By: Patrick Troyer, Paulding SWCD
The Paulding Soil & Water Conservation District is excited to announce that our annual 5th Grade Field Day is set for Friday, September 28th at the Black Swamp Nature Center and Paulding County Fairgrounds. If school should be cancelled due to fog, there is a backup date set for a week later on October 5th. This Field Day is for all 5th grade students from Oakwood, Paulding, Antwerp, Grover Hill, Payne Elementary, Divine Mercy Catholic School as well as homeschool groups.
The students will be divided into groups where they will visit and rotate between eight different stations throughout the day. They will be led by Vantage FFA Officers to their programs for the day. Sessions run for a total of 25 minutes. Students will spend the day learning about forestry, wildlife, water quality, farm safety, agriculture, geology, pollinators, and livestock.
Speakers for each station are experts in their fields and the presentations will feature hands-on activities for the students. Providing the forestry session will be Curtis Young, Ag & Natural Resources Educator with OSU Extension of Van Wert County. Amanda Podach, Education Specialist with Fulton Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD), will provided the wildlife session taking students on a journey about native Ohio wildlife.
The water quality session will have Nicki Kale, Education Coordinator with Wood SWCD, who will teach students about the 4R Nutrient Principles (Right Source, Right Rate, Right Place, Right Time) by conducting an activity known as “Lake in a Bag”. In this activity, students will see just how quickly their “lake” becomes polluted by the many contaminants that enter our waterways through our daily activities.
The farm safety program will be conducted by Steve Doster and Randy Baughman from Kenn-Feld Group who will show students some very important tips when it comes to being safe around farm equipment as well as farm chemicals. Kenn-Feld Group will provide equipment for this demonstration. Sarah Noggle, Ag & Natural Resources Educator with OSU Extension Paulding County will provide programming for the agriculture session providing insight to students on locally grown products and how we rely on agriculture. The geology lesson will be provided by Robin Kraner of Stoneco who will take students on a journey through the wonders of Ohio’s amazing geology and some operations that take place at a stone quarry. Students will also have the chance to break their own geodes!
The pollinator session is being conducted by Jamie Walters, a local beekeeper, who will emphasize the importance of pollinators to students as well as explain the process of producing honey and the many other products that come from bees. Lastly, Athena Brown from Cooper Farms will provide students with programming on livestock production and products produced from or by livestock.
Students will be served lunch at the fairgrounds, which was made possible through sponsorships and donations to this countywide event. Each student will receive a 5th Grade Field Day commemorative t-shirt listing the sponsors of this event and their very own 5th Grade Field Day knapsack! The Paulding Soil and Water Conservation is very excited for this event as it will truly be a fun and educational day for the 5th Grade students in Paulding County.
The Paulding SWCD would like to recognize the following for sponsoring this very educational event for the students: Baughman Tile Company, Paulding County Area Foundation, Cooper Farms, Williamson Insurance Agency, and Paulding Putnam Electric Operation Roundup!
Additional recognition goes to the Paulding County Ag Society for use of the livestock barns for the event, Flat Rock Dairy of Paulding for donation of milk for lunch, Ag Credit for donating water and napkins for the day, along with the Paulding County Commissioners for their continued support of conservation in Paulding County. We would also like to acknowledge the volunteers who have stepped forward to make this day a success such as the Paulding SWCD Board of Supervisors and their Spouses and the Vantage FFA Chapter for being our group leaders. Fifth Grade Field day would not be the success that it is without this support!
Spreading and promoting the conservation message is a top priority of the Paulding SWCD. If you or your group would like programming provided such as this field day, feel free to let us know at 419-399-4771!
