Shelburne Farms Cultivating a Conservation Ethic Education Program
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  Academic Year 2008-09

  PRESCHOOL & KINDERGARTEN:
 
  KINDERGARTEN - THIRD GRADE
  Discover Fall in the Forest
    in your community
 
  FOURTH - EIGHTH GRADE:
 

Since 1978, Shelburne Farms has offered one-day field trips for preschool-8th grade students, September to mid-June, as a resource for both student learning and professional development.

Due to demand, programs are scheduled by a lottery system in May for the following school year.

For more information or an application, contact Johanna Liskowsky-Doak, Field Trip Coordinator, (802) 985-8686.

School Programs are designed to provide:  

  • a multi-disciplinary connection to classroom work
  • standards-based instruction
  • active and collaborative learning
  • real-world concepts and content
  • resources for use in the classroom before and after your visit
  • age-appropriate activities
  • inquiry and problem-solving experiences
  • an opportunity for teachers to observe and assess students
  • FUN!

Look for these symbols beside individual field trips:
OUTREACH FIELD TRIPS to school communities to help teachers utilize natural and agricultural resources in their local communities.

ONE-DAY WORKSHOPS directly related to various field trip topics to build even stronger connections between teacher curriculum and the standards and topics addressed during the field trip. Teachers not scheduled for a field trip are welcome to attend the workshops.
 

A WORD ON VERMONT STANDARDS:

Since 1998, Shelburne Farms field trips have been linked to Vermont’s Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities to assist educators in addressing these standards in their curricula. All of our field trips address the following standards: Clarification and Restatement, 1.13; Speaking, 1.15; Types of Questions, 2.1; Approach, 2.6 & 2.7; Organisms, Evolution and Interdependence, 7.13. For more detailed information about standards and grade level expectations met by each field trip, click here.
 
 K - Third Grade     Fourth - Eighth Grade
Fee: $6.00 per student (scholarships available.)
Time allotment: 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
At the primary level, our program goal is to develop an awareness and appreciation of natural and agricultural resources and the working landscape. outreachworkshop		   Fee: $7.00 per student (scholarships available.)
Time allotment: 9:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Program goals at the middle school level are to increase awareness and appreciation of natural and agricultural resources and the working landscape and, ultimately, to inspire children to be active stewards of our environment.

From the Farm to You outreach
September
Discover the importance of farms as our source of food. Students will grind wheat berries into flour, make bread, interact with our farm animals, and make butter. Visit the garden to harvest fresh vegetables and investigate their benefits by conducting some taste tests and making soup.

Discover Fall in the Forest in your Community outreachworkshopOctober
Shelburne Farms staff will come to a site in your community to celebrate fall and increase student awareness and appreciation for the wonders of the natural world in their own backyard! Students will gain insight into the value of the forest as a habitat for creatures and a natural resource for humans. Through sensory explorations, students will examine plant life cycles, tree anatomy and basic tree identification skills.

Farm Life and History
November
Connect the past with the present while exploring the importance of agriculture in our lives. By doing farm chores, students will use and investigate tools from the past and discover how they have changed over time. Through household chores such as making beeswax candles and spinning wool, students will gain a sense of what life was like on a Vermont farm in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Active in Winter outreachworkshop
January & February
Cultivate your students’ sense of place by investigating your schoolyard or local community for signs of active animals in winter or visit Shelburne Farms to hike through the fields and forests. Students will examine the strategies animals in Vermont use to survive the winter and discover animal adaptations through inquiry-based indoor activities. Children will develop basic track identification skills and enhance their observational skills.

Sugaring Time outreach
March
Investigate the science and experience the wonders of maple sugaring by spending the day in our sugarbush, following the entire sugaring process from tapping to tasting. Students will engage in the full cycle of the sugaring season as they identify and tap a maple tree, gather sap, visit the sugarhouse, meet our sugar-maker, and experience the history of maple sugaring.

Join the Flock outreach
April
Connect children’s literature and art with farm life cycles while spending a day on the farm during lambing season. Students will explore a year in the life of a sheep from its birth and care to the harvest of its wool fibers. Students will spend time with the newborn lambs and their moms and work with wool: carding, spinning, and felting.

