Several parent chaperones sent me pictures they took while on the field trip. Here are some more pictures from that beautiful day at Shelburne Farms!
From one chaperone...
And here are some more from another chaperone!
Monday, May 18, 2015
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Milk and More!
What an amazing day at Shelburne Farms! The weather was perfect and the cows were happy to see us! Mrs. Lasher's first graders joined our class on this field trip. As you'll see in the pictures, we began with a whole group activity in a large circle. We were asked to listen for sounds around us. It was an opportunity for the Shelburne Farms teachers to remind us all that we were at a working farm and to be watching for tractors and other vehicles on the move!
We split into four groups with each class in two groups. You'll notice in the pictures that you see only half of our class! I'm hoping to get some pictures from the other group to include in the coming days!
Our group began (like the others) with snack. Before we left our snack area our leader, Jed, led an activity that showed how cheese begins as rock. Are you wondering how rock becomes cheese? Well, rock is broken down into pebbles, which break down further to become soil due to weathering (sun and rain) and the soil grows grass. The grass is eaten by cows which produce milk which is made into...CHEESE! Whew!
We made our way over to a display of various "tools" a farmer or vet uses to keep cows healthy. Then we made our way into the milking parlor and the children took turns acting as the cows and the farmers. You'll see in the photos that the "cows" are holding sand filled rubber gloves. Those are the udders! The "farmers" had to clean the udders (with empty spray bottles) and pretend to put on the milking machine.
Then we made our way to the calf barn! Those are some pretty cute little calves! This year they're naming all of the calves after presidents. I was pretty fond of Fillmore! Nixon kept to himself and Eisenhower slept through our visit, but several others were very friendly! No one wanted to leave the calf barn, but we headed up to the heifer barn. Those cows were a little older, but still friendly! After that stop we made our way to the barn where a calf had JUST been born! The group before us waited and waited while the calf was half out and our group arrived just after the calf made his arrival! We had a brief conversation about the umbilical cord that was hanging from the cow, but it was a particularly graphic conversation! The mother was licking her new baby and while we would have stood there forever waiting to see the new baby stand, it was time to move on to "cow alley".
Here we had a lesson about the haylage that is inside those big, white "marshmallows" that you see on the side of the road! Ask your child to tell you about the clover, hay and corn that is chopped up and fed to the cows! Then Jed dressed up a student as a cow! He included the rough tongue, floppy ears, fly swatting tail, hide, eyes on the side, and hooves. What a good sport! Then the children were put to work shoveling the haylage back to the cows. Then came the moment they were all waiting for...time to milk the cow!
As you can see from the pictures, everyone in our group tried milking the cow. Her name is Giselle and she was a really good sport about it! Almost 40 children (and many of the adults) milked Giselle today! Then it was time for lunch!
We rode the bus back up to the education center and some of us ate outside on this beautiful day! The afternoon seemed to go by quickly! A quick trip up the hill for our group...we made some butter...back down to the cheese making room...and then it was time to go!
A HUGE thank you to the parent chaperones who took time out of their busy days to come with us! It wouldn't have gone as smoothly without you! And the Shelburne Farms teacher leaders were outstanding once again! Thanks to you all!
We split into four groups with each class in two groups. You'll notice in the pictures that you see only half of our class! I'm hoping to get some pictures from the other group to include in the coming days!
Our group began (like the others) with snack. Before we left our snack area our leader, Jed, led an activity that showed how cheese begins as rock. Are you wondering how rock becomes cheese? Well, rock is broken down into pebbles, which break down further to become soil due to weathering (sun and rain) and the soil grows grass. The grass is eaten by cows which produce milk which is made into...CHEESE! Whew!
We made our way over to a display of various "tools" a farmer or vet uses to keep cows healthy. Then we made our way into the milking parlor and the children took turns acting as the cows and the farmers. You'll see in the photos that the "cows" are holding sand filled rubber gloves. Those are the udders! The "farmers" had to clean the udders (with empty spray bottles) and pretend to put on the milking machine.
Then we made our way to the calf barn! Those are some pretty cute little calves! This year they're naming all of the calves after presidents. I was pretty fond of Fillmore! Nixon kept to himself and Eisenhower slept through our visit, but several others were very friendly! No one wanted to leave the calf barn, but we headed up to the heifer barn. Those cows were a little older, but still friendly! After that stop we made our way to the barn where a calf had JUST been born! The group before us waited and waited while the calf was half out and our group arrived just after the calf made his arrival! We had a brief conversation about the umbilical cord that was hanging from the cow, but it was a particularly graphic conversation! The mother was licking her new baby and while we would have stood there forever waiting to see the new baby stand, it was time to move on to "cow alley".
Here we had a lesson about the haylage that is inside those big, white "marshmallows" that you see on the side of the road! Ask your child to tell you about the clover, hay and corn that is chopped up and fed to the cows! Then Jed dressed up a student as a cow! He included the rough tongue, floppy ears, fly swatting tail, hide, eyes on the side, and hooves. What a good sport! Then the children were put to work shoveling the haylage back to the cows. Then came the moment they were all waiting for...time to milk the cow!
As you can see from the pictures, everyone in our group tried milking the cow. Her name is Giselle and she was a really good sport about it! Almost 40 children (and many of the adults) milked Giselle today! Then it was time for lunch!
We rode the bus back up to the education center and some of us ate outside on this beautiful day! The afternoon seemed to go by quickly! A quick trip up the hill for our group...we made some butter...back down to the cheese making room...and then it was time to go!
A HUGE thank you to the parent chaperones who took time out of their busy days to come with us! It wouldn't have gone as smoothly without you! And the Shelburne Farms teacher leaders were outstanding once again! Thanks to you all!
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