Students at Bishop’s Peak Elementary School learned first hand about cows, milk and healthy lifestyles during the Dairy Council of California’s Mobile Dairy Classroom assembly on Wednesday.
The local elementary school hosted Mishael Tarbell, a Mobile Dairy Classroom instructor, along with Milky Way and Pepper Jack, two local dairy cows — one of which is from Cal Poly. Milky Way is a 4-year-old Jersey cow whereas Pepper Jack is a 2-week-old Jersey calf.
The Mobile Dairy Classroom website states that this outdoor assembly brings a cow to California elementary schools in order to teach about the dairy industry. Students at the assembly gain knowledge about the anatomy of a cow, what a dairy cow eats and drinks as well as how milk gets from the cow to the stores and into people’s homes.
“It’s very beneficial for the kids to become aware, especially in more urban populated areas, that the food that we are consuming comes from an actual animal,” Tarbell said.
The Mobile Dairy Classroom, and its six traveling units, journeys during the school year to different elementary schools throughout southern and central California.
During the assembly, the children are taught everything from nutritional benefits of milk to the fact that brown cows do not make chocolate milk.
Jaiden Kimball, a third grader at Bishop’s Peak Elementary, said he learned a few other things about cows.
“I learned how to milk a cow and also that cows have 32 teeth, just like us,” he said.
While Milky Way stood secured in a stall eating her hay, Tarbell quizzed the children on vocabulary and taught them about calcium and how it can help lead to stronger bones and teeth.
“The main purpose of this is to educate elementary students about the importance of a well balanced diet for overall health and to integrate dairy into that,” Tarbell said.
Tarbell also spoke about the importance of physical activity to the children during the assembly. She told the students to have fun at recess by running around and encouraged them to play tag to stay active.
Since 1919, the Dairy Council of California has been educating people in California about nutrition and physical activity. As stated on the Dairy Council website, their “vision is to ignite a renewed passion for consuming milk and dairy foods while their mission is to help consumers make appropriate food choices for optimal health.”
The development of the mobile dairy classroom in the 1930s helped to fulfill both the vision and mission. The assemblies target children at key developmental stages when eating and lifestyle habits are most likely to be re-evaluated, as stated on the website.
Most importantly, for the kids, it is a fun new experience, parent coordinator of assemblies for Bishop’s Peak Elementary Taffy Gonzalez said.
“That was probably the tenth time I’ve seen a cow up close,” Kimball said. “I definitely like learning about them.”
Kimball, along with the other children at the assembly, said she was ecstatic at the opportunity to pet the baby calf at the end of the presentation.
“The kids really like it and many don’t get to see cows everyday, and hopefully they get something out of it,” Tarbell said.
Gonzalez said opportunities like this are vital for children’s education.
“Being in a town with a hands on university that really stresses learn by doing, this is an occasion that really stresses that,” Gonzalez said. “They’re learning first hand that things don’t just come from a container.”