*make sure to click "View entire message" to get access to the full newsletter!*
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More info on Upcoming Events
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This year's Maine Nutrition Council conference, "Nutrition from the Sea" will be held at
Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Event Center
in Bar Harbor, ME on Wednesday
April 8
, 2020.
Please visit the
MNC website
for more information on the conference, pre-conference tour, and room block info.
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Maine School Garden Day will be Saturday,
May 2nd at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden, ME.
This is a full day of workshops and networking for school garden enthusiasts!
Visit the
MSGN website for more information on the event, scholarships available, and to register.
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NELE Kids Day
will be
Thursday,
May 14th
, 2020 at the Windsor Fairgrounds from 9:30am to 1:30pm
For more information or to register your school youth for this agricultural exhibition, please email
Cindy Kilgore
.
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Meet our 2020 Teacher of the Year!
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Ted Bridge-Koenigsberg
Ted currently teaches grades four and five at Sebago Elementary School and has been using agriculture in his classroom for years to help transform the educational experience of his students. The Sebago Elementary School Garden hosts a combination of flower
s, vegetables, fruit trees, and the centerpiece: grapes. Ted has been using the grape vines, perhaps more than any other species in the garden, to get kids interested in plants, and the food they produce. Ted has coordinated with Sebago Elementary kitchen staff, providing hands-on lessons that have seen the students make grape jam, and even grape fruit leather, right in the classroom. His current project is "Fleece to Felted Footwear," where students are
learning about fiber processing by turning raw wool and natural dyes into warm felted woolen shoes they can wear, integrating art, science, and social studies! In June, Ted will be traveling with us to the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah to attend sessions, and learn and connect with other educators from all over the country, and take that information and resources back to his school.
Nominate an outstanding teacher now for 2021!
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Looking for
curriculum
to teach about maple in your classroom?
New Hampshire Ag in the Classroom has developed an entire
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Maple Syrup Facts:
- Did you know that LD 110 made pure Maine Maple Syrup the official state sweetener in 2015?
- Maine Maple Sunday is March 22nd
- Maine has the third largest syrup industry in the country
- Maine has the largest maple producing county in the country - Somerset County
- Maine has around 1.89 million taps
- About 700,000 gallons are produced each year (worth $20.25 million)
- To substitute maple syrup for sugar in a recipe, use 3/4C of syrup for a cup of sugar and decrease the dominate liquid, milk or water, by 3 tablespoons; decrease the cooking temp by 25 degrees F (because baked goods brown quicker as the syrup caramelizes)
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Maine School Garden Network is Hiring!
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The Maine School Garden Network is hiring for a short-term educator position. The primary focus of this position will be to conduct Integrated Pest Management (IPM) lessons in selected schools as a part of the Plant Something at School! initiative.
View the job description
here.
Please send resume and letter of interest describing education, qualifications, skills, and related experience via email to
applicants.msgn@gmail.com for receipt no later than 5:00 p.m., Friday, March 20th.
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Limited space left for our free Aquaponics Workshop!
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Jeff Giallombardo, aquaponics teacher at Nokomis Regional High School, in partnership with Maine Agriculture in the Classroom, will present a workshop in their brand new facility on
Saturday, March 28th from 9:00 to 2:30
.
This session will reveal everything teachers need to know to have their own successful aquaponics program. At the end of the training one participating teacher will win a STEM Garden classroom aquaponics system donated by
Maine Agrotech
(valued at $1,900) with the knowledge needed to manage and integrate the system directly into their classroom STEM instruction.
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Harvest of the Month - March is Maine Protein!
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Check out the great HOM materials:
Check out our teacher resources section below for lessons, books, videos, and other classroom resources!
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Teacher Resources Section
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My Healthy Plate
. Grades K-2. Students will become familiar with the foods they eat and healthy eating habits while learning about the MyPlate food campaign. This lesson introduces students to the concept of MyPlate while placing foods they eat into categories for eating a balanced diet.
FoodMASTER: Meat, Poultry and Fish
. Grades 3-5. In this lesson students will learn how animals utilize nutrients and energy from food humans cannot digest and convert it to meat, a food rich in zinc, iron, and protein. Students will discover how hamburger is formulated for leanness, compare two kinds of hotdogs, and learn about fish.
Nuts About Peanuts
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Grades 3-5. Students label the parts of a peanut plant on a diagram, follow step-by-step instructions to plant a peanut, and use a chart to record the growth of peanut plants.
Eggs: Protein MVP
.
Grades 3-5. Students will explore the importance of protein to a healthy diet and discover that eggs are a nutritious protein source.
In A Nutshell
. Grades 3-5. The students will explore pecan production from farm to fork, simulate the process of grafting, and create a nutritious snack.
Overfishing and Aquaculture
.
