The wait is over! Your host farm and adopted calf are ready to meet you.

Enter your unique Cow Code in the Discover Dairy app or on the Adopt A Cow Calf Updates Portal to unlock your calf’s newborn information, photos, host farm resources, and more. Then, use the activities and classroom resources below to introduce your new calf, explore the farm, and kick off an exciting year of learning.

1. Meet Your Calf and Host Farm

Meet Your Calf – Open the Calf Birth tab to find:

• A newborn calf infographic featuring your calf’s first photo and birth information
• Additional photos of your calf
• A printable “Thanks for Adopting Me” card to share with your students

Meet Your Host Farm – Open the Host Farm tab to find:

• A Meet the Farm infographic
• A Meet the Farmer infographic
• The Farm Visitor Policy – PLEASE REVIEW
• Farm contact information and directions for connecting with the farm and calf
• The Host Farm Activity Sheet

2. Introduce Your Host Farm

Put Your Farm on the Map: Use the Host Farm Activity Sheet to help students learn where their adopted calf lives.

Activity Directions:

1. Find their host farm’s state worksheet on the app or in the download.
2. Locate the farm’s general area on a map.
3. Draw or place a pin near the farm’s location.
4. Compare the farm’s location with your school or community.
5. Discuss similarities and differences between the two areas.

3. Send a Message to Your Host Farm

Send Mail to Your Farmer: Use the Contact Your Farmer tool to send questions, classroom updates, student letters, photos, and messages to your host farm throughout the year..

Examples of things you may share:

1. Welcome letters to your calf
2. Questions about life on the dairy farm
3. Photos of classroom displays
4. Thank you cards
5. Student artwork

Important to Know

Our host farmers volunteer their time to participate in the Adopt A Cow program. While we encourage you to send messages, farmers spend their days caring for animals, growing crops, and managing their farms.

Every message is appreciated and enjoyed, but farmers may not always have time to respond.

4. Track Your Calf’s Growth

How Tall Will Your Calf Grow? Download, print, and hang the Adopt A Cow Growth Chart in your classroom. Follow the lesson directions carefully to display the chart at the correct height.

Before recording your calf’s first measurement, invite your group to:

• Predict how tall they think the calf was at birth.
• Measure their own heights and compare them with their predictions.
• Predict how tall the calf will be at the end of the school year.
• Record the calf’s height as new updates arrive.
• Compare the calf’s growth with their own height or classroom objects.
• Create a graph showing how the calf changes throughout the year.

5. Send the Excitement Home

Invite Families to Follow the Fun: Let families know that your class, library, cafeteria, or organization has adopted a calf through Discover Dairy. Choose the letter that best fits your group, personalize it, and send it home with participants.

Family Letter Options:

• Download the English Classroom Family Letter
• Download the Spanish Classroom Family Letter
• Download the Cafeteria Family Letter
• Download the Blank Editable Letter

Encourage students to tell their families:

• Their calf’s name and breed
• Where their host farm is located
• Something interesting they learned about the calf
• How their family can follow the calf’s journey throughout the year

6. Launch the Program With a Game

Test Your Calf Knowledge: Kick off your Adopt A Cow experience with a fun class challenge. Use this Kahoot game to introduce students to calf care and animal health while building excitement for the program year.

Suggested introduction:

“Before we meet our calf, let’s see how much we already know about calves and how dairy farmers care for them!”

You could play the game once on launch day and again later in the year to see how much students have learned.

7. Find Ideas for Your Classroom

Make the Program Your Own: There are so many ways to bring your adopted calf into your classroom, library, cafeteria, afterschool program, or learning space.

Explore examples and ideas from other educators, including:

• Calf-themed classroom displays
• Growth chart activities
• Writing and journaling activities
• Reveal parties

Ideas From Other Teachers

• “I revealed the gender to my students by coloring the milk pink that I purchased and allowing them to try it.” – Christy Womack, Third Grade
• “We had a cow magnet we used to move along the measurements of the growth chart to show how tall our cow was getting.” – Christie Nix, Middle School
• “Students researched dairy farms and created their own dairy farm. Students used area and perimeter to make ‘blueprints’ of their farms.” – Heather Dymond, Third Grade
• “Our scholars created Thinking Maps with the information we learned about Alex. We also worked on Canva to create a research project.” – Karell Garcia

8. Share the Moos

Help Your School and Community Join the Fun: Your adopted calf is something worth celebrating! Use the Share the Moos media kit to introduce the program through your school newsletter, website, social media channels, morning announcements, or local media.

The kit can help you share:

• Your calf announcement
• Program updates
• Classroom activities
• Photos of your displays and projects
• The story of how students are connecting with dairy farming

9. Share Your Journey With Us

We Want to See What You Create: How did your students meet their calf? Did you create a bulletin board, hold a calf reveal, complete the Host Farm Activity Sheet, or start tracking your calf’s growth?

Share your classroom photos, activities, displays, and ideas with the Discover Dairy team:

• Email photos and stories to info@discoverdairy.com
• Share your experience on the Discover Dairy Inspiration Station Facebook page
• Use the Share the Moos resources to celebrate with your community

Your ideas may inspire another teacher participating in Adopt A Cow!

10. Across-the Curriculum Connections

Adopt A Cow Works For All Subjects: It is so easy to tie your adopted calf experience into any subject.

Check out this list of activity ideas for each subject:

• Math
  • Graph the calf’s height and weight.
  • Calculate how much the calf has grown between updates.
  • Compare student measurements with calf measurements.
  • Use scale to map the distance between the school and host farm.
  • Create dairy farm blueprints using area and perimeter.
• Science
  • Identify what a newborn calf needs to grow.
  • Explore animal health, nutrition, housing, and behavior.
  • Compare the life cycle of a dairy cow with another animal.
  • Study inherited traits, including coat color and markings.
  • Discuss how farmers use observation and data to care for animals.
• English Language Arts
  • Write letters or questions to the farmer.
  • Create a calf diary from the calf’s point of view.
  • Write a news article announcing the adoption.
  • Develop a biography of the farmer or farm family.
  • Use new dairy vocabulary in stories and informational writing.
• Social Studies and Geography
  • Locate the host farm on a state and national map.
  • Research the host farm’s region.
  • Compare rural, suburban, and urban communities.
  • Explore how milk travels from a dairy farm to the community.
  • Research agriculture and common crops in the host farm’s state.
• Art and Media
  • Draw calf portraits from the provided photos.
  • Design a classroom Adopt A Cow logo.
  • Create a bulletin board or hallway display.
  • Produce a video announcement or mock newscast.
  • Create trading cards about the calf, farmer, dairy breeds, and farm careers.