2016 Education

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Page 12 2016 EDUCATION MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY March 1, 2016
Hoerbert
shared
vocabulary
with the
students as
they started
out the unit on
cows. She also
sent the
class an
informational
video of
Snowbelle as
she moved
into her pen.
The students
have also done
a variety of
math problems related to how much the cows eat
and how much milk they are producing.
In January, Hoerbert shared how Snowbelle
was progressing and had the students do a math
problem on how much it costs to feed her.
Snowbelle gets three quarts feed in the morning
and three quarts at night, so students had to figure
out how many gallons that added up.
Hoerbert said four out of six of her cows were
also getting frostbite during cold weather. The
students had to figure out what number of cows
were affected by the frostbite
The Hoerberts do four days of milking each week
and have forty cows they milk. So for one math
problem Hayes had the students figure out how
many pounds milk per day the Hoerberts get per
cow.
The students have also had to figure out how
many pounds are in a bag of feed and how many
pounds Snowbelle is eating each day.
Next month, Hoerbert plans to get some milk
samples and
have the
students test
each cow’s
milk. Since
the milk
is sold to
Prairie Farms,
Hoerbert has
to follow
Prairie Farm
standards
testing the
cows for
bacteria, then
deciding how
to treat them.
Hayes said,
“This has been a great experience for my class.
It is wonderful to bring community business into
our schools. It has really tied real life jobs into
why we need to learn math and science in the
classroom.”
Hoerbert said teaching the kids what she does
at the dairy farm is far beyond what she ever
expected. She said she was touched when the
children sent her thank you notes after her first
visit.
Lorisa Riggs, one of Hayes fourth graders, says
she has learned a lot about cows. Riggs said she
has enjoyed doing math problems to figure out
how much Snowbelle and the other cows eat. She
also liked writing paragraphs about cows and why
they are mammals. Riggs said she is excited about
the chance to meet Snowbelle later this year.
As the project wraps up, the class will visit
Hoerbert Farm sometime in the spring and have a
chance to meet Snowbelle.
From this project, the students now have a better
understanding of the ‘farm to table’ connection
learning about Snowbelle and the work that goes
on at a dairy farm.
Snowbelle, the cow Mrs. Hayes class adopted, moves to her
pen.