Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom

Providing Virginia teachers with great lessons and classroom resources is the standard for AITC and one of the reasons for AITC's continued growth and success. Each year AITC develops new lessons, activities and resources for teachers in grades PreK-8. The What is in Barn? engages learners in investigations and hands-on activities involving animals and plants. Participants will learn about the many people involved in the family farm, explore the barnyard with the AITC staff and leave with a basket full of ideas, activities and resources for their students. In addition to the new workshop curriculum, AITC is working on adding an online agriculture map to our website, building a My Virginia Plate unit that combines nutrition and agriculture information for educators and students and developing a new Sprout magazine for students that will also have nutrition information with agriculture facts.

The AITC website is key distribution and information site for teachers. The site has more than 175 lesson plans and activities and the lesson plan page is the most accessed page on the site. AITC has recently updated the site with a searchable lesson plan database making it more user friendly and efficient. New lessons, activities, videos and resources are added through out the year to provide teachers with new and up to date information.

Bi-annually, Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom distributes an education newsletter to every public and most private elementary schools in Virginia. Each newsletter has a different feature. Past features have included peanuts, dairy, corn, seasons on the farm, and many more. Each newsletter edition is packed with lessons, fun facts, classroom activities and more.

The purpose of the Teacher of the Year award is to recognize a Virginia teacher for his/her excellent job in incorporating agriculture into his/her core curriculum. Recognizing that agriculture forms the backbone for our daily lives, AITC celebrates those teachers who effectively integrate agriculture into their classrooms.

The Agriculture in the Classroom Mini Grant Program was created to support schools and organizations who strive to help students understand the source of their food and fiber and to help Virginia's school children gain a greater knowledge and appreciation of agriculture. Qualifying projects will provide students with hands-on, experiential learning about agriculture.

Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom partners with volunteers to connect children to agriculture at fairs and community events. To further assist volunteers in their outreach efforts, we created a resource room full of educational banners and handouts that service a variety of outreach efforts. Banners cover an array of topics including agricultural careers, animals on the farm, healthy food choices, and agricultural commodities. Volunteers can also request an assortment of place-mats, bulletins, brochures, "Diggin It" kids' pages, activity pages, and pencils. Additionally, our website features a volunteer tab with activity suggestions for a variety of age ranges and topics.

Our direct-to-student program delivers high energy lessons that emphasize STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) relevant to the agricultural industry. Delivered by professional presenters in school and after-school settings, the program bridges the agricultural education gap in Virginia's metropolitan and urban areas by establishing partnerships with urban schools and community-based children's programs. Each year, thousands of urban students experience the exciting science and technology utilized in Virginia agriculture through this program.

Our annual Agriculture Literacy Week event inspires volunteers from across the Commonwealth to read a selected book to elementary students. Copies of agriculturally relevant books are then given to classrooms to enjoy throughout the year. The event connects children to a farmer or volunteer who is engaged in an agriculture-related career. Thanks to our strong community of volunteers, annually nearly 50,000 children are exposed to the great story of agriculture.