Main Menu

Farm Day at the White River Elementary School

What was your driving question?

How can we teach students what we’ve been learning?

Grades Involved

Grades K, 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5

How did this project connect to your local or regional community?

Agriculture is big in Vermont, but not always accessible to all of our students and families. The local elementary school hosts a farm day, where representatives from local agricultural industries bring their wares (and animals!) and teach the kids about what they do. Our classes were invited to teach students about seed planting and the maple sugar industry.

What PBE principles were highlighted in this project?

Community as Classroom and Interdisciplinary Approach

Project Description

This project and event were a great way to capitalize on the principle of the community as a classroom. The elementary school, which is the most urban of all our district schools, does not have as much access to some of the local agricultural opportunities as the other schools. This provides a way to bring those opportunities to them. Kids are offered a first-hand, hands-on, experiential opportunity to explore VT Agricultural history and practices. The event asks them to apply their historical, scientific, language arts, and other related content areas to interact with farmers and business people to learn about things such as the maple syrup industry, livestock practices, seeding and planting, ice cream making, etc.

 

How did this positively impact the community? How was it shared?

The attendance secretary mentioned that there were only 6 students absent for farm day. Attendance numbers have been high all year and more so as the school year has been winding down. Clearly, this was an event that students were excited about and wanted to attend. Their engagement and excitement, despite the heat, were high throughout the day. We shared about this event through various social media sites.

Reflection: What was the biggest challenge? What was the most rewarding aspect of this project?

The biggest challenge is how to do this again with our other schools! Our students’ high school students were responsible for constructing, planning, and implementing a “lesson” that they implements 10 plus times. It was so amazing to see them take such control of their learning, work with the younger kids, and take pride in what they had learned.

Any advice for a teacher or student that is implementing a PBE project for the first time?

“I wish we did this at my elementary school! Do you think we could next year?”

 

Facebook-f Instagram Twitter Linkedin Youtube Vimeo-v

700 Coyote Canyon Road,  Jackson, Wyoming 83001

Quick Links

Teton Science Schools is a nonprofit educational organization with headquarters in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Teton Science Schools operates in partnership with Grand Teton National Park
and as a permittee of the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee National Forests. The mission of Teton Science Schools s to inspire curiosity, engagement and leadership through
transformative place-based education.

© Copyright 2023 Teton Science Schools All Rights Reserved.