Lisa Michaluk is a Grade 1 and 2 teacher in Gimli who has been using AITC-M’s resources to teach her students about agriculture over the past decade. Teaching young students about agriculture isn’t always easy, but Michaluk finds new and creative ways to keep them engaged. This year it was her Imagine a Farm project.

Imagine a Farm was inspired by Agriculture in the Classroom’s Great Canadian Farm Tour. During this virtual tour, students get an inside look at 11 different types of farms across Canada. When Michaluk saw how excited her students were after watching the tour, the Imagine a Farm project came into fruition.

“The idea came organically through the kids, after watching the Great Canadian Farm Tour they started dreaming about what kind of farms they might have”, says Michaluk.

Recognizing the student’s enthusiasm, Michaluk tasked her grade 1 and 2’s with building their own miniature farms using toys and materials found at home or in the classroom. Each farm had to include a food source, a water source, and a shelter source. The rest was up to the students.

“It was so interesting to see the details they picked up on. One little guy took things right from farm to table and created a fish & chips stand outside of his fish farm, he even included customers lined up at the stand”, says Michaluk.

Although the young students have plenty of time to figure out their careers, Michaluk notes that videos like the Great Canadian Farm Tour and projects like Imagine a Farm have piqued their interest in agriculture.

“Yesterday I had one kid talking about being a veterinarian and another talking about biosafety, those are the kinds of things they might not have associated with a farm before”, says Michaluk.

Once her students were done watching the Great Canadian Farm Tour and finished constructing their Imagine a Farm projects, it was time for their first field trip. Michaluk took them to a farm and was impressed by their knowledge. She says the different parts of the farm her students pointed out to her reflected how much they had already learned through AITC-M’s resources and their Imagine a Farm projects.  

Visit Lisa Michaluk’s Twitter to see the Imagine a Farm project in action. She was also AITC-M’s Feature Teacher for October 2021.

Follow Lisa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ourstoryroom113