VSA Vermont’s arts-based literacy program, Start With the Arts, brings the excitement of experiment, the thrill of literature and an invitation to use all the senses and forms of intelligence, to Vermont’s youngest children in home-based childcare sites across Vermont. VSA Vermont’s Start With The Arts instructors are weekly mentors for child care providers for 16 weeks at a time, introducing the children at each site to music, dance, drama and visual arts all linked to fine children’s literature, and meeting outside of child care hours with neighboring pairs of child care providers to encourage them in their own creative expression so that they can carry that joy forward beyond the 16-week mentoring period. By the end of each 16-week session, child care providers are creating and presenting lessons they develop on their own. SWTA instructors also visit the providers once a month for three months for follow up and to offer additional support if needed. Providers earn professional development hours that they can use in applications for the STARS program (Step Ahead Recognition System) and Advanced Specialized Care.
This year VSA Vermont is presenting Start With the Arts at 36 home based and 6 center based childcare sites across the state. There is a display of work created by the children participating in the Spring 2015 session with Penny Carpenter of Little Wings Daycare at Brookfield's Old Town Hall on October 18th. Please visit and enjoy.