Our Learning Outside the Classroom (LOTC) program is designed to help our students make connections with what they are learning in the classroom to what is going on in the world around them. Our students prepare for each LOTC by reading relevant news articles, examining websites, and discussing what they’ve learned. Connections can be made after the experience, too, as is the case with an extremely relevant article and podcast about how different cultures determine what they will eat.
Jason Kreutner, founder and Head of School shares:
“As we were pulling out of Keegan-Filion Farm last Wednesday, I checked my phone and saw that The Atlantic (one of my favorite magazines) had just posted an article and podcast that linked right to the experience we had. Entitled “The Cultural Convictions That Land Some Animals on the Menu…and Keep Others Off of It,” it explained that there are likely 5,000 edible mammals and 10,000 edible birds, yet our consumption in most cultures is limited to a few. I conducted a survey in my classes, and the average student who eats meat has only tasted 4 different types of bird! Most students have listened to the first 10 minutes of the accompanying 45 minute podcast (“Why These Animals”) that is embedded in the article. I encourage you to listen to it! Students will have until Thursday, October 11 to do so.
This trip to Keegan-Filion Farm was part one of three in our LOTC farm-to-table exploration, and this is tied into the ‘Earth’ theme in Science (Air last year and Water next year) that will infuse several of our field trips this year. Later this school year we’ll visit Williamsburg Packing Company, the processor that Keegan-Filion works with exclusively. The plant is Certified Humane and Animal Welfare Approved. There are no machines there processing meat, it is all done by hand. Then we’ll explore a restaurant that uses meat sourced from Keegan-Filion.”