Super Soil outreachworkshop
April & May
In your schoolyard or at the Farm, connect to the world beneath your feet and discover why soil is the basis of life on earth. Through indoor and outdoor investigations, students will explore the properties and composition of soil. Meet red wiggler worms, learn how they contribute to soil health, and find out how they can conserve soil by composting their food scraps.

Milk and More
May
Explore a Vermont dairy farm! Visit our milking parlor, calving barn, feed alley and manure pit to understand the many processes and cycles of cows and dairying. Students will milk a cow and study its life cycle as they interact with calves and heifers. They will explore their connection to the dairy industry as they identify cow products, process cream into butter and view the cheesemaking process.

Pond Life Cycles and Adaptations workshop
May & June
Explore a pond! Visit a natural community in your town or at Shelburne Farms. Students will explore a pond ecosystem to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of spring. They will investigate the life cycles and adaptations of pond insects and amphibians. In the day’s indoor component, students will investigate how pond creatures adapt to eating, moving, and surviving in their watery world.

 

Wetland Ecosystem Investigation outreachworkshop
September
Increase awareness of wetland ecosystems in your community with Shelburne Farms educators or visit the LaPlatte Marsh in Shelburne. Students will discover the functions and characteristics of wetlands through hands-on activities. During the exploration, students will identify common wetland plants, find out about their adaptations for living in this type of habitat, discover the properties of wetland soils, and determine water quality using biotic factors.

Stories in Stone outreach
September & October
Explore the basic geologic processes that have shaped and transformed our earth, including rock formation and weathering. Discover the rich geologic history of our region through hands-on activities and scientific explorations.

Don’t Hibernate - Hike! workshop
January & February
Go on a winter adventure in your own backyard with Shelburne Farms educators or join us in ours! Students will experience and learn about the necessary preparations to have a fun and safe winter adventure in the outdoors. During the four-hour outing students will experience fundamental teambuilding concepts while going on a winter trek. They will practice reading basic elements of a map and apply them to the landscape. Students will make a plan at school using a detailed brochure and can choose from activities like fort and fire building, animal tracking and more!

Sugaring by the Numbers
March
Investigate the math, science, and other wonders of maple sugaring by spending the day in our sugarbush. Students will engage in the process of sugaring as they identify and measure appropriate trees to tap, gather sap, calculate the number of gallons of sap needed to produce one gallon of syrup, and investigate the physics of sugaring with our sugarmaker.

Simple Machines on the Farm
April & May
From hauling hay bales and tilling soil to grinding wheat and mucking pens, simple machines help all over the farm! Students will investigate how simple machines work through engaging in farm chores, experimenting with hand tools, and participating in inquiry-based exploratory activities.

Farmer for a Day
May & June
Connect agriculture, local communities, economics and the natural environment while developing cooperative learning skills. In the classroom, student groups will choose a farm they would like to manage (sheep, dairy or organic herb and vegetable), and create an advertisement for the farm product they would like to develop. During their visit, students will participate in real-life farming activities and create their farm product: ice cream, herbal teas or a felted wool ball or pouch.
 
  Children’s Farmyard Programs
Fee: $3.50 per student-one adult chaperone admitted free with every 5 students, $5.00 per additional adult.

A visit to the Children’s Farmyard offers children ages 3-6 an opportunity to discover the important role farms play in their lives. Children will be able to interact with cows, sheep, goats, chickens, and other farmyard animals and venture into the garden of “pickable” food to tend the plants and possibly taste the fresh fruits and vegetables. Children may explore the farmyard with their teachers and chaperones and participate in a variety of hands-on farm activities offered each half hour. Farmyard visits generally last 1 ½ -2 hours. Groups may stay longer to explore our trails and spend more time with their favorite farm animals.
To register for fall or spring farmyard visits, or to schedule a visit in the summer please call Keely Deutsch, 802-985-0344.

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Autumn Farmyard
September & October 2008
Fall is a great time to visit the Children's Farmyard!  The pumpkin patch and garden are at their ripest, the baby farm animals are growing and there are plenty of harvest and barnyard activities to engage children of all ages. It is a perfect way to begin your school year.

Spring Farmyard Visits
May & June 2009
With spring, comes the opening of the farmyard and all the new arrivals. From chicks to lambs and calves to piglets a visit to the farmyard is sure to be a memorable experience.

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