VT FEED: On the Trail of the Potato Puff

Waitsfield School

Waitsfield, Vermont

In an effort to purchase local food for the cafeteria, connect school children with community members and the local landscape, and enrich the curriculum with hands-on activities, Waitsfield School joined forces with Vermont FEED. Students used hands-on activities and field trips to a local mine and quarry to learn how geologic forces shaped the mountainous landscape and fertile valleys. These same forces played a key role in shaping the Mad River Valley.

Outdoorsmen Tell Tales of the Woods

L.P Quinn

Tupper Lake, New York

Inspired by the Northern Forest Center's Ways of the Woods traveling exhibit, students in the extracurricular Team Quest program from L.P. Quinn School in Tupper Lake, New York, got excited to explore their own community. The students, with their teachers and an educator from the Adirondack Museum, learned how to use a digital video camera, conduct interviews and edit the material. On a beautiful day in June, Jim and Butch, Adirondack outdoorsmen with decades of experience on hunting, fishing and building boats, paddled to a local park to spend the morning with the students, answering questions about their experiences, and how equipment and the landscape have changed over the years. The students and their adult mentors edited the document into a video for public use.

Here at Home: A Wisconsin Cultural Tour for K-12 Teachers

Madison, Wisconsin

Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture, in cooperation with the UW-Madison's Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures and the Wisconsin Arts Board, hosts educational tours for educators. The interdisciplinary,immersive eight-day tours take teachers around the state in an exploration of the diversity of Wisconsin's local cultures, their expressions, and the environmental and human forces that shape them. Sample highlights of the tours include visits with blacksmiths at the nation's only Hmong blacksmith shop in LaCrosse, an exploration of Wisconsin's Belgian and Czech settlement area, learning about Wisconsin's timber industry through interviewing and observing a contract logger and National Forest Service personnel at work in the Chequamegon National Forest, and hearing the Queens of Harmony performing a cappella gospel at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum in Milwaukee. For more information about the Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture, and to explore curriculum developed by participating educators, go to http://csumc.wisc.edu/WTLC/index.htm.

Local Games Lab

Madison, WIsconsin

Dozens of middle-school classrooms in Wisconsin study local places in the Augmented Reality Games on Handhelds project. Using handheld computers (triggered by GPS devices), students walk in natural and cultural communities, taking on real-life roles and encountering authentic challenges. They interview virtual people and access virtual photos, statistics, and other documents.

Louisiana Voices: Naming Traditions

What do first and last names tell us about ourselves and our neighbors? How do parents and cultures name their children? After the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, thousands of children found themselves in new schools. Classrooms that may have been primarily one ethnicity were now a mix of cultures. Educators used activities that focused on the students and their heritage to develop a cohesive classroom culture. Louisiana Voices offered numerous curriculum materials and resources to educators, including an activity in which students researched how they were named, what their name means, and the names of their family members. Students shared their stories with one another, developing a greater understanding of each other. This is a project of the Louisiana Voices Folklife in Education Project.

Louisiana Voices: Students Share their Experiences of Katrina Using Kamishibai

Students in Louisiana used "Kamishibai", a Japanese storytelling tradition, to share with their classmates their personal experiences of Katrina. They drew illustrative pictures on several large pieces of cardstock. Upon completion, each student used the cards to tell their story to their classmates. The project was healing for students, and helped to unify classrooms of displaced children. Go to www.louisianavoices.org for hundreds of ideas for place-based curricula.

Louisiana Voices: Local Food the Louisiana Way

Elementary students in Louisiana interview family members about their food traditions. Aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas, share how they make everyday fare and foods for special occasions. Students compile recipes and produce a community cookbook, preserving their family traditions.

Dane County Cultural Tour 2002

Randall Elementary School

Madison, Wisconsin

Fourth and fifth grade students spent a year studying the cultural history of Dane County, Wisconsin. The student-driven project culminated in a four day, 370 mile road trip of the county. They visited a cheese factory, a Cambodian Buddhist temple, three farms, and a fiddle maker. They also interviewed folk artists, musicians, and community historians. An impressive collection of projects like this, including student work and curricula, can be found at the Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture website.

Students Interview Community Educators

Twinfield Union School

Plainfield, Vermont

Fourth grade students were asked "Who are teachers in our community? What do teachers in our community teach and what can we learn from them? How are we teachers in our community? What do we want to share with others? What do we dream for the future of our towns?" To answer these questions, students interviewed parents, grandparents, the local hardware store owner, a fireman, daycare teacher, musicians, and others. They used what they learned to create a slideshow, a mural of the community, and house sculptures that honored the community members. They will also be editing audio recordings of their interviews. This project emphasized to students that community members taught them many things: how to hunt and fish, play music, cook, sports, learn academic subjects, and possible career opportunities. This and similar projects can be found at the Vermont Folklife Center website.

STAR Students Research Native Seeds and Plant Traditional Gardens

（Source: https://promiseofplace.org/stories-from-the-field/vignettes）