VILLA MARIA Pa. (WKBN) – Field trips bring to life what students read and study in textbooks. A class of seventh and eighth graders from the Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley are in the middle of a three-day field trip.

Their learning is at the Villa Maria Farm.

The students are doing volunteer work to help out, picking rocks out of a field before planting and weeding in a greenhouse. They’re also learning the basics of how a certified organic farm operates.

“They’re planting, fertilizing, weeding, doing pretty much anything that they can as volunteer service. And in the meantime, they’re learning hands-on activities that are really helpful for helping them understand how to live sustainably off the Earth,” said Maralee Lellio, a teacher at the Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley.

The students helped harvest 500 pounds of organic potatoes during a trip to the same farm in the fall. They returned in the spring to learn more about multiple growth stages in plants.