All links below are to printable portable document format (PDF) pages.

Welcome to Agricultural Education Day at the fair!

If you are interested in joining us please read over our letter to educators and AgEd schedule of events that went to local schools in our region for the details and  events of the day.

To register please print and fill out our school registration form and send it to our office via email, regular mail or fax (802-889-3236).

Please utilize our resources & book list [see below] to have classroom discussions before or after the Fair with your students and if you would like them to have a fun activity while attending the fair please use our scavenger hunt cards. These can also be used for great conversation starters on the bus ride to the Fair!

We hope you will join us for an educational day in the country and enjoy a cold carton of milk from Booth Brothers to go with your lunch.

Integrate Tunbridge fair into your classroom

Ideas and Web Links:

• Use a map of the fair to demonstrate coordinates and map reading skills.
• Make advertising posters for the fair.
• Email for old ribbons to use in artwork (while supplies last.) to pick up on Ag Ed day.
• Have each student bring in a vegetable. Graph results. Compare the numbers on your graph.
• Make a class book. Assign students to research the blacksmith, the schoolhouse, the post office, sawmill, transportation, fashion, cooking, candle making etc. while visiting Antique Hill. Further research can be done at school.
• Imagine yourself living and working in colonial times. Write or draw about what you would wear, and jobs you’d have to do.
• Focus on the chicken and rabbit show: what breeds are on display. Find out about rare breeds of chickens.
• Build a Ferris wheel that actually turns on a straw or a pencil., using light cardboard
• Play “I’m Going to the Fair” by sitting in a circle with one child going first by saying “I’m going to the fair and I want to see a cow.” Second child says, “I’m going to the fair and I want to see a cow and a horse.” The third child says, “I’m going to the fair and I want to see a cow, a horse and a merry-go-round.” Continue around until every child has a turn. More complicated?:name breeds of livestock.
• Make a fair ABC.
• Write an essay or draw a picture about your favorite part of the fair.
• Make a class mural on what you did at the fair.
• Research the history of the fair. Focus on effects of weather since this is a event depending on good weather.
• Create a study of Vermont farms and agriculture.
• Study Vermont geography as it relates to farming.
• Explore distance, rate, and time problems involving different vehicles to get to the fair (a tractor, a horse & buggy, a Model T, a helicopter, a pair of shoes with a person walking or running in them, a bicycle).
• Practice interviewing skills (key people at the fair).
• Study the different ways animals are shown in the rings, and some basic judging criteria.
• Refer to the bibliography for a few books to read about the fair/farm theme.
• Research, make, and eat a colonial meal.
• Play colonial games (ex. jacks, ninepins, checkers, chess, tag, red rover, etc.)
• Make quilt squares (paper or cloth) for a quilt.
• Hold a spelling bee with fair theme; or create crossword puzzle.

Resources:

• Educational kits in maple sugaring, beef and vegetable gardening, more links, mini grants, connections with farmers: Vermont Agricultural in Classroom Partners, 116 State St, Drawer 20, Montpelier VT.
• Educational kits in Dairy and the Learning Barns: Cabot Creamery; indicate age group, Elementary or Middle
• Billings Farm and Museum
• Morgan Horses, www.morganhorse.com or www.uvm.edu/morgan
• Harness racing US Trotting Assoc.: www.ustrotting.com

Bibliography for younger grades

Yesteryear
Azarian, Mary. Farmeris Alphabet.
Barreda, Louise. Echoes from the Past.
Cooley, Oscar. When Grandpa Was A Boy.
Gunby, Lise. Early Farm Life.
Hastings, Scott E. & Geraldine S. Ames. The Vermont Farm Year in 1890.
Sloane, Eric. American Barns and Covered Bridges.
Sloane, Eric. Diary of an Early American Boy,
Zeigler, Phillip C. Storehouses of Time: Historic Barns of the Northeast.
And Everyone Would Sashay: the Remembrances of the Ed Larkin Contra Dancers

Maple
Chall, Marsha Wilson. Sugarbush Spring.
Crook, Connie. Maple Moon.
Haas, Jessie. Sugaring.
Perrin, Noel. Amateur Sugar Maker.
Provenson, Alice. Year at Maple Hill Farm.
Lasky, Kathryn. Sugaring Time.
London, Jonathan. Sugaring Off Party.
Linton, Mary, Maple Syrup Book.
Metcalf, Rosamund. The Sugar Maple.

Dairy and Oxen
Aliki. Milk From Cow to Carton.
Cronin, Doreen. Click Clack Moo Cows That Type.
Dubanevich, Arlene, Calico Cows.
Gibbons, Gail. The Milk Makers.
Giblin, James Cross. Milk, The Fight for Purity.
Hall, Donald. Milkman is Boy.
Hall, Donald. Ox-Cart Man.
Krasilovsky, Phyllis. Cow Who Fell in the Canal.
Leaf, Munro, Story of Ferdinand.
Lindbergh, Reeve. There is a Cow in the Road.
Most, Bernard. Cow That Went Oink.
Older, Jules. Cow.
Paterson, Katherine. Smallest Cow in the World.
Rassmus, Jens. Farmer Enno and His Cow.
Rush, Ken. What about Emma?
Soutter Perrot, Andrienne. Cow.

