Before your class visits the farm for their school program, please review the following notes, to ensure the best possible visit.
Confirmation Invoice and Packet
After we have confirmed the date and time of your program, we will send to you an invoice and program details based on the information you provided at registration. Please reach out to us if you do not receive your confirmation email.
Suggestions on How to Dress for the Field Trip: Dress like a Farmer
Our handout, How to Prepare for your Visit to the Farm, includes important information for students and chaperones on what to wear during their visit, as well as gives parents a preview of what their child will be doing.
Chaperone Guidelines
Prepared, engaged chaperones can greatly enhance a farm field trip. We provide a Chaperone Information handout for teachers to distribute and review with their chaperones so they can help make sure the children have a positive and enjoyable learning experience.
IMPORTANT! Directions to Pumpkinseed Hill
Please print out school tour driving directions to our Pumpkinseed Hill Farm, located at 120 Beardsley Road in Shelton. Please note, our Pumpkinseed Hill Farm is not at the same location as our Christmas Tree farm! This has confused many chaperones as well as bus drivers. Try to make sure everyone has the correct directions to ensure your program starts on time and runs the full length.
Online Resources
There are many interesting educational materials on the internet, including a video made by our own farmers!
- How a Pumpkin Grows on our Farm: https://youtu.be/qE7wFODM_aE
- Pumpkins and More, University of Illinois Extension, http://urbanext.illinois.edu/pumpkins/
- All About Pumpkins, http://allaboutpumpkins.com/varieties.html
- Winter Squash, University of Illinois Extension, http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/wsquash.cfm
- Native American History of Corn, www.nativetech.org/cornhusk/cornhusk.html
Suggested Reading
From pumpkin growth cycles to cultural uses of corn, these are some of our favorite fall harvest books:
- From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer - A great resource for younger students, this book follows a farmer and his pumpkin patch through all four seasons.
- Pick a Perfect Pumpkin by Robin Koontz - Take a trip to the pumpkin farm to learn how to harvest pumpkins and store them for the winter!
- Strega Nona’s Harvest by Tomie dePaola - Strega Nona and Big Anthony plant a beautiful vegetable garden, but then must decide how to store all of the food they have harvested!
- The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons - For older students, Gibbons’ books delve into pollination, plant parts, farm work, and cultural uses of food.
- Corn by Gail Gibbons
- Apples by Gail Gibbons
- Pumpkins by Jacqueline Farmer - Learn about the history of pumpkins, the story behind jack-o-lanterns, and other pumpkin facts in this picture book for older students.
- Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jean Titherington
- It’s Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall - Great picture books for our youngest visitors!