artisan cheese, and more at this large outdoor emporium. Depot Park, Rutland, 3-6 p.m. Info, 342-4727.

WASHINGTON

Lego Challenge: Budding builders spread out the plastic blocks in an imaginative outer space project. Ages 6-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

Woodstock Market on the Green: Fresh vegetables, farm eggs, local meats and cheeses, cut flowers, and seasonal fruits and berries represent the best of the growing season, with the accompaniment of live music. Woodstock Village Green, 3-6 p.m. Info, 457-3555.

5 Thursday

ADDISON

Vergennes Farmers Market: Shoppers peruse local produce, crafts and prepared foods while listening to live music. Vergennes City Park, 3-6:30 p.m. Info, 233-9180.

CALEDONIA

Knitting for Kids: Small crafters learn simple skills with Hazen Union High School student Audrey Grant. Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick, 3-4 p.m., RSVP if yarn and needles needed. Info, 472-5948. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Auditions for Adult Roles for Lyric Theatre Company: See September 3.

SEPTEMBER CALENDAR

Bilingual Spanish Story Time: Library patrons of all ages soak in stories in two languages. Milton Public Library, 6:30-7:15 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Colchester Lego Club: Mini-makers participate in surprise challenges with interlocking toys. Ages 6-10. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Jericho Farmers Market: Local growers offer heirloom tomatoes, fresh greens, fragrant herbs, wildflowers and more at this family-friendly market made merry with live music. Mills Riverside Park, Jericho, 3-6:30 p.m.

Seasonal Events

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: Cotton-candy fun and carny curiosities collide at the state’s largest fair, complete with midway rides, daily parades and live entertainment. Midway opens at 11 a.m. Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Junction, THROUGH SEP. 1, $5-12; free for children under 5; 25% off advance discount tickets available at Price Chopper Stores; ride bracelets $35; additional tickets required for grandstand concerts. Info, 878-5545.

EAT UP AT THE GREEN: Live music, a playground, food trucks and libations make for a merry summer evening. Camp Meade, Middlesex, SUNDAYS, 4-9 P.M., THROUGH SEP. 15. Info, 496-2108. FREE

MAD RIVER VALLEY CRAFT FAIR: 110 juried artisans present their handcrafted wares under a sprawling outdoor tent with four bands, free smartphone photography workshops with Elena Kendall-Aranda at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and children’s activities. Kenyon’s Field, Waitsfield, SATURDAY, AUG. 31, 10 A.M.-5 P.M. AND SUNDAY, SEP. 1, 10 A.M.-5 P.M. $5; free for children under 13; benefits Valley Players Theater. Info, 496-4420.

FREE FIRST FRIDAY EVE: Live music, picnicking, lawn games, food trucks and special programs make for an enchanting summer evening at the museum. Shelburne Museum, FIRST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 5-7:30 P.M., THROUGH SEP. 6. Info, 985-3346. FREE

GLORY DAYS FESTIVAL: This annual familyoriented shindig fêtes the town’s choo-choo history with children’s entertainment, a model train show, a Lego exhibit, a mini steam engine and more. Green Mountain Train Excursion rides; check website for specific times. Downtown, White River Junction, SATURDAY, SEP. 7, 10 A.M.-4 P.M., fee for train excursion. Info, 295-5036. FREE KIDS HOP: This kid-friendly complement to SEABA’s South End Art Hop offers creative opportunities including children’s crafts and various demonstrations. See seaba.com for more events and locations. SEABA Tent, Burlington, SATURDAY, SEP. 7, 10 A.M.-2 P.M. Info, 859-9222. FREE

Milton Farmers Market: Farmers, foodies and crafters come together to celebrate the bounty of the growing season. Hannaford Supermarket, Milton, 3:30-7 p.m. Info, 893-1009.

Williston Preschool Music: Lively tunes with local musicians strike the right note among the wee crowd. Ages 5 and under with a caregiver. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30 a.m., limited to one session per week per family. Info, 878-4918.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: Kiddie constructionists combine their imagination with the library’s supplies. Haston Library, Franklin, 2-5 p.m. Info, 285-6505.

LAMOILLE

Pre-K Art Play: Toddlers drop in and create personal projects with diverse art supplies. Ages 1-4; caregiver required. Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, 10-11 a.m., $5. Info, 253-8358.

6 Friday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Farmers Market: Local produce, plants, artisan cheese, diverse dinner fare and more fill shoppers’ market baskets. Atkins Field, Hardwick, 3-6 p.m. Info, 832-498-4734.

BRISTOL HARVEST FESTIVAL: Leaf peepers browse through 70 crafters and vendors, with live music, children’s activities and pony rides, food and more. Bristol Town Green, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, 10 A.M.-4 P.M. Info, 388-7951. FREE

BURKE FALL FESTIVAL: Families fall in love with autumn during daylong festivities including a parade at 10 a.m., a rubber duck race at 1 p.m., bounce houses, horse-drawn wagon rides, a farm animal petting zoo and a live raptor show from Vermont Institute of Natural Science at 11 a.m. Village Green, East Burke, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, 9 A.M. Info, 626-4124.

FREE

THE TUNBRIDGE WORLD’S FAIR: This oldfashioned farm-centric extravaganza boasts a nineteenth-century village main street, pig races, music and livestock shows. Thursday, September 12, features ‘Agricultural Education Day.’ Tunbridge Fairgrounds, THURSDAY, SEP. 12, 8 A.M.-9 P.M., FRIDAY, SEP. 13, 7 A.M.-9 P.M., SATURDAY, SEP. 14, 7 A.M.-10 P.M. AND SUNDAY, SEP. 15, 8 A.M.-6 P.M., $10-15; $35 season pass; free for children under 12; additional charge for midway rides. Info, 889-5555.

COLORS OF THE KINGDOM FESTIVAL: Fall family fun sets the seasonal scene with a parade, a Bluegrass Festival, train rides, kids’ activities, live music, free shows at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium and more. Downtown St. Johnsbury, SATURDAY, SEP. 14, 8 A.M.-5 P.M. fees for some events. Info, 748-3678.

NEWPORT’S FRIDAY NIGHT SHUFFLE: The community comes out for a downtown stroll to enjoy live music, art exhibits and specials at local eateries. Various locations, Newport, SATURDAY, SEP. 14, 5-8:30 P.M. Info, 988-2611.

HARVEST FESTIVAL: Celebrate autumnal abundance in style with children’s activities, horse-drawn hayrides, fall foods, musicians on multiple stages, and traditional artisans sharing their skills and crafts, including the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association. Shelburne Farms, SATURDAY, SEP. 21, 10 A.M.-4 P.M., $5-10; free for members and children under 3. Info, 985-8686.

HOEDOWN AND SHOWDOWN FOR MAGGIE’S BRIGHTSIDE: Barn stomping fun gets festive feet moving to live music and dancing, with games, a silent auction, old-timey eats and treats and more in this fundraiser to offer free services for Vermonters living with cancer. Mansfield Barn, Jericho, SUNDAY, SEP. 22, 1-5 P.M., $15-30; preregister. Info, 222-0944.

THE FAIRY HOUSE FESTIVAL: Visitors delight in small structures made of acorn caps, soft moss and lichens, birch bark, and pinecones, then create their own petite dwellings in the gardens, with more magic including face painting, music, bubbles and crafts. Picnicking encouraged. The Nature Museum at Grafton, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, 10 A.M.-4 P.M. AND SUNDAY, SEP. 29, 10 A.M.-4 P.M., $5-12; free for children under 2; preregister; food available for purchase. Info, 843-2111.

UNDERHILL HARVEST MARKET: The community celebrates autumn with a weekend of fun, including old-fashioned games, hay rides, vendors, a dunk booth, a fife and drum corps and more. See underhillharvestmarket.com for a detailed schedule. Underhill, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, 9 A.M.-5 P.M. AND SUNDAY, SEP. 29, 10:30 A.M.-4 P.M. free admission; food available for purchase.

19TH-CENTURY APPLE & CHEESE HARVEST

FESTIVAL: In celebration of Johnny Appleseed’s birthday, visitors meet live farm animals, press cider, sample heirloom apples and ice cream, play old-fashioned games and listen to live music from Out on a Limb. Justin Morrill Homestead, Strafford Village, SUNDAY, SEP. 29, 11 A.M.-3 P.M., $5-10, includes lunch. Info, 765-4288.

VERMONT PUMPKIN CHUCKIN’ FESTIVAL: Homemade trebuchets catapult orange orbs into the sky at a daylong throwing contest, complete with a chili cook-off and live music by House Dunn and John Smyth. Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa, SUNDAY, SEP. 29, 11 A.M.-4 P.M. $10; free for children under 5; proceeds benefit the Clarina Howard Nichols Center. Info, 603-630-4800.

