Elementary students get their education by farming

FLORENCE, Ky. - Fifth-grader Kennedi McIntosh made it sound so simple: "We planted the tomatoes and the peppers, and now we come back and we pick the tomatoes and the peppers."

But she and her fourth- and fifth-grade classmates from Florence Elementary are harvesting the fruit of an educator's dream, integrating the classroom with the real world, and basing it around something these kids can all relate to, food.

The crops they're picking will be processed into salsa and marketed.

The money will go to the school's Summer Bridge Program.

Aiden Smalley's favorite part?

"Being away from school and stuff, because they're probably learning something really boring."

The man working side by side with them has to smile at that.

Charlie Walton is their principal, and he knows they are absorbing a lot more than sunshine.

For instance, they figured how many plants would fit the rows of the acre plot of land they tilled.

And how the tomatoes would react to drought.

Not to mention geography, socials studies, and even P.E.

"They sweat and they bend and they stoop and they walk," Walton said.

But all this planting and picking in elementary school?

Jerry Brown, Boone County Agricultural Extension Agent thinks it's a good idea. "If we don't catch them at an early age, they end up thinking food comes from the grocery store."

Just don't tell Kayla Dobbs that she's getting a bucket full of education out here. She's under the impression it's like recess, "Because you get to be wild and crazy!"