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Grant Program - Request For Applications
On our website!
Read ME Agriculture
Summer Teacher's Institute
University of Maine at Farmington
July 31 - August 4
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Teach ME about Food & Farms
*Contact us to plan a workshop date for your school for Spring 2017
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Special Programs
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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 84,000 students in 2015 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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February Newsletter
#65
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2017 |
Read Me Agriculture Week 2017
March 20-24
Readers still needed. Classrooms still being accepted while the supply of materials lasts!
Each PreK-4 classroom will receive a copy of the book with lesson ideas, and information on Maine Agriculture given by a volunteer reader from the area.
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Annual Conference
Eat for the Health of it!
Registration now OPEN! For the Maine Nutrition Council's Annual Conference: Eat for the Health of it! The conference will be held Monday, April 10th, 8am-3:30pm at
MaineGeneral Health in Augusta.
Topics for the day include: Prescription for a Plant-Based Diet, H2O: What You Need To Know, Managing Autoimmune Disease Using Our Dinner Plate, and a panel discussion on the role of diet and nutrition in disease prevention.
Visit the Maine Nutrition Council website for more information and to download the registration form.
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FORTY educators joined us at our "Curriculum Connections for School Garden Projects" workshop to learn about composting, soil lessons, and even make worm bins!
Looking for more lessons? Teachers can borrow from
MAITC's lending library! Check out the "Healthy Foods From Healthy Soils" curriculum guide which includes units and lessons on food waste and composting!
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Maine School Garden Day
This year's Maine School Garden Day will take place on Saturday, May 6th, at Falmouth High School from 8-4, a full day of classes, exhibits, and more! This is a K-12 educator training workshop and all participants will receive certificates for contact hours or CEU's. The cost of the day is $25($35 after April 30) and includes a local foods lunch. Scholarships are available.
Click here to register now!!
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Northeast Farm to School Institute
The Northeast Farm to School Institute is a unique year-long professional learning opportunity for twelve school teams from New England and New York. Our year-long Institute kicks off with a Summer Retreat held at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, VT from June 27-29, 2017.
Learn more here.
Contact
Renee Page from Maine Farm to School if you have any questions.
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New Sea to School Resources!
The Farm to School Networks from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts have worked together to create a Sea to School classroom education tool. They have created a
video and a
guide where they explore the emerging "sea to school" movement in which K-12 schools are sourcing locally and promoting seafood caught in regional waters.
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We're on Twitter!
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2017 Summer Teacher's Institute!
July 31 - August 4 at
UMF
This year's Summer Teacher's Institute will be the week of July 31st through August 4th at the University of Maine at Farmington. Along with several other places, participants will be visiting the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center for an immersion experience into the history of Maine agriculture.
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Historical Agricultural News:
This is a search tool site for exploring the Library of Congress
Chronicling America database for information on the farming organizations, technologies, and practices of America's past.
Waste Reduction in K-12 School Cafeterias:
Check out these two webinars (produced Fall 2016) on the different ways schools can reduce food waste and reduce trash in the cafeteria.
Don't Trash it! Sort it!
H2Grow Challenge for Middle Schoolers:
 The Purple Plow Challenge brand was created to encompass both the history and future of agriculture; the plow symbolizes the history of production agriculture, while purple represents the innovative and exciting ways that agriculture is working to solve challenges today.
Current Challenge: We need food to survive. But food security is a problem around the world, and at home. Get creative as you design a sustainable living environment for aquatic life while growing food in this season's Purple Plow Challenge! Learn more.
Discover Ag Careers: 
An educator guide for grades 6-8. The resources in this kit are based on each career focus area. Each area includes:
- One lesson that introduces students to the career focus area and associated career opportunities
- Three standards-based, interdisciplinary supplemental activities that each feature a different career from that area
- One take-home activity sheet that introduces students to another career from that area through a fun, engaging activity.
Lessons:
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Agriculture Counts. Grades: K-2.
Students read a story about our nation's first survey of agriculture, discuss reasons for counting things, and gain practice by sorting and counting a variety of objects related to agriculture.
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The Soil's Alive. Grades: 3-5.
Discover more about what lives in the soil and what it is composed of.
- The Incredible Edible Soil. Grades: 3-5. Soil is the foundation of our whole food system, but is often cast aside as "just dirt." This hands-on lesson allows students to explore the composition of soil and why it is so important, looking at different soil samples and then building their own edible "soil."
- Chain of Food. Grades: 6-8, 9-12. Students will explore the path food takes along the Farm-to-Table Continuum. They will begin on the farm and investigate food safety issues during processing, transportation, at restaurants and supermarkets, and finally, in their own homes. Teams will identify how food can become contaminated along the continuum and develop and present strategies for preventing contamination at each step.
- Clothes on the Grow. Grades: 6-8. Students will gain a broad understanding of the types and sources of different fibers, examining their origins and observing their differences. Activities in this lesson include examining clothing and clothing labels and observing how different types of fabrics burn. Also check out fiber lessons specific to Maine here!
Books: 
- Food: How We Hunt and Gather It...
- Cucumber Soup
- Farms Feed the World
- How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?
- One Grain of Rice
- One Hundred Hungry Ants
- Who Grew My Soup?
- A Handful of Dirt
- First Peas to the Table
- Compost by Gosh!
- You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Dirt!
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