CHITTENDEN

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: Toe-tapping tunes captivate kiddies. Radio Bean, Burlington, 11 a.m. Info, 660-9346. Preschool Yoga: Small ones sing, stretch and relax. Ages 2-5. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 9:30-10 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE Richmond Farmers Market: Vendors peddle handheld pies, dinner delectables, homemade pickles, just-picked produce and much more at this lively showcase of locavorism. Volunteers Green, Richmond, 3-7 p.m. Info, 391-0806.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: Petite ones play with plastic cubes and chat companionably. Ages 4-12. Craftsbury Public Library, Craftsbury Common, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 586-9683.

WINDSOR

Foodways Fridays: Guests tour the heirloom garden, then watch as veggies make their way into historic recipes prepared in the 1890 farmhouse kitchen, with different take-home recipes every week. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., regular museum admission, $4-16; free for children under 3. Info, 457-2355.

NEW YORK

Fort Ticonderoga Homeschool Day: Students learn about the life of an 18th-century soldier on a day exclusively reserved for homeschool groups. Grades K-12. Fort Ticonderoga, N.Y., 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., $6 per student, $4 each additional student; 1 free parent, $12 each additional parent. Info, 518-585-2821.

7 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See September 4.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Farmers Market: Freshly baked goods, veggies, beef and maple syrup figure prominently in displays of “shop local” options. St. Johnsbury Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 592-3088.

CHITTENDEN

Burlington Farmers Market: In a new location this year, growers and artisans offer fresh and ready-to-eat foods, crafts, free face-painting by Little Artsy Faces, and more in a bustling marketplace. Pine Street, Burlington, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, 310-5172.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4, 9:45 a.m.

Jamaican Music, Culture and Storytelling: Master Teaching Artist Michael Dyke immerses youngsters in musical stories and merriment on this historic African-American-owned farm. Ages 8-11. The Clemmons Family Farm, Charlotte, 10-11:30 a.m., $10; preregister. Info, 765-560-5445.

Kids Building Workshop: Handy helpers learn do-it-yourself skills and tool safety as they construct seasonal projects. Ages 5-12. Home Depot, Williston, 9 a.m.-noon, preregister at workshops.homedepot.com. Info, 872-0039. FREE

Martial Arts Workshop: Curious families check out this Japanese martial art which teaches peaceful conflict resolution and bully awareness/ prevention skills. Families with kids ages 7-12 at 10 a.m.; adults and teens at 11 a.m. Aikido of Champlain Valley, Burlington, 10 a.m.-noon. Info, 951-8900. FREE

Kids Hop

COURTESY STEVE MEASE

Shelburne Farmers Market: Musical entertainment adds merriment to this exchange of local fruits, veggies, herbs, crafts, maple syrup and more. Shelburne Village Green, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 482-4279.

Youth Auditions for Lyric Theatre Company: Dreaming thespians ages 8-16 try out for creepy and kooky roles in The Addams Family song and dance November production. Details at lyrictheatrevt.org. Lyric Creative Space, South Burlington, 9 a.m.-noon, preregistration required by 9 a.m. Info, 324-3651. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See September 4, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Common Farmers Market: Locals load up on garden-fresh produce, Vermont-made crafts, baked goods and more. Craftsbury Common, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

WASHINGTON

Capital City Farmers Market: Veggies, honey, maple syrup and more change hands at a celebration of farm-grown food and handmade crafts. Downtown Montpelier, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 279-7293.

OngoingExhibits

ECHO LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BURLINGTON

Info, 864-1848

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: A 50 STATE ADVENTURE

EXHIBIT: More than 50 interactive and hands-on activities immerse families in the geography, science, history and uniqueness of the United States. Regular museum admission, $11.50-14.50; free for children under 3. Through September 15.

THOMAS EDISON’S SECRET LAB: Visitors investigate a virtual version of the great inventor’s lab and explore interactive activities including a giant periodic table of elements, basic coding and experiments with electricity, magnetism, optics, sound waves, and air pressure. Regular museum admission, $11.5014.50; free for children under 3. Through January 5.

ENOSBURG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Info, 933-2171

ENOSBURG STORY WALK: Exercise and a sweet story enchant families on the Brownway River Trail. Through September 6.

FORT TICONDEROGA, NEW YORK

Info, 518-585-2821

HEROIC CORN MAZE: Get lost! Families navigate their way through a life-size puzzle in the shape of this historic fort while searching for history clues among the stalks. New this year is a maze for little ones ages 4 and under. Regular museum admission, $12-24; free for children under 5. Fall weekends through October 20.

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

Musical Munchkins Open House: Miss Andrea hosts free demos of fall classes with refreshments, puppets, song stories, dancing and more. Ages 1-3, 9-9:45 a.m.; ages 2-4, 10-10:45 a.m.; ages 3-5, 11-11:45; babies to non-walkers at noon. Green Mountain

Performing Arts, Waterbury, RSVPs appreciated. Info, 845-802-2311. FREE

Waitsfield Farmers Market: Saturday shoppers search out handmade crafts and local produce, meat, and maple products, while enjoying lunch fare and live music in a grassy outdoor venue. Mad River Green, Waitsfield, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

THE GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE, DANVILLE Info, 748-1399

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: A 24-acre maze of maize lures labyrinth lovers. If possible, arrive before 1 p.m. to solve the puzzle without clues. 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; open until 4:30 p.m. on weekends. Through October 14. Closed in the rain.

HELEN DAY ART CENTER, STOWE Info, 253-8358

‘EXPOSED’: National and local outdoor sculpture of all sizes and shapes spreads through the town of Stowe. Through October 19. FREE

HENRY SHELDON MUSEUM OF VERMONT HISTORY, MIDDLEBURY Info, 388-2117

WHIMSICAL WONDERS: FAIRY HOUSES FROM NATURE: Magical dwellings constructed from natural materials by environmental artist and author Sally J. Smith enchant admirers with this fanciful art. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sundays, 1-5 p.m. Through September 1.

MONTSHIRE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, NORWICH Info, 649-2200

MINDBENDER MANSION: Puzzle fans try to master brainteasers and interactive challenges in this temporary exhibit devoted to testing the problem-solving skills of all ages. Regular museum admission, $15-18; free for children under 2. Through September 2.

PECK FARM ORCHARD, EAST MONTPELIER Info, 249-1223

PECK FARM ORCHARD CORN MAZE: Festive fall families have fun on the farm with a leafy puzzle, PYO apples and pumpkins, and free weekend hayrides. $5. Through October.

SUNDAY 8, P. 40 »

SEPTEMBER CALENDAR

8 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: See September 1.

CHITTENDEN

Essex Open Gym: See September 1.

Family Gym: See September 1.

Pine Street Mile: In conjunction with Art Hop, this point-to-point one-mile road race includes categories from competitive to youth. Start time 9:30 a.m. Pine and Maple Streets, Burlington, $10-35; preregister.

Pride Vermont Parade: Families join this celebratory and educational walk, followed by a festival at Battery Park at 1 p.m. The Fletcher Free Library encourages community members to wear their Summer Challenge t-shirts and meet the library folks at the Hood Plant parking lot on King Street. Parade lineup begins at 11:30 a.m. Church St., Burlington, 12:30 p.m. Info, 860-7812.

FREE

Winooski Farmers Market: See September 1.

LAMOILLE

Stowe Farmers Market: See September 1.

New Parents

EVOLUTION POSTNATAL YOGA BURLINGTON: New mamas tote their pre-crawling kids to an all-levels flowing yoga class focused on bringing the body back to strength and alignment in a relaxed and nurturing environment. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga Center, Burlington, SUNDAYS, NOON, TUESDAYS, 10 A.M., THURSDAYS, 10:45 A.M. AND FRIDAYS, NOON-1 P.M. $17; $120-140 for a 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

EVOLUTION PRENATAL YOGA BURLINGTON: Mothers-to-be build strength, stamina and a stronger connection to their baby. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga Center, Burlington, SUNDAYS, 10:15-11:30 A.M., MONDAYS, 5:45 P.M., TUESDAYS, 4:15 P.M., WEDNESDAYS, 5:45 P.M., THURSDAYS, 12:30 P.M., FRIDAYS, 8:15 A.M. AND SATURDAYS, 11:30 A.M., $17 per class; $120-140 for 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

BOSOM BUDDIES TOO: Nursing mamas of toddlers and mobile wee ones socialize and swap supportive stories and advice with peers and professionals. Babies welcome. Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 5:30-7 P.M. Info, 371-4415. FREE

EVOLUTION PRENATAL YOGA ESSEX: Mothersto-be build strength, stamina and a stronger connection to their baby. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga, Essex Junction, TUESDAYS, 6 P.M., WEDNESDAYS, 12:15 P.M. AND SATURDAYS, 8:15 A.M., $17 per class; $120-140 for 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

MOM AND BABY YOGA: Brand-new mamas and their littles relax, stretch and bond. Followed by a free mothers’ gathering at 11:30 a.m. Embodied, Montpelier, TUESDAYS, 10:30-11:30 A.M. $11. Info, 223-5302.

