May 8, 2013 at 12:00 pm (Sue Lein)
Tags: preparing for summer camp, Summer Camp
Camp is just around the corner and there’s a lot to prepare. Whether it’s your 5 year old’s first time at day camp or your 14 year old’s 6th summer away, you want your child’s camp experience to be fun and successful. But you’re the parent and you’re not at camp, what can you do? The answer is lots! Here are five ways you can help prepare your child(ren) for summer camp: Read the rest of this entry »
May 8, 2013 at 10:00 am (Food, Jim McSweeney)
Tags: five simple steps, Food, gardening, Gardening Tips, growing fruit, Hilltown Tree and Garden, Landscape, Permaculture, pruning raspberries, summer delight, Western Massachuestts
Stop by one of the many plant sales happening over the next few weekends around Western MA and pick up raspberries dug fresh out of someone’s garden to take home and grown in your own!
Picking ripe raspberries straight off of their canes and popping them into your mouth is a summer delight that kids can carry with them into adulthood as fond memories from their childhood! But perhaps no other small fruit commonly found in Western MA gardens mystify their owners as do raspberries. And there is no shortage of information out there on how to prune these thorny canes!
As a professional and homeowner I can tell you I am often perplexed on how to prune them after reading one of the numerous tomes written on the subject. To make it easier for families to grow the berries in their home gardens for their children to enjoy, I’ve demystified their care here with 5 simple steps. These steps assume that you have “summer bearing raspberries ” as opposed to “fall bearing raspberries.” Even if this is not the case, this system of care will work fine: Read the rest of this entry »
May 7, 2013 at 2:00 pm (Hampshire County, Science, South Hadley)
Tags: Chemistry, Mount Holyoke College, Mt. Holyoke College, Pioneer Valley, STEM, Western Massachsetts
[Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield]
Families can sign out chemistry kits from their local library and do experiments at home. Participating libraries include: South Hadley Public Library; Wilbraham Public Library; Emily Williston Memorial Library (Easthampton); Edwards Library (Southampton); and Mount Holyoke College Library (South Hadley).
There are kits available for K-2nd & 3rd-6th grades. Participating library patrons get a stamp on their “chemistry passport” for each kit they complete, and after accumulating five, they can apply to be part of a special chemistry event!
On Saturday, June 1st from 2-4pm, the college is hosting 2013 Passport to Chemistry Adventure – and the theme is energy! To apply, kids must submit a Chemistry Visa application by May 15th, using their chemistry passport stamps as proof that they are armed with enough chemistry knowledge to participate!
After applying, families will find out what time their activity will take place. Kids participating will get to take part in a fun, investigative activity that allows them to learn basic principles of chemistry. To sign up, visit www.mtholyoke.edu.
May 7, 2013 at 1:00 pm (Franklin County, Hampden County, Hampshire County, Resources)
Tags: Connecticut River Valley, Field Trip, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, nature based education, Nature Based Learning, western massachusetts
As a tax-supported agency, our educational programs are offered free of charge. They are available to public, private, and home school groups, scouts, and adult learners. Here’s a quick run-down of field trip opportunities in the Connecticut River Valley.
When you hear the term, “Field Trip,” what do you think?
Recently I spoke with a teacher at the Christa McAuliffe Regional Charter School in Framingham. This middle school emphasizes expeditionary education with field trips for students. “But we don’t call them field trips,” the teacher said. “Students think a field trip is a day to goof off. We call them field work and field research, just like scientists do.”
I couldn’t agree more, even though I still call them “field trips.” I’m a regional educator for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the agency that manages the state forests and parks. There is so much to learn and discover in them. And it fits with so much of what’s taught in the classroom.
Why not take classroom learning and see how it’s applied in the field? The subjects can be geology, soils, plants, and ecology. It can be history, too: No matter where we walk in wooded Massachusetts, chances are we will find evidence of past human activity, what I sometimes call hidden history. Read the rest of this entry »
May 7, 2013 at 12:00 pm (Contributing Writer, Hindsight Parenting, Logan Fisher)
Tags: Creative Free Play, Motherhood, Parenting, preschool, pretend play, pretending, relationships, videogames, Violence
Let’s go back to Fisher Price amusement parks with Weebles that don’t fall down, to plastic farms where a cow moos when you open the barn door and to kick ball out in the middle of the road using the cracks in the street as bases.
“Ok daddy. Let’s go in my tent and you get to kill me.” These were the words uttered by my VERY sheltered three-year-old daughter just last night. I was shocked. Daddy was shocked. He immediately responded, “I will play with you Ila, but I won’t ever play ‘killing’. That just isn’t a nice thing to play.” To distract her, he pretended to see a dragon in the clouds and they went chasing off in that direction determined to introduce themselves. While that seem to be the end of it for Ila, it wasn’t for me. How on Earth did she come up with THAT one?
May 7, 2013 at 6:00 am (fcse, Hilltown Families, Hilltown Families Event, Volunteer Opportunity)
Tags: Community Service, Family Volunteering, Service Based Learning, Volunteer Event, Volunteering, western massachusetts
This past Saturday, May 4th, was the second Hilltown Families’ Family Community Service Event, a one of a kind event for families to volunteer together at seven different community service stations in a single morning!
From teens to tots to grandparents, together families were able to generate 450 hours of community service at this intergenerational event for different non-profit and community organizations in our region that work on behalf of animal welfare, conservation and food security. Held at Leeds Elementary School in Northampton, MA, families traveled from station to station with Passport in hand, participating in facilitated hands-on projects:
Thank you to all of the families, volunteers and facilitators who joined us! The event was a great success with 150 folks participating in a fun morning of community service. And thank you to WGGB ABC 40 for coming out and covering the event for the 6 o’clock news!
Together we were able to:
We look forward to hosting another Family Community Service Event, but we can’t do it without your help! Want to join our Community Service Committee? We want to hear from you: Read the rest of this entry »
May 6, 2013 at 6:00 am (Franklin County, Hilltown Families, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Mother's Day Craft, Mother's Day Event, Shelburne Falls, The Art Garden, western massachusetts
Join us on Friday, May 10th at the Art Garden in Shelburne Falls for a free, intergenerational community building art event that celebrates Mother’s and creativity!
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Hilltown Families presents a free family Friday night event, Mother’s Day Mementos, at The Art Garden in Shelburne Falls on Friday, May 10th from 4-7pm.
Come make handmade cards and gifts to give to the mothers in your life. Bring the kids and join your neighbors in a free community art event, making handmade tokens of appreciation for your spouse, mother, grandmother, or other mothers in your life. Let them know they are appreciated while getting creative with your kids! And if you’d like, bring along a photocopied image of mothers you’d like to honor to include in your memento too!
This is the third of a series of three Free Friday Family Nights that Hilltown Families and The Art Garden are offering. All materials included and everyone is invited to join in this community building event that honors the mother in your life.
The Art Garden is located at 14 Depot Street, Suite 2 in Shelburne Falls, MA (in the same building as the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum.). SEE MAP. Questions? Email Sienna at swildfield@hilltownfamilies.org.
May 5, 2013 at 8:00 am (Guest DJ, Hilltown Family Variety Show, podcast, Video)
Tags: Bilingual Episode, Cinco de Mayo, Family Music, Family Radio Show, music, podcast, Radio Show
Listen to Podcast:
Saturday from 9-10am & Sunday from 7-8am
May 4th & 5th, 2013
WXOJ LP – 103.3 FM – Valley Free Radio
Northampton, MA
This weekend is Cinco de Mayo, and next weekend is Mother’s Day! In this video Mariana Iranzi’s bilingual song celebrates Mother’s day – Felíz día Mamá!
Archived Podcasts ♦Radio ♦ Facebook ♦ Twitter
PLAYLIST
May 4, 2013 at 6:00 am (Recap Map, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Berkshire County, Berkshires, Family Guide, franklin county, Hampden County, hampshire county, Hilltowns, Massachusetts, New England, Pioneer Valley, Spring, Weekend Guide, western massachusetts
Here’s a recap of news and information posted on Hilltown Families this past week, along with a map for finding out what’s happening this weekend and next week throughout Western MA!
