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Curriculum Grants of up to
$1,500 available to VRP Schools!

VRP members! Your site is entitled to apply for a mini grant for the current school year. Grants may be up to $1,500. All teachers who document and publish their project on VRP's web site will receive a personal check for $250 upon publication. We have $5,000 in stipends available. more



Our Curriculum Library contains teacher created examples from the classroom and community, along with many Vermont History units. more



Reflections contributed by VRP students, educators, and community members. more

VRP's Web site is made possible in large part through the generous support of the Bay and Paul Foundations.





VRP Resource Partner

Rural School and Community Trust
www.ruraltrust.edu


VRP Resource Partner


VRP Resource Partner



VRP Resource Partner



VRP Website development
support provided by
Community Works Institute (CWI)
Contact Webmaster

VRP News and Events

VRP School Updates
Be sure to check out the latest news updates from VRP schools.
and don't miss our LATEST VRP Newsletter check it out here



Curriculum Grants Available to VRP Schools!
Vermont Rural Partnership school member your site is entitled to apply for a mini grant for the current school year.

Grants may be applied for up to $750 for a project involving one teacher and classroom, $1,000 for a project including two or more teachers and multiple classes of students, $1,250 for projects involving teachers in two or more schools to collaborate and work together, or  $2,000 for a whole school project, which involves all teachers and students in the school.

Additionally all teachers who document and publish their project on the VRP website will receive a personal check for $250 upon publication.
APPROVED GRANTS: Eden, Peacham, Cabot, Doty, Rivendell, Barnet, Lakeview, Twinfield, Isle La Motte
DOWNLOAD APPLICATION DOCS: Grant RFP • Grant Review Checklist • VRP Rubric

VRP's Fall Planning Meeting was a great success! We re-energized to begin our VRP work after a beautiful Vermont summer, and were delighted to welcome some new principals and their schools to VRP this year: Diane Reilly, Hyde Park Elementary, Jude Newman, Roxbury Village School, and Jean Berthiaume, Fayston Elementary School!  We also saw many long-time members and familiar faces. Our theme for this school year is "Strengthening the Learning Web: Building Connections for Student Achievement." 

13th Annual Learning in Place VRP Conferene, May 2013
Our 13th annual VRP Conference was a huge success, Tending What Matters:  Youth and Adults Partner for Change. This year's conference took place at Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier.

When we tend what matters-ourselves, our learning, our relationships, our communities, our earth-we harness a collective power that can change the world. This year we celebrated place-based learning, youth-adult partnerships and communities working together to tend what matters.  Workshops included student-designed nature guides and outdoor classrooms, bread making projects, oral history research, artists in the classroom, an energy team, and other exciting work going on in Vermont Rural Partnership schools. Youth and Adults Transforming Schools Together (YATST) teams, along with schools participating in "Youth Getting to Y:  Youth Risk Behavior Survey" also showcased their action research accomplishments.


Vermont's Rural Trust Global Fellowship Teachers


Photo Left to Right: Dawn Elliott and Kathy Tobin from Eden School who travelled to Barcelona, Spain to participate in a Creativity Workshop; Chris Shaffer from North Country Union High School who travelled to Iceland to study geothermal capacities; Maureen Davis from Twinfield School who travelled to France to study technology and second language teaching; Lynn Talamini and Donna McSweeney from Cabot School who travelled to Italy to follow in the footsteps of Tomi Di Paulo, and learn Italian cooking; Kathleen Ellis from Thetford who travelled to Cambodia to study genocide; Amy Locarno from Wsahington Village School who travelled to Turkey to study its history and culture.

Foodworks Bread Oven Work at Newark and Walden Schools.
Many VRP schools continue to move towards school community food system education and use Quebec bread ovens as another vehicle for hands-on food based curriculum and local entrepreneurialism. more

Community Works Journal -online digital magazine
The newest edition of Community Works Journal is now on line, available to educators at no cost. As always you will find a wealth of ideas, information, and resources through the writing and reflections of our educator contributors. From Baltimore to Los Angeles, the ideals of service-learning, education for sustainability, and place based education resonate through the articles and essays. more

As you read these inspiring stories consider your own teaching and place. Think about submitting an article of your own. Feel free to contact us if you would like assistance in framing a reflective piece that showcases work in your community. Submission guidelines are available online

Community Works Institute presents
CWI's Summer EAST and WEST Institutes on Service-Learning

EAST July 15-19, 2013 at Shelburne Farms, Vermont
WEST July 29-August 2, 2013 in Los Angeles, CA

"Super! Incredibly useful to hear the ‘voice’ of others. Having this experience not only enriches myself and my practice, but will also enrich the practice of my coworkers as we share these ideas back home."
Elliott Lax, Science Teacher
City High School, Tucson, Arizona

Join with colleagues from across North America and beyond,
working to enhance their teaching practice around service-learning, place based curriculum and sustainability. For well over a decade CWI's annual Summer Iinstitutes on Service-Learning have supported educators from around the globe in creating curriculum that empowers students, invigorates teachers, and connects schools to local communities in deeply meaningful ways. CWI's partner Shelburne Farms plays an important role in this process by providing support for sustainability education.
Call 909-480-3966, or email with questions. more information

Shelburne Farms Summer 2013
Professional Development Opportunities
Fabulous learning, training and networking opportunties for educators right in your own backyard. Events include place based, education for sustainability, food and nutrition related curriculum development seminars and institutes. more

Trash on the Lawn Day
Thetford Academy and Harwood Union along with high schools around Vermont hold "Trash on the Lawn Days." For this event, sponsored by the Vermont Association of Recyclers, all the school's trash for one day is collected, spread out, and sorted for an "audit." VISTA workers work with students to organize this event. Students in Diane Ferriter's math classes analyzed data and graphed results. The next step involves composting food waste, in cooperation with the hot lunch program and the Academy's Agricultural Sciences program.

Vital Results Through Service-Learning:
Linking Students and Community in Vermont Schools
This publication from Community Works Press includes work from Vermont Rural Partnership schools. Vital Results is a moving testament to the power and significance of service-learning. Included are firsthand stories, narratives, photographs and interviews with students, educators and community members who have been involved in service-learning at these schools. At a time when the need to develop civic and social responsibility in our youth has never been greater, Vital Results provides both strategies and evidence that students involved in service-learning can make a difference in their schools and their communities. NOTE: Special publication rates available to Vermont schools. More General information