Youth

The Soil Conservation District’s goal is to introduce kids at an early age to their community’s agricultural roots and keep building upon it as they continue through school. We come in and teach to the Kindergarten and 3rd grade classrooms of Williams County. We educate them about various conservation methods. All of these programs and activities are fully supplied and paid for by the District.

Kindergarten

Farm to Table – from the fields into the classrooms

Our Kindergarten program was started in 2019 and consists of us reading a short story of how things go from farm to table. Visual aids are brought in while going through the story to discuss what everyday products can be made from them. Our goal is to teach kids the importance of farmers and ranchers. We explain to them that all food starts with a farm.

At the end, the kids are given a coloring sheet and a box of crayons. The coloring sheets are entered into a coloring contest between just their classroom and the winners are given a free ice cream from Culvers. This lesson lasts about 20mins.

1st Grade

Pollinators

Our 1st grade program started this winter, 2022. The kids sit through a 15min presentation learning about pollinators. We discuss who are some pollinators, insects, what is pollination, how does it happen, what are some pollinator homes, and go over pollination numbers. We end the visit by having the students do a coloring activity, making masks. This lesson lasts about 45mins.

We have learned that there are many stories about stinging pollinator encounters to be told by these 1st graders! The students really enjoy having visitors come to their classrooms as well!

2nd Grade

Trees & Botany

This year, the Williams County Soil Conservation District has expanded its environmental education program to include second grade classes in Williams County. Isabella Sferra, our watershed coordinator, has been the one going into the classrooms and working hands on with the students.

We began a program for second grade students on trees and botany. We hope to introduce students to the beginnings of the study of plants, as well as their importance to our lives and those of the organisms around us. Students first discussed the functions and importance of trees, their habitats, types of leaves, and the purpose of different tree parts. They were then able to draw and label leaf types and the core parts of trees. Overall, we reached over 400 second grade students from Trenton to Tioga. We hope to continue to expand and improve our environmental education efforts in the future.

3rd Grade

Soil Health – healthy soils are full of life

We started going into classrooms in 2018 starting with the 3rd grade. The kids get to enjoy a 45min interactive presentation as well as a hands-on learning opportunity that is very tasty! They learn the importance of soil health, ways to help conserve our soil, and the different soil layers. We provide 2 worksheets for the students that pertain to the information discussed during the activity. The teachers then are able to grade them based on what they learned throughout the lesson. At the end, they get to spend the last 15mins building their own edible soil horizon.