Peruse our list of Suggested Events for May 4th-10th, 2013 for a comprehensive list of events happening throughout the four counties of Western MA, including: Best Bets, Bulletin Board. and the Hilltown Family Variety Show.
Also check our weekly column, Learn Local. Play Local. for 23 Community Highlights: Building Birdhouses to Making Giving Bags. Jurassic Roadshow to Long Island Express., and our column, Berkshire Family Fun: May 2013, for a list of premier educational and cultural highlights in Berkshire County for families!
Saturday • Sunday
Monday • Tuesday • Wednesday • Thursday • Friday
Service-Based Learning ♦ Playgroups & Storyhours ♦ Dinosaurs/Fossils ♦ Nature & History ♦ Fashion ♦ Science ♦ Animal/Nature Studies ♦ Parent Workshop
- Local History: Greenfield Home to First Dinosaur Museum in the Country!
- Debut of Parenting Green: Earth Friendly Ideas for Raising a Family!
- Little Free Library in Wilbraham
- Eric Carle Museum Cast a Call for Caterpillar Sculptures
- Under the Hat: Learning About Songwriting with Rhymes
- Hilltown Families’ Family Community Service Event: May 4th!
- Many Festivals in One at the Hilltown Spring Festival!
- Parenting Possibilities: A Sibling’s Love
Visit the Hilltown Families Facebook page and Twitter stream for more news and information!
May 3, 2013 at 6:00 am (Highlights, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Berkshire County, Berkshires, Community Based Education, Community Service, Community Service Based Learning, education for sustainability, environmental education, experiential education, Family Activities in Western Massachusetts, franklin county, Hampden County, hampshire county, Massachusetts, National Volunteer Week, New England, Park Clean Ups, pedagogy of place, Pioneer Valley, place-based education, place-based learning, staycation, Things to do in Western Massachusetts, Tourisim, Travel, vacation, Western MA, western massachusetts
Northampton’s annual Pride Parade and Celebration takes place on Saturday starting at 12noon! Celebrate LGBTQ culture and rights – there is a specially designated youth space at the event just for families!
Building Birdhouses to Making Giving Bags. Jurassic Roadshow to Long Island Express. Wild Flower Walk to Historical Fashion Show…
These are just a few of the learning highlights we’re featuring this week!
Get out into your community and learn while you play!
May 2, 2013 at 6:01 am (Suggested Events)
Tags: Berkshires, Event Listings, Family, Family Activities, Family Events, Hilltowns, Massachusetts, May Day, Mohawk Trail, New England, outdoors, Pioneer Valley, Spring Events, Things to do, Things to do in Western Massachusetts, Tourism, Travel, vacation, Volunteer Activities, Western MA, western massachusetts
Join us this Saturday, May 4th at the Hilltown Families’ Family Community Service Event! Our goal is to contribute up to 600 hours of volunteer service in a single event! We’ll be making bird houses for the Franklin Land Trust, cat toys for the Dakin Humane Society, fleece chews for Kane’s Krusade, making seed bombs with Help Yourself, planting seedlings with Grow Food Northampton, making Giving Bags with Knack, writing letters with the Key Club, collection donations of cat/dog food & blankets for wildlife rehabilitation… It’s gonna awesome! Happens both indoors and outdoors from 10am-1pm at Leeds Elementary School in Northampton where you’ll find something for ALL AGES. Find out more about this free event here and sign up to join us: Hilltown Families’ Family Community Service Event: May 4th!
If you have a community event, educational program or service opportunity for youth/families happening in Western Massachusetts that you’d like to let us know about, post your event on our “Suggest An Event” page. The events below are “suggested.” Please take the time to confirm that these events are happening, along with time, place, age appropriateness and costs before attending.
Serving Western Massachusetts since 2005, Hilltown Families supports development and enhancement of our local economy and community. Local businesses, individuals, schools and non-profits are encouraged to partner with Hilltown Families through sponsorship and advertising. Let us help get the word out about your after school/homeschool class, event, camp, workshop, fundraiser, business/school, service, open house, volunteer opportunity or general announcement. Deliver your message to thousands of families living throughout the four counties of Western MA while supporting the community development work of Hilltown Families. Click HERE to find out more.
Volunteer with your family to help local non-profits at seven different hands-on volunteer stations— a one of a kind event for families to volunteer together while educating children about animal welfare, conservation efforts and the value of community service.
On Saturday, May 4th from 10am-1pm: FAMILY COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENT: Join Hilltown Families for a Saturday morning of volunteering together with your family during our spring Family Community Service Event to be held at Leeds Elementary School. We will be offering seven volunteer stations for families to participate in hands-on service projects for ALL AGES that support animal welfare organizations, conservation efforts and food security. Come any time after 10am, get your Passport, and travel about to one or all stations! Find out more and preregister here: Hilltown Families’ Family Community Service Event: May 4th! Northampton, MA (FREE)
Looking for a summer camp or program in Western MA? Check out our featured post, 2013 Summer Camps and Programs in Western MA for a list that will wow and dazzle you! Summer opportunities featured range from music, art, farming, theater, dance, science, nature, sports, speaking, yoga, rock ‘n roll… to traditional summer day or overnight camps/programs! There’s something for all ages, toddlers to teens! Check it out and start making your summer plans!
May 4
Yes Computers is co-sponsoring their 2nd annual Free Electronic Waste Recycling Event on Saturday, May 4th, 9am-12noon, adjacent to Yes Computers in the Public Parking Lot in Northampton. In partnership with River Radio, Alternative Waste Recycling & Gold Circuit E-cycling, they will take for FREE, Computers, Monitors (CRT’s), all small electronics & electrical appliances even old TV’s (limit one). Bring old cell phones to donate to Safe Passage & working old iPods to donate to Music & Alzheimer’s Project (sponsored by the Northampton Community Music Center). Please limit largest recyclables to 3 items, smaller stuff no limit; Household items only. Participants get a free Yes Computers $10 gift voucher good on anything in the store for participating.
May 5
Bread Euphoria is having a birthday & the community is invited to celebrate 15 years of baked goodness at Wheatstock II, featuring live music & delicious food. The party takes place on Sunday, May 5th from 12noon-6pm at the Williamsburg Grange, on Route 9. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids 5-12yo (under 5yo are free), & includes an impressive entertainment lineup of local favorites the Sweetback Sisters, Primate Fiasco and Swing Caravan — & birthday cake (including vegan & gluten-free choices). Meat & vegetarian shish kabobs, salads, sides & beverages will be available for purchase, as well. Come for the food and stay for the fun-or come for the fun & stay for the food-either way, come! For more info call Bread Euphoria: 413-268-7757
May 11
Mother’s Day Giveaway! Enter to win more than $700 worth of wellness services for new and expecting mothers in Western MA. This collaboration of five local (women-owned) businesses will grant one lucky mother with gift certificates for a month of free diaper service, 2 appointments for prenatal or postnatal massage, 2 acupuncture treatments, $150 savings on birth doula service & $150 savings on birth photography. Participating business include Simple Diaper & Linen, Window of Heaven Acupuncture & Yoga, Jo Bunny Massage and Yoga, Bellyfull Birth, and Nature & Nurture Photography and Doula Services. Deadline to enter is May 11, 2013. Drawing will take place on Mother’s Day. Check out www.facebook.com/MothersDayGiveaway to enter & for details.
ADVERTISE HERE: Reach thousands of families in Western MA while supporting the community development work of Hilltown Families! See your April vacation event, open house, auditions, afterschool class, homeschool program, community event, workshop, school, wellness program or business featured here in the bulletin board section of our list of Weekly Suggested Events and eNewsletter, reaching thousands of families living throughout the four counties of Western MA! Find out more about our enhanced publicity packages and options and how we can help with your online marketing by emailing us at hilltownfamilies@gmail.com.
Enter for a chance to win tickets for a Parents’ Night Out!
