Through monthly updates, fourth graders at McKenna Elementary School in the Massapequa School District are eagerly exploring the progress of Ivy, a young cow they adopted through the Discover Dairy.
Teachers Jordyn Axelrod and Jamie Gallo signed up for the free year-long Adopt-A-Cow program, which connects schools with farms in the region. The 3-month-old Ivy is being raised at Fouts Farm in Cortland, N.Y. The class received a certificate of adoption and students get regular reports on Ivy along with photos and videos of the calf with her host farmer, Juila.
Axelrod and Gallo are connecting the cow adoption to all subject areas. In math, students are keeping track of Ivy’s height and weight, and marking a measurement chart in the classroom.
They gain scientific knowledge by learning about the development of an animal. In English language arts, students read nonfiction books about cows, and for social studies, they made New York State maps and identified Cortland’s location. Ivy is 268 miles away from Massapequa, they learned.