PRENATAL YOGA: Moms-to-be stretch and bend. Embodied, Montpelier, TUESDAYS, 6-7:15 P.M., $16 per drop-in class. Info, 778 -0300.

BURLINGTON EARLY MONTHS INFANT MASSAGE: This mother-infant group includes baby massage and postpartum new mama support. The Janet S. Munt Family Room, Burlington, WEDNESDAYS, 11 A.M.-NOON. Info, 862-2121. FREE

ESSEX LA LECHE LEAGUE: Moms bring their bitty ones to a discussion of parenting and breastfeeding. Siblings welcome. Essex Free Library, Essex Junction, FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 6:30-8 P.M. Info, 899-5490. FREE

HYDE PARK BABY CHAT: Parents with babies mingle, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist.

Lanpher Memorial Library, Hyde Park, FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 888-5229.

BURLINGTON LA LECHE LEAGUE: New moms bring their babies and questions to a breastfeeding support group. Older children welcome. Lending library available. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:15 A.M., free. Info, 985-8228. FREE

LA LECHE LEAGUE OF THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM: Expectant, novice and experienced moms join nursing experts for advice and support. Enter through the children’s section of the library. Siblings welcome. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:30 A.M. Info, 720-272-8841. FREE

BABY BOOGIE: Parents of wee ones ages 4 to 12 months learn melodious ways to play with their babies, while making friends and nurturing their little ones’ sensory development and natural musicianship. Green Mountain Performing Arts, Waterbury, FRIDAYS, 11:30 A.M.-12:15 P.M. AND SATURDAYS, 11:30 A.M.-12:15 P.M., THROUGH NOV. 2., $20 per class; preregister. Info, 845-802-2311.

MAMA’S CIRCLE BARRE: This supportive gathering brings moms of new babies and toddlers together to foster friendship through unique-but-shared experiences.

Imagine Yoga, Barre, SECOND FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

MORRISVILLE BABY CHAT: Parents with babies socialize, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist. Lamoille Family Center, Morrisville, SECOND SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 888-5229.

WASHINGTON

Cabot Ride the Ridges: Biking buffs enjoy a picturesque 11 a.m. 10K cycling tour, while more experienced riders navigate 30-100K courses. A feast of local foods follows. Races begin at 7:30 a.m.; check website for details. Cabot School, $20-75; free for children under 12; $75 per family; after Aug. 31, add $25 to 60K and 100K; $10 for non-rider’s lunch; proceeds benefit Cabot Connects. Info, 563-3338.

WINDSOR

First Lego Rookie Coaches Training: Grownups interested in starting a team or just curious check out an overview of what coaching looks like, and collect tips and tricks from veterans coaches. Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, 1-5 p.m., preregister. Info, 649-2200. FREE

9 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: Bitty ones dance and sing to a brisk beat. Ages 3-5. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 11:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4.

BREASTFEEDING CAFÉ: Mamas nurse their babies, chat and ask for answers from a certified lactation consultant. Pregnant women, supportive dads and older siblings welcome. Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury, THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 11 A.M.-1 P.M. Info, 236-4136. FREE

BREASTFEEDING FAMILIES GROUP: Nursing moms (and supportive dads, too!) gather for snacks and advice. Church of the Nazarene, Johnson, THIRD WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 11 A.M.-1 P.M. Info, 888-5229. FREE

LA LECHE LEAGUE OF CENTRAL VERMONT: Breastfeeding mamas swap stories and support each other, with a professional available for consultation. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

NURSING BEYOND A YEAR: In a supportive setting, mothers discuss the joys and challenges of breastfeeding children approaching one year old and beyond. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, THIRD FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

BABYWEARERS OF CENTRAL VERMONT: Brand-new mamas and papas check out infant carriers, get advice and spend some socializing time with other new parents. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, FOURTH MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 5:45-7:45 P.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

HOW TO BREASTFEED PRENATAL CLASS: Expectant mamas and their partners learn the basics of breastfeeding, how to get off to the best start with their baby and where to find assistance when needed. Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, FOURTH TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 4:30-6 P.M. preregister. Info, 371-4415. FREE

JOHNSON BABY CHAT: Parents with babies mingle, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist. Church of the Nazarene, Johnson, FOURTH TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 888-5229. FREE

MOMMY GROUP: Breastfeeding peer counselor Angela Scavo hosts mamas and answers questions in a relaxed setting. Junebug Mother and Child, Middlebury, FOURTH WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-10:30 A.M. Info, 349-9084. FREE

Teen Space: Adolescents enjoy games, music, snacks and a different activity each week. Ages 12-17. Milton Public Library, 3:30-5 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Williston Preschool Music: See September 5, 11 a.m.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: Mini-musicians ages 2 and under sing songs and engage in early literacy activities. Rutland Free Library, 10-10:30 a.m. Info, 773-1860. FREE

WINDSOR

Young At Art: Little ones in play clothes drop in and ignite their creativity through dance, paint and more. ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, 10-11 a.m., $5. Info, 457-3500.

10 Tuesday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: See September 3.

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: See September 3.

Collaborative Art: Creative kids design unique creatures to decorate the library walls. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-4 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Dorothy’s List Book Club: Middle readers make merry conversation around Out of Left Field by Ellen Klages. Ages 8-11. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Old North End Farmers Market: See September 3. Spanish Musical Kids: Niños celebrate Spanish through Latin American songs and games. Ages 5 and under. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:45 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Strategy Board Games: Game lovers partake in complicated tabletop pastimes. Ages 13 and up. Milton Public Library, 5-7:45 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Tinker Tuesdays: See September 3. Tuesday Night Trail Running Series: See September 3.

WASHINGTON

Tissue Paper Balloon Bowl: Youngsters use nimble fingers in a paper project. Ages 6-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

11 Wednesday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See September 4.

CHITTENDEN

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4.

LEVITT AMP ST. JOHNSBURY MUSIC SERIES: Produced by Catamount Arts, these kid- and canine-friendly shindigs at Dog Mountain make for relaxed Sundays. Dog Mountain, St Johnsbury, SUNDAYS, 4 P.M., THROUGH SEP. 22 food and drink available for purchase. Info, 888-7575559. FREE

NEW WORLD FESTIVAL: Multiple musicians take over the town of Randolph and celebrate Vermont’s Celtic and French Canadian heritage through traditional tunes, children’s activities and dance. Chandler Music Hall, Randolph, SUNDAY, SEP. 1, NOON-11

P.M., $12-39; free for children under 13. Info, 728-6464.

HUNGER MOUNTAIN CO-OP BROWN BAG

SUMMER CONCERTS: Music lovers take in an open-air noontime concert. Montpelier City Hall Plaza, THURSDAYS, NOON, THROUGH SEP. 26. Info, 223-9604.

FREE

DANCING WITH THE STARS OF BURLINGTON: The audience cheers for seven teams composed of a dance professional and a local celebrity who compete for the title of Burlington Dance Stars. Ages 4 and up. Flynn MainStage, Burlington, SUNDAY, SEP. 8, 7-9 P.M., $25. Info, 863-1358.

‘MR. CHRIS AND FRIENDS’: This Free Family Saturday in the theater lobby features the star of the Vermont PBS show who sings favorite songs — with added merriment of games, activities and a chance to win a ukulele. Flynn Center Lobby, Burlington, SATURDAY, SEP. 14, 10 A.M. Info, 863-5966. FREE

SESAME STREET LIVE!: Young fans of this television show have fun shaking it up with Cookie Monster and company. Flynn MainStage, Burlington, FRIDAY, SEP. 20, 2 & 6 P.M., $15-35. Info, 863-5966.

MISS LYNN’S RAINBOW MACHINE: The whole family enjoys an interactive musical morning. ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, SATURDAY, SEP. 21, 10 A.M., $10 per family. Info, 457-3500.

PARKAPALOOZA: Live music, a giant slip ’n slide, kids’ activities, a skill swap featuring local crafters and artisans, and a food vendor mean family fun in the park. Hubbard Park, Montpelier, SATURDAY, SEP. 21, 3-8 P.M., $3-5; $10 per family; preregister for $10-15 per campsite. Info, 223-7335.

