 Participants in the 2016 Farm to School : From Seed to Plate Teacher Tour get an up-close look at bees and honey
The Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom Program
(MAITC) offered two unique summer tours that allowed over 70 educators
to get a first-hand look into the world of agriculture. We sincerely thank the teachers for dedicating time to learn about agriculture and how it can be integrated into their curricula. We also want to extend a big thank you to the tour hosts and speakers:
Tour #1 - Minnesota Agriculture: Offering Something for Everyone July 25-26, 2016
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Tour #2 - Farm to School: From Seed to Plate August 8-9, 2016
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 Ms. Keri Sidle
NEW Education Specialist with Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom!
What
influenced your decision to join the Minnesota Agriculture in the
Classroom team?
I’ve always thought my strengths
lie in helping students to become more agriculturally literate. I taught in
suburban/urban schools with very few traditional “farm kids”. Not growing up on
a farm myself, I have strived to reach a non-traditional group of students and
show them the world of agriculture. Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom will
allow me to do that on an even larger scale by supporting teachers state-wide.
I am excited to start this new role with Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom
and support teachers as they help to shape agriculturally literate students.
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 Where and
what did you teach before coming to Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom?
I graduated from the University of Florida with a
degree in Agricultural Education and Communication. My first teaching position
was at Oakleaf High School where I started a Plant Biotechnology Academy. The
goal of the academy was to have a team of teachers incorporating agriculture
content across curricula to give students real world application of
academic content. After 4 years at Oakleaf High School, my
husband’s job moved us to Minneapolis. The last two years I taught agriculture
classes for 5th grade through 8th grade students at Rockford Middle School.
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 If you would like the AgMag and/or AgMag Jr. magazine series to arrive in your mailbox this school year, please subscribe today!
The AgMag is designed for 4th-6th grade students with agricultural content tied to
social studies, science, math and language arts academic standards.
The AgMag Jr. is targeted to 1st grade students and connects to academic standards in social studies, science, math and language arts.
AgMag and AgMag Jr. are a FREE resources. Also explore the interactive website http://mnagmag.org/
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Both the MAITC Foundation and CHS Foundation Inc. are offering ag literacy grants. Explore these opporutntiies and act fast because application deadlines are soon approaching!
The MAITC Foundation is excited to offer ag literacy grants to Minnesota K-12 educators to encourage them to bring agriculture and food systems education "to life" by effectively integrating related content into their classroom or school. Applications are due November 5, 2016.
U.S. teachers in kindergarten through 12th grade who have projects that will use agricultural concepts to teach reading, writing, science, social studies and more are eligible for 15 $500 CHS Classroom Grants. The deadline for applications is September 15, 2016. The grants are being made available thanks to funding from the CHS Foundation, Inc.
If you are a K-12 teacher who uses innovative strategies for integrating agriculture into your curriculum, apply for the MAITC Outstanding Teacher Award! This award recognizes a teacher for his/her creative efforts to teach students about the importance of agriculture. The winning Minnesota teacher will receive $500 and have up to $1,500 of his/her related expenses paid to attend the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference June 20-23, 2017 in Kansas City. Applications are due November 1, 2016.
2016 MAITC Outstanding Teacher Award Winner Tom Frericks with MAITC staff Al Withers and Sue Knott
Harvesting: Crops and Careers
‘Harvesting: Crops and Careers’ is a new, free resource available through the National Agriculture in the Classroom organization and development partners US Custom Harvesters, New Holland and
ConjoStudios LLC. The seven lessons educate students in kindergarten
through 12th grade about the production and harvesting of wheat and
other grains in the US and the varied careers involved in it. http://www.agclassroom.org/teacher/themes.htm
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Congratulations to Jim Resch for being the
first person to respond with the correct
answer to our July trivia question. Jim knew that milk was adopted as Minnesota's official state drink by our state legislators in 1984. The other top ten responders were Tiffany Malecha, Dan and Carol Maser, Sara Britton, Wendy Kornder, Bridgett Winkels, Elizabeth Simmer, Doug Jones, Marilyn Vollbrecht, and Debbie Reuter.
August Trivia - The first person to email the correct answer for the question
below will win a reusable bag from our National AITC Conference.
Which country is Minnesota's top export customer?
Email you answer to Sue Knott to be eligible for the prize!
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