Agricultural Education

Chaperone Guides are used for the elementary school field trips during The Great Frederick Fair, Frederick County’s Largest Agricultural Classroom. Approximately 6,000 elementary school students attend the fair on field trips and use the chaperone guides to take them around, visiting the 5 zones of learning.
Area 1: The Milky Way; Sheep, Goats & Fiber Tent; The Birthing Center; Swine
Area 2: My Plate Garden; City Streets, Country Roads; Machinery Row
Area 3: Beef Cattle; Equine Expo Tent; Longhorns/British Breeds
Area 4: Farm & Garden; Poultry & Rabbits; 4-H & FFA, Home Arts & Crafts Building
Area 5: Lunch in the Grandstand

2018 Sponsor: Farm Credit

2018 Chaperone Guide

Spuddy Buddy is an educational tool to teach students the 5 senses. 

2018 Sponsor: Buffalo Wild Wings – MD

Game Board

“One Foot, Two Foot, Bare Foot, Shoe Foot” is a learning activity to promote reading and writing and math skills, building on the theme of the The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss.

The activity booklet directs students and their parents to different stations at the fair where they can measure footprints. Activity booklets include charting, patterns and writing activities and can be picked up at one of the guest relation centers at the fair.

2018 Sponsors: Fred. Co. Office of Economic Development & Woodsboro Bank

One Foot Two Foot Bare Foot Shoe Foot Book

The It’s Fair Game…Banking on Agriculture’s Future, is a sticker brochure that students, teachers and parents use as they visit different learning stations highlighted on the fairgrounds.

A map is used to find the stations and integrated academic standards are emphasized at each of the locations.

2018 Sponsors: Fred. Co. Office of Economic Development & Frederick County Bank

It’s Fair Game Cards
It’s Fair Game Board

This educational component launched at the 2012 fair, “Fair in a Box.” Put a Fair in a Box and what do you get? Science. Technology. Engineering. Mathematics. … STEM. Put a Fair in a Box learning kit in a school classroom and what do you get? Students THINKING like a scientist. Students WRITING like a scientist. Students TALKING like a scientist. Students READING like a scientist. Refer to The Great Frederick Fair as the Fair in a Box and what do you get? Fair-goers making real connections to their life, agriculture and science.

For K-second grade students in Frederick County Public Schools, that’s exactly what they got pre-Great Frederick Fair, during their fair field trips, and post fair … 80 classrooms outfitted with Fair in a Box kits filled with artifacts and materials focusing on the fair’s 44-acre scientific “mini labs.” {Boxes are only distributed to classes that attend the GFF field trip} A creative way to introduce young students into science, the fair’s field trips are designed to teach different grade levels different science techniques. This self-guided tour also engages the non-agricultural going public into this exercise by utilizing the Fair in a Box Guide.

No matter what age, or what grade level, fair-goers were encouraged to Think like a Scientist … look at the fair as a science lab. They were encouraged to seek their scientific information through reading, observation, exploration and investigation when visiting the various mini labs. For the pre-fair classroom tours, each Fair in a Box kit contained items including but not limited to feed corn, straw, toy farm machinery, pre-packaged coffee creamers, hay, sweet feed, livestock ear tags and, horse hair.

2018 Sponsors: South Mountain Creamery

Ag… It’s What’s for Lunch! is the newest agriculture education program, replacing the Let’s Grow A Pizza lesson, a third grade curriculum. Learning box kits are placed in third grade classrooms, complete with fun and engaging learning tools of matching food groups/ingredients with specific recipe cards for two to four players each.

Game Instructions
Food Icons
Recipe Cards
LunchBox label

An interactive fairgrounds map that will take you on a virtual agriculture education tour!
(Created by Frederick County Public Schools)

VIRTUAL AG ED TOUR

The fair’s livestock Birthing Center, is an extension of the City Streets, Country Roads Agriculture Awareness Exhibit, located off Machinery Row it is an educational endeavor where the public can witness up close farm animals giving birth and caring for their young. Dr. Cindy Burnsteel of the Western Maryland Veterinary Medical Association helps the Birthing Center run smoothly. She and members of the veterinary association will be on hand throughout the week, volunteering to assist the animals through the birthing process and to answer questions from the public.

If you’ve never experienced the giving of birth first hand, the Birthing Center is a “must see” educational and experiential exhibit at the annual county fair. Each day a calf will be born, right in front of huge anticipating audiences. It’s the miracle of life at its best. For many, it’s the first time they’ve ever seen anything being born. On the farm, it’s a way of life. Fair-goers will also get to see a mother pig (sow) give birth, and a mother sheep (ewe) deliver their young. Bleachers will be provided for public viewing convenience.

2018 Sponsors: Kenley T. Hubble, LLC

This expanded innovative exhibit showcases Frederick County’s Diary Industry. When you visit the Milky Way you will see and experience:

• Representation of the six major dairy breeds and information about them
• Hands on activities
• Dairy recipes
• Exhibits about dairy products
• And much more…

Do you have a COW in your refrigerator?