NORTHERN HARMONY: This premier performing group of the world music organization Village Harmony shares world traditions with an admiring audience, including South African songs and dances, and traditional polyphony from Georgia, Corsica and the Balkans. Local high school students make a special appearance. Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, TUESDAY, SEP. 24, 7 P.M., $5-15. Info, 533-9075.

REGGAE FOR KIDS: The Rock and Roll Playhouse — a family concert series — gets kids moving and grooving to tunes from the classic rock canon. Doors open at 11 a.m. Higher Ground, South Burlington, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, NOON $15; free for children under age 1. Info, 652-0777.

Yoga for Kids: See September 4. Young Writers & Storytellers: Small ones spin their own yarns. Ages 5-11. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4-5 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

FRANKLIN

Kids’ Anime Club: Young readers obsessed with anime and manga watch and discuss favorite series and shows, learn about Japanese pop culture and cosplay, and sample snacks. Ages 8-12. St. Albans Free Library, 3:30 p.m. Info, 524-1507. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See September 4.

WASHINGTON

Alka Seltzer Rockets: Eager inventors investigate flight. Ages 6-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036.

FREE

WINDSOR

Woodstock Market on the Green: See September 4.

12 Thursday

ADDISON

Vergennes Farmers Market: See September 5.

CALEDONIA

Knitting for Kids: See September 5.

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Lego Club: See September 5. Jericho Farmers Market: See September 5. Milton Farmers Market: See September 5.

Milton PJ Story Time: Small tots in jammies snuggle in for stories, songs and crafts. Ages 2-7. Milton Public Library, 6:30-7:15 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Williston Preschool Music: See September 5.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See September 5.

Teen.comm Meeting: Over dinner, teenagers share ideas as they plan for the upcoming Halloween event. Ages 12-18. St. Albans Free Library, 6 p.m., preregister. Info, 524-1507.

FREE

WINDSOR

First Clay for Little Ones: Petite potters get creative with clay. Ages 2-5. ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, 9-9:45 a.m., $7. Info, 457-3500.

13 Friday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Farmers Market: See September 6.

FRIDAY 13, P. 42 »

13 Friday (cont.) Orienteering

Science & Nature

MARVELOUS MAMMALS FESTIVAL: Naturelovers experience the amazing lives of our furry friends through hands-on activities, exhibits and crafts, with special guests of live critters from Squam Lakes Natural Science Center. Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Quechee, SUNDAY, SEP. 1, 10 A.M.-5 P.M. regular museum admission, $14.50-16.50; free for children under 4. Info, 359-5000.

MAKER MONDAYS: Inquisitive families design objects using recycled materials, make mazes for robots, construct with K*nex, or build a simple machine using the museum’s basic tools and instructions in their learning lab. American Precision Museum, Windsor, MONDAYS, 10 A.M.-5 P.M. regular museum admission, $5-8; free for children under 6; $20 per family. Info, 674-5781.

RAPTORS IN RESIDENCE: The mysteries surrounding birds of prey are revealed as visitors come face-to-face with live feathered creatures. Shelburne Farms, TUESDAYS, THURSDAYS AND SATURDAYS, 1-1:30

P.M., regular museum admission, $5-8; free for children under 3. Info, 985-8686.

TINKER TUESDAYS: Junior engineers bring a small item from home to take apart and investigate how it works or tinker with the museum’s learning lab collection. American Precision Museum, Windsor, TUESDAYS, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., regular museum admission, $5-8; free for children under 6; $20 per family. Info, 674-5781.

SCIENCE & STORIES: Preschoolers rally ’round for nature-inspired tales and activities.

ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, WEDNESDAYS, 11-11:30 A.M., regular museum admission, $11.50-14.50; free for children under 3. Info, 864-1848.

WAGON RIDE WEDNESDAYS: Horse-drawn rides deliver delight to the whole family. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, WEDNESDAYS, 11 A.M.-3 P.M., regular museum admission, $4-16; free for children under 3. Info, 457-2355.

FALL HARVEST CAMPFIRE WITH ABENAKI CHIEF

DON STEVENS: The Chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation shares traditional stories, artifacts, drumming and songs with families around a crackling blaze. Ages 6 and up. Shelburne Farms, FRIDAY, SEP. 6, 6-7:30 P.M., $5-6; preregister. Info, 985-8686.

BIRDFEST: All things avian are celebrated with nature walks, live raptor demos, bird banding and a craft tent for families. North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, SATURDAY, SEP. 7, 7 A.M.-2 P.M., admission by donation; lunch fare available for purchase. Info, 229-6206.

INTERNATIONAL VULTURE AWARENESS DAY: Families meet these amazing and ecologically important creatures up close, learn about conservation challenges and check out vulture-themed activities. Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Quechee, SATURDAY, SEP. 7, 10 A.M.-5 P.M. regular museum admission, $14.50-16.50; free for children under 4. Info, 359-5000.

JUNIOR APPRENTICE CLUB: Young engineers engage in guided activities in the learning lab, including beginning coding, basic robotics, 3D design and printing, and more. Geared towards ages 8-12. American Precision Museum, Windsor, SATURDAYS, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., free for participating children; adult caregiver required; regular museum admission, $5-8; free for children under 6; $20 per family. Info, 674-5781.

LOVE OUR TREES: Arborists of all ages tend nursery trees, socialize with Branch Out Burlington and savor snacks. Equipment provided; no experience necessary. UVM Horticulture Farm, South Burlington, SATURDAY, SEP. 7, 9-11

A.M. Info, 656-5440. FREE

PRIDE HIKE: Audubon Vermont, Pride Center of Vermont and Outright Vermont team up to host an easy-to-moderate hike. All ages; youth under age 18 should be accompanied by an adult. Check vt.audubon.org for location. Shelburne Bay Park, SATURDAY, SEP. 7, 9:30 A.M.-2:30 P.M., preregister. Info, 434-3068. FREE

BOOKS & BEYOND: SCIENCE FOR PRESCHOOLERS:

Children’s literature and hands-on activities combine for fun science learning and exploration. Ages 3-5 with a parent or caregiver. Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, MONDAY, SEP. 9, 10:30-11:15 & 11:30 A.M.-12:15

P.M., regular museum admission, $13-16; free for children under 2. Info, 649-2200.

NESTLINGS FIND NATURE: What is pollination?

Junior naturalists explore the world of tiny working creatures through observation, crafts and hands-on activities. Ages 4-8. Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington, SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:30-11:30

A.M., regular museum admission, $3.50-7; free for children under 3. Info, 434-2167.

INSECT INVESTIGATIONS HOMESCHOOL

PROGRAM: Out-of-classroom learners investigate the adaptations of these small creatures and search for insects in forest, field and wetland habitats. Ages 6-12. Audubon Vermont, Huntington, THURSDAY, SEP. 12, 9 A.M.-2 P.M., $25-30; preregister. Info, 434-3068.

FRIDAY MORNING FALL BIRD WALK: Led by the center’s expert birders, naturalists check out a casual stroll around the property in search of migratory songbirds, while soaking up the identification, ecology and life history of local avifauna. North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, FRIDAY, SEP. 13, 7:30-9 A.M. $10. Info, 229-6206.

STARLIGHT STORY TIME: Planetarians read pages projected on an overhead dome to little listeners. Seating is first-come, first-served. Northcountry Planetarium, Plattsburgh, N.Y., SATURDAY, SEP. 14, 1 P.M. Info, 518-564-3168. FREE

STORIES FROM SPACE: Science educator Mike Ressler zooms small ones through the solar system with stories and a space-based craft. Ages 2-5. Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, St. Johnsbury, SUNDAYS, 10-11 A.M. Info, 748-2372. FREE

SAM MAZZA’S GIANT PUMPKIN WEIGH-IN: Oversize gourds battle it out for the heavyweight title. Onlookers enjoy hayrides, apple-cider doughnuts and a corn maze. Sam Mazza’s Farm Market, Colchester, SATURDAY, SEP. 21, NOON-3 P.M. food available for purchase; fee for corn maze. Info, 655-3440.

AMPLIFY IT!: Middle schoolers get a guided tour of the museum, then explore making music. Grades 6-8. Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, FRIDAY, SEP. 27, 6-7:30 P.M. $8-15; preregister. Info, 649-2200.

ARCHAEOLOGY DAY: How did people live in the Upper Connecticut Valley in the past? Amateur archaeologists explore this question through examining artifacts, attending a pottery workshop and chatting with field professionals during this day-long celebration of human ancient history.

Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, 10:30 A.M.-4:30 P.M., regular museum admission, $13-16; free for children under 2. Info, 649-2200.

