Third grade students at Phenix Elementary School have been busy studying about the importance of soil. They know that many of the things we depend on every day, from food to medicine, clothes, shelter, oxygen and many other things come from plants.

Students have brought in soil and analyzed it. Julie Hamlett, Patricia Mays, and Sara Pittard from the Southside Soil and Water Conservation District visited classes and discussed with students the importance of soil and taking care of it.

The bedrock in this area of the state is granite. Hamlett, Mays, and Pittard had students perform a field test to feel and describe the different textures of sand, silt, and clay. Students even got to play a game to show how water molecules move differently through sand, silt, and clay and why loam (a mixture of the three) is the best type of soil for many crops.