Farm Safety Learnin' (Through Puppets)

My roommate and friend, Kathryn, came to help us process our chickens a couple weeks after school was out. She is an agricultural education major, so we felt she needed the experience. ;) She was a real trooper and did a wonderful job, though I think she probably learned more poultry anatomy than she cared to know. Future students of Ms. Coon will be set! 

Before Kathryn hit the road again, she needed to put in some hours for her job. As the Missouri Farm Safety 4 Just Kids representative this year, Kathryn gives presentations to promote safety on the farm to children. How handy is it that she can give these presentations in areas where she has friends? We get to see her, she gets a free place to stay and area children can hear important safety tips! She secured a presentation time for our fair, and then headed home.

A couple weeks later, I got a message from her saying another of her Trenton contacts had called her back and wanted a presentation. It was for the summer school kids at our elementary school, Rissler. And, she asked if I wanted to help!

Kathryn made the Trenton news!

The morning of the presentation, I woke up bright and early (though not as early as she had to!) and met Kathryn at the school. I led Kathryn to the office to figure out where she was supposed to be and discovered she'd be presenting to the younger kids down in the gym. 

It was an odd feeling walking into my old elementary school. Yes, I've been back there to help present Food for America to the fourth graders with FFA and for functions when Elizabeth was there. But this was different! I was walking into a piece of my past with one of my best friends from college, a piece of my present life and a sort of bridge to my future.

After talking to the secretary, the mother of one of my high school classmates, we ran into the lady in charge- my 6th, 10th and 12th grade English teacher. (Again with the odd new-college-life-meets-old-Trenton-life feeling). Then we started setting up the puppet show. 

The puppets, farm animals and a scarecrow, told the children animal safety tips through rhymes. Tips included the importance of staying outside of fences, not disturbing wild animals, and being careful around mother animals. It was a cute skit if I say so myself (I should have recorded it! Next time, next time), but I did play the role of a few of the animals so I might be slightly biased. The kids loved it though, and that's what was important. After the show, Kathryn got to answer questions (and hear all about the kids' experiences with animals at home!).