CHAMPLAIN MINI MAKER FAIRE: Tech enthusiasts celebrate the DIY mindset at this quirky science fair featuring robotics, student experiments, and arts and crafts.

Shelburne Farms, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, 11 A.M.-4 P.M., $8-15; free for ages 10 and under. Info, 985-8686.

ORIENTEERING: With a map and compass, trekkers of all skill levels find their way across the terrain. Beginners’ clinic from 9-10 a.m.; courses open 10 a.m. to noon. Children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult. Shelburne Farms, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, 10 A.M.-NOON, $5-6; preregister for clinic. Info, 985-8686.

TERRIFIC TRACTORS & OTHER COOL MACHINES: Future farmers climb aboard a collection of colossal machines that can get the job done.

Shelburne Farms, SATURDAY, SEP. 28, 10 A.M.-4 P.M. AND SUNDAY, SEP. 29, 10 A.M.-4 P.M. regular museum admission, $5-8; free for children under 3. Info, 985-8686.

CHITTENDEN

Dungeons & Dragons: Players embark on invented adventures, equipped with their problem-solving skills. Game starts at 6:30 p.m.; come early for assistance with character design. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Family Gym: See September 1.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See September 6.

Music with Raph: Melody lovers of all ages play and sing. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 9:3010:15 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE Richmond Farmers Market: See September 6.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See September 6. WINDSOR

Foodways Fridays: See September 6.

14 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See September 4.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Farmers Market: See September 7.

CHITTENDEN

Burlington Farmers Market: See September 7.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4, 9:45 a.m.

Read to Cleo the Therapy Dog: Canine and reading enthusiasts visit with a personable pooch. All ages. Milton Public Library, 10-11 a.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Shelburne Farmers Market: See September 7. Welcome Baby Celebration: Book donations, giveaways and refreshments honor Milton’s newest — and smallest — residents. For ages 1 and under with their families. Milton Public Library, 10-11:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

FRANKLIN

Baby Story Time: Wee ones and caregivers soak up socializing, nursery rhymes, songs and a simple story. Ages 2 and under. St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507. FREE

LAMOILLE

Steamroller Printmaking Workshop: Helen Day Art Studio hosts a drop-in workshop where families produce big prints with heavy machinery. Rain date Sunday, September 15. Sushi Yoshi, Stowe, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., $25; includes a $20 gift certificate to Sushi Yoshi. Info, 253-8358.

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See September 4, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Common Farmers Market: See September 7.

WASHINGTON

Capital City Farmers Market: See September 7.

Kids Trade & Play: Families exchange clean and gently-used clothing and toys, sizes newborn to 12. Capital City Grange, Berlin, 9:30-11:30 a.m., $3 per family. Info, 831-337-8632.

Waitsfield Farmers Market: See September 7.

15 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: See September 1.

TAM Trek: Runners lace up to raise funds to support the Trail Around Middlebury, in a 2-mile family fun run, a 10K and a 19-mile course, followed by refreshments and festivities. Fun Run at 10 a.m. Wright Park, Middlebury, 7 a.m.noon, $25-50; free for children under 13. Info, 388-1007.

CHITTENDEN

Art Play Day: See September 1.

Essex Open Gym: See September 1.

Family Gym: See September 1.

Winooski Farmers Market: See September 1.

LAMOILLE

Chris Ludington Memorial Trail Run/Walk: The community comes out to run or walk 5 or 10K on scenic trails, in celebration of this former Trapp Family Lodge employee’s memory and to support his love of athletics and education. Registration opens at 8 a.m. Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, 9 a.m., $20-25; proceeds benefit the Chris Ludington Scholarship Fund. Info, 760-8521.

Stowe Farmers Market: See September 1.

RUTLAND

Revolutionary War Board Game Afternoon: Strategy lovers spend an afternoon around tabletops, admire examples of painted miniatures and enjoy a battlefield walk stroll. Ages 12 and up. Hubbardton Battlefield State Historic Site, 1-4 p.m., $3; free for children under 15. Info, 273-2282.

16 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: See September 9.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4.

Teen Space: See September 9.

Williston Preschool Music: See September 5, 11 a.m.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: See September 9.

WINDSOR

Young At Art: See September 9.

17 Tuesday

ADDISON

Middlebury Nurturing Parent Program: Moms and dads deepen parent-child communication skills and gain practical tools to empower their families. Weekly through December 17. Addison County Parent/Child Center, Middlebury, 10 a.m.-noon, preregister. Info, 498-0607. FREE

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: See September 3.

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: See September 3.

Cootie Catchers: Inventive youngsters fold an origami fortune-telling project. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-3:45 p.m. Info, 878-6956.

FREE

Old North End Farmers Market: See September 3.

Spanish Musical Kids: See September 10.

Tinker Tuesdays: See September 3. Tuesday Night Trail Running Series: See September 3.

GRAND ISLE

South Hero Nurturing Parent Program: Moms and dads deepen parent-child communication skills, discuss empathy and learn how to empower their families. Weekly through December 17. Champlain Islands Parent/Child Center, South Hero, 6-8 p.m., preregister; light dinner and childcare provided. Info, 498-0607.

FREE

WASHINGTON

Folded Paper Bracelets: Artsy ones make original jewelry. Ages 6-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036.

FREE

18 Wednesday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See September 4.

CHITTENDEN

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4.

Winooski Nurturing Parent Program: Moms and dads deepen parent-child communication skills and gain practical tools to empower their families. Weekly through December 18. Winooski Family Center, 6-8 p.m., preregister; light dinner and childcare provided. Info, 498-0607. FREE

Yoga for Kids: See September 4.

See

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See September 4.

WASHINGTON

Air Glider Challenge: Curious kids explore a flight challenge. Ages 6-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

Woodstock Market on the Green: See September 4.

19 Thursday

ADDISON

Middlebury Nurturing Skills for Families: Moms and dads deepen parent-child communication skills, discuss empathy and learn how to empower their families. A light dinner and childcare are included. Weekly through December 19. Vermont Families in Transition, Middlebury, 6-8 p.m., preregister. Info, 229-5724. FREE

Vergennes Farmers Market: See September 5.

CALEDONIA

Knitting for Kids: See September 5.

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Lego Club: See September 5.

Dorothy’s List Book Discussion: Little literati make merry chatter around a special book. Grades 4-8. Milton Public Library, 6:30-7:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Milton Farmers Market: See September 5. Williston Preschool Music: See September 5.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See September 5.

WASHINGTON

AB2: Books Come to Life: This Active BodyActive Brain class, led by literacy professional Rachel O’Donald, combines reading, music and movement. Babies through preschoolers. Waterbury Public Library, 10:15 a.m. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

First Clay for Little Ones: See September 12.

20 Friday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Farmers Market: See September 6.

CHITTENDEN

Family Gym: See September 1.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See September 6.

Movie Night: Families snack on free popcorn while watching a PG-rated flick. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Richmond Farmers Market: See September 6.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See September 6.

WINDSOR

Foodways Fridays: See September 6.

21 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See September 4. Northeastern Open Atlatl Championship: Competitors of all experience levels test their skill in this ancient hunting technique of throwing darts. Workshops and demonstrations of crafts and skills from ancient to early contact period times and children’s activities round out the day. Chimney Point State Historic Site and Museum, Addison, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $5; free for children under 15 to watch; $7-8 to compete. Info, 759-2412.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Farmers Market: See September 7. CHITTENDEN

Bilingual Spanish Story Time: See September 5, 10-10:45 a.m.

Burlington Farmers Market: See September 7. Dad Guild: This group gets fathers of young children reading together, having fun with creative play and forming new friendships. All are welcome. Ages 5 and under. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 4-5:30 p.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

SEPTEMBER CALENDAR

Shelburne Farmers Market: See September 7.

21 Saturday (cont.)

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4, 9:45 a.m.

Home and Hearth: Living historians share with curious visitors demonstrations of hearth cooking — with free samples — textile arts, carpentry and more. Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., regular museum admission, $6-10; free for children under 5. Info, 865-4556.

Miles for Migraine Burlington: Amateur and experienced athletes lace up for this communityinspired 2-mile walk or 5-10K walk/run. 9 a.m. start. Veterans Memorial Park, South Burlington, $25-40; free for children under 10; preregister; fundraising encouraged to support the University of Vermont Medical Center’s Headache Clinic. Info, 484-534-8786.

Story Times

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See September 4, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Vermont Fairy Tale Festival: Ten to twelve public libraries feature a fairy tale booth, with added festivities including live music, mermaids, Vikings, storytellers, costumed characters, scavenger hunts, games, a Viking ship and a 6-foot storybook. Costumes encouraged. Sherburne Memorial Library, Killington, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., donations of canned food accepted for the food shelf. Info, 422-9765. FREE

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Common Farmers Market: See September 7.

