Walnut students learn by caring for chickens
At Walnut Elementary School, students are not just learning about animals from a textbook, they are helping to raise them. What started as a small classroom project to hatch chicks has grown into a schoolwide effort to bring agriculture and hands-on science to campus. Soon, chickens hatched by fourth and fifth graders last year will return to live at the school in a new coop, giving every student the chance to care for them, gather eggs and discover where their food comes from.
For Bobbi Ross-Neier, teacher at Walnut Elementary School, it started as a small science project with her fourth and fifth grade students. “We started hatching them to learn about eggs and fertilization and how they develop while they’re inside the egg,” Ross-Neier said. “The kids sometimes have been able to sit and watch them actually pip and zip and come out of the egg.”
Currently the project is funded by the school, but there are plans to make it more self-sustaining. Staff members hope to eventually sell eggs to help pay for the chickens’ care. “It’s not just about animals, it’s about teaching responsibility and helping students who don’t have pets at home connect with another living thing,” Ross-Neier said.
In addition to raising chickens, Walnut Elementary School is also working on updating its curriculum. The goal is not only to teach science, but to connect it with real-world skills and environmental awareness. “We’re in the process of adding some components to our curriculum and to our school that revolve around agriculture,” Ross-Neier said.
Maegann Prado, PTA president of Walnut Elementary School, helped to first bring chickens into the classroom when her son was in fourth grade, three years ago. “I offered for [Ross-Neier] to borrow an incubator and incubate eggs that my dad would then take,” Prado said.
In previous years, the chickens were either given to Prado’s father’s farm or families who offered to take them. “We just found families that wanted more chickens, and so they adopted them,” Prado said.
This year, instead of being adopted out like previous chickens, the current ones will return to the school, becoming a permanent part of a growing agriculture program. “They’re going to be going back to the school when everything is set up and ready for them,” Prado said.
With the support of Principal Tammy Farhit, this program has turned into a schoolwide experience. “I’ve been coordinating with community organizations, our PTA, securing funding, working with the staff, with our agriculture committee to ensure that we have all of the necessary supplies and schedules in place,” Farhit said.
The school has been receiving external support from local groups to keep the program going. “This is an idea that we brought to the table last year and this year, with the generous support of community organizations like Calleguas Municipal Water District, we are able to move forward with our plan this year by installing our chicken coop and surrounding gardens on our campus,” Farhit said.
Farhit hopes the program will encourage hands-on learning and help Walnut Elementary School students take their education outside. “Our plan is to transition to an agriculture, garden, biodiversity, sustainability school in which our students really get outdoors and bring their science and social studies learning outdoors,” Farhit said.
The agriculture expansion doesn’t stop at chickens, either. Walnut was recently selected to receive two school gardens, funded by the Calleguas Water District in partnership with Ventura County Farm to School. These new gardens will give students the chance to grow food while learning where it comes from, something most children rarely experience in suburban communities.
As the chickens settle into their new home, Walnut Elementary School students will be the ones helping them adjust, and discovering a new kind of classroom experience in the process. “It’s just fun,” Ross-Neier said. “We get them and they’re all cute and fluffy, and then we watch them grow.”
