Spilyay Tymoo, Warro Springs, Oregon
Page 2
July 5, 2 0 0 7
Ag in the Classroom takes
hands-on approach to agriculture
B y L eslie M itts
Spilyay Tymoo
T h e p lo t o f land may be
small, but the O SU extension
office uses it. to the fullest fot
the Ag in the Classroom Pro- *
gram.
The small area o f land be
hind the extension office that
they used last year while raising
pigs was converted into a gar
den after some hard work from
fourth grade students at Warm
Springs Elementary.
A cco rd in g to Fara A nn
Brum mer, “T he fourth grade
has been kind enough to let me
in to work with them.”
After raising chickens during
the first year o f the project and
pigs during the second, she said,
they knew the soil would be in
credibly rich and wanted to capi
talize on that
For that reason, they decided
to plant a garden this year. It
includes vegetables that will later
be used in local home economic
programs.
But the program didn’t in
volve merely planting. Accord
ing to Brummer, “The Ag in the
Classroom Program is a won
derful program because it really
focuses on learning skills for the
youth.”
Part o f the main focus this
year involved teaching students
about where the food they eat
is produced and how that is
done.
“As far as they’re concerned,
it com es fro m Safeway,4’
Brummer said.
Though the garden did face
complications in the form o f
cold weather and birds eating at
the plants, Brummer said they
have ^managed tp grow' some
room Program will be able to
continue next year because o f
funds receiv ed fro m the
Johnson O ’Malley committee in
Warm Springs.
Brum m er is als6 going to
work with the program in Crook
County in order to gain ideas for
the students in Warm Springs.
“They have a dynamite program
there,” she explained.
Though the idea o f raising a
dairy cow or raising turkeys in
upcoming years has been dis
cussed, she said, a lot depends
on the space they have.
“We can only do so much,”
she said. “We have limited space
back there.”
A cco rd in g to B ru m m er,
“We’re limited in what we can
do back here as far as hands on
projects.’’’ '
But that won’t stop her from
striving to teach students as
much as'possible about agricul
ture— and it’s ^something she
feels is necessary in today’s sQr.
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Myra Johnson worked with the OSU extension office’s
program to teach students about native roots.
Since recent studies suggest
Students wefe even able. tc>
start plants inside the classroom that the m ajority.of Oregon’s
farm ers are sen ior citizens,
this year:
“The fourth grade teachers Brummer said, “People don’t
truly
w ere
w o n d erfu l,” ; want to do agriculture anymore
Brummer said. “They kind o f and so we’re trying to spark in
terest on the part o f the youth ’ ’
did a pre-preparation.”
The hands-on projects, she
The program is also designed
to help the teachers by involv said, are what »help to do just
ing curriculum from a variety that.
“When you relate to it, and
o f subjects, she added.
Luckily the Ag in the Class- feel it, and smell it and work with
it, it .becomes somehow real to
you ” Brummer explained.
A s 'fo r the students’ reac
tions, she said,“They love it.”
Students kept a notebook
with logs o f everything they
learned and the progress that
was made, Brummer added.' .*
A t the end o f the program
they held a contest to see who
had learned the most and docu
mented it in their notebook.
O f course, Brum mer said,
“They love the outside portion
much more than the inside por
tion:”'
In her opinion, “I think there
is just a natural connection be
tween children and the outside ’
world.”
Since the weather hindered
the garden’s progress, Myra
Johnson from the Culture and
H eritage D epartm ent len t a
hand to teach the students about
native roots.
‘‘She did an excellent jo b ”
Brummer said.
. • ’ ft
taugHf md^iident^
about processing and preparing
the roots, but also how to culp4
vate the plants. '
Though it differs from the
method o f gathering roots from
the wild, Brummer said, “It’s not
an opposing thing, it’s just a dif
ferent way o f doing it.” .
‘T h a t was a really neat aspect
to this year’s program ,” she
added, ‘T h e kids just loved it.”
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