September Highlights form MN Ag in the Classroom

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom

Minnesota  Agriculture in the Classroom Newsletter

September 2016

Subscribe to the AgMag and AgMag Jr.!

AgMag and AgMag Jr. covers

If you would like the FREE AgMag and/or AgMag Jr. magazine series to arrive in your mailbox this school year, please subscribe by Wednesday, September 21st!  The subscription form can be found at http://minnesota.agclassroom.org/educator/agmag.cfm

The AgMag is designed for 4th-6th grade students and the AgMag Jr. is targeted to 1st grade students.  Issues of both magazine series contain agricultural content tied to social studies, science, math, and language arts academic standards.

 Also explore the interactive website http://mnagmag.org/ 


Teacher Feature

Kids Garden Club

Jackson County Central FFA 

Kids Garden Club Teachers

This month we are highlighting the teaching efforts of FFA members through their summer Kids Garden Club.  Many Jackson County Central (JCC) FFA members were involved.  Advisor Laura Bidne and FFA member Ally Ringeisen provided the details below.  MAITC's Ag Literacy Grants provided a portion of the funding to initiate this program.

How did agriculture and gardening impact the Kids Garden Club members?  How did the FFA leaders benefit? Our Kids Garden Club impacted the participants by teaching them the importance of agriculture and how agriculture impacts their daily lives.  Aside from the obvious of growing their own produce in the garden, one lesson example included teaching the students about the parts of the plants, giving them examples of various parts that we eat and then enjoying a salad comprised of all the parts.

The FFA leaders benefited by learning to interact with the younger students, designing fun and exciting plans each week, developing leadership skills and just enjoying the time spent with elementary students.

Boys in the Garden

>> Read More


Apply for MAITC Ag Literacy Grants

Ag lab from grant

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.


Outstanding Teacher Award

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.

Tom Frericks Teacher Award Winner
2016 MAITC Outstanding Teacher Award Winner Tom Frericks with MAITC staff Al Withers and Sue Knott

Fantastic Resource

September is National Honey Month so we are sharing some fantastic honey-themed resources.

The Honey Fiels

The Honey Files

This 20-minute video and 96-page teacher’s guide will have you and your students buzzing! Designed especially for educators of grades 4-6, these fun, new educational materials provide information, classroom activities and reproducible worksheets about bees, honey and pollination. http://www.honey.com/tools-tips-and-resources/the-honey-files-teachers-guide

Erin with Pollinate MN

Pollinate Minnesota

Pollinate Minnesota offers safe, immersive experiences working in a honey bee hive. In each school visit or field trip, students are put in a beekeeping suit, they’ll open up one of the Pollinate Minnesota hives and teach about what bees do, how they keep them, and what's going on with the bees . Meet the queen, see the brood, and if the hive is ready, taste honey straight from the bees. http://www.pollinatemn.org/classes/


Agriculture Trivia

Giant pumpkis

Congratulations to Sara Damon for being the first person to respond to our August trivia question.  Sara knew that China and Canada are Minnesota's biggest export customers. 

September Trivia - The first person to email the correct answer for the question below will win a winter hat from the Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education (MAGE).

How much did the Minnesota State Fair Giant Pumpkin Winner weigh?

Email you answer to Sue Knott to be eligible for the prize!