The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation has awarded 183 grants to schools this year throughout Iowa to support the integration of agriculture into classroom instruction or after-school programs with an academic focus. The Ag in the Classroom Teacher Supplement Grants are designed to help teachers initiate new projects or expand existing projects that promote agriculture literacy in students. Grants can be used to fund innovative lessons, activities, classroom resources, guest speakers, outreach programs, field trips and other projects.

“This year’s grant projects will focus on integrating agriculture into science and language arts curriculums,” says IALF education program manager Cindy Hall. “We hope these grants will allow teachers to make real world connections to what they are already teaching.”

Cultivating interest in agriculture
Some of the innovative applicants will be conducting projects this spring including agriculture reading units, planting and growing seeds, field trips to Living History Farms, rabbit production, beef and milk production, and exploration of ag careers. Successful applicants will use agriculture as the vehicle to teach many of the concepts already taught in their classroom like science and language arts.

One grant recipient, Maria Brown, says, “The funds will come in handy, and we can't wait to implement a farming unit with our preschool students.” The grants are a special project of IALF and made possible through support from the Iowa Farm Bureau. “We are very pleased to be able to provide this support to classrooms interested is teaching agriculture,” says Barb Lykins, IFB director of community resources.

The projects will be completed before the end of the school year, with final reports to be submitted by June 5. For more information, visit iowaagliteracy.org.

Teacher recognized for excellence
A high school science teacher from Center Point was recognized recently for excellence in teaching about agriculture. The Iowa Ag Literacy Foundation presented this annual award for 2017 to Dr. DeEtta Anderson. She was recognized in a ceremony at the Iowa Pork Congress in Des Moines in January.

Anderson incorporates ag technology into her biology and physical science classes by engaging students in learning about land use, conservation, crop production, genetics and the need for alternative fuels. She teaches about maintaining healthy livestock, and her curriculum grows out of local issues. The awards program is a project of the IALF and is supported through a grant from the CHS Foundation.

“In a solutions-oriented project, students made starch-based plastics to examine alternatives to oil-based materials,” she says. “Not only did they have fun, they learned about the importance of corn for our future and its economic importance for Iowans.”

Helping students find a path
Anderson will receive a $500 stipend to support her continued efforts of integrating agriculture into her classroom curriculum. She will also attend the National Ag in the Classroom conference in Kansas City in June. Anderson is in her ninth year of teaching at Center Point Urbana High School. She earned her doctorate in education from Walden University in Minnesota. As an Iowa State University alumna, she has strong ties to agricultural careers helping her students find a pathway toward future careers in ag science and technology.

By positioning her classroom as a community, Anderson channels the passion of her students into conversations and learning about ag issues. For nearly a semester her class focused on GMOs by testing corn plant resistance to corn borer larva. They learned about the insect life cycle and how the genetically modified organism guards against the destructive insect. Anderson was also a recipient of a 2016 Ag in the Classroom Teacher Supplement Grant and plans to continue to incorporate agriculture into her classroom activities.

“In my class, students grow in an active, relevant and enriching environment that is deeply rooted in the soil of Iowa,” says Anderson. “We are out in the field testing and exploring. We learn from experts. We listen to local issues, learn and design solutions. We debate and take stands.”

Jane Dufoe, parent of one of Anderson’s students, says, “DeEtta has an understanding of what it takes to capture the minds of the ‘non-ag’ kids as well as the knowledge to provide a depth of understanding for the students in her classroom that show a propensity for agriculture-related topics. DeEtta’s own natural curiosity and intellect allow her to teach her students in the way that each of them learns best.”

Source: Iowa Ag Literacy Foundation