Now to a learning opportunity that goes beyond the nursery rhyme.

Old MacDonald had a farm.

Kids as young as five years old are getting hands on experience and agriculture in a central Kentucky school district.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to Hardin County, where state leaders officially kicked off all in for AG Week.

The different components the children love coming to AG class.

Creekside Elementary School in Sonora created an agriculture classroom with Covid relief funds.

And it's another level of learning.

It's another level of analysis.

It's among the first elementary schools in the state to develop ag curriculum.

Starting in kindergarten, it's taking what we're doing in classrooms already and making it relevant, and they can build on what they've already learned and and apply what we've learned in kindergarten to, you know, growing things outside and fifth grade.

The students grow a vegetable garden, grow crops like corn and soybeans, even mystery crops.

They plan it, but they don't know what they're planting.

So then we watch it grow all season.

They get to try to guess what what they think the crop is.

They've grown tobacco, cotton, popcorn.

They.

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture says the industry provides just shy of $50 billion to the state's economy.

Our crops in Kentucky are commodities that are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

It's big business, and we wanted our teachers to really understand that for professional development.

The teachers visited Kentucky farms to see how the industry has modernized.

Farmers are operating their machinery with iPads, and there are drones involved in, you know, planning for farms.

It's a whole different dimension that they get really excited about.

That excitement translating to the classroom.

Today, these students are learning and comparing the digestive systems of farm animals with a hands on activity.

They got to draw and they got to label.

Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Schell says.

Studies show when AG is integrated into curriculum, test scores go up.

It's about being able to retain and understand what they're learning.

For me, when I was going through school, it wasn't until I actually figured out how things correlated to reality for me, not just in a textbook tour that I really retained and understood the information.

It can also be used to supplement coursework in other subjects like science and math.

When we look at science standards, I can say, okay, let me teach this because this is so agriculture based and I can tie lots of things in with this.

When you're building a barn, you're using geometry.

When you're trying to figure out how much grains in a grain bin, you're using volume metrics.

When you're trying to figure out how many cattle in a field, you got to count one, two, three.

I know that's also incentive to get outdoors, which can lead to better physical and mental health, among other advantages.

People need the same things plants do water, sunshine, fresh air and love.

Kids get their hands dirty.

They're out in the sunshine.

They're working together.

They're solving problems, and they're doing it all through the lens of agriculture.

With no major grocery store within several miles.

Sonora is considered a food desert, and the produce they grow puts nutritious food on local families tables squash, beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, you name it.

We pretty much try it.

We put it out on the front porch and it's all done.

They all come and get it.

As the students grow vegetables, the classroom is also growing.

Future farmers, producers and problem solvers Commissioner shell using the current challenge of avian influenza or bird flu as an example.

What do we look at for ventilation?

So instead of us having to depopulate ten barns and in the same area, maybe the ventilation that we have, one of these kids, one baby creates a ventilation system toward that.

It encapsulates that barn alone, that where the infection is.

And that's all you have to depopulate instead of depopulating the rest of the net.

A chicken coop is the newest addition to Creekside.

I'm hoping the kids are going to love coming and, collecting eggs.

And I hope, you know, we can start serving them in the cafeteria.

It's all part of the goal to provide a meaningful, relevant educational experience.

It's an amazing outcome for kids because you don't always remember what people tell you, but you'll remember what you did for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you.

Laura.

Creekside has plans to build a barn and fence on a couple of acres for livestock.

The lieutenant governor, ad commissioner, and commissioner of education are traveling around Kentucky this week to see how schools are incorporating AG into classroom learning.