As a long-term substitute at an elementary school in Washington, Amy Vaagen was looking for a way to engage her kindergarten students and get them excited about learning. Located near the Columbia River Basin where they grow tree fruit, her students were familiar with agriculture but most had never been exposed to dairy farming in particular. When Amy heard about Discover Dairy’s Adopt a Cow program, she signed up and started planning ways to connect it to Common CORE standards.

“The students were totally excited about the program. We tied it into our math curriculum and were able to use Common CORE standards for spatial awareness, size, and things like that. They were super excited about the potential of the calf updates coming and what she might look like next,” Amy shared.

After joining the free program, Amy’s classroom was paired with a Washington dairy farm and received regular photos, video updates, lesson ideas and other activities throughout the year. Many of the activities focused on how milk is produced and how some of their favorite dairy products, such as ice cream and cheese, are created. Amy helped her students visualize the process of making cheese and other dairy products, and her kindergarten students had fun mapping out the different steps on pieces of paper.

“We talked about dairy and where food comes from. They had no idea that milk came from cows. Most of them did not know that. They were blown away,” she added.

When they first found out who their calf was, Amy’s students also created their own birth announcements that they took home to share with their families.

“They got to share with their families what they were learning, what was happening to the calf, and how much taller they were than the calf. They were excited about all those different aspects,” Amy said.

To help build connections with her curriculum, Amy also focused on reading and writing standards by guiding her students through writing exercises. They wrote notes to the farmers to ask what’s happening or express their thoughts and feelings about the calf, which helped strengthen their writing skills and helped them realize farmers are real people.

“It’s really important for kids to see value in our agriculture community and those who work in it – for them to make real connections with who those people are and what they’re doing. The virtual farm tours helped them see that these are real people,” Amy added. “I would 100% recommend the Adopt a Cow program. It ties into so much of what we’re already doing, and it’s so engaging for the kids. This is something they really gravitate toward and get excited about.”

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Council of Arizona and Nevada, Dairy West, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, United Dairy Industry of Michigan, Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council, and Oregon Dairy and Nutrition Council.

Agriculture and music might not seem like they go together, but Michael Klinger, a high school band and choir teacher in south central Indiana, was able to show his students the two worlds have more in common than they might think. Michael signed up his Indiana music department for Discover Dairy’s Adopt a Cow program last school year and introduced the program to his sixth through 12^th grade students at their fall concert.  

“I did some research and found out the Adopt a Cow program is for students K-12. I wondered what would happen if we signed up as a music department, so we did,” he shared. “I announced it at our fall concert as a fun extra thing for us. Most of the kids were really excited. They wanted to see pictures of how the calf was doing and how she was continuing to grow.”

After signing up for the free Adopt a Cow program, Michael’s music department “adopted” a calf from an Indiana dairy farm and received regular photos, video updates, lesson ideas and other activities throughout the year. After announcing their adopted calf, Darcy, at the fall concert, he devoted one of the bulletin boards in the music room to share photos and information about the calf throughout the year.

Living in a rural area, many of Michael’s students are involved in agriculture. One of his goals was to find common ground with his students and show how the two worlds intersect.

“The school I’m at is in a rural area, and a lot of kids are involved in agriculture. We can talk about how music impacts animals as well. Growing up, I showed pigs and we always left the radio on so they wouldn’t get distracted by other things,” he added.

Both agriculture and band/choir have very close-knit communities. Michael worked to build that community between both areas through some creative activities throughout the school year.  

In his Music Theory class, they used their adopted calf as inspiration and tried to incorporate agriculture themes into the song-writing aspect of the course. The Adopt a Cow program also gives students opportunities to participate in live video chats with dairy farmers, so Michael encouraged his students to ask the dairy farmers if they had any connections with music when caring for their animals or completing tasks on the farm.

Ultimately, Michael says the Adopt a Cow program helped him make larger connections to the community – and the role the next generation has in taking care of the world.

