Antioch University
In Bloom Conferences
Promising Practices in Nature-Based Early Childhood Education
For the past decade, Antioch University New England’s Nature-based Early Childhood program has offered about 40 In Bloom: Promising Practices in Nature-based Early Childhood Education conferences around the country. Most of them have been in New England, but we’ve also offered conferences in Newark, DE, Santa Barbara, CA, and Asheville, NC, and collaborated on conferences in Jackson, WY, and the New York City metropolitan area. The intent of these events is to support the community of practitioners who are working to bring early childhood education out into the neighborhoods, parks, playgrounds, woods, and open spaces surrounding their schools.
Three In Bloom conferences are scheduled this spring in the New England region.
In Bloom in Massachusetts
- Saturday, April 27, 2024
- Wright-Locke Farm, Winchester, MA
In Bloom in New Hampshire
- Saturday, May 18, 2024
- Symonds Elementary School, Keene, NH
In Bloom in Maine
- Saturday, June 15, 2024
- Educare Central Maine, Waterville, ME
Similar to the past few years, the theme for all the conferences will be nature and place-based education for preschool through third-grade students and teachers. Though the theme is the same everywhere, each conference has unique keynote speakers, panels, and musical experiences. The keynote speakers come from either right around the corner or from around the country. The workshop presenters are mostly local preschool and elementary school teachers who have made a commitment to some form of learning outdoors in their city or town. There’s always a workshop or two by Antioch New England Nature-based Early Childhood faculty. Maine workshop presenters are mostly from Maine; Massachusetts workshop presenters are mostly from Massachusetts, and . . . you get the idea. The conferences happen rain or shine, indoors and mostly outdoors. The food is great, and the joy and energy are palpable. Lots of participants say, “That was the best professional development experience I’ve been to in years.”
The conferences are open to about 125 early childhood educators at each site. They fill up! Don’t wait till the last minute to register or you’ll find yourself on a waiting list. Each conference has shared large group experiences first thing in the morning and right after lunch. Then, you choose to attend two long-ish, hands-on workshops, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. Come prepared to sit on the ground, breathe fresh air, and be actively engaged.
Registration Fees
Working Individual: $125
School Group: $100 per person with three registering from the same school/district.
AU Student/Alumni: $75
In Bloom in Massachusetts
Saturday, April 27, 2024
- 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
- At the Wright-Locke Farm, Winchester, Massachusetts.
- Co-sponsored by Boston Outdoor Preschool Network and the Forest Friends Preschool at Wright-Locke Farm.
We’re delighted to be back at Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester, MA, just 10 miles from downtown Boston. It’s an oasis of green and a hive of activity amidst suburban neighborhoods. Wright-Locke Farm and the surrounding area are the homeland of the Tribe and Pawtucket people. Its history of settlement began in 1638, and it is now being reborn as a community farm for all. The farm offers certified organic produce through Community Supported Agriculture shares and online ordering. It also offers educational programs for children and adults, including Forest Friends, a licensed nature preschool, hiking trails that lead to conservation land, and special events for the community. The conference keynote and panel will take place in the beautiful new All-Seasons Barn. The workshops will take place in the thoughtfully preserved farm buildings, gardens, and woods of the farm.
Land Acknowledgement
Wright-Locke Farm acknowledges and pays respect to the indigenous peoples who stewarded the land around Wright-Locke Farm for generations. This area is the homeland of the indigenous Massachusett Tribe and Pawtucket people, who were forcibly removed in the 1600s. The Massachusett Tribe and people with Pawtucket ancestry continue to live throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Morning Keynote
Creating Culturally-Centered Early Childhood Nature Programs
Ashley Brailsford, Founder of Unearthing Joy, Nashville, TN
Creating nature-based curriculum and programs that center diverse cultural perspectives can be challenging but is necessary for transforming outdoor spaces into inclusive places. This keynote will share practical strategies and examples from programs that center the stories and roles of Black, Indigenous, and Other People of the Global Majority in nature education.
Ashley Brailsford, PhD, is an early childhood educator and nature enthusiast who launched Unearthing Joy to guide the development of culturally-centered, nature-based programming for families, community groups, and organizations that center the stories and contributions of Indigenous, Black, and other people of the Global Majority. Her experiences in teaching, professorship, curriculum development, and leadership in education, coupled with time spent as an outdoor guide informs her programming and development process to transform outdoor spaces into inclusive places that honor culture, explore justice, and unearth joy.