The Amherst Survival Center has volunteer opportunities for teens ages 15yo+ on weekdays (not Wed). Shifts are typically 2 hours/week between 9am-3pm. They are looking for a two hour/week commitment for a minimum of 8 weeks with organizing and sorting through fresh bread & produce, helping in their Free Store, serving lunch and doing dishes. Their Emergency Food Pantry often needs help too with keeping the shelves stocked and helping folks fill their carts with their monthly food “box.” Strong folks can help pick up furniture from around town in the mornings. And people who like to clean can help clean the place after 2:30pm. Lots and lots of options for summer volunteering. For more info visit www.amherstsurvival.org or email tracey@amherstsurvival.org
Suggest an Event | Forecast | Museum Passes | Weekly eNewsletter
May 1, 2013 at 5:00 pm (Berkshire County, Berkshire Family Fun, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Berkshire County Community Events
Find out about community events and learning opportunities happening throughout Berkshire County for the month of May. We’ll be adding to this list as the month progresses, so be sure to check back:
• North Berkshire
• Central Berkshire
• South Berkshire
To find out what’s happening throughout the four counties of Western MA, check our comprehensive list of Weekly Suggested Events, published every Thursday! There you will also find our list of ongoing weekday playgroups, storyhours and events both in Berkshire County and throughout the region.
May 1, 2013 at 3:00 pm (Franklin County, History, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Connecticut River Valley, Dexter Marsh, dinosaur footprints, dinosaur museums, History, Museum, paleontology, Pioneer Valley
The town of Greenfield was once home to a world famous museum – it drew a stunning 3,000 visitors in just 7 years! The museum, opened during the mid-19th century by a local jack-of-all-trades named Dexter Marsh, was home to the first ever dinosaur tracks to receive a thorough and official scientific examination. What happened to the tracks? And what happened to the museum? Find out more about this fascinating piece of Pioneer Valley past at Greenfield Community College’s Sloan Theater on Wednesday, May 8th at 7pm. Presented by the Pioneer Valley Institute. 1 College Drive. Greenfield, MA. (FREE)
Many local people know that Dexter Marsh (1806-1853), quarrier — stonemason, janitor, handyman, and jack-of-all-trades in 19th-century Greenfield, MA — was among the first to discover dinosaur footprints, but how many know that he opened one of the first dinosaur museums in the country? In 1835, when he first saw the prints, he thought they had been left by very large birds — and professional geologists agreed with him. These became the first known tracks in the world ever to receive a thorough scientific examination, performed by a professor at Amherst College named Edward Hitchcock.
In the following years, the largely self-educated Marsh learned about paleontology and built an extra room onto his house to exhibit his collection. From 1846 to 1853, an astonishing 3,000 people signed the visitors’ register of his house-museum, including such famous Americans as Oliver Wendell Holmes and even travelers from Europe and the Near East. At his early death in 1853, Marsh’s museum was dispersed at public auction, split mostly between Amherst College and what is today the Boston Museum of Science.
By looking into his daybooks and visitors’ registry in the archives at Amherst College, Dr. Robert Herbert has given Dexter Marsh the most thorough examination to date, bringing the man and his museum from obscurity back into the light. On Wednesday, May 8th at 7pm, using maps, photographs, and illustrations, Dr. Herbert will give a lively talk about this brilliant day laborer whose curiosity moved him into another world. It is our great good fortune that Dr. Herbert, formerly an art historian at Yale University and later Mount Holyoke College, has long been interested in the history of geology. In recent years, he has written about Edward Hitchcock and Orra White Hitchcock and continues to delve into the history of dinosaur footprints in the Connecticut River Valley.
Dr. Herbert’s talk will take place at Greenfield Community College, Main Campus, Sloan Theater (Main Building, South Wing). For more info contact Cynthia Herbert at pvi@gcc.mass.edu
May 1, 2013 at 7:00 am (Angie Gregory, Contributing Writer, Hampshire County, Sustainability)
Tags: Pioneer Valley, Public Transit Bus, Public Transportation, Sustainability
We take advantage of the bus on weekends sometimes just for fun. With hands off the wheel we can engage more, help more, and communicate without worry of the road. Plus, ask any young child if they’d like to ride the bus and to them it’s an adventure! (Photo credit: Angie Gregory)
My nine year old rides the public transit bus to school, with no adult chaperone. Just with some classmates, typically some war vets, and sometimes a doughnut in hand, this is how she experiences the responsibility of being on time. As well as the reward of it: the once a week ‘doughnut day’ is our incentive for getting out of the house on time (or early rather). It helps the kids move through the morning routine without too much derailing. Sure, there might be some bribing (read incentivizing) going on here, but there’s a lot more to our story.
We made the choice to send our child to a charter school. We garden and grow some of the food we eat, and think a lot about where the rest of our food comes from and what’s in it. We’re in the mindset of being purposeful with our decisions. We think a lot about giving our kids the most ‘optimal’ environment to thrive. It’s our natural inclination as parents. We all have this drive, right? As parents we’ve thought that riding the city bus can provide valuable real world experiences.
But isn’t there some stigma around public transit? We’ve all absorbed the less than stellar conversations between some public transit riders. And now my daughter is among these regulars. She’s been riding this bus route since she was a kindergartener. Didn’t a mom in NYC receive backlash because she sent her similarly aged child onto the subway to commute on his own? Am I in neglect, or putting my child in danger?
I’ve been inspired by my daughter’s un-phased character. She’s not greasing profanities or languishing in any noticeable way. In fact she’s building friendships on the bus, learning about how to get around, recognizing other buses around town (kind of like the car complex we experience when we own a Subaru and we start seeing them everywhere), feeling empowered, and being rewarded with responsibility.
We take advantage of the bus on weekends sometimes just for fun. With hands off the wheel we can engage more, help more, and communicate without worry of the road. Plus, ask any young child if they’d like to ride the bus and to them it’s an adventure. The bus money is a novelty, the driver a chuffer, the steps like floors of a building, the freedom to choose your own seat, big windows….no seatbelts!
We don’t necessarily live right on the bus line. You don’t need to even live in a city in order to ride. We have to get to the stop by car most mornings. However, spring has brought out our bikes again and yesterday we enjoyed a side-by-side ride into town to catch the bus. First her bus arrives, and then mine right after. Life isn’t without coordination and planning and now that these rhythms have become habit we’ve worked through the humps of ‘I have to walk too far after the bus drops us off’ or ‘There was a man on the bus sitting near me that smelled like peppers. And then another man got on the bus, and he smelled like peppers.’
I can’t guarantee there won’t be some kind of altercation or disturbance, but it’s not like the bus is without boundaries. There are other eyes, ears, and helpers (community) on the bus to diffuse and report. That’s the trust I have in us as people and the effort I place in my own heart to do the same. Oh, and did I happen to mention the 45 minutes of driving time it saves us in the mornings…equating to rewards on gas, money, and inevitably our natural resources.
It might not seem like much, but this extra effort to be resourceful has enriched our lives in other unforeseen ways. When we participate in our community we’re building familiarity, safety, and ownership where they didn’t exist before, and raising kids to be engaged in the place they live.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Angie Gregory settled in the Western MA 6 years ago after many years of traveling the country. She lives in Northampton, MA with her husband and three kids and is an avid gardener and studies herbal medicine. She has worked in the community fostering projects like Grow Food Northampton and started Mother Herb Diaper Service out of her home after the birth of her second child. Her business is now a cooperative venture
and has relocated to Holyoke, MA under the name of Simple Diaper & Linen.
May 1, 2013 at 6:00 am (Hampden County)
Tags: Books, Community Building, Literature, Little Free Libraries, Little Free Library, Promoting Literacy
Little Free Libraries are a way of promoting literacy and exchanging reading material. However they quickly become more than that. They provide a neighborhood with a way to share common interests and a place for ideas and people to meet. (Photo credit: Steve Fratoni)
Well, it is little, and it is a library, and, yes, it is free… so it must be a Little Free Library.