“I think it’s important for kids to understand where their food comes from, because a lot of them do think it comes from the grocery store. This could introduce them to the world of agriculture,” he added. “Without farmers, we really have nothing. They grow, build and maintain everything for us. Just like we need future musicians to have more music, we need future farmers to continue to feed and take care of the world.”

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Council of Arizona and Nevada, Dairy West, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, United Dairy Industry of Michigan, Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council, and Oregon Dairy and Nutrition Council.

Anna Breitbach, a first-grade teacher in South Florida, is in her first year of teaching at a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) school. To bring some excitement to her classroom and help students build connections with their community, she signed up for Discover Dairy’s Adopt a Cow program after finding a video from another teacher sharing highlights from the program.

“I actually found out about Adopt a Cow last school year on TikTok. Another teacher made a whole video about the program. When I saw that was an opportunity I could do with my kids, I immediately signed up for it as soon as I saw the video,” Anna shared.

After hearing stories from her mother who grew up on a farm in Europe, Anna has always been intrigued by the world of agriculture. However, living and teaching in a suburban/urban area of Florida means her classroom is farther removed from agriculture and dairy farming.

“We live in an equestrian area, so some of our kids are familiar with horses but they’re not really experienced with what a farm truly is,” Anna explained. “They’ve never seen these kind of things before, so they are instantly drawn to them. They want to know more about the animals, and they love seeing the videos.”

After signing up for the free Adopt a Cow program, her classroom “adopted” a calf from a Florida dairy farm and receive regular photos, video updates, lesson ideas and other activities throughout the year. Especially at a STEM school where Anna works to make science connections and teach students what good citizenship means, the Adopt a Cow program has helped her first-graders make:

• Social studies connections. During a social studies lesson, Anna’s first-grade students were learning about suburban, urban and rural areas.
  
  “They were making a poster about the different areas, and they were so excited to use their adopted calf, Glenda, as an example of a rural area. It was a great connection they were able to make. I didn’t even expect it.”

• STEM and science connections. Every Friday, students participate in a STEM activity at her school. The Adopt a Cow program and its resources, including a growth chart, has helped reinforce some of these STEM concepts.
  
  “Every couple of Fridays, our STEM activity will be something involving our adopted calf. We might watch the videos you provide us, do a little activity about it, or go over the update about our adopted calf. I’ve been using the program as a science perspective in the classroom,” Anna added. “I have the growth chart where we log the height of our calf and the kids can compare their heights to the cow’s height. It has been really interesting having something physical to compare to, since we can’t actually visit the calf.”

• Community connections. Since her students aren’t exposed to dairy farming in their immediate area, Anna says the Adopt a Cow program has helped them widen their perspective about other parts of the country and learn important lessons about community and citizenship.
  
  “I think it’s very important for students to understand their communities. Everyone says school is meant to teach children how to be citizens. In order to be a good citizen in your country, you need to know the backbone of it – not just where you live, but all the different aspects of our country,” she said. “ There are people who work every day taking care of animals and producing our food. It’s important to know that, so you can appreciate what you have.”

To bring the program full circle, Anna and her students had the unique opportunity to meet their adopted calf at the South Florida Fair. Not every host farm in the program participates in this type of meet-and-greet event, but these first-graders were lucky enough to meet their adopted calf at the fair.

“A month later, the students are still talking about that. I even went. It was a surreal moment. We’ve been learning all about this cow and the process, and then we actually got to see her,” Anna added.

After using the Adopt a Cow program for most of the school year, Anna says it is bringing dairy farming to life for her students and increasing their understanding of food production when they visit the grocery store.

“I would encourage other teachers to take advantage of all the Adopt a Cow resources, because it’s free to us as teachers. The program makes such great connections,” Anna shared. “Students learn to appreciate where their food comes from and are able to put a ‘face’ to the milk at the grocery store. It’s giving kids those opportunities to connect what they’re learning in school to what’s actually going on in the community.”

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Council of Arizona and Nevada, Dairy West, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, United Dairy Industry of Michigan, and Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council.

Learn more about the program.

