Planning an Excursion

This field trip is based around some of the big ideas of grade four Science and Social Studies.
This field trip will be a culminating experience in an integrated unit for the strands of
Understanding Life Systems in Science and People in Environments in Social Studies.
Big Ideas:
Social Studies:
Human activity and the environment have an impact on each other.
Human activities should balance environmental stewardship with human needs.
Science:
Human activities should balance environmental stewardship with human needs.
Location and duration:

Holly Ray Farms, Stirling Ontario

http://www.hollyrayfarms.com/#intro
This farm would be closest to schools in the
Hastings/Prince Edward School District. They
are under a two hour drive from Toronto.
Tours are half and hour and include an
overview of their farming practices as well as
opportunities to feed and care for their
animals and participate in some farming
activities (depending on the season).
Students can bring lunch and picnic on site as
well as staying to enjoy the outside sounds of
nature.
The owners are open to more in-depth tours,
experiences if teacher requested.
Tentative Schedule:
10:00 am - arrival
10-11:00 - tour
11-11:30 - group work to gather information
for their assignment topic
11:30- 12:00 - picnic lunch on grounds
(student must pack out any garbage they
create)
12:00-1:20 - students will have brought their
art materials for sketching opportunities
(weather permitting) or they may cloudwatch,
daydream or go for a country walk.
1:30 - depart Holly Ray Farms

Description of the program:

This organic, small scale sustainable farm

offers educational tours that teach:
about their sustainable farming practices,
commitment to the environment
offers opportunities for students to engage in

hands on farm work.

Students can plant, weed and feed and care
for the animals or help and learn about other
farm tasks like mending fences, etc. (This
farm is flexible with programming and can
design a day to meet your needs as far as
curriculum and any special needs.)
Depending on the unit and assignments
students will complete to show their learning,
hopefully we could have enough devices so
that students could shoot their own footage
(in groups) to support their assignment rather
than be bogged down with paper and pen. If
not enough recording devices are available,
clipboards and pencils it will be.
Curriculum expectations:

Science: 1.1 analyse the positive and

negative impacts of human interactions with
natural habitats and communities, taking into
consideration different perspectives, and
evaluate ways of minimizing the negative
impacts
2.1 follow established safety procedures for
working with soils (ex. wearing gloves)
S.S B1.3 describe some key actions taken by
both industries and citizens to address the
need for more sustainable use of land and
resources
B2. use the social studies inquiry process to
investigate Canadian social and/or
environmental issues from various
perspectives, including the perspective of the
level (or levels) of government responsible for
addressing the issues

Connections to curriculum expectations:

I would use this as a culminating experience

to help students gather information to decide
if this farm is a good example of co-existing
with the surrounding environment and why.
Students would examine the relationship
between farmer and land/ecosystems in place
to determine if they are a sustainable farm.
Students can compare this farm to other
types of farms studied as part of their science
and social studies integrated unit on
environmental issues and the causal
relationship between humans and nature.
Students would need a lot of prior knowledge

in both social studies and science to form an

opinion after the field trip.
Accommodations for students:

Students with limited mobility can still

participate in the tour and activities. Contact
the farm owners to accommodating students
in wheelchairs or any other needs and they
will do their best to serve the needs of all
students.
The nature of this field trip works well for
kinesthetic learners and visual learners as
well and may be beneficial for students with
ADHD for hands on learning.

Cost involved:

Bus transportation (if applicable)

Farm education/tour: 10/person, but they offer
deep discounts for students (didnt specify on
the website) and are open to negotiation.

After the field trip/extensions:

I would integrate this into ELA, possibly into

one or more stations where they could write
descriptive paragraphs or persuasive writing
about why or why not this farm balances the
needs of people and the environment.
During the field trip, a volunteer or teacher
could record bits of the tour and of the
students doing hands on work as well as
answering questions about what they learned
that day. The video could be edited during
technology class.