More News

‘‘We need to teach the kids that food doesn’t come from restaurants or grocery stores, because some of them really think that,” said Doug Tregoning, director of the county extension service.

In order to teach children about the importance of agriculture, Tregoning, along with county employees and volunteers of the Agricultural History Farm Park, developed a program called ‘‘Close Encounters with Agriculture” for county fourth-grade students in 1993.

The program gives students a hands-on opportunity to learn about the environment, nutrition and production agriculture.

‘‘People are so far removed from farming today,” Tregoning said. ‘‘A hundred years ago, everyone was connected to farming because you had to feed yourself. Today, less then 2 percent of the population farms. There is a disconnect, but this program helps to bring it back together.”

On March 28, students from Summit Hall and Rosemont elementary Schools in Gaithersburg and Fallsmead Elementary School in Rockville spent the morning at the Farm Park, where they learned about streams, the importance of keeping them clean and about the habitat they provide for wildlife.

‘‘The best part was looking at all the critters that you find in a stream,” said Kayla Goodman, a Fallsmead student. ‘‘We learned that it is important to keep the water clean, and I never knew that there are so many things that pollute the bay.”

Students explored a replica of a farm pond created in a plastic wading pool and took turns dumping vials of various products into a container of clear water to learn how such pollutants affect water quality.

‘‘All of this is really fun, and I learned some things I didn’t know,” said Nathalie Bouchard, a Fallsmead student. ‘‘I learned what crayfish were and I have never seen one before today.”

Each station was manned by at least one volunteer.

Brookeville farmer Pam Saul was up at 4:30 that morning to prepare to transport a miniature horse, Nilla Wafer, and a miniature donkey, Skittles, to the park.

Although it was a lot of work, Saul said it is important to give children the opportunity to see and touch live farm animals.

‘‘Some of these kids don’t even know that there are real horses in Maryland,” she said. ‘‘Some kids, especially the downcounty kids, have never seen a real horse or a real donkey.”

For many students, the animals were the highlight of the field trip.

‘‘The animals were really cool,” said Matthew Garmer, a Fallsmead student. ‘‘I have never seen a miniature horse before, and that donkey looked pretty big, even though he’s a just a miniature donkey.”

His classmate, Alex Markovitz, agreed, and added that he did not know that violin strings are made from horsehair.

In addition to Skittles and Nilla Wafer, the children saw other farm animals, including pigs, goats and cattle.

They learned that a single steer can produce 600 Big Macs, and one cow can produce 150 half pints of milk each day.

After visiting the animals, the students participated in an agriculture product relay, where they ran to a pile of boxes and containers, chose one, and then placed it in the appropriate basket, labeled ‘‘Animal,” ‘‘Grain,” or ‘‘Fruits and Vegetables.”

While running and having fun, the students learned more fun facts, such as pizza could go in all of the baskets because the crust is made from grain, the cheese comes from an animal and the sauce comes from a vegetable.

The students came away from the morning of fun and games with a greater knowledge of the importance of agriculture.

‘‘They’re having fun and this complements what they learn in science about the ecosystem and habitats, plus they are using math and reading skills,” said Stephanie Kessler, a fourth-grade teacher at Fallsmead. ‘‘The kids love to see the animals and run around outside.”

The program runs for three weeks each spring, however, because of conflicts with state testing, it will be moved to the fall beginning next year.

Each year, 2,500 students take part in the program, which fits into their study of Maryland and the science curriculum.