When you're heading into the last few days of school before summer vacation, it's sometimes hard to keep kids focused and on task.  

It's not as hard to do that if your classroom is the Glenbow Ranch Park just outside of Cochrane, so that's where the Grade 4 class from R.J. Hawkey School in Airdrie headed to be a part of a newly revamped program.

The Glenbow Ranch Park Foundation has reworked their Explore Grasslands Program and launched it last week in partnership with the Alberta Beef Producers.

The program allows elementary and high school students to visit the ranch to learn about grassland ecosystems, the role bison once played in grasslands management and the important role cattle play now in keeping grasslands healthy.

The class from R.J. Hawkey have been anticipating their visit to the park for the entire school year, according to teacher Jeff Park.

"Grade four curriculum looks at the physical land in Alberta, the different regions and then we also spend some time looking at the First Nations, the Inuit and the Metis that lived here and the European settlers that came here and how the First Nations helped the Europeans live and survive the long winters on the land."

Park said the students enjoyed many parts of the learning that went on at Glenbow. 

"The students loved seeing the pelts and learning about the different animals and seeing how the First Nations used the different animals and all their purposes.  They really liked that connection."

Two of the students, Timothy and Emma also enjoyed the time spent outdoors, while still being in a learning environment.  Timothy is a big fan of the grasslands program.  He said, "Well, there's a lot of walking and I liked kind of learning about the grasses and the cattle."

Emma said of the field trip, "It's pretty cool.  I like all the different plants."  About the idea of learning how cattle interact with the environment, Emma said, "It's fun to find out how they do it."

The kids also got the chance to meet and hear from longtime ranchers Ty and John Copithorne who spoke about ranching activities in the park.

Now, to find something else to keep the kids occupied for the final days of school!  

 

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