NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
YODER, Kan. — Yoder Charter School is hosting its second annual chicken barbecue meal May 6 for its agricultural programs.
"The charter school's mission is to really use project based learning," said Becky King with the charter school. "Something that's really unique about Yoder Charter School is that we've got combined grade levels. We've got teachers teaching multiple grade levels in a classroom and using projects allows them to teach a lot of different concepts through a wide range of levels. The chickens are one way to do that. That's mostly our middle school class project."
Join YCS for a delicious meal including chicken that was raised at Yoder Charter School by students this spring plus coleslaw, baked beans, a roll, and cookie. Meals will be available (by donation) beginning at 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. or until sold out.
"I asked the teacher the other day, I said, I can't tell if we've got enough feed space for the birds," King said. "When we put the feed in there, they kind of go nuts and they are climbing on top of each other. We've got some round feeders and we've got some long feeders. Go, figure out how many inches of space we've got for the birds to eat. They had to figure out their geometry and get out their calculators. The charter school is just a really great place for kids to be immersed in real life ways of using math that's in the classroom."
The meal is by donation. The work has been done by the Kindergarten through 8th grade students at the school. The goal is to continue to expand the ag programs at the school in future years and they have expanded even since last year. The projects depend on grade level.
"The little kids have a flock of 12 chickens," King said. "Every day, they are collecting eggs. That's the best job for our youngest kids, and taking care of those. We sell them in the office, when we've got them available. With 12 chickens, it's not a dozen every day. They also do the feed and water for our chickens. Our middle age kids, our 4th and 5th graders have taken care of pigs this year and now they are also caring for lambs. They do daily feed and water and just wellness checks on the animals, learning how to recognize when they are healthy and when they are not."
Enrollment at YCS goes first to students requesting space that live in USD 312, but after that, other area students can join, if they can provide transportation and there is room in their grade level. For more information, call principal Shannon Atherton at (620) 465-2605.
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