The first Little Free Library appeared in Hudson, Wisconsin in 2009 and now they can be found in every state and at least thirty-two countries. This one on Pomeroy Street in Wilbraham, Massachusetts is the creation of Steve Fratoni in honor of his former neighbors Ted and Jane Gebeau. Ted and Jane started living on Pomeroy Street in 1947 when it was still just a dirt road through a field of strawberries and asparagus. Ted was instrumental in the founding of the Atheneum Society of Wilbraham and Jane was a librarian at the Town’s Library for over thirty years. Both were forced to move away in 2012 for health reasons. This Little Free Library represents their continued service to the Town and to their neighbors.
On a broad scale these Little Free Libraries are a way of promoting literacy and exchanging reading material. However they quickly become more than that. They provide a neighborhood with a way to share common interests and a place for ideas and people to meet.
Another aspect of community is the use of recycled building materials for the project. This library uses plywood scraps from a neighbor’s kitchen remodeling, wood from tornado broken trees, and lengths of ripped-up invasive Bittersweet vines.
So how does it work? If you see a book inside that interests you, take it, read it, and enjoy it. When your done return it to this library, or pass it on to a friend, or place it in any other Little Free Library (see list below). If you own a book that you have finished and think that others would like to read add that to the Library, too. Even better, write a few notes to tell others what you liked about the book.
(Photo credit: Steve Fratoni)
As for what kind of books are in this Little Free Library, that you will have to find out for yourself. It is something that changes from day to day and maybe even minute to minute. Since this Library opened during National Poetry Month, its first patrons will find poetry books ranging from a picture book of hand rhymes for children to the complete poems of Emily Dickinson among other fiction and non-fiction titles.
So don’t be frighten by this Little Free Library on Pomeroy Street, after all it is not really a house swept up in a tornado. Plus it is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to everyone who walks by.
- Submitted by Steve Fratoni
Other Little Free Libraries in Western MA include:
Add your Little Free Library to the map at www.littlefreelibrary.org.
April 30, 2013 at 3:00 pm (Art, Eric Carle Museum, Hampshire County, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Arts, Recycled Art, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Celebrate the beloved and iconic caterpillar – as well at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art’s 10th anniversary – by building your very own caterpillar sculpture out of recycle and/or found materials. (Photo credit: Eric Carle Museum)
Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Celebrate the beloved and iconic caterpillar – as well at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art’s 10th anniversary – by building your very own caterpillar sculpture! The Carle has put out an open Call for Caterpillars of all kinds to be submitted for use in the museum’s Children’s Book Festival on June 8, 2013 (and for the chance to receive an original doodle by Eric Carle!).
Photos of the submitted pieces will be shown during the festival, and three random entries will be shown in their three-dimensional original form in the museum’s galleries. Museum staff ask that caterpillars be created using recycled and/or found materials, such as plastic bottles, wood, metal bottle caps, and packing materials.
Pieces should be submitted in photo form, and can be created by caterpillar-enthusiasts of all ages! Visit the museum’s website for more information on submissions and the festival itself (www.carlemuseum.org). All submissions are due by May 31st. Happy upcycling!
April 30, 2013 at 12:00 pm (Contributing Writer, Mister G, music, Video)
Tags: good rhymes, Mister G, music, Music Education, perfect rhymes, Songwriting, Video Blog, Vlog
Have you ever wondered why the words to some songs get stuck in your head? In this episode of Under the Hat, Mister G reveals one of his big secrets; songwriters love to use rhymes.
Using examples from his songs “Pizza for Breakfast” and “Colores,” Mister G explains how good rhymes fit together like puzzle pieces to create catchy, memorable rhythms. We learn how songwriters search for the perfect rhymes to help to tell the story of the song.
As always, Mister G encourages kids to write their own songs whether they choose to use rhyming words or not. Featuring a cameo from Silas the Cat.
Next time in Under the Hat: Mixing it up in the studio. It’s a late night session, so you may have to stay up past bedtime for this episode as Mister G takes us into his studio where he’s recording a new CD. You’ll never listen to music the same way after you learn how songs are recorded and mixed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mister G (Ben Gundersheimer) is an Amherst College graduate who spent 20 years as a singer/songwriter/producer in the adult music world prior to earning a Masters in Elementary Education at Smith College and transitioning to making music for children. His most recent release, CHOCOLALALA, a collection of original, bilingual (Spanish/English) songs for children, won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award and is on the Grammy ballot for Best Children’s Album of 2012. A leading figure in the kids music world, Mister G’s 2011 bilingual release, BUGS garnered numerous national awards and was dubbed “irresistible” by People magazine. www.mistergsongs.com
April 29, 2013 at 6:30 am (Hilltown Families Event, Suggested Activity, Take Action, Volunteer Opportunity)
Tags: Community Service, Dakin Humane Society, Family Community Service Night, Family Volunteering, Franklin Land Trust, Grow Food Northampton, Kane's Krusade, MA Department of Early Education and Care, Northampton, Northampton Public Schools, Service Based Learning, Volunteering, western massachusetts
Volunteer with your family to help local non-profits in a single free event on Saturday, May 4th from 10am-1pm during the Hilltown Families’ Family Community Service Event, held at Leeds Elementary School in Northampton— a one of a kind event for families to volunteer together while educating children about animal welfare, conservation efforts and the value of community service. Space is limited, so reserve a spot for your family today! –
“Our mission is to give families service based learning experiences by collaborating with local non-profits and community organizations in a single event,” says Sienna Wildfield, Executive Director of Hilltown Families. “Many families are interested in volunteering together but may find it difficult due to either a limit in time or to a lack of opportunities. Hilltown Families’ Family Community Service Event is for all ages and is a fun way for families to volunteer together. It’s also an avenue for parents to discuss and educate their children on important community issues and the value of volunteering on behalf of animals and the environment.”
Join Hilltown Families for a Saturday morning of volunteering together with your family during our spring Family Community Service Event on Saturday, May 4th from 10am-1pm in Northampton, MA!
This past fall at our inaugural Family Community Service Night we focused on human service organizations and families had a great time working together in support of several local non-profits.
Our spring event on Saturday, May 4th will be held at Leeds Elementary School in Northampton. We will be offering seven volunteer stations for families to participate in hands-on service projects for ALL AGES that support animal welfare organizations, conservation efforts and food security. Families will also be able to bring home several of their service projects to continue their community service together from home.
With a Community Service Passport in hand, families can travel to each station and have their Passport stamped after completing their service project. In their Passports parents will find conversation starters, online resources and recommended reading lists for each station, and children can share what they liked best about each project by filling in their Passport. Parents can use the Passport to help guide youth participants in learning about animal welfare, conservation efforts and food security.
Our Spring Volunteer Stations include:
Donation Stations: In addition to our volunteer stations, we will have several opportunities for families to bring and donate items from home, including:
Pet Adoption: Stop by and visit Dakin Humane Society’s pet adoption station. Families can learn more about Dakin’s services and programs, and the adoption process. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet your new furry friend! If a family meets an animal they would like to adopt, they can complete their adoption process at either Dakin’s Springfield or Leverett Adoption Centers.
Food: Cup & Top Cafe will be joining us with food to fuel our volunteering families, selling coffee/tea, beverages, pastries and light lunch fare. So be sure to come hungry (and thirsty!).
Questions? Call 413-961-9367
April 29, 2013 at 6:01 am (Hampshire County, Hilltown Families, Hilltown Spring Festival, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Berkshires, Children's Festival, Craft Festival, Food Festival, hampshire county, Hilltown Spring Festival, Hilltowns, Music Festival, Pioneer Valley, Spring Festivals, Sustainability Festival, western massachusetts
Innovative percussionist, Tony Vacca will be returning to Hilltown Spring Festival this year, with a performance and rhythm workshop for families. His performances are a nearly non-stop athletic spectacle of percussion music and spoken word, incorporating a world of percussion traditions that includes African, Caribbean, Asian and Middle-Eastern influences. To be enjoyed by the entire family! (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
The Hilltown Spring Festival on June 1st, 2013 at the Cummington Fairgrounds will be a combined music festival, food festival, children’s festival, craft festival, and alternative energy exposition!
MUSIC
Musical performers include percussionist Tony Vacca, acoustic string band Appalachian Still, singer-songwriter Heather Maloney, the Lonesome Brothers, Hot Day at the Zoo, the Walkin’ Blues Band, and Dan Hales and the Frost Heaves. The complete music schedule is at www.hilltowncdc.org.
