Happy back to school month and welcome to the new school year! Going back into the classrooms reminds us that agriculture takes an active role in almost every single aspect of our lives. In the classroom, agriculture takes an active role in our school supplies! Not only can we bridge the connection between our school supplies but also any and all other ways that agriculture connects to us throughout the year.
The Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom program works hard to promote agriculture to students. Check out some of our new and updated resources to help you get started for this great new year!
Agriculture is connected to all school supplies. We want to highlight this awesome connection to students. You can request our "Back to School with Agriculture " for free from your local county ag literacy coordinator. Also, check our "Back to School with Ag" lesson. Targeted at 3rd through 8th grade, this lesson increases students understanding of agricultural commodities and their use in common products.
Illinois Ag in the Classroom has been hard at work coming up with new resources for your classroom. One of the newest additions is THREE Junior Ag Mags targeted at 2nd through 4th graders.
We also added TWO NEW Ag Mags and ONE UPDATED Ag Mag to our collection. Check out Pizza, Farmers Markets and Sustainability! They make a great addition to any 4th through Middle School classroom.
Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom can now reach even more students with our Readers being printed in foreign languages. We currently have 11 readers translated to SPANISH and 1 translated into FRENCH!
This summer our IAITC Intern worked on updating and bringing new Readers to our collection. Check out her first published one, an updated RENEWABLE ENERGY READER. An important reminder on just how crucial renewable energy is.
While we are in the midst of National Back to School Month, did you know that every month there is a theme that can be tied back to agriculture? Our office has composed a list of "National Days" relating to agriculture. Within our handout is a condensed list with lessons ranging Kindergarten through 8th grade. Lesson plans, book recommendations and other materials are all linked and included for you to take back into your classroom!
Thanks to April showers aplenty this year, most Illinois farmers will spend the first part of this month planting rows and rows of Illinois' top agriculture commodities: corn and soybeans, and we will follow suit by sharing rows and rows of our favorite corn and soybean resources!
Fun, hands-on activities to get students thinking and problem solving by carrying out STEM and inquiry challenges with connections to agriculture.
As the weather warms into spring, many teachers and students are antsy to start getting back outside during the school day. Over 95% of primary and secondary schools across the country do just that on April 22nd each year - Earth Day! This month on the blog, we will highlight our favorite Earth Day and Sustainability activities that you can use to help you celebrate.