*make sure to click "View entire message" to get access to the full newsletter!* |
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MAITC Grants Deadline is August 31st! |
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Have you been wanting to take a field trip to a farm with your class?
Do you need materials to do agriculture projects in your classroom?
Are you trying to build a school garden or repair your school greenhouse?
Do you need funds to help with any of these agriculture related projects?
LOOK NO FURTHER! Maine Agriculture in the Classroom has grants available!
Category 1 - Agricultural Awareness Grant - Up to $1,000
Category 2 - Agricultural Awareness Grant - Up to $2,000
Category 3 - School Garden & Greenhouse Grant - Up to $2,000
Category 4 - Agriculture Leadership Grant - Up to $1,000
Category 5 - Statewide Agriculture Education Organization Grant - Up to $2,000
You can access the online grant applications on the grants page on our website.
DEADLINE: 4pm on August 31, 2023
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MAITC Grants are funded by owners of the Agricultural Specialty License Plate
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Congratulations to Maine Teachers for National Teacher Recognition! |
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Selina Greene Warren was also recognized for the White-Reinhardt Award by the American Farm Bureau Foundation.
Keep up the great work Stacey & Selina!
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School Garden Caretakers Grant Applications |
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The Maine School Garden Network (MSGN) is proud to present a new grant program to provide five $2000 mini grants to pay School Garden Caretakers in Maine, thanks to the generous support of the Sewall Foundation. The funds will be issued to school programs and must be used within 1 year of the award.
APPLICATION DEADLINE – 4pm on AUGUST 31st, 2023.
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Adopt a Cow for Your Classroom! |
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Each Maine classroom that enrolls in the Adopt a Cow program will be paired with a calf from Brigeen Farms in Turner, Maine. Teachers and students will receive photos, video updates, and activity sheets throughout the school year that allow them to watch their calf grow. Through immersive, hands-on learning activities and free curriculum provided by Discover Dairy, students gain a deeper understanding of the dairy industry and where their food comes from. Several of the lessons in the curriculum follow Common CORE standards in Math, Reading, and Science.
The Adopt a Cow program also offers live virtual chats and farm tours. These chats allow students to talk directly with a dairy farmer, meet their calves, tour the farm, and ask questions about milk production. This program is made available free to Maine classrooms by the Maine Dairy Promotion Board. Sign up by September 15th!
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Get Hyped for Kelp Curriculum! |
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During the summer and fall of 2023, Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center (MAIC) and partners will distribute copies of the book With a Little Kelp from Our Friends, written by Mathew Bate and illustrated by Liz Rowland, to Maine educators. Along with a copy of the book, the team will provide teacher resources to increase seaweed aquaculture literacy!
Register today for the upcoming Seaweed Curriculum Webinar on August 14th! This online webinar will introduces educators to seaweed-themed teaching materials that pair with the book With a Little Kelp from Our Friends. We will also answer questions about seaweed aquaculture and how to incorporate these materials in your classroom!
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This project is a collaboration between the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, the World Wildlife Fund, Maine Sea Grant, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Maine Agriculture in the Classroom, and the University of Maine.
Visit the project website to learn more and sign up to receive updates and learning materials!
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MSGN School Garden Summer Tours |
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The Maine School Garden Network Summer Garden Tours are a chance to unwind and relax with fellow school garden coordinators, teachers and volunteers. Each location offers a chance to see school gardens in full bloom, learn different growing tips, techniques, and exchange ideas. Most tours conclude with a pot luck meal. The tour schedule:
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August 3rd, 4-6pm - Fryeburg Academy, Fryeburg, ME
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August 16th, 3-5pm - Old Town Elementary School, Old Town, ME
See pics and a recap of a recent school garden summer tour below:
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Becky and Erin led some awesome tours of the school gardens in RSU19!
We started at Sebasticook Valley Elementary School (PreK-4) with Becky, the FoodCorps Service Member. She provided us with some pretty impressive maps she had made and walked us through their school garden. They have a lot going on! A sunflower classroom, vegetable garden, raised beds, greenhouse, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, hoop house, orchard, and lots of assorted beds of things - herbs, perennials, etc. This summer Becky has been able to get the summer school program involved in the garden.
Next we traveled to Somerset Elementary School (PreK-4) and Erin, also a FoodCorps Service Member, gave us a tour of their garden. They have a nice covered pavilion, several raised beds, a sunflower garden classroom, and a greenhouse. Erin told us about some of the cool projects she’s done with students: garden bootcamp, learning about thermal mass and keeping the greenhouse warm through the winter with no heat source, and kratky hydroponics - just to name a few!! They are currently having a problem with vandalism of things in the garden and are hoping to get funding to put up some fencing.
