The STEP students enter the Lake Farmpark facility. Lake Farmpark is a working farm located in Kirtland, Ohio. The staff offers a variety of educational programs for all age levels.
STEP students dissect seeds to see the various parts: Cotyledon, Seed Coat, Radicle, Secondary Roots, Plumule, Endosperm, and True Leaves. They also learned the difference between monocots and dicots.
Milking a cow is not easy! Lake Metroparks staff told the STEP students that this cow will give between 15-25 gallons of milk a day!
In the Plant Center, the STEP students learn about the parts of a plant and the function of each of those parts. The plant center is designed to be a huge model of a tomato plant, with roots, stems and tomatoes.
On a perfect autumn day, Saturday, October 17, 2007, the STEP students met at 1201 Lakeside to begin another exciting year with STEP. The students ate a hearty breakfast, received their uniforms (great shirts and jackets chosen by the Division of Water staff), their notebooks, and a pencil bag full of supplies for the year. After a short instructional meeting, the students and staff boarded the bus for a nice ride to Kirtland, Ohio, to visit the Lake Metroparks facility, Lake Farmpark.
There, the students were split into two groups to explore the different areas of this working farm.
One area the students explored was the Plant Center. There they learned about the parts of a plant and dissected seeds and identified the parts in a seed. They learned the difference between monocot and dicot plants. They learned an example of a monocot is corn and an example of a dicot is a green bean plant. They learned the functions of the roots, stems, and leaves. They also learned about bees and their important role in germination.
Another area the students visited was cider making, where the students saw apples pressed into cider. Students also visited the Dairy where they learned how cheese is made. They also had the opportunity to learn about dairy cows and how they are milked. They even got a chance to try to milk a cow!
The students enjoyed a pizza linch right at Lake Farmpark. After all of the day’s activities were completed, the students and staff boarded the bus for the ride back to 1201 Lakeside.
