Grantees

To purchase equipment which will fill basic needs and expand and enhance developmental activities for thie at-risk population of infants and toddlers in Lund's early childhood program and cild care center.

Homeless parents will become more knowledgeable of high quality early education and enrichment options and will access child care and preschool for their children. This will help prepare homeless children ages 0-5 for school and be kindergarten ready.

Purchase iPads for the Y Early Education Program.

Prepare students for learning; help families find quality, affordable child care and provide opportunities for healthy, social interactions with developing peer.

Early Education STEM Outreach is a statewide STEM outreach initiative focusing on underserved early childhood classrooms including those located in rural communities and Head Start programs. ECHO will continue to expand the delivery of early science learning programs, teacher professional development, STEM Kits, STEM Festivals, and leverage new opportunities in virtual program delivery - supporting 60 teachers and 900 children in 60 classrooms across rural Vermont. This initiative will address the needs of early learners and Preschool - 1st grade educators by creating high-quality curricula, hands-on materials and professional development to support science literacy and early science readiness.

ECHO Science Center is expanding its Early STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Education Outreach Program, which provides hands-on STEM-based education activities and curricula and teacher training in preschool and 1st-grade classrooms and other early learning programs in predominantly underserved communities across Vermont. Activities are both facilitated and self-guided, are offered in-school and remotely, and are planned to reach an estimated 75 educators and 900 students annually in more than 60 classrooms. The program addresses a shortage of STEM expertise among early childhood educators in many school districts and supports the science learning readiness critical to current trends in elementary education.

This program will implement a standardized, comprehensive and replicable technology program into preschools which is intended to provide teachers and center staff with the necessary skills to help students develop strong social and comprehension skills.

We are requesting funding to overcome structural barriers to teachers’ use of our Farm to School garden for learning. We have maintained an educational garden since 2017 to foster an early exploration of where healthy food comes from. Over the years, there has been one teacher, the Garden Coordinator, who primarily takes care of the garden, which led to one group of children spending the most time there. We have practiced rotations for the Garden Coordinator to facilitate garden exploration and cooking with other groups regularly. However, we are striving to encourage use of the garden by all teachers. We seek to mitigate their structural barriers and continue to provide professional learning and leadership. We believe that the garden is a setting not only for learning about nature and food, but also for all the same learning objectives that one can practice indoors including motor skills, observation, language, and problem-solving. Children who visit and tend the garden will also understand deeply how they can grow something beautiful and nourishing from a small seed. By adding equipment that facilitates learning, safety, and comfort, all children in our Center can benefit from the emergent learning opportunities offered by the garden and its produce.