Poultry
Andreae, Giles, Cock-a-Doodle-Do
Bang, Molly. Goose.
Barton, Byron. Buzz Buzz Buzz.
Bassett, Jeni. Chick is Trick.
Brett, Jan, Hedgie’s Surprise.
Chicken and the Egg.
Conrad, Pam. Rooster is Gift.
Dunn, Judy. The Little Duck.
Duvoisin, Roger. Petunia.
Ernst, Lisa Campbell. Zinnia and Dot.
Hazen, Barbara Shook. Turkey in the Straw.
Hutchins, Pat. Rosieis Walk.
Jensen, Patricia, Be Patient Little Chick.
Polacco, Patricia. Just Plain Fancy.
Potter, Beatrix, Jemima Puddleduck
Reiser, Lynn. Surprise Family.
Selsam, Elizabeth E. Egg to Chick.
Simont, Marc. Goose Who Almost Got Cooked.
Stevens, Janet. Cook-a-doodle-doo!
Stoeke, Janet. (any Minerva Louise books)
Sykes, Julie. Dorais Egg.
Tafuri, Nancy. Silly Little Goose!
Waddell, Martin. Farmer Duck.
Wormell, Mary. Hilda Henis Scary Night.
Zemach, Margot. Little Red Hen.

Fair
Alter, Judy. Meet Me at the Fair: Country, State, and World’s Fairs and Expositions.
Bial, Raymond. County Fair.
Calhoun, Mary, Blue Ribbon Henry
Cooper, Elisha. Country Fair.
Davidson, Michelle. Raggedy Ann at the Country Fair.
Easton, Patricia Harrison. A Week at the Fair: A Country Celebration..
Tudor, Tasha. Corgiville Fair.

Horses/Donkeys
Haas, Jessie. (any books about Beware)
Haas, Jessie. Hurry.
Haas, Jessie. Mowing.
Haas, Jessie. Uncle Daney’s Way.
Lange, Willem. John and Tom.
Petty, Kate. Horse Heroes.

Pigs
Dunn, Judy. The Little Pig.
Ehrlich, Amy. Parents in the Pigpen, Pigs in the Tub.
Gibbons, Gail. Pigs.
Lobel, Arnold. A Treeful of Pigs.
McPhail, David. Pigs Aplenty Pigs Galore
Numeroff, Laura. If You Give a Pig a Pancake.
Palatini, Margie. Piggie Pie.
Peck, Robert Newton. A Day No Pigs Would Die.
Peet, Bill. Chester the Worldly Pig.
White, E.B., Charlotte’s Web.
Wood, Don. Piggies.

Bees
Cole, Joanna. Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive.
Hogan, Paula. Honeybee.
Johnson, Sylvia A. A Beekeeperis Year.
Lecht, Jane. Honeybees.
Micucci, Charles. The Life & Times of the Honeybee.
Gibbons, Gail, Honey Makers.
Polacco, Patricia. Bee Tree.

Vegetables and Fruits/Apples
Aliki. Corn is Maize.
Azarian, Mary. Gardener’s Alphabet.
Bunting, Eve. Sunflower House.
dePaola, Tomie, Popcorn Book.
Ehlert, Lois. Growing Vegetable Soup.
Ehlert, Lois. Eating the Alphabet.
Farmer, Nancy, Runnery Granary
Gage, Wilson. Squash Pie.
Hall, Zoe. Itis Pumpkin Time.
Harrison, David L. Wake Up Sun!
Hart, Avery, Kids Garden!
Houghton, Eric. Crooked Apple Tree.
Lerner, Harriet. Whatis So Terrible about Swallowing an Apple Seed.
Lovejoy, Sharon, Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots.
Letis Go to the Farm. (Video & book.)
Lindbergh, Reeve. Johnny Appleseed
Micucci, Charles. The Life & Times of the Apple.
Nightingale, Sandy. Cider Apples
Priceman, Marjorie. How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.
Stewart, Dianne. Gift of the Sun.
Wallace, Nancy. Apples Apples Apples.
Watson, Clyde. Applebet an ABC.
Watson, Clyde. Tom Fox and the Apple Pie.
Zagwyn, Deborah. Apple Batter.

Crafts and Cooking
Blood, Charles. Goat in the Rug.
Wilkes, Angela, Children’s Step by Step Cookbook.

Farm Life/Barn/Animals
Clymer, Eleanor. Horatio Goes to the Country.
Cook, Brenda. All About Farm Animals.
de Paola, Tomie. Charlie Needs a Cloak.
Fisher, Dorothy Canfield, Understood Betsy
Fleming, Denise. Barnyard Banter.
Galdone, Paul. Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee.
Galdone, Paul. The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
Geisert, Bonnie & Arthur. Haystack.
Graff, Nancy Price. The Strength of the Hills, a Portrait of a Family Farm.
Hall, Donald. The Farm Summer.
Herriot, James. (any of his books)
Hunter, Anne. Possumis Harvest Moon.
Jaspersohn, William. A Day in the Life of a Veterinarian.
Jaspersohn, William. Two Brothers.
Johnston, Tony. Yonder.
Kalman, Bobbie. In the Barn.
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. Farm of Her Own.
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. As Long As There Are Mountains.
Lambert, Beth, Farm Wife’s Journal.
Lewin, Ted. Fair.
Lewis, Kim. Floss.
Lewis, Kim. Emma’s Lamb.
Lewis, Kim. Friends.
Lewis, Kim. Just Like Floss.
MacLachlan, Patricia. All the Places to Love.
McGuire, Leslie. This Farm is a Mess.
McPhail, David. Farm Boy’s Year.
Moller, Carol. The History of Tunbridge World’s Fair.
Miller, Peter, Vermont Farm Women
Euclid Farnham, History of the Tunbridge Fair
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Farm Animals.
Ray, Mary Lynn. Arva and Arvilla.
San Souci, Daniel. Country Road.
Sweet, Melissa. Fiddle-i-fee.
Tafuri, Nancy. Early Morning in the Barn.
Thomsen, Ruth. Understanding Farm Animals.
Watson, Clyde. Father Fox’s Feast of Songs.
Westcott, Nadine Bernard. Skip to My Lou.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. (any of her books)
Windsor, Merrill. Baby Farm Animals.
Yolen, Jane. Raising Yoder’s Barn.