After growing up in her 4-H program, Becky Norton – a home school teacher in suburban Georgia – was excited to find the Discover Dairy program so she could help her children develop a similar appreciation for agriculture. Discover Dairy is an interactive, cross-curricular educational series that introduces elementary and middle school students to where their milk comes from and how dairy farmers contribute to our world.

Becky’s children, Emma and Eli who are in first and second grade, already have a basic knowledge of farming thanks to their family’s cattle farm in Kansas. Becky says the Discover Dairy program is helping broaden their understanding of all that goes into agriculture while making stronger connections with their family.

“This is our first year following along with Discover Dairy and using some of the curriculum and activities. Our eventual goal is to move to Kansas to live on our family’s cattle farm, so we have been able to relate the Discover Dairy activities to [our family],” she said. “Bringing that home really gave my kids a better insight into what our family’s day consists of as cattle farmers.”

So far, Becky has incorporated hands-on classroom enrichment activities focused on feed and nutrition for dairy cows. They have also learned about calf care and how dairy farmers care for the youngest members of their herds.

“The very first video we watched talked about how dairy farmers have their nurseries set up when calves are born. That was eye-opening for my kids, and it was interesting for them to see that. They were intrigued,” Becky shared.

The program is not only giving them a greater appreciation for where their food comes from, but it’s also helping them learn about the hard work farmers take to care for their animals, be good stewards of the land and produce nutritious products.

“I want them to learn there’s a lot more work that goes into farming than what we see. I want them to have a greater appreciation for the work that goes into getting our meal onto the table,” Becky explained. “It’s not just about raising the cow and the calf. Farmers have to feed them properly so they produce milk. I just want them to have greater knowledge from start to finish.”

As a home school teacher, Becky also finds that the Discover Dairy lessons and activities are adaptable and user-friendly. She’s able to customize the curriculum to their unique learning environment.

“The Discover Dairy lessons have been really easy to follow along with. The first one was as simple as opening up the video and using the conversation questions. I appreciate that the prep work is quick, whether I’m planning three weeks in advance or the night before. I like that it’s quick to put together,” she said. “My kids are very close in age, but for a home school family that has multiple grade levels, it would be very easy to adapt to a greater age span. In a classroom setting, teachers could pick out age-appropriate activities and do a lot of cross-curricular activities. You can pull in agriculture, math and language arts, too.”

Becky hopes to join her family on the farm in Kansas and continues to use the Discover Dairy program as a starting point for her children’s future career possibilities.

“Farming is an important part of nutrition. It’s an important part of the economy. It’s an important part of how the grocery store gets their product. By the time [my kids] get to the point where they’re working on the farm, I want them to already know there’s a lot of work that goes into farming and they’ll be ready for it,” she added.

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Management West, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, and United Dairy Industry of Michigan.

In De Pere, Wisconsin, Jayne Black is showing her pre-school students how agriculture connects to so many different parts of their lives. With a personal interest in the environment and “turning schools green,” Jayne works to help her students become green leaders and find ways to make schools more sustainable. When she heard about Discover Dairy’s Adopt a Cow program, she thought it was a natural way to expand on some of the lessons about nature and the environmental literacy she was already teaching her students – who range from 4-6 years old.

With her students being excited about agriculture after taking a field trip to a farm last year, Jayne hoped the Adopt a Cow program could help her dive deeper.  

“Those field trips are great, but they don’t really get into the nitty gritty of how important of a role our environment plays in a cow’s life,” she shared. “I thought this was such a cool program because my kids were really interested in the farm [when we visited].”

After signing up for the free Adopt a Cow program, her classroom “adopted” Ruby from Vision Aire Farms, LLC, a dairy farm in their home state of Wisconsin.  They receive regular photos, video updates, lesson ideas and other activities throughout the year to give students in-depth exposure to the world of dairy farming and the important role of a dairy farmer. 

“Most of my kids definitely don’t live on a farm. They’re from more urban and upper-class environments,” Jayne said. “That’s why I felt it was really important to have this experience so they can appreciate agriculture at this young age and connect to it.”