Morning Workshops
Nature-based Integrated Emergent Curriculum for PreK & K,
Katie Baker, Co-Director, Turn Back Time, Paxton, MA
Small Fires, Warm Hearts: Fire Building and Tea Ritual to Nurture Community, Comfort and Connection,
Susan Chlebowski, Outdoor Learning and Play Consultant, Community Connections for Children, York, PA and Waldoboro, MA
Digging and Dumping: Soil Science for Children,
Ellen Doris, Faculty and Director of Nature-based Early Childhood Program, Antioch University New England. Keene, NH
Guiding Behavior in an Outdoor Setting,
Sara Murray, Co-Founder, Toddler Connections Leader, and Teacher Coach, Boston Outdoor Public Network
Journaling with Forest Friends: A Journey to Find a Meaningful Documentation Method,
Megan Recupero, Teacher and Co-Director of Forest Friends Preschool, Wright-Locke Farm, Winchester, MA
Wild About Squirrels,
Susie Spikol, Harris Center Naturalist and Author of The Animal Adventurer’s Guide
Afternoon Panel
Sarah Besse, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Boston Outdoor Preschool Network,
Boston, MA
Jill Canelli, Preschool Director for Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Preschool, also the Mass
Audubon Early Education Manager for the MetroWest Region.
Kelly Meehan, Past Regional Director for the Department of Early Care and Education for the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and currently the Vice President for Children’s Services and Community Partnerships at People, Inc.
Building and Fostering Equity in Nature-Based Early Childhood Program
Nature-based early childhood programming is easily available to middle-class white families, but how do we provide access to a wider range of children from diverse families in urban settings? We know that all people deserve equitable access to nature, protection against the threats from climate change, clean air and water, and abundant plants and wildlife that bring joy to our daily experiences and enhance our quality of life. Sarah, Jill, and Kelly will each describe how they work to incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility in their programs. They’ll discuss enrollment policies and ways to provide scholarships, teacher professional development, and different approaches to family engagement. They’ll also discuss some initiatives to provide tuition-free nature-based programming for a diversity of students across the Commonwealth.
Afternoon Workshops
Connecting Family Stories with Literacy & Art to Promote Culturally-Centered Curriculum,
Ashley Brailsford, Unearthing Joy, Nashville, TN
Composting in the Classroom and Beyond,
Sadie Brown, Youth Programs Educator, Wright-Locke Farm, Winchester, MA
The Connection Between Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging (DEIB) and Nature,
Michelle Dolan, Director of Nest Program, Wheeler School, Providence, RI
Mohammed Abdallah, Nest Early Childhood Teacher, Wheeler School, Providence, RI
Designing Natural Playscapes for Young Children,
Liz Luc Clowes, Landscape Designer/Architect and Director of Community Engagement & New Food Forest Construction at the Boston Food Forest, Boston, MA
Mindfulness and Yoga for the Outdoor Classroom,
Mandy Slavik, Equity Programs Coordinator, Lead Preschool Teacher, Boston Outdoor Preschool Network, Boston, MA
“Sticky” Math Learning: Joyful Teaching Experiences Through the Outdoor Lens,
Anne M. Stires, Nature Connection Consultant, Anne Stires Educational Consultant, Alna, ME and Affiliate Faculty, Antioch University, Keene, NH
In Bloom in New Hampshire
Saturday, May 18, 2024
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
At Symonds Elementary School, Keene, NH
We planted In Bloom in Keene, NH, in the spring of 2011. It was part and parcel of the inception of the Nature-based Early Childhood program at Antioch, New England. We did a couple of annual events in Keene, and then we moved further afield–down to New Haven, up to Burlington, VT, and over to Kittery, ME. We liked exploring the early childhood communities around New England, but eventually, we started to feel a bit homesick. So it feels right to be bringing In Bloom back to Keene.
The conference will be held at Symonds Elementary School in Keene–a charming, arts-filled, neighborhood elementary school with good outdoor learning spaces and easy access to surrounding Wheelock Park. Symonds has a number of teachers conducting forest days in the early elementary grades, and you’ll enjoy all the beautiful child-created artwork on the walls throughout the school. The school provides great examples of how to incorporate nature-based education into the public school curriculum.
Morning Keynote
We’re New England, We’re New Hampshire, We are Keene: Connecting With our Place through Music, Movement, and Story
Peter Siegel, award-winning songwriter, music producer, teacher at Symonds Elementary School, and founding member of the folk-funk-world beat band, The Gaslight Tinkers
The arts spark a child’s enthusiasm for their surroundings and local ecosystems. When we weave a song into a place-based lesson, we stir emotion and build a personal connection. There are lessons to be learned from folksinger and activist Pete Seeger, who helped give birth to the hands-on environmental education and advocacy movement in the late sixties and early seventies. He believed that with song, dance, puppets, and celebratory events, you can inspire a generation to advocate for clean air and water. We can’t expect to teach our children to get their hands dirty without fun and creative expression and we can use the methods of the movement to inspire children to be invested in their outdoor learning. Let’s do as Pete would and teach our children to honor the place with song and creative expression.
