Course Description

Summer on the Farm for students entering grades 1-6

Summer on the farm is designed to be a nature based learning experience where students will garden, work with animals and spend time in nature at Deep Roots Community Farm. Deep Roots community farm is a local organic farm that raises cows, ducks, pigs, goats, sheep, flowers, vegetables and fruit. Students will learn about animal care, ecology, and geology of the area. Experiential and art based learning will be a part of the daily activities.

Parents should drop off and pick up their students at the arena area. They will need to bring with them lunch and snack (morning session) snack (afternoon session), a water bottle, closed toe shoes for working with animals and for hiking, shoes and clothing or a suit that can get wet and muddy in the creek, a towel for sitting on during snack and art time and for the car ride home. We will run the course rain or shine so please also send a rain coat if weather looks like that might be in the fore cast. Bug spray and sun screen are recommended. Herbal based bug sprays are preferred due to chemical sensitivities.

Lila Planavsky is the lead teacher for Summer on the Farm. She has been teaching farm programing for 15 years at Deep Roots Community Farm. During the school year she is the Library Media Specialist at Longfellow Middle School. She is also the co-leader for Longfellow’s outdoor adventure club and is excited about creating outdoor nature based learning experiences for students. If you have any questions you can contact her by email: lplanavs@lacrossesd.org.

Ana Skemp is the co-teacher for Summer on the Farm. She is owner and operator of Deep Roots Community farm which she runs and manages with her husband and family. She has a Masters in Environmental Biology, and has been coleading Summer on the Farm with Lila for the last 15 years.

This course is offered in collaboration with the nonprofit Grow LaCrosse whose mission is to connect children to healthy food and nature.

Course Cap: Student may only enroll in one of the 4 offered Summer on the Farm courses. (25 students/per course number) If you register and can no longer attend please notify the Summer School Office at 608-789-8955 ASAP. This course historically carries a wait list and if plans change your spot can be used by another student wanting to be in this course.