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.