Peter Siegel is an educator, composer, producer, and performer living in southern Vermont. He’s a K-5 music teacher at Symonds School who brings his lifelong experience working outdoors to the classroom. He began his journey as a teenager on the Sloop Clearwater as an environmental educator on the Hudson River while simultaneously studying world music and dance traditions. (Peter was an instrumentalist on Pete Seeger’s Grammy award-winning album Tomorrow’s Children.) After earning his BS in Resource Management and Administration from Antioch, he promptly fell back into teaching, applying lessons in outdoor learning and advocacy to the public school ecosystem. When not teaching, he’s touring with his world music band, The Gaslight Tinkers, and tending his garden.
Morning Workshops
You Can Teach THAT Outside? Meeting MA and NH State Standards through Outdoors Learning,
Rachael Basdekis, Kindergarten Teacher, Swift River School, New Salem, MA
Becoming Animal: Using Imaginative Play to Deepen Connection with Nearby Nature,
Jaime Hutchinson, Teacher-Naturalist and Professional Learning Facilitator, Harris Center for Conservation Education, Hancock, NH
Buds, Branches, and Bark: Investigating Trees with Young Learners,
Tracy Jones, Preschool Educator, Beaver Brook Association, Hollis, NH
Nature Journaling for Your Students and YOURSELF: A Tool for Reflection, Documentation, and Mindfulness
Liza Lowe, Director of Inside-Outside, Affiliate Faculty, Antioch University New England, Keene, NH
Who is the Forest? Integrated Curriculum with First and Second Graders,
Eliza Minnucci, Co-Founder of Forest Kinder, Co-Author of The Forest Days Handbook, and Forest Days Teacher at First Branch Elementary School in Tunbridge, VT. Adjunct Faculty, Antioch University New England, Keene, NH
Play-Based Learning Stations That Cultivate Early Scientists and Mathematicians,
Amy Randall, Kindergarten Teacher, Chesterfield School, Chesterfield, NH; Virginia Gitchell, Fourth Grade Teacher, Chesterfield School, Chesterfield, NH
Afternoon Keynote
Forest Days: Small Stories from A Decade of Taking Public School to the Woods
Eliza Minnucci, Co-Founder of Forest Kinder, Co-Author of The Forest Days Handbook, and Forest Days Teacher at First Branch Elementary School, Tunbridge, VT. Adjunct Faculty, Antioch University New England, Keene, NH
Eliza Minnucci tells her story of a decade focused on getting students outdoors for play and learning. This hyper-local and personal presentation aims to sound familiar and inspiring all at once. The audience can expect to exclaim, “I’ve done that! and “I could do that!” in equal measure. A big story of educational paradigm shift will be made up of our small stories.
Eliza Minnucci was a kindergarten teacher in Vermont when she began Forest Fridays in 2013. Eliza published A Forest Days Handbook in 2018 and has provided professional development for early childhood and elementary educators around New England. She is an adjunct professor at Antioch University New England, where she has instructed the Nature-based Early Childhood Curriculum course since 2017. She is now most focused on her work as the Forest School teacher at the First Branch Unified District elementary school, where she lives with her family in Tunbridge, Vermont.
Afternoon Workshops
The Wonder of Worms: Exploring the Relationship Between Soil and Those Wiggly Decomposers We Call Worms,
Jessica Arrow, Kindergarten teacher, Symonds Elementary, Keene, NH
Fire as Teacher and Caretaker,
Amy Butler, Author of Educating Children Outdoors, Educator, and Backcountry Explorer, Jay, VT
Mapping a Sense of Place,
Hannah Lindner-Finlay, Kindergarten Teacher, Academy School, Brattleboro, VT
Seasonal Crafts and Celebrations,
Linda MacGillvary, Director, Harrisville Children’s Center, Harrisville, NH
Music IS Connection: Song, Games, Movement, and Hand-Clapping Exercises for Young Children Indoors and Outdoors,
Peter Siegel, award-winning songwriter, music producer, and teacher at Symonds Elementary School, Keene, NH, Founding member of the folk-funk-world beat band, The Gaslight Tinkers, Brattleboro, VT
Supporting the Development of Executive Function through Outdoor Games,
David Sobel, Professor Emeritus and Author, Antioch University New England, Keene, NH
In Bloom in Maine
Join us for In Bloom in Maine at Educare Central Maine in Waterville! The workshops will take place in the play yards and outdoor areas of Educare, as well as in the nearby forest and stream areas. There will be tours of the school and outdoor play areas, as well as parts of the adjacent elementary school. At lunch, participants will have the opportunity to meet with Antioch University’s Inside-Outside Maine chapters and the Maine Early Childhood Outdoors network. We will enjoy providing you with simple morning refreshments and a healthy lunch as part of your registration fee.
