Kindergarteners visited Case Farm Friday to learn about the animals and, more importantly, pick out pumpkins.

Crescent Harbor Elementary and Hillcrest Elementary schools take students to the field every October.

“They love to go,” said Veronica Martino, kindergarten teacher at Hillcrest. “They make predictions about what animals they’re going to see; they write stories.

“It’s actually some of their best writing.”

Opening their farm to groups of children is something Sheila and Mike Case-Smith have done for years.

Aside from how fun the visits are, it’s a good educational experience for the children, Sheila Case-Smith.

“A lot of kids have absolutely no idea where their food comes from,” Case-Smith said, “so it’s been part of our goal to make sure that they have an opportunity to see some of the animals that grow on the farm.”

Case-Smith said that the farm occasionally get visits from college students who toured the patch as children.

(Photo below: Lance Bauer, a kindergartner at Crescent Harbor Elementary, picks out his pumpkin at the Case Farm pumpkin patch Friday morning.)

One woman who brings her daycare charges to the patch had her first experience there when she was in third grade.

“It’s incredibly gratifying to have them come back,” Case-Smith said.

Each student — 63 from Crescent Harbor and about 80 from Hillcrest — gets to select a pumpkin to take home.

“This one’s for my sister, my baby sister,” said kindergartner David Ybarra. “I already carved mine, into a jack-o’-lantern … with a missing tooth, like mine.”

“My dad’s at work for a very long time,” Henry Peterson said. “He’ll come home on Christmas. So I picked this pumpkin for him.”

Peterson planned to carve a scary jack-o’-lantern out of his chosen pumpkin because his dad likes scary.

The teachers also selected pumpkins to take back to school.

“Next week, we’ll be looking at the inside of the pumpkin, getting to touch and feel,” said Annalisa Krystoph, a Crescent Harbor kindergarten teacher.

“And then after the field trip, we’re going to actually be writing about our pumpkin, about the experience and descriptions of their pumpkins.”

At Hillcrest, there will be a work station during their Fall Festival where students can learn about the insides of pumpkins.

“They will put their little, precious hands into the pumpkin and pick out some seeds to sprout them in the window,” Martino said.

“I suppose the best part is in the enthusiasm they have,” Case-Smith said. “There’s a lot of energy in those little souls, and it’s kind of fun to watch them.

“I suppose it’s the memories we make, the special times that they remember.”