Virtual Field Trips

Food and agriculture experiences come to life for students during farm visits, and now an opportunity to give a look behind the barn doors is more accessible than ever with a virtual field trip.

With field trip and transportation funding becoming more scarce every school year, you can still give your students an interactive look at farms and food-related industries. Live virtual field trips are engaging because students will have the chance to ask the farmers questions in real time. Experiences will be developed for grades Pre-K through 12, and each individual field trip description will include the grade levels appropriate for an experience.

Classroom Requirements

• Device connected to the internet
• Webcam, microphone, and speakers
• Access to Zoom
  • Work with your school's IT staff to ensure these sites are not blocked

Before your Virtual Field Trip

Inquiry Box

Prior to your virtual field trip you will be shipped an Inquiry Box to help trigger the curiosity of students. The Inquiry Box will hold four to six items that may include a tool used on the farm, products that are essential to animal or plant health, a farm or food by-product, samples, and more. None of the items will come with a description, and all of the items will be discussed, viewed, or demonstrated during the virtual field trip.

Strategies to Consider with your Inquiry Box:

• Schedule an unboxing to build anticipation
• Students select an item, create a hypothesis of its use or function, research, and present findings to the class
• Place the items around the room and students move in stations to examine each item and hypothesize it's function
• Write a question about one or more item to ask the farmer
• During the field trip, students can check off which items they see, sharing locations or context of each item during your debrief

Upcoming Virtual Field Trips

Exciting new virtual field trip opportunities are in the works! Check back here for updates and more information.

Indian Ladder Farm

One of the major harvest times comes with the onset of fall with its cooler weather and shorter days. At the historic Indian Ladder Farm, the orchards are busy with workers and customers harvesting apples at their U-pick operation, families enjoying the agrotourism attractions, and the whirl of presses which press the apples into cider for fresh cider or to be used in Indian Ladder Farm’s famous apple cider donuts. In this excursion, classrooms will learn about the storied history of the farm, follow the apple lifecycle, and experience how farms diversify and create value added- products.

TThere will be no inquiry box for this virtual field trip.

Working Dogs on Silver Spoon Dairy Farm

On many farms, dogs play an important role as companions as well as working partners with the farmer. To Sonja Galley, owner and operator of Silver Spoon Dairy Farm, her dogs are essential to her everyday farming operations. In this 40-minute virtual field trip, participants will learn how Sonja trains and teaches others how to train working dogs, the importance of working dogs on the farm, how one can get involved with working dogs, and experience the unique talents of the working dogs that call her diversified farm home.

The first 100 classrooms to register will receive an inquiry box. Inquiry boxes are only available to NY classrooms.

Virtual Field Trips Playlist

Explore New York Agriculture in the Classroom's past Virtual Field Trips on our YouTube page.