Wednesday

WASHINGTON

Capital City Farmers Market: See September 7. Waitsfield Farmers Market: See September 7.

MULTIPLE VT LOCATIONS

Museum Day Live!: Numerous historic sites and museums across the state open their doors to the public free of charge during this national event sponsored by Smithsonian magazine. Visit smithsonian.com/museumdaylive to search for participating locations. Various locations statewide. FREE

22 Sunday

ADDISON

Better L8 Than Never Car Show: Speed enthusiasts marvel at more than 300 shiny, sporty vehicles. Vendors, music, raffles, kids’ activities and food galore add to the high-octave action. Bristol Recreation Fields, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., free to spectate; donations accepted for Camp Ta-KumTa. Info, 388-7951.

Family Play: See September 1.

CHITTENDEN

Essex Open Gym: See September 1.

Family Gym: See September 1.

Winooski Farmers Market: See September 1.

FRANKLIN

Friday

BARNES & NOBLE STORYTIIME: Barnes & Noble, South Burlington, 11 a.m. Info, 864-8001.

COLCHESTER BABY STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

Early literacy skills get special attention during these readaloud sessions. Some locations provide additional activities such as music, crafts or foreign-language instruction. Most story times follow the school calendar. Contact the organizers for site-specific details.

Monday

BARRE CHILDREN’S STORY HOUR: Aldrich Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 476-7550.

BURLINGTON STORIES WITH

MEGAN: Fletcher Free Library, 11-11:30 a.m. Info, 865-7216.

COLCHESTER PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

ESSEX STORYTIME WITH EMILY: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

HUNTINGTON STORY TIME & PLAYGROUP: Huntington Public Library, 10 a.m.-noon. Info, 434-4583.

HYDE PARK STORY TIME: Lanpher Memorial Library, 6 p.m. Info, 888-4628.

NORTHFIELD CHILDREN’S STORY

TIME: Brown Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 485-4621.

ST. ALBANS MOVEMENT & MUSIC

STORY HOUR: St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507.

STOWE STORY TIMES FOR 2-3-

YEAR-OLDS: Stowe Free Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 253-6145.

WATERBURY BABY & TODDLER

STORY TIME: Waterbury Public Library, 10:15 a.m. Info, 244-7036.

WOODSTOCK BABY STORY TIME: Norman Williams Public Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 457-2295.

Tuesday

ALBURGH STORY HOUR: Alburgh Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 582-9942.

BARRE CHILDREN’S STORY HOUR: See Monday.

COLCHESTER TODDLER STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

CRAFTSBURY STORY TIME: Craftsbury Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 586-9683.

EAST BARRE STORY TIME: East Barre Branch Library, 10 a.m. Info, 476-5118.

HINESBURG YOUNGSTER STORY

TIME: Carpenter-Carse Library, 9:30-10 a.m. Info, 482-2878.

JEFFERSONVILLE STORYTIME: Varnum Memorial Library, 9:3010:30 a.m. Info, 644-2117.

LYNDONVILLE STORY TIME: Cobleigh Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 626-5475.

MILTON STORY TIME: Milton Public Library, 9:30 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

MONTPELIER STORY TIME: KelloggHubbard Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 223-3338.

MORRISVILLE PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Morristown Centennial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 888-3853.

SHELDON STORY TIME: Sheldon Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 933-2524.

SOUTH BURLINGTON TODDLER

TIME: South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 846-4140.

WILLISTON STORY TIME: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 878-4918.

WOODSTOCK PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Norman Williams Public Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 457-2295.

ESSEX BABYTIME: Essex Free Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

HYDE PARK STORY TIME: See Monday, 10 a.m.

JERICHO STORY HOUR: Jericho Town Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 899-4686.

LYNDONVILLE STORY TIME: See Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.

MILTON RHYTHM & MOVEMENT

TODDLER STORY TIME: Milton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

NORWICH WORD PLAY STORY TIME: Norwich Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 649-1184.

QUECHEE STORY TIME: Quechee Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 295-1232.

RANDOLPH PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Kimball Public Library, 11 a.m. Info, 728-5073.

SOUTH BURLINGTON BABY TIME: South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 846-4140.

SWANTON STORYTIME: Swanton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 868-7656.

WARREN PRESCHOOL STORYTIME: Warren Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 496-3913.

Thursday

BURLINGTON BABYTIME: Fletcher Free Library, 10:15-10:45 a.m. Info, 865-7216.

JEFFERSONVILLE STORYTIME AND CRAFTS: Varnum Memorial Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 644-2117.

NORTHFIELD CHILDREN’S STORY TIME: See Monday.

RUTLAND STORY TIME: Rutland Free Library, 10-10:45 a.m. Info, 773-1860.

ST. ALBANS STORY HOUR: St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507.

WESTFORD STORY TIME: Westford Public Library, 11 a.m. Info, 878-5639.

CRAFTSBURY STORY TIME: See Tuesday.

ENOSBURG READ & PLAY FRIDAYS: Enosburgh Public Library, 9-10 a.m. Info, 933-2328.

ESSEX MUSICAL STORY TIME: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

GEORGIA PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Georgia Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 524-4643.

KILLINGTON STORYTIME: Sherburne Memorial Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 422-9765.

LINCOLN STORY TIME: Lincoln Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 453-2665.

MONTPELIER STORY TIME: See Tuesday.

RANDOLPH TODDLER STORY TIME: Kimball Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 728-5073.

ST. JOHNSBURY ACORN CLUB STORY TIME: St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 748-8291.

STOWE BABY & TODDLER STORY TIME: Stowe Free Library, 10:3011:15 a.m. Info, 253-6145.

WILLISTON TODDLER TIME: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 878-4918.

Saturday

COLCHESTER SATURDAY DROP-IN STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

ENOSBURG STORY HOUR: Enosburgh Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 933-2328.

ESSEX WEEKEND STORYTIME: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

MILTON DROP-IN SATURDAY STORYTIME: Milton Public Library, 10-10:30 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

NEXT CHAPTER BOOKSTORE STORY

TIME: Next Chapter Bookstore, Barre, 10:30 a.m. Info, 476-3114.

Buddy Walk of Northwestern Vermont: Participants of all ages and ability levels get a breath of fresh, fall air while promoting the acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. Other activities include face painting, a bouncy house and a sensory toy station. Registration begins at 12:30 p.m.; walk starts at 1 p.m. Collins-Perley Sports Complex, St. Albans, pledges accepted; proceeds benefit residents diagnosed with Down syndrome. Info, 524-6555.

LAMOILLE

Stowe Farmers Market: See September 1.

23 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Author Visit: Ann Braden: This Vermont author of the middle school novel The Benefits of Being an Octopus explores with a curious audience parent-child relationships and the role parents play empowering their children. Ages 10 and up. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 6-7 p.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Colchester Preschool Music: See September 9.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4. Snakes at the Library: 802 Reptiles and five pythons fascinate young herpetologists. South Burlington Public Library, 4:30-5:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 846-4140. FREE

Teen Space: See September 9.

Williston Preschool Music: See September 5, 11 a.m.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: See September 9.

WINDSOR

Young At Art: See September 9.

24 Tuesday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Lego Club: See September 3.

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: See September 3.

Old North End Farmers Market: See September 3.

Spanish Musical Kids: See September 10.

Strategy Board Games: See September 10.

Stroller Tour: Before regular hours, a museum educator leads a walk highlighting works from the exhibition Joel Barber & the Modern Decoy for adults who don’t mind chatty toddlers or crying babies joining in the conversation. Strollers and front baby carriers only. Shelburne Museum, 9-9:45 a.m., $10; free for members, infants and toddlers; preregister. Info, 985-3346.

Tinker Tuesdays: See September 3.

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

Tuesday Movie: Viewers relax with a familyfriendly flick. Popcorn and drinks provided. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Tuesday Night Trail Running Series: See September 3.

WASHINGTON

Montpelier Mother Up! Monthly

Meet-Up: Families discuss the realities of climate change, what that means on a local, state and national level, and how to create a more just and nature-friendly world. Dinner and nature-themed kids’ programming included. Unitarian Church of Montpelier, 5:30-7:30 p.m., RSVP requested. Info, 223-7861. FREE

25 Wednesday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See September 4.

CHITTENDEN

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4.

Interactive Movie: Youngsters out of school early take in a magical flick. Milton Public Library, 2-4:30 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Yoga for Kids: See September 4.

Young Writers & Storytellers: See September 11.

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See September 4.

WASHINGTON

Breakout of Mr. Lemoncello’s Library: Escape artists attempt to slip free from a room. Ages 6-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

WINDSOR

Woodstock Market on the Green: See September 4.