CHILDREN
Music for children of all ages will be performed by Mister G, David Grover and Terry A La Berry. There will be children’s activities all day long, dancing around the Maypole at noon, children selling their own hand-made crafts at the Kids-Made Crafts Bazaar, eight foot tall puppets, Morris dancers, and much more.
New this year is an open mike stage for local musicians of all ages!
EDUCATION
Music workshops for families will be led by percussionists Aimee Gelinas and Tony Vacca, Jim Armenti of the Lonesome Brothers,, and Mariam Massaro.
SUSTAINABILITY
The Festival also features vendors of sustainable living products and services, farmers selling starter plants, local craft vendors, horse-training demonstrations, displays by local organizations and much more.
The gates will open at 10am; the music begins at 11am. Admission is $8; children 12 and under are free. Free parking is available on the fairgrounds.
The Hilltown CDC’s 7th Annual Hilltown Spring Festival will be on Saturday, June 1st, 2013 at the Cummington Fairgrounds! 2,000 people are expected at the Hilltown Spring Festival this year and entertainment will include musical performances and workshops, exhibits by artists and craftspeople, displays by local businesses, food from local vendors, a family contra-dance, kids-made craft bazaar, children’s activities and much more. More information is available at www.hilltowncdc.org. – Proceeds go to support Hilltown CDC programs that support low and moderate income hilltown residents. These programs include small business support, housing rehabilitation, child care subsidies, and social services for families and the elderly.
April 29, 2013 at 6:00 am (Parenting, Shana Hiranandani, Video)
Tags: Family, Parenting, sibling, siblings
One day I quietly watched my children playing with each other and realized for the first time that they have their own unique form of communication. They have an instinctual knowledge of each other I had not previously been aware of. It is an understanding only a sibling can have, almost as if they can read each other’s minds.
At the moment when I noticed what I now call “brother speak” I began to reminisce about my own sibling and our bond as children. Being the younger of the two, my sister was always there. Her presence infused almost every moment I had in my life at home. It was different for her as she had 3 years enjoying all of my parents’ attention. She easily could have resented my arrival but my parents took a brilliant approach. One my partner and I did with our boys as well. My parents prepared my sister for my arrival by telling her I was a gift for her. That I was her baby too and her role as an older sister was very important.
April 27, 2013 at 6:00 am (Recap Map, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Berkshire County, Berkshires, Family Guide, franklin county, Hampden County, hampshire county, Hilltowns, Massachusetts, New England, Pioneer Valley, Spring, Weekend Guide, western massachusetts
Here’s a recap of news and information posted on Hilltown Families this past week, along with a map for finding out what’s happening this weekend and next week throughout Western MA!
Peruse our list of Suggested Events for April 27th-May 3rd, 2013 for a comprehensive list of events happening throughout the four counties of Western MA, including: Mark Your Calendars, Bulletin Board. and the Hilltown Family Variety Show.
Also check our weekly column, Learn Local. Play Local. for 40 Community Highlights: History of Tea to Biology of Frogs. Cultural Festivals to Fundraisers., and our bi-weekly column, Berkshire Family Fun for late April through early May, 2013, for a list of premier educational and cultural highlights in Berkshire County for families!
Saturday • Sunday • Monday • Tuesday • Wednesday • Thursday • Friday
Community Service ♦ Fundraisers ♦ Sustainability ♦ Animal/Nature Studies ♦ Economics ♦ Cultural Studies ♦ History
- National Park Week Podcast
- One Clover & A Bee: A Poem for Spring
- Language Play: Supporting the Creativity of Writing
- Hilltown Families Voted as Best Blog & Best Website!
- 7 Children’s Books that Embody Peace
- PARENTS’ NIGHT OUT: Win Tickets to see Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band
- The Ripple: The Magic of Spring Peepers. The Science of Vernal Pools
- Call for Kid Crafters for the Hilltown Spring Festival Kids-Made Craft Bazaar
- HFVS Weather Episode with Guest DJ, Alison Faith Levy (Radio Show/Podcast)
Visit the Hilltown Families Facebook page and Twitter stream for more news and information!
April 26, 2013 at 6:00 am (Highlights, Suggested Activity)
Tags: Berkshire County, Berkshires, Community Based Education, Community Service, Community Service Based Learning, education for sustainability, environmental education, experiential education, Family Activities in Western Massachusetts, franklin county, Hampden County, hampshire county, Massachusetts, National Volunteer Week, New England, Park Clean Ups, pedagogy of place, Pioneer Valley, place-based education, place-based learning, staycation, Things to do in Western Massachusetts, Tourisim, Travel, vacation, Western MA, western massachusetts
The new exhibition, Tea Talk: Ritual and Refinement in Early American Parlors, opens at Historic Deerfield this weekend. Families can learn about the history of the tea trade, historical use of tea in homes, and its role in socializing in early America. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
Spaghetti Dinner to Fun Run. Composting to Recycling. Victorian Tea to Potluck Dinner. Frog Life Cycle to Arabic Cultural Festival…
These are just a few of the learning highlights we’re featuring this week!
On the heels of Earth Day as we head towards the end of National Volunteer Week, there are still a plethora of events to participate in that celebrate and support sustainability, along with opportunities to volunteer with your family this weekend. Peruse our list below and make plans to get out into your community and learn while you play!
And be sure to check our list of supporting book titles to supplement the learning on the different topics highlighted each week.
Purchase them for your family library, or check them out from the public library!
April 25, 2013 at 6:00 am (Suggested Events)
Tags: Berkshires, Event Listings, Family, Family Activities, Family Events, Farmers' Market, Hilltowns, Massachusetts, May Day, Mohawk Trail, New England, outdoors, Pioneer Valley, School Vacation, Spring Events, Things to do, Things to do in Western Massachusetts, Tourism, Travel, vacation, Western MA, western massachusetts
Outdoor Farmers’ Markets are slowly starting back up! The opening of Tuesday Market in Northampton happens this coming Tuesday, April 30th where you can pick up the ingredients you need to make a dish to bring to the Burgy Farmers’ Market Pot-Luck Dinner Benefit at the Williamsburg Grange two days later on Thursday, May 2nd! How convenient is that?!
If you have a community event, educational program or service opportunity for youth/families happening in Western Massachusetts that you’d like to let us know about, post your event on our “Suggest An Event” page. The events below are “suggested.” Please take the time to confirm that these events are happening, along with time, place, age appropriateness and costs before attending.
Serving Western Massachusetts since 2005, Hilltown Families supports development and enhancement of our local economy and community. Local businesses, individuals, schools and non-profits are encouraged to partner with Hilltown Families through sponsorship and advertising. Let us help get the word out about your after school/homeschool class, event, camp, workshop, fundraiser, business/school, service, open house, volunteer opportunity or general announcement. Deliver your message to thousands of families living throughout the four counties of Western MA while supporting the community development work of Hilltown Families. Click HERE to find out more.
Volunteer with your family to help local non-profits — a one of a kind event for families to volunteer together while educating children about animal welfare, conservation efforts and the value of community service.
Apr 27
The Ashfield Community Preschool invites you to join them for their annual open house on Saturday, April 27th 10am-Noon. This event is for families with young children age 2.9 – 5yo who are looking for quality care and small class sizes in the rural Hilltown of Ashfield, MA. Children who attend the preschool participate in a hands-on gardening program, growing sunflowers, pumpkins and blueberries. The preschool grazes the neighbors’ sheep and llamas in their pastoral setting and offers a six week summer program with walking trips to visit local Ashfield artists. Join their staff on April 27th and tour their facility and grounds. 103 Baptist Corner Road. Ashfield, MA. Call for more information 413-628-3248.
