Moses Lake first graders spent the day at the “farm”

MOSES LAKE – Moses Lake first graders had the opportunity to go out to the Grant County Fairgrounds on Wednesday for First Grade Farm Day at the Grant County Fairgrounds. The Moses Lake High School Agriculture program and the Moses Lake Future Farmers of America organized the event. The groups worked together to teach the young students about the work they do.  

“After talking with Tony Kern, ag teacher and FFA advisor about that, he believes it's at least been 40, maybe more years that this has been going on. He knows that he mentioned that he's been here 20 to 25 years, and it's been continually an annual event there, but he believes the history goes back at least 40 plus years,” Director of Public Relations Ryan Shannon said.  

Shannon explained that the day has two goals: one is to allow the younger students to get introduced to the various aspects of agriculture. 

“They learned about produce, apples, strawberries,” Shannon said. “They also talked about ‘What is a producer?’ and who is the ones producing these goods.” 

The other aspect is allowing older students to practice their knowledge and share it with younger students.  

“It's an opportunity for these ag students to showcase what they've learned so far, what they are learning in their agricultural biology class. I talked to again, Mr. Kern yesterday; it was mostly high school sophomores that are part of the agriculture or the Ag biology course at Moses Lake High School, and it's an opportunity, like I said, for them to practice their speeches and their delivery of that information to the students. So, it's kind of serving a dual purpose.” 

Shannon said there was a lot of engagement at the event, with the younger students asking questions and interacting with animals.  

“We had everything from ducks to goats to rabbits and chickens, and there was even a turkey. It's just an opportunity for these students to really get to see these things up close and hands-on and engage in the learning process,” Shannon said.  

Shannon said the farm day allows for hands-on learning and gets both younger and older students out of the classroom for a day.  

“They're not sitting there reading out of a book,” Shannon said. “They're actually getting to go out and get hands-on education, and then take that knowledge that they've been learning in the classroom and in those other learning environments, and then pass that knowledge on in a hands-on way to those younger students.” 

Shannon said the school district would like to thank the Grant County Fairgrounds for the continued partnership with the school district to put on this event.  

He also said the FFA students have a large piece of effort in being able to put on this event, as they do all of the fundraising to hold events like these. 

“Events like this couldn't happen without the students' fundraising on their own to make sure that these kinds of events can take place, because this was fully supported by the fundraising activities of FFA,” he said.  

    Moses Lake High School students spend the day teaching Moses Lake first graders about Future Farmers of America and the agriculture program. Students had the opportunity to meet furry and feathered friends, ask questions, and get a peek into the agriculture community.