We ended with a yummy potluck in the pavilion. Two great tours, lots of ideas and inspiration for school garden projects!
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MAITC Teacher of the Year Program |
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NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS!!
Each year at the annual meeting, MAITC recognizes an outstanding Maine elementary or secondary school teacher who uses agricultural education materials and/or activities in the classroom to teach core subjects.
The winning teacher is then required to submit—with our help—an application for a National AITC Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award and attends the National AITC Conference.
Applications are due October 2, 2023. The application (and more info) can be found on our website.
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CHS Foundation provides $500 grants each year to pre-kindergarten-12th grade teachers who have classroom projects that use agricultural concepts to teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies and more. Eligible projects include classroom and schoolyard gardens, embryology projects, aquaculture projects and agricultural literacy reading programs to name a few. Teachers have until June 1 the following year to complete the project and submit a final report. Only state-certified classroom teachers employed by a school district or private school teachers are eligible to apply. The CHS Classroom Grant application deadline is September 15, 2023. Click here for more info and application.
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NAITCO Request for Workshop Proposals |
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National Agriculture in the Classroom is seeking workshop proposals for the 2024 NAITC Conference "Agriculture Elevated" scheduled for June 24-27, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Proposals must demonstrate how the workshop uses agricultural concepts to meet the National Agricultural Literacy Outcomes (NALOs) and teach reading, writing, math, nutrition, science, STEM, social studies and other subject areas. Proposals also must reach early elementary (grades pre-kindergarten-2), upper elementary (grades 3-5), middle school (grades 6-8), high school (9-12) or all grades. The main workshop presenter of accepted proposals will receive a discount of $50.00 off the early-bird conference registration. More info here. The deadline for submissions is October 6th.
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Harvest of the Month - August is Maine Cucumbers! |
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Click here for the great Harvest of the Month (HOM) materials - posters, fact sheets, recipes, social media promo, and more!
All of our HOM Resource Pages can be found on our Teach ME site under "Teaching Units"
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Teacher Resources Section |
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Sunflower Life Cycles. Grades K-2. Students observe the growth and development of sunflowers, identify how sunflower seeds are used, and make a paper plate sunflower to illustrate the life cycle of the sunflower.
Wild Blueberries for ME! Grades K-5. Check out all of the great lessons we have on our Teach ME Food & Farms website on Maine Wild Blueberries. Poetry, math, history, geography, animals, health & nutrition, and more!
The TART Cherry on Top. Grades 3-5. Students explore tart cherry production in the United States and explain why producers and consumers are needed in the cherry industry.
Fungi Multiplication. Grades 6-8. Learn about edible mushroom cultivation and how one mushroom multiplies into many more! Create a spore print, and explore ecology concepts by experimenting with mold and yeast growth and researching species of fungi.
The Water Footprint of Food. Grades 9-12. Explore concepts of sustainability by evaluating the water footprint (WF) of food. Students are introduced to irrigation practices throughout the world, consumptive and non-consumptive water use, and investigate the water requirements for various food crops.
Looking for more? Explore the Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix HERE
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Living Necklace Kits. Grow your own necklace! These kits contains enough materials for a classroom of students to make a living necklace. Plant a seed in a mini Ziploc, and after a few days, and some water, the necklace will be alive with growing sprouts - baby plants for students to observe. Order these kits online from agclassroomstore.com. Multiple lessons are associated with this kit.
Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI). GMRI provides educators with professional development, networking opportunities, and other resources to help teachers create hands-on science experiences for students. Check out their Learning Resources Hub in which they've aggregated their curriculum resources into one platform, where you can explore the full range resources they've developed in support of educators and middle school learners.
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More funding opportunities are listed from some of our friends:
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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 is an agricultural science e-zine developed for the secondary educator.
KidsGardening has ideas about plants and gardens, teacher resources, and grant opportunities.
The Chop Chop magazine and website has easy and healthy recipes.
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This document is a compilation of agriculture related resources to be used in virtual and remote learning.
Pictures, videos, and words are hyperlinked throughout the document.
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Funding from this plate has impacted up to 200,000 students annually 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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Donate today to The Maine Agriculture in the Classroom Association
The Non-profit, completely volunteer, portion of MAITC. These funds are used directly to support teacher scholarships and recognition, and support volunteer participation for Ag education programs. Your donation is completely tax deductible and you can make a one-time donation or a recurring monthly donation which will support the mission, "to promote the understanding of agriculture and natural resources among students, educators, and the general public." If you have any other questions or would like to join this group please contact the chairman, Maryjane Stafford. Donate Here.
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Our Mission Statement
"To promote the understanding of agriculture and natural resources among students, educators, and the general public"
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28 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
(207)287-5522
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