(Le Mars) — More than 230 students from Le Mars and Remsen elementary schools participated in the “Kids Day on the Farm” today. Its an opportunity for students to learn about agriculture from an “up close” and often times a “hands-on” experience. Gehlen Catholic teacher Cheri Herbst says the annual field trip of visiting four different types of farms is beneficial to the student’s better understanding and appreciation for agriculture.
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Herbst teaches 4th grade at Gehlen Catholic and she says her curriculm includes learning about the different states and the products produced from each state. She says the farm tour helps her students know the products produced in Iowa.
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Clark Elementary school teacher Vicki Oetken says the farm tours serve a good purpose for her class as part of the Social Studies curriculm.
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Oetken says it is sometimes surprising to see how much, and how long of time students will remember the information shared from their farm visits.
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The Clark elementary school teacher says her students are inquisitative about farming and often ask several questions of the farmer.
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The school students visited a beef, swine, sheep, and a dairy farm. Following the farm tours, the students had a picnic meal consisting of hamburgers, porkburgers and lambburgers provided by the Plymouth County Pork Producers, Plymouth County Cattlemen Association, and Mark Loutsch. The program has been in existance for 16 years, and is sponsored by the Le Mars Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee.