Apr 27
On Saturday, April 27, 2013 from 10:30 AM to 12:00 noon, the Montessori School of Northampton (MSN) at 51 Bates Street, Northampton, will hold a family open house. All parents of toddler, preschool and elementary students interested in September 2013 admission are encouraged to attend. The school currently has full- and part-time openings available for fall 2013, including a new full day 3-day/week program for toddlers and a new half-day Children’s House (preschool) classroom. MSN enrolls students from ages 2 through 12 and is currently in its 36th year of fostering independent learners in a welcoming community. For information, please call (413) 586-4538 or visit www.northamptonmontessori.org.
Apr 28
Holy Bonfire! Community Lag B’Omer Festival happening Sunday, April 28th from 11am-1pm- rain or shine! Beit Ahavah & Congregation B’nai Israel Community Schools present: Bonfire, live music by Yiddishkeit Klezmir, musical storytelling by Anna Sobel & Aharaon Skogland, recycled art crafts, archery, games, haircutting booth, chickens, facepainting, “love-shack booth” & more! Kosher, pastured beef hot-dogs & veggie dogs. $5 suggested donation. All ages welcome! Held at Cong. B’nai Israel, 253 Prospect St, Northampton. Lag B’Omer is the joyous holiday held on the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer between Passover & Shavuot. For more info & RSVP: 413-584-3593, rabbijacob@cbinorthampton.org. “Join” us on Facebook & invite your friends!
May 5
Looking for an excuse to wear your superhero cape in public all while supporting students in our community with Intellectual and Development Disabilities (We don’t believe that you ever need an excuse to do this!)? Come on out to the Best Buddies Superhero Friendship Walk on Sunday morning , May 5th, 2013 in the beautiful setting of Look Park in Florence, MA. Best Buddies is an amazing organization that promotes inclusion and friendships between students with and without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The event will feature musical performances by the students of Berkshire Hills Music Academy, Circus performances by students of Show Circus and so much more! Sign up at www.bestbudiesma.org/walk.
May 5
May 11
Mother’s Day Giveaway! Enter to win more than $700 worth of wellness services for new and expecting mothers in Western MA. This collaboration of five local (women-owned) businesses will grant one lucky mother with gift certificates for a month of free diaper service, 2 appointments for prenatal or postnatal massage, 2 acupuncture treatments, $150 savings on birth doula service & $150 savings on birth photography. Participating business include Simple Diaper & Linen, Window of Heaven Acupuncture & Yoga, Jo Bunny Massage and Yoga, Bellyfull Birth, and Nature & Nurture Photography and Doula Services. Deadline to enter is May 11, 2013. Drawing will take place on Mother’s Day. Check out www.facebook.com/MothersDayGiveaway to enter & for details.
Spring
Join Crimson & Clover Farm in celebrating the spring! The Farm Education Collaborative will be leading a wide array of farm-based education programs this growing season at Crimson & Clover Farm in Florence, MA. Whether you’re a parent wanting to share a morning with your young child on the farm or an aspiring farmer looking to work in the fields, there’s something for you at Crimson & Clover Farm this spring. Plant, harvest, tend to the animals, cook farm-fresh produce, explore and work together, and so much more! Financial aid is available to low-income families through Grow Food Northampton. For complete details and registration please visit their website – www.thefarmeducationcollaborative.org.
Suggest an Event | Forecast | Museum Passes | Weekly eNewsletter
April 24, 2013 at 3:00 pm (Hilltown Families)
Tags: National Park Foundation, National Park Service, National Park Week, podcast
From April 20th-28th, 2013 the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation present National Park Week 2013. This year’s theme, “Did you know…” is the perfect opportunity for Americans to learn amazing and unique things about their 401 national parks.
In honor or National Park Week, park ranger & musician Jeff Wolin has put together a short podcast as a Hilltown Family Variety Show Guest DJ:
Playlist
This summer on July 20, 2013, Jeff will return with a National Parks Episode of the Hilltown Family Variety Show for a full hour radio broadcast on all things National Parks!
April 24, 2013 at 12:00 pm (Amy Dryansky, Contributing Writer, Poetry)
Tags: Poetry
I know, you thought it would never get here.
Even though for many weeks the thermometer refused to creep up, and many of us (me!) were walking around hunched into jackets we had come to hate, Spring calmly went about its business: the vernal witch-hazel unfurled its yellow tatters in the March wind, maples were open for sap business, red-wing blackbirds buzzed in the marshes, and finally—in what has to be my favorite part of the season—the Spring peepers shook off their long, cold slumber and announced themselves. Hello, peepers! Hello Spring!
To celebrate, here’s a small poem that’s easy for even younger kids to learn. It speaks to that waiting we were all doing, and that moment when the wheel finally turns and all of a sudden, Spring is standing on our doorstep, acting like we were the ones dragging our feet. Plus, it has a good amount of silliness at the end that feels just righting for blowing away those cold March winds.
And Suddenly Spring
by Margaret Hillert
The winds of March were sleeping.
I hardly felt a thing.
The trees were standing quietly.
It didn’t seem like spring.
Then suddenly the winds awoke
They raced across the sky.
They bumped right into April,
Splashing springtime in my eye.
This is a great one for saying out loud. Say it while you’re kids are on the swings, making sure you catch them or they jump at that last line, or make it into a hand-clapping game—with all the rhymes and its regular beats, it’s a natural.
I found this poem in a collection called, The Sky Is Full of Song
Happy Spring!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy’s the mother of two children who seem to enjoy poetry, for which she’s extremely grateful. Her first book, How I Got Lost So Close To Home, was published by Alice James Books and poems have appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals. She’s a former Associate at the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center at Mt. Holyoke College, where she looked at the impact of motherhood on the work of women poets. In addition to her life as a poet, Dryansky works for a land trust, teaches in at Hampshire College, leads workshops in the community and writes about what it’s like to navigate the territory of mother/poet/worker at her blog, Pokey Mama. Her second book, Grass Whistle, is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry in 2013.
[Photo credit: (ccl) H. Michael Miley]
April 24, 2013 at 9:00 am (Contributing Writer, Kathy Puckett)
Tags: Language, Language Play, Language Skills, speech language pathologist, writing
I’m not an expert on writing skills, but I often find myself working with children who have difficulty getting ideas on paper. I start by reviewing the variety of skills and processes involved in writing. First, a writer must gather ideas, take notes from readings, and make choices about which ideas are important enough to include in the writing. Then they need to organize these ideas into a hierarchy of main ideas and details. Next, each main idea must be formulated into a topic sentence. The details also need to be written as sentences within the same paragraph to support the topic sentence. In order to make choices on how to formulate sentences, the writer needs to be aware of who their audience is and how best to communicate to that audience.
An essay should include an introduction, a body of supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. So the writer needs to understand what these elements are and what is expected to be included for each of them. How much to explain to the reader (not too much or too little), is also important to consider. And then they need to connect one idea to another idea, or one paragraph to another paragraph, so that the ideas flow. After all that, there’s editing for punctuation, spelling, and clarity of ideas. It’s easy to see that writing is an exercise in multi-tasking. And, of course, many of us are not very good at multi-tasking!
If a child is having trouble getting ideas on paper, it could be because of a breakdown in any of these steps and processes. Often several processes are a problem. I first try to see what is easy for them and what is hard. To figure this out, I always try to help them separate these tasks into discrete steps. In this way, I can discover where the writing process breaks down. For some students, this helps immediately. If students attend to one process at a time, it really simplifies things! Lots of students try to edit while they write, and may get so lost thinking about spelling, that they lose their ideas. I try to discourage multi-tasking. I use checklists, visual organizers, and programs and apps that encourage brainstorming their ideas. This is the creative part of writing!
One program I’ve used for years (now an iPad app) is Inspiration Maps by Inspiration Software, Inc. It helps kids brainstorm ideas first as a visual map, then lets them organize their ideas into a hierarchy of main-idea bubbles and supporting-idea bubbles (by the connection arrows). I always check if they have an introduction bubble and a conclusion bubble. After the map is complete, with a press of a button, it changes into an outline. From the outline, it is easy to see the topics for paragraphs and the supporting details for each topic. You can tweak the order of the outline if you need to. Now to expand the outline into sentences! And voilà! An essay!
