Third-grade students at Ames Elementary School recently reported about a class project and an adopted cow.

Todd Gierman, the principal at Ames, presented to the District 96 Board of Education during its meeting on Dec. 21. He said that third-grade teacher Alexa Redeker encouraged her students to adopt a cow. She asked Gierman for his approval of the plan.

"OK, I think we can make this work," Gierman said to Redeker.

Seven members of Redeker's class addressed the board and explained the project. Early in the process, the students voted on whether to adopt a male or female cow and chose a female. 

The Holstein cow was born on Sept. 5 and was named Ada by the class. She weighed 87 pounds and measured 30.5 inches at birth, students told the board. Ada came from Berning Acres in East Dubuque, Illinois – a local dairy farm that was started in 1973. The students track Ada's growth on a chart on the classroom's bulletin board.

Students were given a stuffed version of Ada because they could not keep the real cow in the classroom. They take turns caring for the stuffed cow at home on weekends, and each student writes in a journal about what they did with it. Students said they receive updates on Ada's growth and progress every one to two months.

Redeker told the board she heard about the idea from another school district.

"It's a program that's used all across America, and it's completely free," she said. "We got our stuffed cow; we got the ... journal and that kind of stuff ... I found out about it online somehow. And now, I've done it every year since I've been a teacher, and the kids love it ... They like getting the little updates. In April [or] May, we do a live ... Zoom with the farm, and the farmers take us through the farm and we get to see a live video of our calf, which is really cool."

The students receive photos of the cow from the farmers. Ada measured 39 inches as of Dec. 7.