Kalene Berte, the Ag in the Classroom coordinator for Humboldt County Farm Bureau, shared this message when she visited second-grade students at Taft Elementary School and first-graders at St. Mary Elementary School, both in Humboldt.

Students discovered that Earth Day began 55 years ago in 1970 and has grown to almost 200 countries around the world, with more than 1 billion people celebrating Earth Day each year on April 22.

“Earth Day is a great time to implement ways to help protect our environment,” Berte said.

She challenged the students to brainstorm ways they could help keep our air, water, and soil healthy. The kids’ answers included picking up garbage, recycling, and planting trees.

The lesson then provided the opportunity for students to learn about different seeds, soil types, and what conditions seeds need in order to germinate. The kids made a seed germination necklace. Each child also received a peat-moss container and could plant seeds of their choice. They could select from pumpkin, flint corn, yellow dent corn, soybean, sunflower, alfalfa and more.

Berte brought along a bucket of soil from the field so the kids could smell the soil and see how different it was from the peat moss. She also showed the students some ag drainage tile and explained how the small holes help remove excess water from the soil.

To show how seeds can spread, Berte brought milkweed pods and allowed the kids to blow the seeds around. In addition, she displayed a large sunflower so the students could see what the big seeds look like in the flower.

“I also had a vanilla bean pod for them to smell and to see the world’s most tiny seeds,” she said.

Hands-on learning is a huge part of Ag in the Classroom.

“Like farmers who keep records of their crops, the students created a journal to record their planting date, along with the type and number of seeds,” Berte said.

They also received a chart to track their watering dates. In addition, the journal provided a page where the kids could draw a picture of what they think their plant will look like when it’s fully grown.

The lesson concluded with examples of the various ways farmers are keeping our planet healthy. The kids learned about windbreaks, cover crops and bioreactors.

“Farm Bureau would like to thank everyone for supporting AITC projects throughout the school year,” Berte said.