New York Agriculture in the Classroom | February 2024

New York Agriculture in the Classroom

Conference Scholarship Applications Open

New York Agriculture in the Classroom is looking forward to again supporting teachers to attend the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference.


Teachers from across the state will be selected and supported by New York Agriculture in the Classroom for a full conference scholarship. The conference will bring together teachers from across the country to learn from skilled presenters, engaging keynote speakers, and from one another. 


The scholarship includes double occupancy hotel accommodations, round-trip flight, up to 28 hours of CTLE professional development credit, additional teacher and classroom resources from New York Agriculture in the Classroom, and more!


Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. It is suggested to submit your application early. Applications will be accepted until 11:59pm on Thursday, March 7, 2024. 

Submit Your Application

The National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference will be held June 24-27, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah

MAR 7

NYAITC Conference Scholarship Applications Due

MAR 14

Maple Virtual Field Trip to Arnot Forest

MAR 29

Agricultural Literacy Grant Applications Due

APR 19

Schoolyard Sugaring Submissions Due

Applications Open for the Agricultural Literacy Grant


The Agricultural Literacy Grant was created to help fund your most creative ideas to teach through a lens of agriculture. Submit your great idea to enhance your classroom learning and let New York Agriculture in the Classroom support your endeavor to include agriculture as a context for learning!


An Agricultural Literacy Grant proposal can be anywhere between $10 to a maximum of $1,200. Proposals for the Agricultural Literacy Grant can include, but are not limited to: funding for farm field trips, purchasing agriculturally accurate books, materials for classroom projects, starting a courtyard chicken coop, expanding your school garden project, and more. 


Grant proposals will be reviewed bi-weekly until March 29, 2024, or until funding is exhausted. It is suggested to submit your application early!

Submit Your Application

Maple Virtual Field Trip


To learn how sugar makers use and depend on many of concepts that are taught in the classroom, join us for a virtual field trip to Cornell Maple Research Facility at Arnot Forest. In this 40-minute experience, Director of Cornell Maple Program and maple researcher, Aaron Wightman will share the process of maple syrup production, the latest maple research, careers within the maple industry, and how scientists at Cornell's maple program help producers develop new maple-based products.


Inquiry boxes will be provided to the first 100 classrooms to register.

Register for the Trip

March 14, 2024

10 am and 12:30pm

Schoolyard Sugaring Maple Contest


From tree to bottle, help your students experience the sweet scientific phenomena of making maple syrup in the Schoolyard Sugaring contest, a cross-curricular project based learning opportunity. Registration for this contest is free to New York educators.


Classrooms can choose to participate in syrup production and/or a maple-focused photography contest. Any New York K-12 classrooms can participate and earn up to $250 in prize money. Eligible schools will receive a Maple Starter Kit, with a value of $120, to start tapping right away.

Learn More and Register

NEW! Spring Top Cut Beef Experience  


The Top Cut: Beef Contest is an engaging cross-curricular educational and culinary experience for grades 6-12. Participating students will design a beef recipe focused on the theme of school lunch and then develop a creative marketing strategy for their product. New York Agriculture in the Classroom and New York Beef Council are excited to offer this experience for the seventh year. 


NEW! New this year is an updated format. The Top Cut Beef Experience will be offered in both the fall and spring so that teachers with classes that switch out each semester may participate with all of their classes. The experience will no longer require pre-registration to participate and each teacher that has students submit a completed entry will receive a prize for their classroom.

Participate

Find updated resources on our website that will help you implement this contest in your classroom.

National Agriculture in the Classroom Scholarship Application Open


To provide an opportunity for educators from across the country to come together to not only experience agriculture within the host state, but to learn more about how to integrate agriculture into the core curriculum of their classroom, National Agriculture in the Classroom is offering scholarships to pre-kindergarten-12th grade teachers to attend the 2024 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference.


This year's scholarships (valued at $1300) will provide one Early Bird Registration ($485) and up to 4 nights lodging at conference location (Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City). The 2024 NAITC Conference Scholarship applications are now open.

Learn More

The application deadline is February 15, 2024. Applicants will be notified by mid-March to enable them to register and secure the early-bird registration cost of $485 provided by the scholarship.

New School Teams Encouraged to Apply for New York Farm to School Institute   

 

The New York Farm to School Institute is a year-long professional development opportunity for food service staff, educators, administrators, and community partners in New York schools to develop and refine their Farm to School programs and to help bring more New York grown food into the cafeteria and classroom. Led by the Farm to Institution New York State (FINYS) team at American Farmland Trust, this ongoing training and educational program will assist participating schools in creating successful Farm to School programs and connecting with farmers.


The program kicks off with a two-day Summer Retreat at Mabee Farm Historic Site on August 13-14, 2024, offers coaching support for the entire school year, and provides a $5,000 stipend to school teams to facilitate successful implementation of a farm to school action plan!

Learn More and Apply

Applications must be submitted by March 1, 2024.

Featured Lessons

Grades K-2


All Kinds of Farms


In this lesson, students will discover that there are many different types of farms. They will also be able to address any misconceptions or stereotypes about farms.

Teach this Lesson

Grades 3-5


Bunches of Berries

Students will investigate a variety of berries, discover how and where they are grown, and explore their nutritional benefits in this lesson.

Teach this Lesson

Grades 6-8


Introducing the Nutrition Facts Label


Explore the features of the Nutrition Facts label with a focus on protein, analyze serving size, and make a Nutrition Facts label for a smoothie.

Teach this Lesson

February Book Nook

Spring is for Strawberries


When a farm family brings their spring crops to a city farmers market, the farmer's daughter befriends the daughter of a neighborhood family doing their weekly shopping. Over the course of a year, the girls explore the bounty of each season. Sweet spring strawberries and crisp, fresh greens make way for corn on the cob, peppers, and a rainbow of tomatoes. Fall brings pumpkin patches and the crunch of apples. The friends part at the final winter market, already looking forward to the sweet red strawberries that will unite them again next spring.

Read this Book

Josias, Hold the Book


Every morning Josias, a Haitian boy, is hard at work in the family's garden under the hot Haitian sun. His friend Chrislove asks, "When will you join us and hold the book?" With his garden failing, Josias has no time to learn how to read and write. There may not be enough food for his family. Soon, Josias realizes a book might hold the solution to his problem.

Read this Book

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