Most kids just want to get the assignment done. They need to be taught that writing involves drafts and revisions; it’s usually not a one shot deal. The sooner they understand this, the better. I tell them that the authors never get their book published after only one draft. Good writers need editors to suggest improvements. Eventually, a writer internalizes good editing skills and can read their work aloud to edit it, but it never hurts to find another pair of eyes after they’ve done their own revisions. I often ask students to read their work aloud so they get used to editing their own work. Then they can ask someone to edit.
Some kids can get lost in the minutiae of the editing. That’s why I don’t let them derail into editing till the bitter end. For these kids, it’s essential to separate each process. If they get lost, I ask them general questions such as, “Would a reader understand the writing?”‘ If so, then they are probably done with the draft. If the child repeatedly erases their writing, I may limit the number of times they can erase in order to move the process forward.
I recently found two great apps that teach kids all of this as sequential pre-writing lessons. They teach writing vocabulary and include many quizzes, word puzzles, flash cards, and graphic organizers. Most of all, they show that writing is complex, and that we need all the help we can get to become good writers. Check them out!
I think they are set up to be used as lessons in the classroom. So let your kid’s teachers know about these apps and those Hilltown Families’ events you’ve gone to, in case they want to use this for teaching writing!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathy is a private practice speech-language pathologist living in Shelburne, MA and the author of our monthly speech and language column, Time to Talk. Living in Western Massachusetts since 1970, she raised two children here and has two grandsons, ages 15 and 8 years old. She has worked as an SLP with people of all ages for the last 14 years. She runs social thinking skill groups and often works with teens. As a professional artist, she has a unique and creative approach to her practice. She loves technology, neurology, gardening, orchids, and photography. She uses an iPad for therapies. She grows 500 orchids and moderates her own forum for orchid growers (Crazy Orchid Lady). Kathy is dedicated to the families of her private practice, and offers practical, creative ideas to parents. She blogs about communication at kathypuckett.com
[Photo credit: (ccl) woodleywonderworks]
April 23, 2013 at 2:00 pm (Press)
Tags: Award Winning Blog, Best Blog, Best Blog in Western Massachusetts, Best Website, Valley Advocate, Valley Advocate Best of the Valley Readers’ Poll
♥ Thank you for your votes!!!
Hilltown Families placed 1st for the third year in a row as Best Blog in the Advocate Best of The Valley Readers’ Poll 2013!
And, new this year, Hilltown Families placed 3rd as Best Website, behind MassLive.com and WWLP-22News… not bad company to keep!
♥ Thank you to everyone who supported us with their votes in the annual Valley Advocate Best of the Valley Readers’ Poll for 2013!
GOOD STUFF!
This has been an amazing year with a lot of growth and exciting changes & additions. We’re looking forward to sharing this excitement as we move ahead as a newly formed non-profit organization, and continue our mission to connect, collaborate, and create community building events, community based educational opportunities, and service learning experiences throughout the four counties of Western MA.
JOIN US
If you’re interested in getting involved with Hilltown Families as either a contributing writer, sponsor, bulletin board manager, volunteer, fundraiser, committee member or intern, we’d love to hear from you. Email us with your interests at hilltownfamilies@gmail.com.
HILLTOWN FAMILIES CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Reaching over 1 million visitors this past March, our blog continues to grow and expand! There are several ♥ amazing folks behind the scenes at Hilltown Families, along with an equally amazing team of ♥ contributing writers who believe in and support our mission! Our current team of writers include:
ONGOING COLUMNS
In addition to our monthly and bi-monthly Contributing Writers columns, you can find:
April 23, 2013 at 11:30 am (Books, Cheli Mennella, Reading Lists)
Tags: Book Review, Literature, Peace, Peace Studies, Reading List
“If we are to teach real peace in this world, if we are to wage a real war against war, we shall have to start with the children.” – Gandhi
Now more than ever it seems imperative that we engage and embody and choose peace. From events that hit close to home like the Newtown tragedy and the Boston Marathon bombings, to our sisters and brothers all over the world who undergo daily violence, to the violent destruction of our very planet by over-consumption and abuse… it is essential to our future that we ignite change through peaceful means. To begin that process, it helps to know what peace is, what it feels like, what it looks like and tastes like and sounds like, and to make sure our children know too.
That is why I’ve chosen a new children’s book by award winning illustrator, Wendy Anderson Halperin, to share with you this month. The book is called Peace (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) and it unfolds around the central question of how can we, as individuals, create peace in the world.
Halperin does this through an untraditional format for a picture book. Using a verse from the Tao Te Ching as a narrative, Peace moves through double page spreads that brim with mini-stories, detailed illustrations and thought provoking quotes. Our planet Earth is at the center of each spread, shown from different vantage points, and in both day and night. Around the earth, illustrated vignettes tell tiny stories that are full of kindnesses. The first half of the book presents situations that require compassionate actions – an elderly man on a crowded subway train, two boys fighting, an empty city lot, a woman crossing the street – while the second half of the book shows how individuals resolved those situations with peaceful solutions.
Quotes from great thinkers and peacemakers unfurl from ribbons of text that weave and wind across each page, their words echo throughout the book. We hear Gandhi, Buddha, Mother Theresa, Shakespeare, Martin Luther King Jr., Wangari Maathai, Nelson Mandela, Plato, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Albert Einstein, Emma Goldman, and more. The quotes are designed for kids and adults to think about and talk about, and combined with the illustrated vignettes, give readers both young and not-so-young examples of peace in action they can model in real life.
Artwork rendered with pencils and watercolors is richly detailed and set in pleasing tones. One double page spread includes artwork from schoolchildren in Michigan, Ohio, and New York, and ties into the anchoring idea of the book – that children’s ideas of peace can help forge a more compassionate future. As expressed by Gandhi and included in the book: “If we are to teach real peace in this world, if we are to wage a real war against war, we shall have to start with the children.”
Peace is not so much a book for read aloud story time, but rather a visual feast to pour over and share with children, a springboard for discussion and deep thought, and an inspiring model of the art of peaceful action.
For more info about Halperin and her other books for children, check out www.wendyhalperin.com. And visit her website, www.drawingchildrenintopeace.com, for peace projects such as how to draw earth from nine different points of view and how to draw peace symbols like doves, cranes and lotus blossoms. There are Peace Papers for kids to practice handwriting by copying quotes from Peace, and the Sit In Peace project, which invites kids to paint peace chairs and email pictures to Halperin’s online gallery.
by Barbara Kerley, Full color photos picture children from around the world engaging in simple acts of kindness, accompanied by a poetic message about peace. (National Geographic Children’s Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-426-30086-8)
edited by Ann Durell and Marilyn Sachs. A collection of original fables, poems, stories, biographies, and illustrations, all revolving around the central themes of peace and tolerance, contributed by over 30 kid lit authors and artists. (Dutton Juvenile, 1990. ISBN: 978-0-525-44605-7)
written by Jane Breskin Zalben. An excellent resource for older kids that profiles sixteen peacemakers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ralph Bunche, Cesar Chavez, Elie Wiesel, The Dalai Lama, and Aung San Suu Kyi. (Dutton Juvenile, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-525-47734-1)
written by Shelley Moore Thomas and photographed by Eric Futran. Through candid photos and simple prose this book shows how, all over the world, people are helping each other. (Albert Whitman & Co., 1998. ISBN: 978-0-807-57544-4)
written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter. This picture book tells the story of Wangari Maathai, from her girlhood in Kenya to her founding of the Green Belt Movement and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Harcourt Children’s Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-152-06545-4)
Written and Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. With bright, colorful paintings, this picture book explores how peace feels and smells and looks. Includes quotes from schoolchildren at the International School in Rome and the word “peace” in over 150 languages. (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004. ISBN: 978-0-689-86676-0)ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cheli has been involved with creative arts and education for most of her life, and has taught many subjects from art and books to yoga and zoology. But she has a special fondness for kid’s books, and has worked in the field for more than 20 years. She is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Valley Kids and teaches a course for adults in “Writing for Children.” She writes from Colrain, where she lives with her musician-husband, three children, and shelves full of kid’s books.
