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International Literacy Day
Maine State Museum
Augusta, ME
September 8, 2018
Summer Garden Success Tour
September 15-16, 2018
Wolfe's Neck Farm & other locations throughout Southern Maine
Maine Nutrition Council Educational Event
Boothby's Orchard & Farm Winery
Livermore, ME
September 20, 2018
Teacher of the Year Application Deadline
October 5, 2018
Northern Maine Children's Water Festival
University of Maine, Orono
October 9, 2018
Maine Agriculture in the Classroom Annual Meeting
October 24, 2018
Let's Go! 5210 School Symposiums
Bangor, ME
October 25, 2018
Portland, ME
October 26, 2018
Maine School Garden Network Annual Meeting
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
October 26, 2018
Maine Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, & Dance Conference
The Samoset Resort
Rockland, ME
November 4-6, 2018
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Teach ME about Food & Farms
*Contact us to plan a workshop date for your school for Fall 2018
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Special Programs
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ReTreeUS plants orchards in schools and provides educational programs that empower people to be healthy environmental stewards.
Fuel Up to Play 60 offers educators a wide array of resources they can use to help students make sustainable changes in their school environment.
Agroworld- agricultural science e-zine developed for the secondary educator.
Kids Gardening has ideas about plants and gardens, teacher resources, and grant opportunities.
The Chop Chop magazine and website has easy and healthy recipes.
Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom Ag Mags are 4-page, colorful agricultural magazines for kids.
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| Agriculture License Plate |
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Funding from this plate has impacted over 200,000 students in 2017 with lessons, materials, volunteers and teacher training. Annually up to $60K is distributed in grants to schools, FFA, 4-H and other Non-profit programs for Ag education initiatives by the Maine Agriculture in the Classroom Council.
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| Contact Us |
28 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333
207-287-5522
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August Newsletter
#83
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2018 |
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Annually Maine Agriculture in the Classroom recognizes an outstanding Maine elementary or secondary school teacher who uses agricultural education materials and/or activities in the classroom to teach core subjects. Apply by October 5, 2018.
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Summer
Success
Garden
Tour
Join us to embark on a tour through Southern Maine's most successful school gardens!
This engaging tour begins at 8:00am at Wolfe's Neck Center, Freeport on Saturday 9/15 and concludes at 12:30pm Sunday 9/16. Stops include schools in Durham, Windham, Westbrook, Portland, and Bath.
Registration includes travel between stops, meals, and lodging (if needed). Cost is $100 before 9/1 and $125 after 9/1.
More information on the tour agenda to come!
Scholarships are available upon request. First come, first serve. Email
Kelsey for scholarship information.
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Gearing up for School Garden Grown!
 The Maine School Garden Network invites you to promote your school garden and "show off" your
School Garden Grown
! We know how hard you work and we want to see the fruits (and veggies) of your labor. The program will be offered starting at Bangor Fair and many of the other Agricultural Fairs throughout Maine, including Fryeburg and Common Ground Fair later in the fall. We are working to create exhibit opportunities (including prize money to support your school garden program) and to promote educational gardens throughout Maine.
Want to "show off"? Here's how: 
1) Let MSGN know -
Email MSGN
to receive more info
2) Start planning - What fruits or veggies would you like to enter? Now is the time to sow the seeds for success! View fair dates and detailed entry information in fair books
online
.
3) Stay tuned - More information about participating fairs to come!
Got questions? Email
info@msgn.org
anytime
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Celebrate International Literacy Day on Saturday, September 8th at the Maine State Museum Atrium in Augusta.
Maine authors will be there for book signings, readings, and sales; there will be book vendors offering sales and hourly giveaways; family literacy activities; and Maine storytellers. Maine Ag in the Classroom will be there with our Ag for ME books!
This event is put on by Literacy Volunteers of Greater Augusta.
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John Deere That's Who Teacher Resource Grant
Who:
Kindergarten through fifth-grade educators working in schools, as well as home-schooling families, may apply for educator packs.
When: Applications close August 15th.
These grants were made possible by a generous sponsorship from John Deere. Thank you to John Deere for your generosity and your understanding for the need for ag education!
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CHS Foundation Classroom Grants Available!
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Lessons:
- Tomato Trivia. Grades K-2. Using tomatoes as a theme, the students will practice their math and science skills of estimating, measuring, counting, graphing and sequencing.
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Pizza Time! Grades 3-5.
This lesson uses pizza as a basis for learning about agriculture, geography, and mathematics.
- Wild Blueberries for ME. Grades PreK-5. Wild Blueberries for ME describes the history, growing and harvesting of this important Maine crop. After reading aloud, students will be involved in English Language Arts and Health Education activities.
- Wild Blueberry. Grade 5. Students will be able to identify where blueberries are grown in Maine and describe their growing season. They will be able to list the nutrients in blueberries and enter information into tables. Students will also learn about foods and how foods affect health.
- Wild Blueberry Poetry. Grades 3-8. The students will explore poetry and art using the wild blueberry as the object of their efforts. They will write and illustrate a poem using descriptive language and read their poems to the class.
- Advertising Wild Blueberries. Grades 3-8. Students will explore the role of advertising in influencing consumer choices. Students will then utilize methods employing language and visual arts to develop their own advertisements and/or commercials to promote the sale of Maine's wild blueberries.
- Producing Wild Blueberries. Grades 3-8. Students will explore the production of wild blueberries as it relates to their yearly life cycle, technology, and the food system. Students will then utilize methods employing language and visual arts to develop written and oral accounts of the production of Maine's wild blueberries.
- Animals and Wild Blueberries. Grades 3-8. Students will explore the interaction of several animals with the wild blueberry including, but not limited to, honey-bees, bumblebees, black bears and pest insects.
- Health and Nutrition - Wild Blueberry Style. Grades 3-8. The students will learn about nutrition labeling and the nutritional value and other health benefits of wild blueberries, and design their own nutritious, wild blueberry food product with a nutrition label.
- Wild Blueberry History and Geography. Grades 3-8. The students will explore the impact of wild blueberries on the history and culture of several human populations as well as map the geography. An example of civics in action will be addressed in the story of Megan Frank.
- Wild Blueberry Math. Grades 3-8. The students will examine, interpret and manipulate real-life data about the economics of wild blueberry production.
- Strawberry Breeding and Genetics. Grades 9-12. Students learn about DNA by extracting it from strawberries. Students also analyze the similarities and differences of their extraction process to those on Genetic Engineering: The Journey of a Gene. Students learn how genetic testing (including DNA extraction) is useful in breeding new varieties of strawberries.
- Conserving Bumble Bees. Grades 9-12. This lesson introduces the importance of bumble bees and other pollinators. Using a case study approach, students will examine bumble bee population surveys and use the scientific method to discuss possible causes for the decline of pollinators. Students will then determine which land management conservation strategies in agricultural ecosystems are most successful in attracting and supporting bumble bee populations.
Eating Fractions
A True Book: Tomatoes
I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato
Wild Blueberries for ME
The Bee Tree
Video:
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How Does it Grow? Blueberry
This video focuses on the cultivating of high bush blueberries.
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The application for CHS Foundation Classroom Grants is now available and K-12 teachers with agriculture-related projects in need of funding are invited to apply. The CHS Foundation and National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization partner each year to offer this grant opportunity.
agriculture-related initiatives that help educators teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies and more.
Fifteen $500 grants will be awarded. The deadline for applications is 
