This story is part of a series of “meet & greets” with individuals who use our Adopt a Cow program to inspire you with the endless ways you can incorporate the program in the classroom and beyond!

Alex Layshock teaches elementary and middle school students in a primarily urban area of Arizona. We sat down with her for a quick Q&A about how the Adopt A Cow program is opening her students up to potential career opportunities in agriculture.

How long have you participated in Adopt A Cow? What made you decide to sign up for it?

“This was my first full year participating in Adopt A Cow. I loved the local connection and being able to touch on an important agricultural industry for Arizona.”

What are the demographics of your students?

“Our school is in an urban area with about 265 students. Our student population is 80% Hispanic with 30% of our students being English language learners. Our student population is also 19% special education with two self-contained programs that uniquely service medically fragile and developmentally delayed students.”

How have you connected your adopted calf to your classroom?

“My students have loved feeling connected to our cow knowing she is from a local farm. They really look forward to the monthly updates, and she comes up in conversation or lessons organically all the time. An exciting moment was when we found out that our cow was going to be showing at our county fair. The students were so excited at the possibility of seeing her in person.”

Why do you think it’s important for students to learn where their food comes from?

“It’s important for students to learn about agriculture, because it’s a potential career path that is crucial. There are so many opportunities in ag, especially in Arizona. Through my class, I really want the kids to understand the time, effort, and resources that go into getting our food onto our plates. I have seen amazing growth in their open-mindedness and respect for animals and food through teaching about agriculture.”

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The Adopt a Cow Program is now open for enrollment through January 31 for the 2026-27 school year! Click here to learn more and adopt a cow for your classroom today. Sign up by September 1 to receive a mailed welcome packet. The program, which impacted more than 2.1 million students last school year, is free thanks to support from Discover Dairy partners and donors.

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Management West, Dairy West, New England Dairy, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, and Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council.

This story is part of a series of “meet & greets” with individuals who use our Adopt a Cow program to inspire you with the endless ways you can incorporate the program in the classroom and beyond!

Angela Grills has been teaching for 34 years, and if there’s one thing she is passionate about, it’s helping her first-grade students gain an appreciation for the community around them. With dairy farms just a few minutes down the road from their elementary school in Indiana, Discover Dairy’s free Adopt A Cow program has helped her share some of the real-world impacts that agriculture has on their area.

“We have a huge agricultural community and lots of farmers in our area. Even though our kids are driving by some of the farms, they don’t necessarily have much connection to them,” Angela shared. “This was actually our first year participating in Adopt A Cow. We have been partnering with Ag in the Classroom through Farm Bureau for the last several years as well as our Purdue Extension here in our local community. Adopt A Cow was such a nice fit. We were looking to continue with that agricultural topic and incorporate it into our curriculum.”

After “adopting” a calf for her classroom, they received photo and video updates throughout the year along with other classroom enrichment activities. Not only did Angela build on her monthly ag in the classroom lessons, but the program helped her team make STEM connections and work toward a STEM certification for their school.

“We [incorporated the program] all the way across our curriculum. We’re trying to become STEM certified at our school. From reading and writing to science and math, anything we could make it fit into, we were trying to pull that out each month. The program is fantastic. It’s hitting all of our boxes for STEM,” she added.

Using several activities the program provided, such as a growth chart to compare the cow’s size to students’ heights, Angela found creative connections to make with her class.

• Math connections: “We had an entire wall devoted to the cow. When we got our updates with our cow’s weight and height, we would take turns taking our class out to the cow wall. We would mark the measurements on the wall so they could see how much taller their cow had gotten. We would also talk about the weight. We brought in gallon jugs to show how much milk they produced each time.”
• Reading and writing:  “We would read books about different cows and dairy cows in in particular. We wrote facts about them. We used it for our writing, and we even wrote letters to our cow.”
• Ag in the classroom connections: “Our Ag in the Classroom coordinator was fantastic because when she would read books about corn, for example, we would connect it to what the cows eat. The Adopt A Cow program just blended in so nicely.”

While these curriculum connections are important, Angela says the program also sparked her students to appreciate where they live – and the farmers that support their community.

“Agriculture is a large part of our community. We have a lot of kids who are in poverty, so they don’t always get to travel and go places even though there are farms just a few minutes down the road,” Angela said. “I’ve been born and raised in this community. I’ve taught for 34 years, and I went to this elementary school when I was a little kid. I just want them to have a good understanding of what our community is all about because it is a large agricultural area.”

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The Adopt a Cow Program is now open for enrollment through January 31 for the 2026-27 school year! Click here to learn more and adopt a cow for your classroom today. Sign up by September 1 to receive a mailed welcome packet. The program, which impacted more than 2.1 million students last school year, is free thanks to support from Discover Dairy partners and donors.

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Management West, Dairy West, New England Dairy, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, and Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council.

This story is part of a series of “meet & greets” with individuals who use our Adopt a Cow program to inspire you with the endless ways you can incorporate the program in the classroom and beyond!

Callie Bissonnette grew up in an area that was rich in agriculture. With her deep respect and appreciation for farmers, she decided to participate in Discover Dairy’s free Adopt A Cow program. As a second-grade teacher in suburban Washington, she hoped the program would expose her students to farming and food production.

“The school I work in has a high poverty rate, and students have limited experiences outside of their neighborhoods. I decided to sign up for Adopt A Cow because I wanted my kids in the city to better understand where their food comes from,” Callie shared.

Over the past four years, Callie has ‘adopted’ a calf for her classroom and watched it grow all year long. Using resources and lessons that the program provides, she has found creative ways to weave the calf information into her lessons and curriculum, including science and language arts. Several parents have also become curious after hearing their child’s excitement about the adopted calf, giving her an easy outlet for connecting parents to her students’ learning experiences.

“I love how flexible the program is. You can make it fit your schedule and style. I use it as an enrichment and as part of my science [unit]. My kids love the calf updates and the virtual farm tour. I also had a few families download and use the Discover Dairy app,” Callie added.

In addition to her science unit, the Adopt A Cow program has helped her students gain skills with journaling and writing.  

“I have a ‘cow caretaker’ each week. A student is assigned as the ‘cow caretaker’ and they get to have our stuffed cow at their desk. They are tasked with journaling things they do [with the stuffed cow] that week,” she explained. “At the end of the week, I check the journal and if they have made an entry, they get a cow pencil and a cow charm necklace.”  

Ultimately, the Adopt A Cow program has exposed Callie’s students to broader concepts such as the role agriculture has in their community and possible career opportunities in the future.

“I want my students to understand the care that goes into ensuring they have fresh and healthy foods. I want them to see that hard work produces tangible benefits for their community. I also want them to be exposed to a variety of ideas of what they can do with their future,” she said.

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The Adopt a Cow Program is now open for enrollment through January 31 for the 2026-27 school year! Click here to learn more and adopt a cow for your classroom today. Sign up by September 1 to receive a mailed welcome packet. The program, which impacted more than 2.1 million students last school year, is free thanks to support from Discover Dairy partners and donors.

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Management West, Dairy West, New England Dairy, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, and Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council.