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Maine Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, & Dance Conference
The Samoset Resort
Rockland, ME
November 4-6, 2018
Read "ME" Agriculture
January 1, 2019
Maine Agricultural Trades Show
Augusta Civic Center
January 15-17, 2019
Read ME Agriculture Information Session
Maine Ag Trades Show
Augusta Civic Center
January 16, 2019
5pm - 7pm
Maine Nutrition Council Educational Event
"Counting on Consumers"
Augusta Civic Center
10am - 12pm
January 17, 2019
Read "ME" Agriculture
March 2019
Maine Nutrition Council Annual Conference
The Point Community Center
South Portland, ME
April 3, 2019
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Teach ME about Food & Farms
*Contact us to plan a workshop date for your school for Spring 2019
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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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November Newsletter
#86
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2018 |
Meet our 2019 Teacher of the Year!
Lynn Snow
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Willie Sawyer Grenier (MAITC Executive Director), Lynn Snow (2019 TOY),
Ron Dyer (Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources Bureau Director) |
At our recent annual meeting we awarded Mrs. Snow as our 2019 Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Snow is a 5th grade English Language Arts and Science teacher at Thomaston Grammar School (TGS) and played the lead role in creating the TGS Common Ground Garden and Outdoor Classroom, using in part, funds from one of the early MAITC grants awarded in 2010 as a result of the Maine agriculture license plate. What used to be an old ropes course is now a school garden. Mrs. Snow's love for agricultural education is apparent to all who know her, she works hard to impart that love onto her students. This year marks the 10 year anniversary of the TGS Common Ground Garden. Each year 5th graders leave TGS with a new love of gardening and the outdoors, thanks to Mrs. Snow. The garden has become an integral part of the 5th grade science program with a strong crossover into literacy as well as in other subject areas. Mrs. Snow also pioneered the creation of "Learning Locks" when they got their new garden fence, in an effort to bring the community together in celebrating learning.
Students, teachers, and community members add locks to the fence of the school garden to commemorate a memorable life lesson, an educational milestone, or to pay tribute to a teacher, coach, leader, parent, or friend that has made a difference in their lives.
To learn more about Mrs. Snow and the TGS Common Ground Garden, follow them on
Facebook
or visit their
website
!
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Read "ME" Agriculture 2019
March 2019
Our 2019 Read "ME" Agriculture book is "Maple Syrup from the Sugarhouse" by Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton, illustrated by
Kathryn Mitter.
Our 2019 Read ME book
will be featured at
The Agricultural Trades Show in the Maine Ag in the Classroom Booth and
modeled in a special session on Wednesday,
January 16th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Please join us if you are interested!
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We are excited to announce our 2018 Grant Award Winners! Visit our
website to see the list of winners in the four different grant categories and read a short description of each project.
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n the fall of 2018 one of our award winning teachers, Jennifer Elsaesser, first grade teacher at
Lyman
Elementary School
is enhancing her curriculum with the MAITC
Book Barn, which is full of 45+ books ranging from picture books to read-aloud chapter books for K-6 grade students. Teachers interested in hosting the Book Barn in their school next spring please email the office at
maitc@maine.gov
with a short description of their plans by February 1, 2019.
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THANK YOU to all who attended our
Annual Meeting!
Thank you to the Maine State Grange for hosting us and cooking a wonderful dinner! Thank you to Bradstreet Farms for donating Potatoes, and thank you to Calendar Island Mussels for donating the mussels, it was a delicious meal and a wonderful time celebrating Agriculture in the Classroom!
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Are you a secondary teacher looking for an EXCITING new STEM project?
 GPS Cows is a collaborative project bringing together educators in Australia and across the USA who are looking for innovative ways to integrate technology and agriculture, showing students the global importance and fostering increasing appreciation of emerging careers in agriculture. Researchers from The University of Maine, Oregon State, and Central Queensland University are collaborating to expand this project across the US.
To express an interest, please contact the office at maitc@maine.gov and take a short survey to indicate how this project could impact your classroom.
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Maine Farm to School Cook-off
The Maine Department of Education, Child Nutrition office is seeking teams to participate in their annual Farm to School Cook-off
!
A school nutrition and student duo from each district/school will compete to prepare one breakfast and lunch meal. Each meal must be planned with two local ingredients that are grown, raised, caught or manufactured in Maine as well as one USDA food. A student, school nutrition director and professional chef will evaluate the dishes based on presentation, taste, creativity and feasibility to be used in a school nutrition program. For more information and to submit a team please contact Stephanie Stambach, Child Nutrition Consultant at stephanie.stambach@maine.gov.
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Resource Highlight
Career Challenge Videos from The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.
Check out these videos to learn how multiple agricultural careers work together to solve issues facing the agriculture industry!
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Grant Opportunities from KidsGardening!
- 2019 Budding Botanist Grant. Applications due by
November 19, 2018.
The Budding Botanist Grant will help our youngest citizens learn about plants, explore their world and inspire them to take care of the life they discover in their
local ecosystems.
In early  2019, six grant packages valued at $3,000 in cash and supplies will be awarded to six schools across the US.
- 2019 Youth Garden Grant. Applications due by
December 17, 2018. T
he Youth Garden Grant has supported school and youth educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life for students and their communities. A total of 25 programs will be awarded with award packages ranging from $500 to $2100 in value.
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Lessons:
- Animal Life Cycles. Grades K-2. This lesson introduces students to six major livestock species, teaches that animals need air, space, food, water, and shelter to survive, and introduces students to the life cycle of a farm animal.
- In a Nutshell. Grades 3-5. The students will explore pecan production from farm to fork, simulate the process of grafting, and create a nutritious snack.
- Science and Poetry with Almonds. Grades 3-5. Students will learn about the almond tree life cycle including tree dormancy, pollination, bloom and kernel development of an almond.
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Enjoying the Harvest. Grades 3-5.
Students will identify the parts of a wheat plant and wheat kernel and investigate the process of milling wheat kernels into flour.
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Wheat: Ancient and Ageless. Grades 6-8.
Students will explore the importance of wheat in the development of culture by learning about the advent of agriculture, discussing wheat cultivation in ancient Egypt, threshing a head of wheat with their hands, and making a corn dolly out of wheat stems.
- The Geography of Thanksgiving Dinner. Grades 6-8. In this lesson students will identify common Thanksgiving foods and their farm source, determine if those foods can be produced locally, and locate the common origins of their Thanksgiving day dinner.
- Energy and the Commodity Trace-back. Grades 9-12. In this lesson students will describe the domestic food supply chain and identify the use and types of energy involved in the growth, harvest, processing, transportation, and marketing of an agricultural commodity.
Books: 
Harvest Year
Ancient Agriculture
From Wheat to Bread
Bread Comes to Life
The Wheat Doll
The Boy Who Changed the World
A Time For Cranberries
Activities:
Bread in a Bag. This activity details the instructions for making bread in a Ziploc bag. An excellent way to demonstrate bread-making and the properties of yeast within a classroom setting.
Videos:
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PECAN | How Does it Grow?
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| CRANBERRY | How Does It Grow? |
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