The Innovation Issue 2017
Inside ECHO’s Latest Exhibit; Windsor’s American Precision Museum; Raising Media Savvy Kids
What is proper trick-or-treating etiquette?
Halloween is that special time of year when parents turn a blind eye to every health and safety lesson we strive to instill in our children. Here kid, dress up like Joan Rivers, head out into the night and demand candy from strangers! (What? Not everyone’s parents make their 10-year-old aspiring comedian walk around saying…
Two Educators on Tech, Commuting and Teaching Teens Responsibility
The Szabo family’s almost 200-year-old farmhouse is situated amid the rolling green hills of Lamoille County. The pastoral landscape is peaceful, with just the occasional sound of traffic from nearby Route 15. On the September evening of my visit, laughter spilled out of the open kitchen window. Once inside, the whole Szabo clan welcomed me…
A Writer’s World
I first encountered the Vermont Reads Program in 2006, when Hardwick’s Buffalo Mountain Co-op handed out free copies of Natalie Kinsey-Warnock’s As Long As There Are Mountains. In this middle school novel, the young main character’s father is injured in a logging mishap; coincidentally, my 8-year-old daughter’s father had recently experienced a near-fatal chainsaw accident.…
What Should Parents Know About Nonconventional Medical Therapies?
Not long ago, many pediatricians were skeptical, and even dismissive, of any form of treatment not covered in medical school. But doctors have begun to broaden their thinking as more evidence-based studies reveal the effectiveness of nonconventional and non-Western therapies. Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a report that examined the effectiveness of…
Fact Finders: Librarians’ Tips for Helping Kids Make Sense of Online Information
Upon entering the Burlington High School library, visitors confront a large multimedia display that’s intended to provoke and challenge them. It focuses on the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August and the violence that erupted afterward. One enlarged photo shows white supremacist demonstrators carrying tiki torches. Another captures the moment when several people…
Maker on the Move: Lucie deLaBruere Wants All of Vermont’s Students to be Tuned in to Tech
It’s the Friday afternoon before Art Hop, and the Generator maker space in Burlington’s South End is buzzing with the sounds of sawing, clanking and drilling. Another noise joins the mix: the laughter of education technology specialist Lucie deLaBruere, who has been a member here since the Generator opened three years ago. A native of…
Tot-Friendly Trails
I love hiking with my 1-year-old daughter, Virginia, but I’m in no shape to carry her up steep inclines. So on a sunny day in early September, we set out with my friend, Rachel, to tackle a trail suitable for both toddlers and adults: the Watershed Center trails near the Bristol/New Haven border. The Watershed…
A Bernie Book for Beginners
Anyone who has seen Bernie on the stump will recognize the mantras in Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution, released in August as a young-adult counterpart to his book Our Revolution. The guide’s epigraph — “Never ever lose your sense of outrage” — is a rallying cry to America’s young people, whom Vermont’s junior senator…
Learning With Students at the Center
Students are an underutilized resource when it comes to creating positive change in schools. That’s a driving force behind Champlain Valley Union High School teacher Stan Williams’ focus on student-centered learning, an approach to teaching that gives kids decision-making power and choice in the classroom. The humanities teacher and instructional coach is the sole Vermont…
Diapers for Days at Dee Physical Therapy
Dee Physical Therapy’s annual Great Diaper Drive — a project that collects disposable diapers for families served by the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) — doesn’t officially start until late October. But the event’s organizer, Jason Fitzgerald, secured his biggest donation ever this summer. Burlington-based Seventh Generation pledged 57,994 diapers — more than the drive…
Bubble and Squeak & Mushy Peas: Oddly Named, Delicious English Specialties
The British are not exactly known for their haute cuisine. In fact, if you ask someone where to get good food in England, they might direct you to an Indian restaurant. However Brits do have a few famous dishes, and they often have truly colloquial names. Take bubble and squeak. Though it may sound like…
Rock Star: The Sky’s the Limit for This Teen Climber
Name: Ben Blackmore Age: 16 Town: Charlotte Ben Blackmore keeps scaling new heights. Literally. The day before Kids VT caught up with the 16-year-old Charlotte rock climber, he’d successfully bouldered Touching the Sky, one of the most difficult climbs at Smugglers’ Notch. In contrast to sport climbing, which requires harnesses and clipping to bolts along the…
Parenting Hacks: School Lunch Ideas
This month, we asked parents to share school lunch ideas that go beyond the cheese sandwich. Send your parenting hacks to ideas@kidsvt.com. I got this idea from Weelicious: A slice of bread with the crust cut off, then rolled flat with a rolling pin. Smear with cream cheese. Then super thinly sliced veggies layered at…
Pet Corner: Napi
Sofi Gonella shared this cute feline photo via Facebook. “My daughter, Gretta, and our cat, Napi,” she wrote. “We were celebrating Napi’s birthday!” This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
Fledglings: Watching my Children Fly Away
The pile of shoes by the door is smaller now; there’s no cello blocking the file cabinet; it takes most of a week to fill the dishwasher. Three people live here, but two of them have headed off to have their own adventures in the world. I’ve been preparing for this for months. Last spring,…
The Art of… Tinkering
Give a kid an assortment of washers, wire, buttons and string, and chances are she’ll spontaneously begin creating, no instruction required. That’s the ethos behind the Tinkering Project, which encourages kids to use familiar materials to make new things. The initiative is run by Vermont Afterschool, a public-private statewide partnership that supports innovative learning opportunities…
Information Age
I’m a child of the eighties. Growing up, I built with bristle blocks, not Minecraft blocks. If I had a question, I would crack open my trusty World Book encyclopedia. When a teacher assigned a research report on Ponce de León or blue whales, I’d roam the dusty stacks of the local library, looking for…
Exploring ECHO’s Innovation Playground
Our Mission To enjoy a fun, casual family outing free of bickering and whining. The Agents Heather: Yours truly. Stay-at-home mom, chief organizer of the Polifka-Rivas household. Always up for an adventure and challenge. Karl: The husband. Eternal optimist as long as he is well caffeinated. Ruby: The 5-year-old daughter. Generally loves to hang with…
Tool Time: Windsor’s American Precision Museum Traces Vermont’s Innovative Past
On a recent trip to the American Precision Museum in Windsor, my 7-year-old daughter carefully examined a gunstock lathe. When I explained that the machine was used in the nineteenth century to carve out a precise part for a gun, her eyes widened. “It’s like a 3D printer,” she said. She was right. A type…
