Wednesday, Sept. 18, marked the fifth-annual third-grade field day for all the third-graders in Clarke County.
Five classes from Clarke Community Elementary School and one class from Murray Community School District arrived on buses 10 a.m. at Clarke County Fairgrounds.
They unloaded into the show arena to organize and get ready for an educational Ag-learning day.
Seven learning stations were set up for classes to circulate to approximately every 20 minutes.
The stations included presenters from Agriland FS on growing corn and soybeans; Valley of the Moon Turkey Hatchery on turkeys; Farmers Coop on animal nutrition; Clarke County Conservation/Osceola FFA on soil erosion; Jack VanLaar from Decatur County Extension on using a GPS; Murray FFA on farm equipment safety and Jennifer Pollard with Clarke County Extension/Clarke County Cattlemen on animal safety and uses of animal by products.
Every station had visual, audio and hands-on learning opportunities.
Several volunteers from Clarke County Farm Bureau Board helped set up by unloading green, small square hay bales donated by Brian Eddy. They set them in a semi-circle at each station for the students to sit on.
After visiting the seven stations, the students, teachers, chaperones, presenters and bus drivers were treated to hamburgers grilled by the Jeff Pollard and Joe Miller with the Clarke County Cattlemen, carrots, apples from Osceola Hy-Vee and cookies from Subway. Board volunteers served the food.
Randy and Tammy Barnard did a lot of the planning and organizing. Warren Keeler, Bart Griffith, Kelly Curnes, John Carson, Harold Fuller, Tim Prunty and Leola Boyce did volunteer work in setting up, serving and cleaning up.
Walmart gave a monetary donation. Clarke County Fair Board allowed the students to use the facilities. The third-grade teachers were Sue Body, Fran Christian, Gina Sickels, Rebecca Evans, Jennifer Swartz and Connie Flaherty.