Missaukee County Farm Bureau’s Promotion & Education team sent local students home after last school year with some extra helpings of ag education to get them through the summer months.
With back-to-school days already around the corner, here’s a round-up of our year-end activities this past May and June:
The FARM Science Lab spent four days at McBain Elementary and was a big hit with the K-5 students and teachers alike. I had the opportunity to be there for two days, helping with Kindergarteners and grades 1-2.
I loved seeing the students smile and enjoying the learning experience!
At the McBain Community Library we potted Mother’s Day flowers with pre-schoolers, made cards for their moms. Librarian Diane Eisenga read a couple ag-accurate books to the children.
The youngsters were very proud of their flowers and homemade cards. We talked about how important bees are to the flowers. To end the morning I had honeycomb snacks for the children.
Lake City Elementary students spent a week exploring nature a ski hill north of town with “Adventure Learning at Missaukee Mountain.”
Students made bird feeders, hunted for morel mushrooms, created their own stick maze, and enjoyed a scavenger hunt, nature walk and other activities.
Our P&E volunteers worked with the first-graders to make ice cream bird feeders. We talked about caring for birds, what they eat and how they build their nests.
We teamed up with new Farm Bureau members at the Missaukee County Friends Ministry for activities with four preschool classes and their families. Everyone had a great time working together to plant flowers and make cards for Mother’s Day.
I met with the good people at Northern Michigan Christian School to discuss our Farm Bureau activities, events and agricultural lessons, hoping they might want to collaborate with our P&E. They chose to come on board and really enjoyed the first activity we put together in May: a fun game of “Hidden Agriculture Trivia.”
Students and staff were both involved. Their staff did a great job putting the trivia together, hiding clues around the building for students and faculty to search out. As clues were found throughout the week, the finder had to answer a question about Michigan agriculture. We even threw in questions about farmers in our school and community.
The school thanked us for approaching them and everyone had such a great time they want to do it again next year! Of course I said yes!
The FARM Science Lab parked at Lake City Elementary May 21-24. I helped out on the 24th with the “Simply MOOvelous” lesson about Michigan dairy and “Pioneering Sweetness” about sugar beets and products.
Every year for Memorial Day, Lake City Elementary’s Trojan Running Club for grades 4-5 hosts 5K and mile runs, with the proceeds helping support cross-country programs at Lake City Middle and High schools.
P&E’s role is to supply string cheese donated from the MMPA local in Evart.
In the classroom of Ag Educator of the Year Jen Nichols, her first-graders learned how important bees are, including what we can do to help pollinators thrive. They potted flowers and made cards for Mother’s Day.
It was a great morning!
Nichols also received a field-trip grant from Discover Dairy, which helped her class visit the Dicks family farm in Falmouth in late May. Biosecurity concerns meant we couldn’t tour the actual dairy, but they had a great video of the operation to show students at another location in a barn that was set up very nicely.
Students enjoyed a hands-on lesson on how to milk a cow, designed their own dairy cow craft, learned what dairy cows eat and how farmers take good care of them every day.
Lastly, the day was topped off with cows’ greatest gift to humanity: ice cream!
Altogether Missaukee County Farm Bureau’s Promotion & Education program had a great year with all these activities and events. Now we’re planning for the next!
Ellen Vanderwal is Promotion & Education chair for the Missaukee County Farm Bureau.
Students and teachers alike enjoy and benefit from Missaukee County Farm Bureau P&E programming!
The FARM Science Lab at Lake City Elementary School.
Share Story
Article Tags
