Project Seasons for Young Learners: Cultivating Joy and Wonder Deb Norris July 12, 2022

Join us for an immersive, energizing week on the farm to inspire your curriculum with fresh ideas. Tap into your own curiosity and joy by connecting with peers, engaging with our farmyard, forest, lake, and wetlands, and learning practical activities and pedagogy you can easily employ in your own place. We’ll use hands-on activities, protocols, and shared learning to examine how the Big Ideas of Sustainability can instill a deep love and appreciation for the natural world in both you and your students. While we use the farm as a teaching tool, we’ve crafted this experience to support you no matter where you’re located. You’ll learn ways to utilize your community – be it a city, the suburbs, or a rural area – as a vital resource in your early education program. We’ll use a variety of protocols and provide opportunities for rich conversations to enhance our shared learning. We look forward to this week every year because no program is the same and it brings together a wonderful community of learners from all over who share, inspire, and support each other. Course Goals/Objectives You will: Build knowledge of developmentally appropriate place-based learning and gain tools and resources to use in the future. Cultivate a learning network with peers and facilitators. Learn how to develop a curriculum that utilizes the natural world by exploring different ecosystems on our campus (farm, forest, lake, and wetland). Increase your capacity to integrate farm to early education and education for sustainability into your classroom curriculum.