UVTPC Community of Practice at Billings Farm & Museum

On Wednesday, September 18th, 16 members of the Upper Valley Teaching Place Collaborative’s Community of Practice (CoP) gathered at Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock, VT for a day of connection, collaboration, and hands-on exploration.

The CoP is made up of professional development and direct service providers from across Vermont and New Hampshire who offer place-based education in the region. Together, members support one another, learn collectively, collaborate, provide leadership for UVTPC, and serve as subject matter experts.

Building Connections, Mapping Possibilities

The day began with introductions, updates, announcements, and resource sharing from participants. From there, we continued conversations that had started at the last CoP, centered on how to reach underserved areas of our region.

At that earlier gathering, Jennie Friedman, Education Specialist at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, had led a mapping activity where participants identified where organizations currently offer programs, noted gaps and overlaps, and explored ways to better share information. Picking up that thread at Billings Farm, members built on these ideas—discussing strategies for expanding reach and strengthening collaboration across the Upper Valley.

These conversations highlighted an even larger theme: how to ensure equity in outdoor learning. Members reflected on the reality that, in the past, many programs had unintentionally served more affluent schools. As one participant put it, “Whoa did that feel like a mission misalignment.” The group discussed practical ways to realign—sharing data on where programming happens, linking efforts to schools with higher free and reduced lunch rates, and exploring creative tools (like AI, spreadsheets, or QR codes) to make data collection less burdensome. They also revisited the concept of sharing transportation resources, since transportation remains one of the biggest barriers for schools. Just as important were ideas about meeting teachers where they are—whether through embedded staff support, outreach at staff meetings, or even bringing programs directly into schools when substitutes and resources are limited (“Teachers don’t even have the capacity to read a gosh darn email”). Together, these conversations underscored that equity isn’t about one solution—it’s about many small, creative strategies that add up when organizations work in partnership.

Experiencing PBEE Through Literacy, Food & Farm Life

CoP members took a deep dive into creative ways to weave literacy into programming by getting a behind-the-scenes look at how an apple-themed lesson for grades PreK–2 is built. Mollie Surprenant shared a poem she had written all about apples—intentionally designed to meet literacy standards that teachers had requested, such as rhyme, shapes, colors, and action words.

We unpacked the poem together, then stepped outside to the orchard where we could act it out among the apple trees. (See above photo of educators laughing and moving through the verses—having just as much fun as any PreK student would!)

Next, we picked apples and headed inside to read through a recipe—a perfect example of hitting comprehension standards—before turning our harvest into warm, homemade apple crisps. Best of all, we got to enjoy the delicious results after lunch.

💬 “I’m so excited that I showed up today because I’m teaching a lesson in a few days about apples and now I have it all planned thanks to Mollie’s willingness to share her lessons and how she’s weaving in literacy standards.”

The barns also offered unexpected literacy lessons. We learned how Billings Farm names each calf with the same first letter as its mother—a practice that helps the farm track lineage, while also giving students a fun and memorable way to practice alphabet skills and make real-world connections to what they’re learning in school.

For many in the CoP, who primarily work as nonformal educators, literacy standards aren’t always front and center. This experience was a powerful reminder of how seamlessly literacy can be woven into the programs we offer, enriching both the learning experience and the joy of being outdoors.

Other participants shared how much they valued the chance to connect and play together:

“It’s not often that I get to play, explore, and laugh with colleagues from different organizations—but the UVTPC CoP makes time for all of it. I loved challenging Joan to a game of Guess the Apple, seeing the art on the barn, and petting the sheep while exploring the story walk. It was my first time visiting Billings Farm and Museum and I’m excited to go back—what a beautiful place!”

“My co-worker and I were talking yesterday about whether or not we really had the time to attend today—but we are both so glad we did. We made new connections and came away with new ideas to bring back to our programs.”

A Perfect Fall Day

From autumn colors and apple crisp to lively discussions and creative ideas, the day captured the spirit of collaboration that drives the CoP. Thanks to support from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Wellborn Ecology Fund, participants shared lunch and continued conversations that will help strengthen place-based ecology education across the Upper Valley.

This gathering was a reminder that when organizations come together to learn, play, and plan, regional capacity grows—and so does the joy of this work.

👉 Curious about who is part of the CoP? Check out the current members here: uvtpc.com/about-6-1

If your organization supports place-based ecological education in the Upper Valley of NH and VT, we’d love for you to join the Community of Practice. 📧 Email info@uvtpc.com for more details.

✨ A special thank you to Mollie Surprenant, School & Youth Program Coordinator and Christine Scales, Director of Education & Interpretation at Billings Farm & Museum for hosting and guiding us through a day that blended literacy, history, science, and the delicious rhythms of farm life.