So far, Jayne and her students have constructed their own barn for the classroom, filled with a plastic cow, Ruby, who wears a personalized collar. She also utilized the growth chart, a free resource provided through the Adopt a Cow program, to help students measure their adopted calf’s growth and compare it to their own heights.

“Through the curriculum I’ve taught them, they are already very engaged with nature and animals. They were really excited to find out what their calf’s name was,” Jayne said. “I also used the growth chart so they could see how big Ruby was versus how tall they are. They’re really able to grasp that she is growing, and that’s something they can relate to.”

They have also watched a virtual farm tour and engaged in creative art activities such as making cow handprints. With each handprint being so different, Jayne was able to make real-world connections that way, too.

“We talked about how every cow is different. Ruby looks this way, but everyone is an individual. Even if we look the same, we’re still different,” she added.

With her passion for environmental literacy, the Adopt a Cow program has allowed Jayne to introduce some of those concepts to her students and share how dairy farming plays an important role in sustainability.

“They can definitely relate to the fact that water is so important and food is so important to taking care of cows. The farmer who is taking care of the cows is also important. It’s really setting a solid foundation for all that it takes to care for these animals. It’s really growing that appreciation,” Jayne explained. “I talk to the kids a lot about how we share the air that we breathe and how that’s important for cows, too. They need fresh, clean air and places to roam. I think they’re really getting the bigger picture.”

For Jayne’s students, the Adopt a Cow program has given them some ownership and engagement with a world they are learning about for the very first time.

“The visuals of the calf, and the way the program helps students feel ownership over it, it’s really powerful,” she added.

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Council of Arizona and Nevada, Dairy West, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, United Dairy Industry of Michigan, and Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council.

Learn more about the program.

As a second-grade teacher in Wheeling, West Virginia, Bennett McKinley has found a creative way to boost excitement and enthusiasm with his students: by “adopting” a cow from a working dairy farm. With more than 30,000 classrooms participating in Discover Dairy’s Adopt a Cow program this school year, the program is impacting more than one million students across the globe. When classrooms like Bennett’s sign up for the program, they are paired with a calf and farm in the program and receive regular photos, video updates, and activity sheets. 

For Bennett, this is his second year participating in the Adopt a Cow program.

“It sounded like a fun way for my students to learn about cows, farming, and the dairy industry. I decided to re-enroll this year for those same reasons, with the intent to increase how much I fold the resources into my lessons,” he shared.

Living in a suburban area, most of his West Virginia students have not grown up around dairy farming or agriculture. By watching a newborn calf grow throughout the school year, they can make connections to their own growth, their own families, and where their food comes from, which can be very exciting for elementary students.

“I would say my class is mostly unfamiliar with farming or agriculture. Regardless of their prior knowledge, the students have been very excited and curious to learn more about our calf as well as the farm where she is living,” Bennett said.

With his students’ enthusiasm for their adopted calf, Bennett has found several creative ways to reinforce second-grade learning skills and curriculum through the program’s free lessons and resources. Bennett says the Adopt a Cow program has helped him expand on:

• Classroom engagement and conversations: Bennett and his students discuss their adopted calf almost every day during their morning meetings.
• Math skills: His students have used the calf’s measurements and a growth chart that was provided through the program in some of their math work.
• English and language arts skills: Students put their English and language arts skills into practice by drafting letters with questions about their host farm and calf.
• Geography knowledge: According to Bennett, last year their adopted calf went on imaginary “visits” around the world with an arctic fox to teach students about geography and unique locations across the planet. 

With a new Adopt a Cow online portal available this year to access calf information and classroom enrichment activities, Bennett says the program has not only helped his classroom learn about the dairy industry, but participation has been simple and seamless for him as a teacher.

“This year’s portal and website make it easier to access information. It’s intuitive and easy to navigate,” he added.

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Council of Arizona and Nevada, Dairy West, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, United Dairy Industry of Michigan, and Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council.

Learn more about the program.