by Rita LeRoy
Loma Vista Farm is a sought-out destination for people from all over the San Francisco Bay Area. The Farm’s unique school district/community collaborative is open to students of all ages and abilities. Nearly 3,000 students from American Canyon, Antioch, Benicia, Berkeley, Clayton, Concord, Fairfield, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond, St. Helena, Suisun, Vacaville, and Vallejo are scheduled to visit this spring. Along with the students comes a multitude of adults who are always impressed to see such a quality, positive, and educational experience within an urban setting.
Educational activities abound for every age level. The youngest students are preschoolers. The building blocks of a child’s education are enhanced through the Farm’s experiential, sensory-based activities. These youngest learners are encouraged to touch the plants and the animals, building on the child’s vocabulary and sense of wonder. Older students learn math by counting, weighing, and measuring animals, garden beds, cooking ingredients, pumpkins, etc. They develop a stronger sense of the association of words and writing when they write about the sights, sounds, smells, & tastes of their Farm experience. Students play the role of scientists by observing ladybugs eating aphids with magnifying glasses or observing pond water samples under a microscope and recording data. Students develop an awareness of different cultures by cooking foods that are common dishes in a variety of cultures such as Egg Flower Soup, Homemade Tortillas and making bread from freshly harvested blue corn the way the Native Americans did.
Our goal is to strengthen students’ abilities. Developmentally disabled young adult students come to the Farm to participate in job training. Through their time spent at the Farm the students learn skills that enable them to graduate into paid positions within the retail market. Senior citizens from Merrill Gardens and 4th graders from Elsa Widenmann have partnered to form an intergenerational team. The seniors benefit from the experience by sharing their memories and enjoying time outdoors with the youngsters. The 4th graders learn respect and compassion for their elders. and pride in showing off their love and knowledge of the Farm.
Adults are students, also. Community members take advantage of workshops at the Farm on gardening topics that provide them with the skills to grow their own healthy fruits and vegetables at home. Master Gardener trainees are taught the art and science of plant propagation and composting by Farm staff. And college students from Carrington College
in Pleasant Hill receive hands-on training by their veterinary instructor on how to give medical care to our Farm animals.
Loma Vista Farm is a resource in sustainable living, nature and nutrition education, and life skills for the entire community. A healthy community is sustained by the health of its individuals.
If you are interested in bringing your students to the farm, call the Farm or check out the website for more information on field trips or other group visits.
Our annual visit to the Farm is by far the most exciting day of each Kindergarten year!! My colleagues and I (teachers in Fairfield) have been bringing our classes to the Farm each year for 20 years. We eagerly anticipate the Farm visit each year, and each year we marvel at the Greenhouse, the nesting geese, the peacocks, the baby chicks, the bunnies, and the very friendly goats and other animals, not to mention the sheer delight on our students’ faces. Many of our students have not had “hands-on” experiences with animals, nor have they had yard/garden experiences. The visit to Loma Vista Farm is so gratifying and enriching for them!! Our newly adopted reading curriculum includes units on food, animals, community and plants. Our end-of-the-year visit to Loma Vista Farm will be a perfect experience to tie together what our students have learned in those units, and a very special way to end our Kindergarten year!
by Susan Schuepbach, Kindergarten Teacher at Sheldon Elementary School, Fairfield