Saturday, June 15, 2024
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Educare Central Maine, Waterville, ME
Morning Workshops
Nature- and Place-based Mapping with Young Children
Kate Cass, Kindergarten Teacher, and Sara Giuliano, Second Grade Teacher, Fiddlehead School of Arts & Sciences, Gray, ME
Curriculum Learning…Outside! Implementing Literacy and Math in “Pop Up” Classrooms
Meg Kenter, Lower School Teacher, Berwick Academy, Berwick, ME
Supporting the Development of Executive Function through Outdoor Games
David Sobel, Professor Emeritus and Author, Antioch University New England, Keene, NH
A How to Guide to Emergent Learning in Nature
Megan Vaillancourt, Lead PreK Teacher & Outdoor Learning Coordinator and Mattie Jernigan, Lead Teacher, Educare Central Maine, Waterville, ME
Coming Back Home: Routines of a Nature-based Educator
Amy Butler, Teacher, Educational Consultant, and Author of Educating Children Outdoors – Lessons in Nature-Based Learning, Jay, VT
Nature Art (and Spanish!) with Young Children
Vero Poblete-Howell, Arts and Spanish Language Educator, Camden, ME
Morning Keynote
Animacy: Penobscot Connection to Land and Waters as a Guide to Early Childhood Education
Maulian Dana Bryant, Penobscot Nation Ambassador, Penobscot Nation, Indian Island
The Penobscot peoples’ connection to nature/stewardship of lands and waters is animate, current, and lifetimes long. Interrelationships abound in the natural world. Using this platform, Maulian will share her ideas for educators in this important time of speaking truth and working together to increase knowledge, equity, and justice. As educators of young children, we can make a difference in how we teach (our language and ideas matter), where we teach (as in, outdoors, in green spaces), and what we teach (by teaching culturally responsive, empathy-based, social-emotional curriculum). As in every professional field, centering indigenous voices in nature-based early childhood education is vital. Maulian will speak about how a deep connection to the natural world fits into her parenting, the Penobscot community, and her activism work.
Maulian Dana Bryant is the Ambassador to the Penobscot Nation. She is also a well-known and admired social activist, mother of three children, and daughter of former Penobscot chief, Barry Dana (dedicated educator, artist, and preservationist of Penobscot culture). Maulian has been working for many years to end racism toward indigenous people. Most recently, she led the political fight against the use of Indian mascots in schools–Maine was the first state in the nation to end the use of Indian mascots. She is a public speaker and human rights educator. She works with political representatives to submit bills to the Maine legislature, most recently about missing and murdered indigenous women and prosecution of non-tribal offenders.
Afternoon Panel
Closing the Nature Gap at Educare Central Maine: A Vision for What is Possible
Educare Central Maine, a panel of teachers & administrators.
We live in a world full of natural wonders. Many children are afforded the opportunity to grow up in nature, but this is not the case for all. Young children living in poverty may face the daunting reality of limited access to safe and equitable outdoor experiences. During this panel discussion, you will learn why – and engage with how – one public-access school in Maine made the shift towards nature-based early education to help close the “nature gap” for the children and families it serves. Their passion for equitable access to nature for all children also helped to create Maine Early Childhood Outdoors – a statewide network of nature-based early childhood education advocates.
Erica Palmer, Education Manager, KVCAP Child & Family Services
Rhonda Kaiser, School Director, Educare Central Maine
Brittany Foss, Early Childhood Education Supervisor, KVCAP Child & Family Services
Megan Vaillancourt, Lead Preschool Teacher and Nature-based Coordinator
Afternoon Workshops
The First Blade of Sweetgrass: Weaving Wabanaki Ways of Life into Teaching Practice
Gabriel Frey, Passamaquoddy artist and traditional Black ash basket maker, from Sipiak & currently living in traditional Penobscot territory
Nature Moves: Simple Strategies to Support Children’s “Movement Diet”
Mae Corwin, owner/teacher, Sundara Yoga, Brunswick, ME
Climate Education in the Early Years – Laying the Foundation
Seal Rossignol, Outdoor Learning Coordinator, Fiddlehead School of Arts & Sciences, Gray, ME & Education Director, Center for an Ecology-Based Economy, Norway, ME
Exploration and Inquiry: Teaching Nature- & Place-Based Science (connected to NGSS standards)
Jasmine Smith, Founding Director, The Community for Place-Based Education, Bar Harbor, ME
Let the Children Play! (But What Are They Learning?)
Lisa Henderson, Co-Founder, Sprouts Farm & Forest Kindergarten, Millis, MA and Co-Facilitator, MSAD17 Pre-K Outdoor Professional Development, Oxford Hills, ME
Increasing Accessibility: Mini Explorations in Nearby Nature
Annie Coaluca, Executive Director of Early Learning and Family Services, Bath Area Family YMCA, Bath, ME