This year, Mrs. Kelly Rawlings’ first grade class at Glasscock Elementary has a very unique class pet -- both in size and location.
Instead of a hamster or goldfish, Rawlings and her students have adopted a calf through the Discovery Dairy program. The calf, a heifer named Fancy, resides at the Triple H Dairy farm in Center, KY. While the class won’t get to visit Fancy in-person, they do get to connect with the family-owned farm through virtual visits.
“I love seeing my students excited about learning while having fun,” Rawlings said. “This has been a great experience.”
Rawlings has used the Discover Dairy program in the past, but this year she’s moved beyond just adopting a calf. Instead, she’s now connecting the experience with lessons on nutrition and health.
Rawlings also signed up her class for a health program through the Marion County Extension office.
“We receive two nutrition classes a month and I thought this would be a perfect time to teach students where the dairy products they are learning about through nutrition and consume daily originated,” Rawlings said. “Also, in first grade our social studies standards focus heavily on Kentucky. Learning about a dairy farm located in Center Kentucky, Metcalfe County was an amazing opportunity for my students.”
And while it won’t be Fancy, Rawlings has also arranged for her students to get to interact with a calf in person.
“I have a parent that has agreed to bring a calf to school in the spring so my students can see one in person,” she said.
Students Cole Hutchins and Mattie Wright both agreed that they were excited when they first learned the class was going to adopt a calf.
According to Wright, the unit is worthwhile “because you can learn and have fun.”
Students have already started learning about the dairy process.
For example, Hutchins explained that it takes awhile before the milk we consume is ready to drink.
“Whenever you milk cows you can’t drink it right away,” Hutchins said, before adding: “Well, you can, but you wouldn’t want to do it.”
For Rawlings, the unit has proven to be a fun way to combine several different types of learning.
“This simple novelty of adopting a calf has evolved into an integrated interdisciplinary unit tying together multiple content areas such as health, social studies, science, and reading,” Rawlings said. “I love seeing my students excited about learning while having fun!”