Sandia Elementary Welcomes Twelve New Additions to Agriculture Program

Two Adelanto Men Arrested for Shooting in Busy Mall Parking Lot

Trona Mother Arrested for Murder After Death of Toddler and Critical Injury of Infant

APPLE VALLEY – Sandia Academy agriculture program students were ecstatic about the new addition of 12 chicks to their program last week. The chicks were received from Van Wagoner’s Dutch Farms in Joshua Tree and will be beneficial to the education the students are receiving.

The Sandia Academy agriculture program introduces students, as young as kindergarteners to gardening and raising and showing poultry. “The two-part program is taught by Kindergarten teacher Shaun Rickerl and sixth grade teacher Kristy Croft, and is geared toward students in each grade level,” school officials said. “Students in the “Ag” Program tend to the school garden twice a week, and spend classroom time learning about the breeds, care, diseases and terminology that applies to poultry, particularly chickens.”

When the 12 chicks arrived, school officials were pleased to see that the education is paying off with the students, even the Kindergarteners, identifying each of the specific breeds by name. For now, the tiny chicks are housed under a heat lamp in Rickerl’s class, but eventually, when they grow they will move to their chicken coop.

In May, several of the students will be showing the chickens at the San Bernardino County Fair.