AGRICULTURAL NEWS

“We will be having class discussions after the trip as we explore the resources available in different provinces for Social Studies and the importance of diversity of living things in Science, as well as making connections with embryo development in different living things,” said Parkhill referring to what the students will build on from their experience.

“Our lessons will include some report writing to convey the knowledge that they have learned, using some of the information to create real-world math problems and how agriculture fits into primary, secondary and tertiary resources for our Social Studies unit ”

Paige McCarthy, a Grade 5 teacher also at Holy Family School in Paris, is glad this experience will give her students a better idea of what the ‘Made in Ontario’label really means.

“Exposing students to “real world situations” (workstations) where they can read about local farmers or interact with them, is most effective in teaching them about agriculture,” said McCarthy.

“Encouraging students to be mindful of where the food they eat each day comes from is also important. We can teach them to keep an eye out for labelling on their food that says Made in Ontario ” And sometimes the lessons are not just for the students but the educators as well.

“I really loved meeting various farmers that provide for the local community. It serviced as a reminder to buy local and support farmers,” said McCarthy, who enjoyed the interactive features of the trip and seeing how excited it made the students She was also impressed with the wide variety of workstations that taught the students everything from the best soils to use for growing or (new this year) how Maple Syrup lands on your pancakes!

Parkhill was equally impressed by the program’s ability to correlate what you eat with the folks who harvest that food, but also the natural resources required to continue to produce that food.

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“People are drifting farther and father away from the land and how it provides for us, and this gives them a chance to make a reconnection to the land and their food. Hopefully this will help them to develop better stewardship of the land than we currently have,” said Parkhill.

Bite of Brant has garnered a lot of recognition in the last decade. More recently it was recognized with the Ontario Agri-Food Award of Excellence, the Farm and Food Care Ontario Advocate Award and the June Callwood Outstanding Volunteerism Award. It’s financially supported, in part, by the City of Brantford, County of Brant, District 6 Grain Farmers and various Optimist and Lions Clubs in the area.

Students from Holy Family School were amongst hundreds of Grades 4/5 students from across Brantford and Brant County to participate in the annual Bite of Brant program that increases agri-food industry awareness.

So, what did the students learn? Let’s find out!

Thank-you to Mrs. McCarthy’s Grade 5 class and Mrs. Parkhill’s Grade 4 class at Holy Family School for participating. What did the students learn during their most recent trip?

-Pigs must be separated from their babies so they do not lay on them since they cannot feel the babies – Brianna C -You can tell what colour of egg a chicken will lay based on their ear lobe. If the ear lobe is white, the egg will be white. If it is brown, the egg will be brown – Preston P

-My favourite part of the trip was goats! Some people keep them as pets Baby goats can stand 25 minutes after being born! Joshua G

-They lady at the bee stand gave me a high-five because Queen B is in charge! – Etney

-One cool thing I learned is that before milking a cow you use iodine to wash out the bacteria on the cow’s udder –Gedi M

-One thing I learned at Bite of Brant is that the queen bee lays 1500 eggs a day – Jax M

-One thing I learned at Bite of Brant is that the rings on these is one yea – Liam V

-The best thing I learned at Bite of Brant is that full grown cows weigh about 3,000 pounds – Ben G

-One of my favourite parts of Bite of Brant is that when you milk a cow you have to be careful or it will kick you –Elise B

-I learned that some medicine is made out of corn – Zeke P

-One cool thing that I learned at Bite of Brant is that cows chew the same food over and over –Jack C

-Something I learned is that when chickens have babies they grow in a similar way as baby people – Morgan G

-I learned that corn is used in a lot of stuff like corn syrup, cereal and medicine – Nolan R

-I learned that the bees honey after they make it is really heavy – Brody C

-One thing I learned is that the cab of the tractor protects the driver from the dust and storms – Florence S