Visit the milky way to see if you have a cow in your refrigerator.

Visit this state-of-the-art milking facility for a glimpse of the twice-a-day milking ritual with dairy experts on hand to explain what is going on. The facility built in 2001 provides our Dairy Exhibitors a clean sanitized place to milk their cows during fair week. Monies from the milk are used to maintain the milking facility and to support the Frederick County 4-H Dairy program by providing for additional learning experiences and scholarships for the dairy youth in Frederick County.

Did you know Maryland dairy cows produced an average of 7 gallons of milk or 100 glasses each day? To produce this much milk, a cow consumes 35 gallons of water, 20 pounds of grain and concentrated feeds and 35 pounds of hay and silage in one day. The first cow arrived in the U.S. in 1611. Now, there are over 10 million dairy cows in the U.S.

Each person in Maryland drank an average of 23 gallons of milk last year. Maryland can boast that the first commercial ice cream plant in the world was established in Baltimore by Jacob Fussell in 1841. Today, one of the largest milk processing plants east of the Mississippi River is located in Laurel.

2018 Sponsors: Beachy Companies

The national-award-winning, City Streets, Country Roads exhibit is the place to be if you want to learn more about agriculture during The Great Frederick Fair. The 80 x 60 foot exhibit area will be packed full of live animal exhibits and educational displays for the full run of the fair.

This is an exhibit the public always looks forward to, with educational displays that include more animal exhibits, hands on activities, and workshops for the whole family. Each year, some 40,000 fair-goers visit City Streets, Country Roads!

Farm animals of all kinds will be at the exhibit for fair-goers to take a peek at, from a miniature donkey to baby chicks. Almost daily, the public will be able to see eggs hatch into baby chicks. This is one of the most popular displays at the exhibit that children especially enjoy.

There are plenty of fun activities during fair week for children of all ages to enjoy!

• Sunday, Sept. 15, is the stick horse workshop for ages 1-10 starting at 1 p.m.
• The kids’ tractor pedal pull is at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, along Machinery Row. Registration begins at noon.
• It’s Kids Day on Friday, Sept. 20, and fair-goers can also take in some non-traditional 4-H demonstrations. Friday is also the fair’s ag careers fair, giving students an opportunity to learn about the vast career paths agriculture. There will be representatives on hand to answer questions and to guide visitors through the event.

The Sukup Agri-Theater provides Fair goers the opportunity to learn about the grain industry from inside a life sized grain bin.

2018 Sponsors Include:
BB&T Frederick Underwriters; Dairy Maid Dairy; Delaplaine Foundation; Doody’s Mechanical Services; Farmers Co-op Association; Farm Credit; LSWG CPA; Offut, Horman, Burdette & May; Washington Gas

Formerly known as “It’s Fiber Optics!”
Located outside Barn 27
This expanded innovative exhibit showcases wool fibers and how they are utilized in our lives everyday.
Have you ever thought about where your clothes come from?…sheep, goats, rabbits, alpaca, llama, camel, corn, soy, wood pulp, dog, cotton, etc.

Come experience animal and plant fibers at all stages of production and learn what nature and your clothes have in common. Maybe you will find a sheep in your closet! Lots of free hands on activities are offered in this exhibit.

2018 Sponsors: BB&T Frederick Underwriters

Created in 2013 as a partnership between Seed of Life Nurseries & United Way of Frederick County
MY Plate Garden, and Agriculture … It’s What’s for Lunch! lunch box program, provided educational engagement through visual aids, e-books and lesson plans unlike any other program at our fair. MY Plate Garden served as a demonstration garden for the community, teaching about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s balanced diet, promoting a healthier lifestyle and educating the importance of agriculture in our lives.

The garden models the USDA’s MY Plate daily nutritional recommendation diagram, divided into five sections: fruits, grains, vegetables, proteins and dairy. Walkways separating the food groups allowed fairgoers to view the garden. Educational signage identified the plants, and hosts were on-hand to interact with fairgoing public. A hand painted mural facing the garden was done through volunteer services of local artists, complimented the showcase area.

Specifically targeting local low income areas of Lucas Village, Waverly and Hillcrest, the garden which was started from scratch this past June served as an educational tool, teaching youngsters how to start, plant and grow their own garden in areas where healthy food isn’t readily available, and some of which are declared by the CDC as Food Deserts. The MY Plate Garden gave neighborhood youngsters a chance to participate in hands-on planting and maintenance experiences, while learning when, what and how to plant a successful garden. Products from the garden were either sold through various local Farmers Markets, or were donated to the City of Frederick’s Soup Kitchen

Click on the button below to use the My Plate Garden SuperTracker to help plan, analyze, and track your diet and physical activity.

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