A is For Animals is the dream of founder Sara Munday. Sara has been a teacher for 14 years and an animal lover all her life. When she moved to Bumble Bee Farm in the Sierra foothills she began her international collection of farm animals.

Being a teacher, Sara was naturally interested in the histories of the various species she was acquiring and she soon realized that her collection included animals from all of the continents (except Antarctica - sorry, no penguins). She longed to share her animals and the valuable lessons they could teach with everyone. In 2006 she began taking them to Denver Dan's Apple Patch in Apple Hill on Saturdays. Seeing the public's thirst for knowledge about them, she began thinking of how to get them into schools. Toward the end of 2008 she decided to incorporate as a non-profit organization so that the public could help support the enterprise and all schools and students could benefit rather than just the schools with money.

A is For Animals was incorporated on January 29, 2009 and received tax exempt status from the state of California in July. Federal exemption is pending. At this juncture, A is For Animals operates solely on private contributions. All contributions go directly to the operation of the program so that we can fulfill our mission of helping teachers teach and students learn.

The lessons the animals teach are many. Academically, students learn about geography and world cultures. They also learn about global agriculture and the many resources provided by animals. In addition to social studies, students can learn about the science concepts of adaptation and selective breeding and, get a wonderfully interesting experience to use in developing writing skills. But perhaps the best lesson of all, and one the children come up with on their own is this: If all these species from all over the planet can live together in one small barnyard, then shouldn't people be able to do the same?