Jed Norris is the early education program coordinator at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont where he has the opportunity to spend many of his days tromping through the forest looking for salamanders, making mud-based meals in the mud kitchen, building forts, making bread and butter to snack on, meeting farm animals, and driving tractors. Prior to working at Shelburne Farms Jed spent time as a program director for a birth to age five center-based program and several years as an infant/toddler teacher at the UVM Campus Children’s School where he had the opportunity to visit the amazing schools of Reggio Emilia. Throughout all of these experiences, Jed has brought interest and intention to connecting children to the story of the food we eat and advocating for the importance of our farming community and the capabilities of young children. Jed grew up on a dairy farm in Vermont and has many fond memories of being a free-range kid doing a lot of the things he is still getting a chance to do both at work and at home with his own two children.
By giving children early connections to the story of their food and building strong foundations in place we can build a sense of community and agency in our classrooms. As educators, we are called to create meaningful place-based learning grounded in authentic experiences for our students. By bringing farm to early childhood learning we can connect both theory and practice and cultivate a sense of joy and wonder for all learners. Join Jed Norris, Early Education Program Coordinator at Shelburne Farms for storytelling-drawing from his own experiences in teaching. Jed brings over 18 years of creating experiences for young learners in both rural and urban communities. He will weave stories of Reggio-inspired and farm-based learning together with strategies for bringing a farm to early childhood lens to your classroom, community, and to your plates.