April 23, 2013 at 10:00 am (Contest, Hampshire County, Northampton, Parents' Night Out, Video)
Tags: Calvin Theater, concert, Entertainment, Giveaway, Iron Horse Entertainment Group, Josh Ritter, Northampton, Parents' Night Out, Pioneer Valley, Promotion, Things to do in Western Massachusetts for the 4th of July, Ticket Giveaway, western massachusetts
Enter for your chance to win! You pay for the sitter and we’ll pay for the tickets!
Hilltown Families and Iron Horse Entertainment Group have partnered up to offer a chance to win free tickets to see adult venues in the Pioneer Valley for a PARENTS’ NIGHT OUT! You pay for the sitter, we’ll pay for the tickets!
For May we are pleased to offer a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band plus The Felice Brothers at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA at 8pm on Thursday, May 9th, 2013.
Win tickets and take your spouse, partner or good friend for a night out. Deadline to enter to win is Monday, 05/06/13 by 11:59pm (EST). More details below.
ABOUT JOSH RITTER
The Beast In Its Tracks, the sixth album from renowned singer-songwriter Josh Ritter, was released past March. The new album follows Ritter’s 2010 release, So Runs The World Away, of which Bob Boilen from NPR Music declared, “I’ve come to expect good records from him…but this one took my breath away,” while the Boston Globe praised, “quite sensational…marks the finest music he has made.” In 2011, Ritter made is debut as a published author with his New York Times Best-selling novel, Bright’s Passage. Of the work, Stephen King writes in The New York Times Book Review, “Shines with a compressed lyricism that recalls Ray Bradbury in his prime . . . This is the work of a gifted novelist.” – www.joshritter.com
ABOUT THE FELICE BROTHERS
What separates The Felices mud-stomping folk from that of their peers is their no-winking honesty the sense that these songs and the places and people they’re singing about aren’t literary devices but actual people doing their damnedest to rage against the growing darkness. – www.thefelicebrothers.com
HOW TO WIN
Your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band plus The Felice Brothers at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA at 8pm on Thursday, May 9th, 2013, is as easy as 1-2-3 (4)! To win simply:
- CONSIDER SHARING ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER by selecting from the icons below
- TELL US HOW HILLTOWN FAMILIES KEEPS YOU CONNECTED WITH YOUR COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT THE REGION below (one entry per household) and be sure to tell us your
- FULL NAME (first/last) and where you
- LIVE (TOWN/STATE) must include your town to be eligible.
- ACCURATE EMAIL (we never share your email address).
- We’ll randomly draw a winner and will share the results below.
IT’S THAT SIMPLE! — Deadline is Monday, 05/06/13 by 11:59pm (EST)
If you don’t win you should still go. Tickets are available at the Northampton Box office, online at IHEG.com, or by calling 413-586-8686.
April 22, 2013 at 12:30 pm (Citizen Scientist, Contributing Writer, Ecology, Kurt Heidinger)
Tags: Citizen Scientists, climate, Ecology, Hilltowns, Massachusetts, Nature, outdoors, Pioneer Valley, Rivers, rivers and streams, Spring Equinox, Spring Peepers, Vernal Pools, western massachusetts
Vernal pools contain creatures (amphibians and bugs) that can only breed where there are no hungry fish. Citizen scientists are needed to find and report vernal pools in the Hilltowns. (Photo credit: Sienna Wildfield)
How do spring peepers know when to start singing?
They don’t have weather reports, or the ability to see the buds forming on trees, the snow melting, or teens walking around in shorts and T’s when it’s 40 degrees and climbing.
Certainly, there are scientific reasons that explain how peepers know when to announce the return of the sun and the warmth; but there’s a simpler reason that is worth considering and appreciating. The peepers feel the right moment to sing.
Peepers are a special family of frogs, and frogs have a unique physiology—a evapotranspirative skin that makes them especially sensitive to the slightest changes in temperature, humidity, chemistry and other things we don’t have words for including that feeling that we also get when spring arrives. There is, for example, a new kind of sunlight that appears out of the grey, slush and slog of the late winter months that Emily Dickinson noticed, and maybe you and the peepers notice too.
Science might tell us the story of how the nervous systems of the peepers intuit and react to the thermonuclear/electromagnetic surge that accompanies our spring equinox, the day the sun’s rays hit the equator straight on. But can science explain why, in coincidence with the celestial flicking on of the peeper song -switch, major religions have their own switches flicked on—in the form of Passover, Easter & Holi?
Of all the neighbors we have, the peepers are the loudest and most boisterous announcers of spring; and have you noticed that, though they are so loud, their sound is not noisy? Somewhere deep inside us, their petite buglings find sympathy: and, here, “sympathy” means “the correlation existing between bodies capable of communicating their vibrational energy to one another through some medium.”
Perhaps you have been so drawn to the song of the peepers that you have tried to track them down. And what did you find when you tried that? Something very magical, and also perplexing—silence.
How do they know you are near? Vibrational energy: your footsteps quaking the earth, sending the same kind signal you see when you throw a rock into still water.
Like all frogs, peepers are living dinosaurs who, despite their lack of armor, claws and sharp teeth, have survived for plus or minus 300 million years. Their evolutionary success is due to their extreme sensitivities, not their ruthless might. For us, who have a history that begins about 5,000 years ago (and a prehistory that begins about 65 million years ago), this ought to be a lesson.
At the very least, this lesson includes the fact that we miss—through ignore-ance, distraction and abstraction—so much that is actual. As actual as the different sunlights of each season, and the sympathy religious holidays have with the song of the peepers. And the feeling we have that somehow, the peepers sing our song, too.
Since you can’t get close to peepers, and I want you to get as close to Spring as possible, here’s an actuality you must not miss this year—the vivification of vernal pools. These pools contain creatures (amphibians and bugs) that can only breed where there are no hungry fish; tiny clams and shrimps also live in them, that got marooned when the tectonic plates shifted and lifted their habitats high and dry into what is now the Hilltowns. Like the peepers, they are teachers whose lessons we have much to learn from.
Instead of describing what these are, I’ll send you to these links so you can investigate them yourselves. Here’s the basic Mass DEP page. You’ll notice on this page that the DEP needs citizen scientists to find vernal pools, so that these rare habitats and creatures can be preserved.
If you look at the DEP map and select in “available data layers” the folder “Natural Heritage Data” and, in that folder, “NHESP Certified Vernal Pools,” you’ll see all the vernal pools that have been listed for protection by the DEP.
Zoom in on your town, and you might find some near you—if so, please put on your walking shoes and go find one of them. You might not find any listed where you live; that doesn’t mean they aren’t actually there; it just means that nobody has tried to find and list them yet. Most of the Hilltowns have few or no listings—which means that citizen scientists have a lot of good work to do.
The song of the peepers announces Spring, and sounds an invitation to discover the soft, awesome, perennial powers of biotic integrity and resilience.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kurt Heidinger, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of Biocitizen, non-profit school of field environmental philosophy, based in the Western MA Hilltown of Westhampton, MA where he lives with his family. Biocitizen gives participants an opportunity to “think outside” and cultivate a joyous and empowering biocultural awareness of where we live and who we are. Check out Kurt’s monthly column, The Ripple, here on Hilltown Families on the 4th Monday of every month to hear his stories about rivers in our region. Make the world of rivers bigger than the world of pavement inside of you!
Welcome to Hilltown Families, a grassroots communication network for families living in Western Mass, established in 2005 by hilltown mother and long time activist Sienna Wildfield.
The Hilltown Family Variety Show (HFVS) airs Saturday mornings on Valley Free Radio, 103.3FM WXOJ, Northampton, MA from 9-10am with encores on Sunday from 7-8am. Playlist and podcasts are posted immediately following broadcast. Listen to our archived shows at any time: HFVS Archived Shows.
The exhibit will be on display at the Forbes Library in Northampton for the month of February 2013, and at the City Hall Gallery in Easthampton from Sept 13-Dec 11, 2013. - We're currently booking shows for the Spring/Summer of 2013 and for 2014. Each exhibit is a unique showcase of images that correspond with the season and venue. Contact us to inquire about hosting this fundraising exhibit for Hilltown Families in your town/venue.
