Bournedale Students Learn About Dairy Through Adopt-A -Cow Program
Bournedale Elementary’s 1st and 2nd graders have gained a new friend for learning. Her name is River Walker, she’s about 2 months old, and she’s a Holstein dairy cow.
At the end of the last school year, Jennifer Ward, health and wellness teacher at Bournedale, applied for a program that allows teachers and their students to adopt a dairy cow to aid in nutrition, health and science learning. Ms. Ward was drawn to the program—which is entirely free—because it is helping her teach her 1st and 2nd grade students about dairy farming, the benefits of milk and their role in the food chain as consumers.
“It’s really a chance for us to look inside of dairy farming and learn a lot more about how farm life works, [and] how milk can be a healthy part of our diet,” Ms. Ward said. “The students are able to meet our adopted cow [virtually] and interact with the farmer, Jill, who works there.”
As part of the program, students will participate in a virtual tour of the farm, engage in discussions with Farmer Jill, and overall learn about the life cycle of a cow throughout the school year. The program comes with lesson plans and fun activities for the students, as well as an app where families can log in to keep tabs on River Walker while students are at home.
Ms. Ward said she is also working with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) teacher Antonia Perry to track the growth of River Walker throughout the year using a growth chart.
“We’ll be charting every other month when we get the updates from the farm and the kids will get a chance to learn a little more about milk production, they’ll learn where their food comes from, and their role as consumers,” Ms. Ward said.
The adopt a cow program is run through Discover Dairy, an organization that Ms. Ward was connected to after applying for the NFL Fuel Up To Play 60 program earlier this year.
“I really like it a lot,” Ms. Ward said of the program. “I was so happy that we actually got connected; I wanted something new to do for health and nutrition.”
The students are excited, too, Ms. Ward said.
“Suddenly, everyone’s favorite animal is a cow,” she said. “They’re completely going nuts over it.…You would’ve thought the cow was in the classroom, they’re so excited when I’m telling them about her.”
Students have engaged in classroom learning about milk, the different types and where it comes from, which has produced some interesting discussions among students. Ms. Ward teaches health and wellness to all of Bournedale’s students, she explained, and every once in a while, a student will raise a hand and let her know that the student can’t have dairy for one reason or another.
“They’re really cute to quickly encourage each other to try the different types of milk, like almond milk or soy milk,” Ms. Ward said. “It’s created a lot of great conversations about milk.…Students are really enjoying the curriculum.”
But there is one part of milk production that has Ms. Ward’s students bursting with questions.
“A lot of the kids wonder, ‘Well, then how do they make chocolate milk? Are there cows that make milk that is chocolate?’” Ms. Ward said. “I thought that was really, really cute.”
Bournedale students will continue working with Ms. Ward and River Walker to learn about dairy cows and farming throughout the rest of the school year.