DELTA COUNTY -- Eight schools in Delta County spent the whole day Thursday learning away from the classroom.  They toured environmental, natural resources, agricultural, and industrial sites.  It's an annual tour put on by MSU Extension and multiple community agencies.

“So it takes a lot of planning,” explains Dave Radloff, Extension Educator at MSU Extension, “and it's a committed group of people that work together to make this tour happen."

And while it takes a lot of work to visit the fourteen Delta County sites, it actually costs less than $200 to put on.  That's because the schools provide their own bussing.  And kids said the tour was definitely better than sitting at a desk.

“I like it because you get to not sit in a classroom,” said participant Mitchell Flath.  “You don’t have to do homework all day.  You get to explore what you're going to learn about."

For the students, it was truly meaningful education.  They had plenty of questions for the presenters.

And what did they learn at Hyde-a-Way Stables?

“We learned how the dentist comes here,” said participant, Ezekiel Strand.  “He has to grind down the horse's teeth so they don't get stuck when they're chewing."

But the day was also a way for teachers to connect with educational sources.

“It gives us opportunities,” said Escanaba Middle School teacher, Shayne Dix.  “Now we have community members who we can bring into the classroom and talk more about the things that they touched on here.  Our stops are brief, so there may be more things that kids want to know."

And one of the more popular natural resources stops involved fishing.  Local tournament anglers made a stop at the DNR Pocket Park in Escanaba to volunteer their time and tell kids about a few invasive species to the area, like the sea lamprey and zebra mussels.

All the kids who participated were fifth graders, and some of them are homeschooled.