Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm
Educational Activities
Oxon Hill Farm offers an opportunity for the urban student to gain an environmental awareness of the city/rural relationship as well as an understanding of life on an early 20th-century farm. We also hope to impress upon the students the importance of farming to their daily lives.
The success of the farm field trip is dependent upon class preparation before the visit and follow-up afterwards. The presentation of farm activities reinforces important concepts. The material presented in this web page is a farm resource educator's guide in generalized form and should be modified to meet your students' needs.
Information for Teachers Dear Teacher:
The staff at Oxon Cove Park - Oxon Hill Farm welcomes you and your class. This Teacher's section of our web site is designed to help you acquaint your class with the farm prior to your visit so that you and your group can make the most out of your trip to Oxon Hill Farm.
The web site offers suggestions for pre and post visit activities for the classroom. The Oxon Cove Park staff believes that preparation is vital for a rewarding, educational, and safe farm visit. We also feel it is extremely important that students review the farm experience in the classroom, integrating it into the learning environment. The teacher should be able to give on-site lessons and farm tours; the Park Rangers are available to guide tours only to the extent that farm activities allow.
Oxon Cove Park offers a special opportunity to stimulate environmental awareness in addition to the exploration of farm life. Take advantage of all aspects of the park: the nature trail and bottom lands, the pond environment, and the farm site. In addition to specific information about Oxon Hill Farm, this web site includes a section that covers the many questions young children ask about farm life in general, especially about the animals.
Before you bring your group to Oxon Cove Park, please make reservations. On arrival, contact the Park Ranger at the Visitor Barn for information on age appropriate activities scheduled for the day and activity locations. A monthly calendar of activities is available upon request; please call 301-839-1177.
Oxon Cove Park - Oxon Hill Farm is open year-round from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except Thanksgiving, December 25 and January 1. The telephone number at Oxon Cove Park is 301-839-1176.
Oxon Cove Park - Oxon Hill Farm is administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.
Pre-Visit Activities (Educator-led)
Activities and topics for discussion:
1. Introduce farm vocabulary and discuss the definitions. See glossary.
2. Have a classroom bulletin board display about farms showing farm animals, equipment, and buildings.
3. Have a tasty experience in the classroom. Children know that milk comes from cows, but do they know where ice cream comes from? Name and draw other foods that we get from dairy cows.
4. Read farm stories to the children.
5. Display photographs or drawings of farm equipment, animals, and building and have students describe their contribution to our lives.
6. Discuss safety precautions and things to bring along on the trip.
Do the students have other concerns?
Farm Visit Activities
1. During the visit have students make a log book with writings and drawings of their farm trip.
2. Using a chart with the various farm animals, buildings, and equipment, have a scavenger hunt with the students checking off each object found, either as a group project or individually.
3. Have the children draw farm alphabet books of the things seen while visiting the farm.
4. Help the farmer with farm chores, if appropriate.
Post-Visit Suggestions (Educator-led)
Activities
1. Teacher or student reads and shares the students' log books and drawings with the class. Discuss the trip and review key concepts.
2. With the students' help, compile a list of farm and forest products and foods. Where can these products be purchased? Display the list with pictures on the bulletin board.
3. Do a lesson/activity on the life of the farmer in the early 1900s: What was life like back then? What kinds of tools did they use? What did they do for entertainment? (See bibliography)
4. Write "Dear Farmer" letters to the farm about their trip or to ask questions.
Projects and experiments
1. Hatch eggs in an incubator. Discuss the sequence of events.
2. Research one aspect of the farm woodlot environment. Have the students present oral reports to the class followed by a discussion of the findings.
3. Create a collage, mural, or photographic bulletin board about the farm trip.
4. Construct a chart showing some forest community food webs.
5. Construct a chart showing the travel of milk from farm to family.
6. Construct a chart showing animal names in a family.
For more information about Oxon Hill Farm, select from these links: