Erin Kenny, director of Cedarsong Nature Preschool on Vashon Island, Washington will lead the list of presenter for this year’s In Bloom conference to be held from 9:00am to 4:00pm on Friday, May 16, at AUNE. She will be presenting Forest Kindergartens and Nature Pedagogy as her keynote, as well as a workshop, How Nature Immersion Benefits ADHD and Autistic Children.
The afternoon keynote will be Ann Pelo, a teacher-educator, consultant and author from Seattle, sharing The Goodness of Rain: A Year of Natural Explorations with a Young Child. In addition, she will present a workshop on The Sense of Wonder: Practices for Cultivating an Ecological Identity.
Other presentations include:
- Discovering Montessori Outdoors: The Naturally Prepared Environment, with Cindi Page Rapoza of Little Peeps Montessori Naturskola in Little Compton, Rhode Island
- Sticks and Faeries: A Waldkindergarten’s Perspective on Gender, with Kristen Smyrni and Katie Roberts of Natick Organic Commmunity Farm in Natick, Massachusetts
- Making and Using Felted Animals and Story Cloths to Complement Outdoor Discoveries, with Janet Altobello of The Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, New Hampshire
- On the Beaten Path: Utilizing Natural Materials to Explore the World of Rhythm, with Deb Kardane of Academy Elementary School in Brattleboro and Todd Roach of Kindle Farm School in Newfane, Vermont
- Why We Build Fires: Cultivating Attention: Observation, and Tenderness by Teaching with Fire with Amy Butler and Lindsey Vandal of the Northbranch Nature Center in Montpelier, Vermont
- Storytelling on the Spot with Amy Fredland of Sophia’s Hearth Family Center in Keene, New Hampshire
- The Yucky and the Dangerous: Risk Management in Nature-based Early Childhood Education with Anne Stires of Juniper Hill School in Alna, Maine.
- Playing with Natural Systems: Designing School Grounds with Ginny Sullivan of Conway School/Graduate Program in Sustainable Landscape Design, Conway, Massachusetts
- New this year is an Evening Campfire program, Froggy Went A’Courtin’, with Susie Spikol Faber of the Harris Center for Conservation Education, and Mary DesRosiers, folk-heritage musician and contradance caller.
- Conference participants are also invited to attend the May Festival and Plant Sale on Saturday, May 17 at Sophia’s Hearth Family Center in Keene.
The cost for the day-long conference is $125 for general registration, $100 for a team of four from the same organization, $75 for AUNE alumni and $50 for current matriculated students.
Contact Peg Smeltz, 603-283-2301, for more information: [email protected]