26 Thursday

ADDISON

Vergennes Farmers Market: See September 5.

CALEDONIA

Knitting for Kids: See September 5.

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Lego Club: See September 5.

Milton Farmers Market: See September 5. Williston Preschool Music: See September 5.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See September 5.

WINDSOR

First Clay for Little Ones: See September 12.

SEPTEMBER CALENDAR

27 Friday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Farmers Market: See September 6.

CHITTENDEN

Dungeons & Dragons: See September 13.

Family Gym: See September 1.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See September 6.

Music with Raph: See September 13.

Richmond Farmers Market: See September 6.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See September 6.

WINDSOR

Foodways Fridays: See September 6.

28 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See September 4.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Farmers Market: See September 7.

CHITTENDEN

Burlington Farmers Market: See September 7.

Drag Queen Story Hour: Vermont drag queens

Emoji Nightmare and Nikki Champagne host a story hour for all ages, focusing on individuality, activism, gender, creativity and social responsibility. Milton Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4, 9:45 a.m.

Family Art Saturday: Families drop in and ignite their imaginations with a current exhibit, then get hands-on with an artistic endeavor. Burlington City Arts, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 865-7166. FREE

Family Movie: Kids and their grownups snuggle in for a flick on the big screen. Milton Public Library, 1 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Outright Vermont’s Fire Truck Pull: While the crowd cheers, 20 teams drag a truck to compete for fastest time, best-dressed and most funds raised to support Outright’s statewide programs for LGBTQ youth. Registration at 10:30 a.m.; pulling from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Church Street Marketplace, Burlington, free to spectate. Info, 865-9677.

Read to Cleo the Therapy Dog: See September 14.

Shelburne Farmers Market: See September 7.

South Burlington Family Storytime: Small ones soak up stories, songs and a craft to round out the hour. Ages 3 and up with caregiver. South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 846-4140. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See September 4, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Common Farmers Market: See September 7.

WASHINGTON

Capital City Farmers Market: See September 7.

Waitsfield Farmers Market: See September 7.

29 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: See September 1.

CHITTENDEN

Essex Open Gym: See September 1.

Family Gym: See September 1.

Winooski Farmers Market: See September 1.

LAMOILLE

Stowe Farmers Market: See September 1.

30 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: See September 9.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See September 4.

Teen Space: See September 9.

Williston Preschool Music: See September 5, 11 a.m.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: See September 9.

WINDSOR

Young At Art: See September 9. K

Playgroups

Kids enjoy fun and games during these informal get-togethers, and caregivers connect with other local parents and peers. The groups are usually free and often include snacks, arts and crafts, or music. Most playgroups follow the school calendar. Contact the organizer for site-specific details.

Monday

AUDUBON NATURE PLAYGROUP: Audubon Vermont, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 434-3068.

BURLINGTON CRAWLERS, WADDLERS AND TODDLERS: Janet S. Munt Parent-Child Center, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Info, 862-2121.

MILTON PLAYGROUP: Milton Public Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 893-1457.

MORRISVILLE PLAYGROUP: River Arts, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

OPEN GYM: Central VT Gymnastics Academy, Fridays, 10 a.m.-noon, $7-10. Info, 882-8324.

Tuesday

BRADFORD PLAYGROUP: Grace United Methodist Church, 9-11 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

BRISTOL PLAYGROUP: Bristol Baptist Church, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 388-3171.

BROOKFIELD PLAYGROUP: First Congregational Church of Brookfield, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

BURLINGTON FATHERS AND CHILDREN TOGETHER: Janet S. Munt Parent-Child Center, 4-7 p.m. Info, 862-2121.

NORTHERN VERMONT UNIVERSITY ‘AQUATICS’

PLAYGROUP: Northern Vermont University, Johnson Campus, 9-10:30 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

WINOOSKI PLAYTIME: Winooski Family Center, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 655-1422.

Wednesday

BARRE PLAYGROUP: Aldrich Public Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292, ext. 115.

MAMA’S CIRCLE: Good Beginnings, Montpelier, 10 a.m.-noon. Info, 595-7953.

NORTHFIELD PLAYGROUP: United Church of Northfield, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

PURPLE CRAYON PLAY GROUP: ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, 9:30-11:30 a.m., donations accepted. Info, 457-3500.

SOUTH ROYALTON PLAYGROUP: United Church on the Green, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

ST. JOHNSBURY TODDLER

TIME: St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30 a.m. Info, 748-1391.

Thursday

DADS AND KIDS PLAYGROUP: Family Center of Washington County, Montpelier, 5-7 p.m. Info, 262-3292.

JOHNSON PLAYGROUP: United Church of Johnson, 9-10:30 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

MIDDLEBURY PLAYGROUP: Congregational Church of Middlebury, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 388-3171.

MILTON PLAYGROUP: See Monday.

MONTPELIER PLAYGROUP: St. Augustine Church, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

RANDOLPH PLAYGROUP: St. John’s Church, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

WAITSFIELD PLAYGROUP: Big Picture Theater, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

WILLISTON PLAYTIME: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 11 a.m.-noon. Info, 878-4918.

WINOOSKI PLAYTIME: See Tuesday.

Friday

ALBURGH PLAYGROUP: Alburgh Public Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 582-9942.

CAMBRIDGE PLAYGROUP: Cambridge Elementary School, 9-11 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

OPEN GYM: See Monday.

RUTLAND PLAYGROUP: Rutland Free Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 773-1860.

WATERBURY PLAYGROUP: Thatcher Brook Primary School, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

WINSOOSKI MOVE, PLAY, CONNECT PLAYGROUP: O’Brien Community Center, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 655-6424.

Saturday

MONTPELIER SATURDAY PLAYGROUP: Family Center of Washington County, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292, ext. 190.

No Easy Task

A high school administrator on engaging students to meet the challenges of our time

When my son was 5 years old, we were home together on a lovely summer Saturday. He wanted to stay inside, and threw a small tantrum when I told him he had to come out to work in the yard.

Earlier in the week, he and I had dug up some broken bricks from a short walkway in front of the house. This morning, I’d decided we would get dirt from the other side of the yard and fill in the holes. I told my son I needed his help. He questioned. I explained. He grumbled. But when I grabbed my shovel, he grabbed his.

I gave him a ride in the wheelbarrow across the yard, then we worked for an hour. We dug up dirt, hauled it, dumped it, and went back for more. We found jobs he was good at: tossing dirt with his shovel, picking out rocks, stomping on the dirt to flatten it. He was happy.

At some point he paused to tell me, in all earnestness, “Daddy, last night, when I was going to bed, I was thinking about what I wanted to do today.”

“What were you thinking?” I asked.

He said, “I was thinking that this was exactly what I wanted to do today.”

I was touched. And also skeptical. He couldn’t have known what was in store that morning. But I know he believed what he was saying.

I think this is because our deeper needs trump our more superficial interests. My son’s interest that morning was to chew watermelon-flavored gum and watch a kids’ show on Netflix. His deeper, developmental and emotional needs were di erent. So di erent, in fact, that he reimagined his desires. He created a story of what he’d envisioned for himself so it corresponded to the work we were doing together.

This interaction reminds me of something I think about often in my work as a school principal — that our children, indeed all of us, have a deep need to be needed: to work alongside important people in our world and do work that needs doing in the places where we live. Educators can — and should — orient curriculum in this direction: guiding students to recognize the work that needs doing, then helping them develop dexterity with the tools necessary for the tasks.

Some of what needs doing in Vermont is simply a deeper integration of school

with the economic life of our towns, so that young people enter the local workforce and stay. One way that my school, Randolph Union High School, prioritizes this is through the work of our director of Career and Workforce Pathways, who develops classes that use local industry’s factory and fieldwork sites as places for learning. This exposure helps students envision and chart meaningful schoolto-college-to-career pathways.

Back to School School Issue

community forums to ensure there was an understanding of why this gesture was needed. This year, one of their tasks will be to teach our community about the legacy of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African American boy who was murdered in Mississippi after accusations that he whistled at a white woman. The first day of school, August 28, is the 64th anniversary of Till’s brutal murder. We will not let it pass unnoticed.

Planning a kids event?

List it for free in the Kids VT monthy calendar. Submit your October event by September 16th online at kidsvt.com or to calendar@kidsvt.com

Schools also need to engage students in addressing our world’s pressing social and environmental concerns. The warming climate now disturbs our communities in ways both mundane and disastrous. Ticks bring debilitating illnesses north. Raging wildfires in Canada bring haze to Vermont skies. Soccer practices may be cancelled due to heat this fall. To say nothing of more grave disasters that may loom. We need our young people to confront this crisis.

