Kindergarten students in Fort Kent kicked off their two-week harvest break from school in the most northern Maine way possible — by picking potatoes and leaping for joy while racing one another across the rows at a local potato farm.
All four SAD 27 kindergarten classes — a total of 62 students — visited GB&D Pelletier Farms in Saint John on Friday, when each learner picked a five-pound bag of newly harvested red potatoes.
“We wanted the learners to have the opportunity to experience our northern Maine culture and heritage,” kindergarten teacher Lynne Cyr said of the field trip. “We were able to tie in so many kindergarten standards such as counting potatoes, measuring length and weight, graphing our favorite way of cooking mashed, baked or fried potatoes, English language arts experience and writing, and listening and speaking to all our friends and chaperones. Best of all was including physical education by running the rows.”
Kindergartner Shelbey Bourgoin, whose parents are Myra and Gary Bourgoin Jr. of Fort Kent, said this was her first ever time of visiting a potato farm and that she enjoyed it.
“I picked a lot. I’m gonna mash them and eat them. I like picking potatoes,” said Shelbey, who plans to become a teacher when she grows up.
To refresh after their hard work of picking potatoes and racing along the rows, the students took a snack break to drink water and eat fresh apples.
“Wonderful memories were made as it was a beautiful day to bring fun and learning outside of the classroom,” Cyr said.
Cyr also expressed her thanks to Anne Desjardins who invited the students to the farm. Cyr said the students were so happy to spend time learning at the farm that she hopes to make the field trip an annual event.
This story was originally published in the Fiddlehead Focus.