By Sarah Schwall, Marcum Elementary School, Sutter County
As a first grade teacher I see the importance of building a strong foundation of skills for my students to be successful in the classroom and in life. Even though my parents were not farmers, they instilled a love of agriculture in me at a young age. I’ve always loved and admired the agriculture industry and I’m proud to be a small part of it.
During an ordinary day of my first year teaching, I was quizzing my third graders to see if they knew what a personal narrative was, hoping they would tell me it is a true story about themselves. I gave them a few stories and they told me if it was or was not a personal narrative. The last story was about my sister and her cattle. They proudly told me it was not a personal narrative. I was thrilled they understood and asked them why and as happy as could be they told me that cows were not real animals therefore it cannot be true. I was shocked! It was at that moment I realized that most students don’t have the understanding of agriculture that I had growing up. Basic knowledge of agriculture has to be taught. Just as important as Reading, Writing, and Math, is a basic understanding of the agriculture industry including the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the lumber used to build our houses.
I teach in a school in rice country. My students pass rice fields on their way to and from school every day. They see farmers growing rice in all the seasons and I even have a few kids from farming families. Rice is a top commodity here in Sutter County, yet the majority of my students didn’t even know what the word agriculture meant at the beginning of the year. I’ve spent the year teaching them about agriculture and expanding their existing knowledge. Now, with less than 60 days left of school they have a solid foundation of agriculture that they can build on for the rest of their lives. My first graders know more about agriculture than many adults do! They are budding agriculturalists with a strong connection to their community.
Incorporating agriculture into the classroom is easy when it is done a little at a time and often throughout the year.
At the beginning of the year, we start our agriculture unit by learning about cotton. Cotton is not grown in our area but most of their clothing is made from cotton so it is easy for the kids to connect to it and develop an interest in agriculture.
Mike and Susan Daddow came to our classroom last year to teach us how rice is grown, harvested, and used. We even got to try rice! I welcome farmers into my classroom and enjoyed the Daddow’s amazing presentation and their enthusiasm for farming. I love farmers, but these two are my favorite rice farmers!
Not only are songs and chants fun to say but they are great ways to incorporate specialized academic vocabulary. The vocabulary becomes fun to learn and easy to remember.
Last year during Ag Week we celebrated by writing the Ag ABCs. It was fun to think of all the words and a great way to review what we had learned that year. My first graders came up with all of the words AND how the words connected to agriculture on their own. That made me one proud teacher!
Since we cannot take field trips all the time or even invite farmers that represent most aspects of the industry into our classroom, we send a part of our class out to farms and he teaches us more about farms and ranches each week. Flat Aggie is a flat “person” that we made after reading the book
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. He travels the country learning about all aspects of agriculture and e-mails them back to us. It has been amazing to say the least! We have seen everything from dairies to saw mills to cattle ranches to ice cream manufactures. We learn something from each adventure and the kids get so excited to see where he has been!
As you can see, sharing my passion for agriculture with my class has been exciting!
Sarah Schwall is a newlywed from the Sacramento area. She is a first grade teacher at Marcum in Nicolaus, CA. She also raises hogs with her husband Michael which they direct market to local consumers. Sarah also blogs at The House That Ag Built.
Brian Barrett is a third generation rice farmer from Maxwell. Upon graduation from California State University Chico with a degree in Agricultural Business, Brian worked briefly for Farmer's Rice Cooperative before going on to work as a Grain Merchandiser for ADM Rice. While working for ADM rice Brian took night classes and earned his Masters in Business Administration at the University of Phoenix, graduating with honors.