We also need them to develop antidotes to the illness of white supremacy. The places where we live need young people to combat racist rhetoric and policies that divide our nation with often brutal violence.

Randolph Union’s project-based learning courses are one way we engage students in addressing societal problems. In recent years, they have centered on topics from food systems to restorative justice. Students have produced documentary films, radio journalism and digital music. They have drafted legislation with state representatives, organized community events, published their work in print and on air, visited schools abroad, and organized student activists from across the state to combat racism in schools.

This fall, we’re o ering a projectbased learning course called “Inequality and the Environment,” grounded in the essential question, “How can we unite people of all class backgrounds to improve the health of our planet?” Students will tap into experts in climate change and income inequality to help shape their plans of action. I’m excited to follow their work.

I’m also looking forward to the work of our Racial Justice Alliance. Last year, this group worked to raise the Black Lives Matter flag and conducted

I have been inspired by work in other schools as well. Matt Sheelan, a second grade teacher in California, engages his students in topics with personal and political dimensions, such as learning about skin color. As part of one project, his students described their own skin tones using descriptors including “peach caramel,” “light tan,” and “Russian co ee.” They later learned about melanin and read a book on the science of skin color. Such lessons are courageously political because they destabilize the norm-defining power of whiteness and help students see that variation in skin color — not whiteness — is what’s natural and normal. No one color can have claim to supremacy.

I’ve also been following — with 11,000 others on Twitter — the work of Illinois educator, Jess Lifshitz. Last spring, her fifth grade students read a biography of Martin Luther King Jr., then discussed what they learned or already knew about him. Terms included “black,” “Civil Rights activist,” “assassinated,” “honor,” “very respected,” and “popular.” The students then read several historical texts about King, and noted the new information they learned, including: “radical,” “vilified by media,” “63% of Americans had an unfavorable opinion,” “poverty,” and “targeted by FBI.” Dr. King’s story thus took on nuance. Lifshitz is helping her students become critical readers of history, able to challenge simplistic narratives with historical facts.

In a time of political polarization, it is no easy task to ground school curriculum in real-world challenges. But connecting children’s learning with the deepest needs of the place where they live makes for the most engaging learning there is. Like working in the yard with my son, the work can feel both playful and strenuous. Childhood needs both. When children can name and see the work to be done, they will rise to the occasion with energy, curiosity and courage. They know that it is their present life and future that they’re shaping.

CALENDAR

PUZZLE PAGE ANSWERS

RIDDLE SEARCH ANSWER: The rocky road.

She built the new staircase with her STEP-DAD

ANSWER:

SEE “JUST FOR KIDS” SECTION FOR PUZZLES JUMBLES SPY.

Connecting children’s learning with the deepest needs of the place where they live makes for the most engaging learning there is.

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FOR

A-B-Cheese

PULL-OUT SECTION

Maisie Mouse is amazed at how hard it is to find the right path to her new school. She keeps getting sidetracked by chunks of cheddar, slabs of Swiss, and even a round mound of mozzarella! Can you help Maisie get to school in time for her art class in Gorgonzola Graphics?

KIDS JUST FOR

Writing Contest

September means back to school time for kids. But what if grown-ups had to go back to school, too? Write a poem or paragraph imagining all the funny things that would happen if one of your favorite adults went back to school.

COLORING CONTEST WINNERS

Festive fall colors took center stage in this month’s amazing submissions. Saroura, 12, created a gold and amber lion wearing red shoes and surrounded by a backdrop of spirals. Four-year-old Brody dressed his lion in rainbowcolored socks and jazzed up the tip of his creature’s tail with florescent orange and purple. Evan, 6, mailed in a masterpiece with bright turquoise eyes and lemonyellow fur. What a fantastic batch of felines, kids. Send us your most marvelous work again in September.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

“THE CIRCUS LION”

Trevor Wright, 8, She eld

“LION ON THE MOUNTAIN”

Josephine Taylor, 7, East Calais

“PARTY ANIMAL”

Breyniah Leget, 10, Derby

“TROPICAL LION”

Emeline Brown, 7, Montpelier

“ALOHA SAFARI”

Mariela Swiech, 11, Northfield

The winners of annual family memberships to the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium are…

We’ll pick two winners and publish their names and poems in the next issue. Winners receive a $25 gift certificate to Crow Bookshop

Deadline to enter is Monday, September 16.

Send your entries to: Kids VT, attn: Writing Contest, P.O. Box 1184, Burlington, VT 05402.

WRITING WINNERS

In our August issue, we asked kids to write a paragraph or poem about how they beat the heat during the dog days of summer. Below, find the winning entries. Alice and Sophie each receive a $25 gift certificate to Crow Bookshop in Burlington.

Alice Ide, 8 RICHMOND

When I get hot, I like to swim. Dives, cannonballs, pencil dive, All that jazz.

The water feels cool, just like the ocean. When you swim, it feels like you’re a fish getting chased by a big white shark. Oh, how I like to swim like a fish.

Sophie Scott, 6 SHELBURNE

Summer is hot, but the one way to stop is to wear a hat But if you take the hat off, you’ll burn to sweat and if you sweat, you have to go inside and wait until summer’s done!

“RED RAD LION”

Harper Murray, 9, S. Burlington

“THE JUNGLE TIGERS”

Lila Burak, 5, Richmond

“BRAVERY OF THE LION”

Alyas Piper, 4, Barnard

“DANDY LION”

Ophelia Ross, 5, Newberry

“GOOD AND GOLD”

Ari Junik, 5, Burlington

“TROPICAL LION”

Grace Devlin, 6, S. Burlington

“CRAZY LION DAY”

Anastasia Begagayeva, 9 Graniteville

TOP TITLES

“DIFFERENT COLORED LION”

Joshua Scott, 5, Shelburne

“THE LION, THE STAR AND THE SWIRL”

Yasmine Nasser, 7, Hardwick

“CRAZY MANE DAY AT SHOP”

Jenny Blanshine, 11, Charlotte

Coloring Contest!

Three winners will each receive an annual family membership to the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium. Send Kids VT your work of art by Monday, September 16. Be sure to include the info at right with your submission. Winners will be chosen in the following categories: (1) ages 5 and younger, (2) ages 6-8 and (3) ages 9-12. Winners will be named in the October issue of Kids VT. Send your high-resolution scans to art@kidsvt.com or mail a copy to Kids VT, P.O. Box 1184, Burlington, VT 05402.

Sponsored by

Jumble

BY DAVID L. HOYT & JEFF KNUREK

The letters of these crazy words are all mixed up. To play the game, put them back into the right order so that they make real words you can find in your dictionary. Write the letters of each real word under each crazy word, but only one letter to a square.

Birthday Club

You are now ready to solve this month’s Jumble For Kids. Study the picture for a hint. Then play around with the letters in the circles. You’ll find you can put them in order so that they make your funny answer.

Print your answer here:

Puzzles4Kids

Riddle Search —

ICE CREAM PARLOR

Look up, down and diagonally, both forward and backward, to find every word on the list. Circle each one as you find it. When all the words are circled, take the UNUSED letters and write them on the blanks below. Go from left to right and top to bottom to find the answer to this riddle: What caused the ice cream truck to break down?

BOWL CARAMEL CHERRY CHOCOLATE CONE CUP

FLOAT FUDGE

GELATO MILK

BY HELENA HOVANEC

JACK W. lives in Montgomery and turns 6 on September 13. He is a curious and loving kid who seeks adventure, and loves his dog, Edison; chocolate milk; chicken nuggets and the color green. He practices Tae Kwon Do, skis on the Jay Peak Free Ski Team, and loves to swim and ride his bike.

Jack W. wins a care package of books.

ISABELLE lives in South Hero and turns 8 on September 1. She’s a Girl Scout Brownie and loves to swim in the lake in the summer and snowboard in the winter. Her real passion, however, is horseback riding. She would live at the barn if her parents let her!

ALYSSA lives in Bakersfield and turns 6 on September 7. She’s a great big sister who loves gymnastics, reading, rainbows and unicorns. She enjoys competing, wearing flashy clothes combinations and doing ballet. Her favorite animal is a hippo.

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VANILLA

Riddle Answer:

JACK P. lives in Montpelier and turns 10 on September 29. He’s a budding paleontologist who is very curious about nature. He enjoys fishing and camping on the shores of Lake Champlain with his family and friends.

ANSWERS P. 47

To enter, submit information using the online form at kidsvt.com/birthday-club Just give

your contact info, your child’s name and birth date, and a photo, and he or she is automatically enrolled.

Isabelle, Alyssa and Jack P. each win a special book.