Grades 3-8. Students will discover the sources of various fish and seafood, compare wild-caught and farm-raised aquaculture systems, and use a simulation to learn how overfishing can damage the ocean ecosystem.
FoodMASTER Middle: Protein
.
Grades 6-8. Students will examine dietary sources of protein and generally understand the relationship between protein synthesis and amino acids while completing an activity to use beads as a representation of amino acids to construct proteins (polypeptide chains). Students will identify complete and/or incomplete proteins found in both animal and plant food sources.
Growing Pulses
. Grades 6-8. This lesson introduces agriculture as a managed system that has environmental impacts, and how farmers employ practices such as growing pulses to minimize these impacts.
Don’t Forget the Eggs!
Grades 9-12. Students will discover the five culinary functions of eggs by completing a cooking lab comparing recipes with and without eggs. Students will see how eggs leaven, bind, thicken, coat, and emulsify our foods.
Beef: Making the Grade
. Grades 9-12. Students will evaluate the USDA grading system for whole cuts of beef and discuss consumer preferences and nutritional differences between grain-finished and grass-finished beef. Students will also distinguish various labels on beef products and discuss reasons for the government’s involvement in agricultural production, processing and distribution of food.
A Tale of Two Burgers: Beef and Plant-based Protein
. Grades 9-12. Students will compare the components of beef and plant-based burgers by determining the production and processing methods of each product; evaluate the ingredients and nutritional differences between beef and plant-based products; and discuss different points of view in the agricultural industry concerning plant-based proteins and traditional beef.
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Aquaculture for ME
A Pocketful of Goobers
From Peanut to Peanut Butter
Cattle Kids
Look Inside Food
Pigs
PB&J Hooray!
Spill the Beans and Pass the Peanuts
Chickens on the Farm
Chicks and Chickens
Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition
Producing Fish (The Technology of Farming)
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Meat Cut Posters and Fact Cards
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Purchase these colorful posters and fact cards to illustrate the wholesale and retail cuts of meat found in beef, lamb, pork, and chicken or print a black and white copy for use as a coloring page or an interactive notebook.
Food Models
.
These full-color, life-size cardboard photographs of 200 commonly eaten foods are pictured in portion sizes with nutrition information presented in label format on the back. A perfect hands-on tool for teaching food and nutrition concepts! Included with your purchase are the Food Models and Leader Guide
Virtual Egg Farm Field Trips
.
Take a virtual tour of three different egg farms. Learn why each farmer chose their career, how their farm manages their ecological footprint and how they conserve natural resources all while raising the laying hens that produce eggs for our food supply.
Eggs 101: A Video Project
. Designed for the classroom, this collection of short videos showcases an egg’s journey from the hen house to our plates. This flexible series includes seven videos that give an in-depth explanation of an egg’s journey; from the barn experience to environmental management and from the egg itself to the homes of families nationwide.
Videos
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Applications for White Reinhardt Grants and Scholarships are now open!
White-Reinhardt grants
are offered to state and county Farm Bureaus in amounts up to $1,000 for ag literacy programs in grades K-12.
White-Reinhardt scholarships
are for educators and volunteers who actively participate in ag literacy efforts to attend the National Ag in the Classroom Conference.
The application period will end on
Wednesday, April 15
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Fuel Up to Play 60 Funding
Now through April 8, schools may apply for up to $4,000 to support Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Plays (projects) for the 2020-21 school year.
For more details:
This is a great opportunity for schools interested in involving students more in their wellness policies. If you have questions or want more information, reach out to
Katie Hoffman
.
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ReTreeUS
plants orchards in schools and provides educational programs that empower people to be healthy environmental stewards.
Fuel Up to Play 60
offers educators a wide array of resources they can use to help students make sustainable changes in their school environment.
Agroworld
is an agricultural science e-zine developed for the secondary educator.
KidsGardening
has ideas about plants and gardens, teacher resources, and grant opportunities.
The
Chop Chop
magazine and website has easy and healthy recipes.
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Funding from this plate has impacted up to 200,000 students annually
with lessons, materials, volunteers and teacher training. Annually up to $60K is distributed in grants to schools, FFA, 4-H and other Non-profit programs for Ag education initiatives by the Maine Agriculture in the Classroom Council.
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Donate today
to The Maine Agriculture in the Classroom Association
The Non-profit, completely volunteer, portion of MAITC. These funds are used directly to support teacher scholarships and recognition, and support volunteer participation for Ag education programs. Your donation is completely tax deductible and you can make a one-time donation or a recurring monthly donation which will support the mission, "to promote the understanding of agriculture and natural resources among students, educators, and the general public." If you have any other questions or would like to join this group please contact the chairman,
Maryjane Stafford
.
Donate Here
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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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