Hands-On Learning, Life Skills, and Inclusion Through a Student-Run School Farm
What if the most effective special education classroom didn’t rely on worksheets, screens, or standardized tests—but on chickens, gardens, and real responsibility?
At P177Q, the Robin Sue Ward School for Exceptional Children in Queens, New York, educator Alanna O’Donnell has helped build a student-run urban farm that is redefining what learning looks like for students with significant disabilities. Through gardening, animal care, and entrepreneurship, students are developing life skills, emotional resilience, communication, and confidence—lessons that extend far beyond school walls.
Agri-Tourist Podcast Episode 81 captures how urban agriculture, animal-assisted learning, and experiential education can transform special education when students are trusted with real work and real purpose.
From Service to Special Education: The Roots of a Different Way of Teaching
O’Donnell’s path to education was shaped early by service and community. Raised in Queens by a school nurse and a New York City firefighter, she grew up seeing what it meant to show up for others—visiting children’s hospitals, supporting families in the South Bronx, and witnessing firsthand how community care fills gaps that systems often leave behind.
By age 17, she was already working as a paraprofessional through BOCES while attending college. Her career continued through Head Start programs in Brooklyn, where she spent over a decade supporting children and families navigating poverty, instability, and limited access to resources.
Those years instilled a belief that would later define her teaching philosophy:
learning has to be meaningful, relational, and rooted in real life.
Teaching Students Who Learn Differently—By Teaching Differently
At P177Q, a District 75 school serving students with moderate to severe disabilities, including nonverbal students with autism, traditional educational approaches often fall short. Many students struggle with abstract concepts, sitting for long periods, or engaging with learning that feels disconnected from their lived experience.
O’Donnell noticed something else, though: when students were given movement, routine, responsibility, and tangible outcomes, engagement soared.
That insight sparked a shift away from purely academic instruction and toward experiential learning—starting with the outdoors.
From a School Garden to Raising Chickens in Queens
Before the chickens, there was a garden.
At a previous school, O’Donnell helped create a small garden and saw how students who struggled inside the classroom flourished outside. When she later faced a particularly challenging group of students—many dealing with aggression, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation—she returned to what had worked: hands-on, outdoor learning.
Through New York Ag in the Classroom, she discovered a small grant opportunity—$1,500—to raise chickens at school.
Despite having no farming background, she applied. With support from an administrator willing to take a risk, the grant was approved, and day-old chicks soon arrived at P177Q.
What followed exceeded every expectation.
Why Chickens Work in Special Education
Animals, particularly in therapeutic settings, are known to support emotional regulation and communication. Chickens offered a uniquely powerful learning tool:
- They require daily care and routine
- They respond immediately to calm or chaotic behavior
- They are gentle, approachable, and non-judgmental
- Their life cycle is visible and concrete
Students who were once hesitant to touch anything learned to carefully hold fragile chicks. Movements slowed. Voices softened. Responsibility became real.
Without labeling it as “therapy,” the chickens became co-teachers.
Life Skills Hidden in Farm Chores
As the chicks grew, so did the learning—often without students realizing they were being taught.
Emotional Regulation and Empathy
Handling animals required patience, calmness, and awareness. Students learned to recognize how their behavior affected another living being.
Math, Science, and Literacy
Students counted eggs, tracked growth, learned about animal biology, and followed visual schedules and step-by-step instructions.
Communication
Nonverbal students used communication devices and visuals to identify chickens, ask questions, and share information with peers and families.
Civic Engagement
Naming the chickens became a lesson in democracy—students registered to vote, cast ballots, waited for results, and learned that their voices mattered.
Practical Skills
Students built a chicken coop using real tools, learning basic engineering, safety, and teamwork along the way.
This wasn’t simulated learning. It was real work with real consequences.
Navigating Loss, Failure, and Resilience
The farm also introduced difficult but important life lessons.
When a chicken died, it became an opportunity to discuss grief in a thoughtful, developmentally appropriate way. Families were consulted. Beliefs were respected. Students were given space to process emotions honestly.
Just as important, students saw adults struggle, problem-solve, and sometimes fail—then try again.
Failure wasn’t hidden. It was modeled.
And in doing so, students learned resilience.
Inclusion on a Statewide Stage
One of the most powerful moments from the podcast conversation came when O’Donnell described bringing her students to a statewide agricultural competition in Ithaca.
They were the first special education students ever invited.
Although they placed last among finalists, the experience was transformative:
- Students presented on stage using assistive communication devices
- Their presentation took the form of a creative, 1970s-style infomercial
- Peers and judges engaged with them authentically and respectfully
- Parents watched their children exceed expectations they had been told were impossible
Backstage, students exchanged high-fives with competitors—simple moments of inclusion that carried enormous meaning.
Winning wasn’t the point. Being seen and included was.
A Student-Run School Farm and Micro-Enterprise
Today, the farm at P177Q operates as a self-sustaining, student-run enterprise.
- Eggs are sold to the school and community under a student-designed brand
- Produce and baked goods are sold at farmers markets
- Students handle pricing, money exchange, customer interaction, and marketing
- Revenue supports feed, supplies, and program growth—without school funding
Every step is scaffolded with visuals and student input, making the work accessible while building workplace-ready skills.
Changing Perceptions Through Visibility
By inviting the community onto the student-run school farm and into the process, the program has helped shift perceptions about students with disabilities.
Instead of being seen through the lens of limitation, students are recognized for their capability, responsibility, and contribution.
They are no longer hidden.
They are leading.
Why This Model Matters
This story isn’t just about chickens or gardening.
It’s about what happens when education:
- Values life skills as much as academics
- Trusts students with real responsibility
- Embraces inclusion over accommodation
- Recognizes farming and food systems as powerful teaching tools
For students with disabilities, experiential, farm-based learning offers dignity, purpose, and preparation for life beyond school.
A Call to Educators, Schools, and Communities
Programs like this require trust, collaboration, space, and support—but the impact is undeniable.
If we want students to thrive, we must be willing to rethink what learning looks like.
Sometimes, the most meaningful classroom doesn’t have four walls.
Sometimes, it has feathers, soil, and a dozen eggs waiting to be collected.
Click here to listen to the full Agri-Tourist Podcast episode #81 with Alanna O’Donnell and the Chicks in the City.
