Colorado teachers are encouraged to sign up for the Colorado Literacy Project, a free program for prekindergarten through fifth grade students from the Colorado Foundation for Agriculture (CFA).
The Colorado Literacy Project is a way to bring agriculture into the classroom, while reinforcing reading comprehension and other academic standards. From mid-February through May, farmers and ranchers across Colorado visit classrooms and read a book to the students. They answer questions and talk about their connection to agriculture.
A different book is selected each year for this program. The book for 2022 is a new book, published specifically for this year’s program and features a unique, true-life story centered around kindness and Colorado peaches. Set in the orchards of western Colorado, The Sweetest Treat is based on the story of Mrs. Maxine Lundgren Clark Allen. It was written by Rachel Gabel and illustrated by Liz Banman-Munsterteiger. In addition to receiving a free copy of The Sweetest Treat, the first 400 Colorado classes to sign up will also be given 100% Colorado Peach Juice to sample with their students.
Teachers may sign up their class, their grade level, or their whole elementary school. Visits will take place either in-person or virtually. Educators, day cares, and others may also sign up to participate in special virtual reading sessions of The Sweetest Treat during the week of March 21-25, 2022, as part of CFA’s National Ag Day celebration. Visit www.GrowingYourFuture.com for more information and to sign up. Or use this direct link to the registration form: https://bit.ly/3EUDNf0
Maxine Lundgren Clark Allen lives in Palisade, Colo., not far from the orchard her son has built into a thriving produce and agritourism venue. Maxine’s recipe tin is filled to the brim with history, stories, wisdom, and a reminder that kindness never goes out of style. As a young girl, Maxine lived in Granada, Colo. and recalls seeing German prisoners of war and Japanese Americans, interned at nearby Amache, helping local sugarbeet farmers harvest crops. Mrs. Allen learned the peach business by living it and was a strong and eloquent voice for farm labor and agriculture. Of all of the agricultural products grown, peaches are one of the sweetest treats.
The Colorado Foundation for Agriculture is developing educational resources and activities that can be completed before, during, or after the classroom visit. This curriculum will reinforce Colorado Academic Standards for: 1) Reading, Writing, and Communicating; 2) Social Studies: History; 3) Comprehensive Health: Social and Emotional Wellness; and 4) Mathematics.
The 2022 Colorado Literacy Project is sponsored by the Colorado Department of Agriculture/USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, the Bessie Minor Swift Foundation on behalf of The Fence Post magazine, and various individual donors.
For more information about the Colorado Literacy Project or any of CFA’s Agriculture in the Classroom® programs, please visit www.GrowingYourFuture.com or contact Jennifer Scharpe, CFA executive director at Info@GrowingYourFuture.com or 970-818-3308.
ABOUT COLORADO FOUNDATION FOR AGRICULTURE
Established in 1991, the Colorado Foundation for Agriculture is a 501(c)3 nonprofit education corporation that seeks to advance agricultural literacy through the Agriculture in the Classroom® program. Its mission is connecting Colorado educators and students to their food, fiber, fuel, and natural resources. Annually, the Colorado Foundation for Agriculture reaches more than 325,000 students and educators, across Colorado, in both urban and rural communities. To learn more or to make a tax-deductible gift, visit GrowingYourFuture.com.
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