The Avon Land Trust

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- Understand your school rules for biking to school

- using a map, plan the safest route to school (least busy roads)

- invite your neighborhood friends, and those whose homes you pass on the way, to join you. Do not bike alone.

- Before heading out, always check your brakes and your tire pressure

- ride on the right side of the road (with traffic)

- ride single file and, on busy roads, ride inside the white bike lane

- Stop at all stop signs, and cross streets single file

- use proper hand signals for turning: left arm out to the left for a left turn; left arm bent w/ hand pointing straight up for a right turn.

- always wear a well-fitting helmet!

By biking to school, you do your part to reduce traffic and pollution in town, while enjoying an invigorating (or leisurely) ride that leaves you feeling awake, refreshed and ready to learn.

- First, understand the school rules for walking to school

- invite neighbors and kids in nearby neighborhoods, or those along your walking route, to join you. Do not walk alone.

- if you must cross a busy road, have a grown-up be your leader

- using a map, plan the safest route to school

- always walk on the left side of the street (facing oncoming cars)

- walk single file on busy streets and on sidewalks, or inside the white bike lane

- Stop at all stop signs and cross streets as a group*

* leaders should wear reflective safety vests if they will be crossing busy intersections.

Please read our recent article in the latest issue of Seasons of the Farmington Valley Magazine. Thanks to Beth Messina for the reprint.

Thanks to the many folks who attended our March 26th Volunteers meeting and have stepped up to help lead the five initiatives undertaken by the Unplugged Learning Project.

Following is the first installment of progress reports from each group:

Nature-based Recreational Infrastructure

This team is working on three distinct projects.

1. Rick Walker is hard at work, with support from the town and a number of residents, on a revitalization plan for Countryside Park. This park is one of the finest (and underused) natural resources in town, complete with two ponds, a sandy beach, a charming meeting house and surrounding nature trails. If you are interested working on Rick’s team, please contact him at walkerrr12@comcast.net

2. Dayna Kennedy and her team are exploring natural play structures using Willow branches and a possible hummingbird or butterfly habitat. If you are interested in working on Dayna’s team, please contact her at briandayna@hotmail.com

3. Other plans include scoping sites for a sledding hill and family camp sites.

Gardens

This team is comprised of willing, enthusiastic volunteers, but is in need of a leader. If you are interested in leading, or co-leading this group, please contact Laura Young at lauraryoung@aol.com.

In partnership with the Education team, this group will be working on the Unplugged Learning Garden Project ~ specifically, an Edible School
Garden planted at one of the grade schools (TBS, most likely) and beginning with student-planted container gardens.

This group will also explore the existing Community Garden in town for purposes of clarifying how it works and publicizing it to the Unplugged community.

Pedestrian Travel

This team is the largest and busiest, co-chaired by Lizz Weiler and Mark Culligan. They are pursuing two projects:

1. Ruth’s Trail - This is the trail connecting all Avon schools to the RtoR off Thompson Rd. The team has already walked the trail and is discussing how and where to begin the actual trail cutting.

2. Crosswalks/Sidewalks - in support of the UPL team’s push to get children walking to school, this team will be studying potential sites for crosswalks and sidewalks throughout town.

If you are interested in volunteering for this team, please contact Lizz Weiler at weilerpw@aol.com.

Outdoor Education

Leslie Gordon is leading this team of educators and learning enthusiasts whose current projects include:

1. Outdoor Classroom and Amphitheater at RBS - a grant has been submitted to the AEF for funding of this exciting project which is planned to begin by the end of this school year (pending funding.)

2. Outdoor Curriculum Dev’t and Teacher Training - several educators are working on identifying curriculum guides and teacher training to help K-12 teachers learn how to integrate current curriculum with the outdoors.

3. Education Partnerships - members of this team have been meeting with local resources ~ e.g. the Hillstead Museum and the Farmington Valley Arts Center ~ to establish partnerships for Outdoor Learning.

If you are interested in volunteering to help with outdoor education, please contact Leslie Gordon at lesliegordon@comcast.net.

Outdoor Community Events

Currently, this team is in need of leadership. If you would like to lead, or co-lead it, please contact Carrie Firestone at clenarcic@aol.com The team is pursuing three distinct events:

1. On Saturday, April 18th, Harry Spring led a Wild and Scenic Invasive Plant Removal Event, during which participants got to dig/pull up invasive species that threaten the grounds around the Farmington River trail.

2. On June 27th, a town-wide Community Camp-out at Alsop Meadows is being planned. This event will coincide with the National Wildlife Federation’s nation-wide Campout. Check our website for details and start thinking campfire songs, s’mores and bonfires!

3. Volksmarch Avon Style - Doug Sutter and Julie McNeill, both of whom have participated in European Volksmarch events, will be leading this initiative, with the first being held in the Huckleberry Hill hiking preserve. Doug suggested it might be nice to have a few booths or workshops set up at the end (e.g. land trust, scouts, etc) and some kind of party with food. They’re looking into early fall dates.

The Unplugged Learning founders are busy creating a strong Unplugged Learning infrastructure to support the above initiatives and the volunteers leading them. Currently, we are busy creating a formal organization and a new www.unpluggedlearning.org website. If you have strong business operations skills (e.g. law, finance, technology, grant-writing, development, PR) and would like to work in an advisory capacity, please contact Susan Rietano Davey at srietano@aol.com or 673-7544.
Otherwise, please consider volunteering to help out our committee leaders in one of the initiatives outlined above. No help is too small.

Lastly, The Unplugged Learning Project is participating and/or sponsoring a number of other initiatives throughout town. For example:

Unpluggers are leading ‘walk-to-school’ days in celebration of Earth Week at RBS. Leaders are wearing Safety Patrol vests to facilitate safe crossing over key RBS feeder streets ~ Huckleberry Hill Rd, Lovely St. and Country Club Rd. ~ and providing info to parents & students about safe foot travel.

The UPL is sponsoring Bike-to-School week at TBS May 11th - 15th. UPL members and some TBS teachers will bike with students from all parts of town to ensure safe travel to school and over busy roads. UPL and Benidorm Bikes will hold a bike use and safety workshop during that week as well.

The UPL will participate in the Farmington Valley Arts Center’s May Day festival on Saturday, May 2nd from 10-4. Look for our booth featuring photos of Avon Unpluggers; brochures on how to unplug your family; trail maps; snacks and more.

April 27-May 2nd is Break Free from TV week at PGS. To end this truly unplugged week, the UPL is hosting a hike for PGS students and their families along the Farmington River trail (adjacent to Fisher Meadows) at 4:00 on May 2nd.

If you would like UPL support or sponsorship for your ‘unplugged’ event, please contact Susan Rietano Davey at srietano@aol.com.

For more info on Unplugged Learning, our initiatives, or specific events, please visit www.avonlandtrust.org/unplugged. Thank you!