When Jeanette Smith meets a group of Grade 3 kids, she asks three questions.
How many of you live on a farm?
How many of you have relatives on a farm that you visit regularly?
How many have learned a lesson about farm safety?
The responses have shown the educator there’s a need for education about agriculture. Her year-old program about farm safety and food production has become an overwhelming success.
Based at the Multicultural Heritage Centre at Stony Plain, Alta., more than 1,000 elementary schoolchildren participated in the program that began last spring. Co-ordinator Smith expects another 1,000 to use the program by the end of the school year.
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The centre developed a special classroom to show children farm activities and provide information about food production and farm safety.
The program has proved popular after only one year.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook,” said Smith.
She also developed a “field trip in a suitcase” where she takes farm-related activities and information to classrooms.
A large component is farm safety and with the help of Women of Unifarm she has introduced games, activities and a CD Rom game package to teach children about dangers on the farm. Women of Unifarm also provided a video on hearing and sound to schools.
Requests for the field trip in a suitcase have come from towns throughout central Alberta, said Smith.
The program relies on corporate donations and government grants so sponsorships are actively sought, she added.
Marketing boards and commodity groups have donated activity books and other educational materials to the centre.
“When a teacher leaves with these materials she feels like she hit the jackpot,” said Smith.
Enjoyed by special-needs children
Besides elementary school participants, special-needs children from local junior and senior high schools have attended. Farm visits are especially popular with this group because some of the children are autistic and respond to the farm animals.
In addition to an integrated school program that fits the Alberta curriculum, the centre’s next plan is to offer six camps this summer that teach farm safety and provide a day-long trip to a nearby mixed farm. Each camp will last two days to give children a more complete farm experience.
