BRADFORD — On April 30, the Bradford FFA brought agriculture and FFA to their elementary students. Students in their FFA organized different activities for the kids to do to have a day of not only fun but learning too. The high school FFA members had the help of quite a few 8th graders enrolled in agriculture classes who stepped up to the challenge, became heavily involved, and did great. This day is super important to the Bradford FFA because it gets the kids involved and teaches them a lot about agriculture. Their hopes are that when the kids are old enough to join FFA, this day will get them interested in doing so. Their elementary consists of around 244 students that took turns at the different activities.
The day started at 7 in the morning for the members running the stations. They had to be at the school bright and early to make sure everything was set up and ready to give the kids the best day possible. The elementary school day started at 8:10 and the eight stations started up shortly after. Each grade was given a schedule with times to go through the different stations to keep everything running smoothly. The students loved the petting zoo animals which consisted of goats, a cow, rabbits, ducks, and a lamb that were all brought in by different members. They got to learn the process of making and shaking butter and got to learn the different layers of soil using pudding, cookies, gummy worms, and sprinkles. Students got to learn the importance of being safe on a tractor and what they need to do in order to ensure this. Students also got to make bracelets using different color beads to represent different nutrients we take in. Older grades got to see how electric and hydraulics work and got to try it out themselves. Younger grades got to make animal crafts with cut-outs of pigs, chickens, and horses.
Linda Raterman from Miami County Soil and Water came in to teach one of the stations. With the help of the Bradford FFA members, she taught about the water cycle by making water cycle bracelets using pipe cleaners and colored beads. She also taught about predators and prey by playing a game similar to what most people know as “Sharks and Minnows.” The students played a game with the same idea, but instead were foxes and bunnies. A lot of hard work and time went into this day and it all paid off. The elementary students had a lot of fun and learned a lot about many different things. Ag day has been a tradition throughout the past couple of years. Although they could not have an Ag day last year, they made up for it by a mile this year and couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of the 8th graders and the FFA members’ hard work. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for Ag day next year!
