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June 2025 | Issue #165
*make sure to click "View entire message" to get access to the full newsletter!*
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A year-long FREE experience in your classroom!
Forget the guinea pig. How about adopting a 100-pound dairy calf for your classroom mascot by joining the Adopt A Cow program?! Don’t worry about finding a pen big enough to hold her. The photos and stories Discover Dairy will send you about her life on the farm will make her “come alive” for your students! The best part? It is FREE!
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Are you a School Garden Coordinator in Maine?
You're invited to join the School Garden Leadership cohort at the 2025 Institute Academy Program.
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The Maine Farm and Sea to School Institute is a statewide program that supports schools in building sustainable integration farm and sea to school programs across the Cafeteria, Classroom, and Community.
When: Tuesday, July 22, 2025 (Optional Add-Ons: July 21 & July 23)
Where: The Ecology School, Saco, ME
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Selected Garden Coordinators will:
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Participate in up to 3 days of immersive learning and connection with other Farm & Sea to School champions
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Engage in tailored programming at the Ecology School, including hands-on workshops and networking opportunities
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Have a chance to share your experience on a garden leadership panel
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Don’t Miss Your Chance to Apply for the CSL Resource Grant!
In honor of Christy Lilja’s legacy, the 2025 CSL Grant awards $100 in store credit to 100 educators to purchase agriculturally accurate literacy materials from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture store.
Applications are due July 21, 2025, and credits must be used by September 30. Recipients will be randomly selected if more than 100 apply.
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In 2025 $60K is earmarked for grants in multiple categories! This support of Maine agriculture education in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12 is a direct result of the Maine Agricultural Specialty License Plate. Submit your application to support your endeavor using agriculture as a context for learning!
DEADLINES:
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Category 1 - Agricultural Awareness Grant - Up to $1,000: 4pm on September 12, 2025.
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Category 2 - Agricultural Awareness Grant - Up to $2,000: 4pm on September 12, 2025.
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Category 3 - School Garden & Greenhouse Grant - Up to $2,000: 4pm on September 12, 2025.
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Category 4 - Agriculture Leadership Grant - Up to $1,000: The revolving deadline is 4pm on: June 27, August 29, and December 12, 2025.
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Category 5 - Statewide Agriculture Education Organization Grant - Up to $2,000: The revolving deadline is 4pm on: June 27, August 29, and December 12, 2025.
For more information about our grants program, contact: maitc@maine.gov
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Grades K-2
Dig 'Em Up
Students investigate the functions of roots, recognize the difference between a tap and fibrous root system, and identify the roots of some plants as edible.
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Grades 3-5
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Students synthesize what they know about soils, plants, and the environment to plan a garden, present their plans, and explain why they made the decisions that they did.
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Grades 6-8
It's a Dirty Job
In this lesson, students will create mini habitats to observe earthworm behavior and learn about the important role that earthworms play in decomposition and plant growth.
| | Looking for more? Explore the Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix HERE | | Through Jolie's comical scrapbook-style journal entries, readers will learn how she convinces "old people" (her parents) to let her grow her own strawberries. Growing strawberries is a lot of work and responsibility, but Jolie is ready with the help of her faithful rabbit Munchy! Together they find out just how delicious, rewarding, and sometimes complicated it can be to grow your own food. | |  | Grandpa told mom, and mom told me: The secret of a plant lives in every little seed. Seeds are truly amazing! Did you know that every seed, no matter how small (microscopic) or large (weighing up to 14 pounds), contains everything it needs to one day grow into a plant? Three generations of a gardening family work together to bring a backyard garden to full bloom. Young readers are taken through each important step, beginning with planting in the spring and ending with harvesting in the fall. And let's not forget the buzzy and buggy inhabitants, including bees, butterflies, and other insects (friends as well as pests). At the end of the harvest season, the family collects and stores the seeds for next year's garden. | | | |
Funding from this plate impacts up to 200,000 students annually with lessons, materials, volunteers and teacher training. Additionally, up to $60K is distributed annually in grants to schools, FFA, 4-H and other Non-profit programs for Ag education initiatives by the Maine Agriculture in the Classroom Council.
Learn more about the Ag plate here.
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The MAITC Association is organizing a fundraiser for materials and teacher scholarships this year. Hats and T-shirts with the MAITC logo and a picture of the agriculture specialty license plate are available to order for a small donation.
For more information contact Nancy Wright at dnwright191@gmail.com
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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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