This is not easy to write, but I (Kelsey) will be leaving my position as Education & Outreach Coordinator with Maine Agriculture in the Classroom at the end of this month. I have been honored to represent and help grow MAITC over the past 8 years. The relationships that have been built and the work that has been collaborated on and accomplished will forever remain meaningful to me! I have enjoyed featuring your success stories in our newsletter and supplying you with information on resources and opportunities to meet your needs. The newsletter will be left in the very capable hands of MAITC Program Assistant, Melissa Daigneault. Melissa joined the staff last fall and has become an incredible asset to the team! I know our awesome readers will welcome her with open arms & she will be happy to assist you with your ag in the classroom needs! Email her at: mel.maitc@gmail.com

The 2025 Read ME Agriculture program will be held March 17 - 21, for Maine grades PK-4 students. This year's book is "Farmer Eva's Green Garden Life," about a real New England farmer from Massachusetts, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, who grew up on a dairy farm in Maine, and illustrated by Christy Hale.

Every classroom that participates will receive a copy of the book and accompanying educator’s guide, with aligned classroom activities. 

To best serve the hundreds of classrooms that participate in Read ME each year, the 2025 program will be a hybrid model where classrooms can choose from in-person and virtual options. Classrooms may choose their own reader or ask MAITC for help. Contacts may register their own classroom or schools may choose 1 contact to register multiple classrooms. 

Register Today! Please complete this google form by January 20, 2025, and if you're registering multiple classrooms, MAITC will contact you by email to fine tune your participation.

The Northeast Livestock Expo Kids Day is back for 2025! This is a full day field trip opportunity for Grades K-4 students. More than 30 different exhibits will be offered with animals, insects, history, and more! Buses are expected to arrive between 9:00 and 10:15 AM. Buses may only begin to leave after lunch at 12:15 PM, and the event will be finished for all at 2:00 PM. Bus transportation reimbursements will be available for schools within a 60 mile radius of Windsor Fairgrounds on a first-come, first-serve basis. Register your classroom here!

MAITC Grants

Applications are open for all of our grant categories!

We still have funding available for our 2024 grant program for Agriculture Leadership and Statewide Agricultural Education Organization grants. The application deadline for these categories is December 13, 2024! Learn more and apply here.

We are also accepting applications for our 2025 grant program for the Agriculture Awareness and School Garden and Greenhouse categories. The deadline for these categories is September 12, 2025, but we want to encourage you not to wait and apply early!

Maine School Garden Network has a fundraising opportunity - the 2026 School Garden of the Month Calendar. This will be a great way to raise funds for your school garden projects! But first, MSGN needs your help - they're looking for the best school garden pictures from schools all over the state! Twelve schools will be selected and featured as School Garden of the Month throughout the year. Each of these schools will also be eligible for the School Garden of the Year title and a spot on the calendar cover! Learn more about the fundraiser and submit your entry here.

Deadline to submit your entry is January 15, 2025.

New Hampshire Agriculture in the Classroom is hosting a maple symposium, designed for educators looking to get started with tapping trees as part of their curriculum, as well as teachers looking for new ideas to expand what they do with maple in their school and in the community. There will be industry experts, veteran teachers across all grade levels, and in-house experts as well. The Symposium will include a tour of Gilford Elementary School’s state-of-the-art sugar shack. A maple-themed lunch will be included.

Professional Development Hours Certificate will be available for all registered participants. The symposium will take place on January 31st, at Gilford Elementary School in Gilford, NH. Register HERE, email NHAITC with any questions.

Poinsettias are a plant we see a lot of this time of year, but how much do you know about them? Check out the following information about the “Christmas flower.”

History - Poinsettias are native to Mexico, but more specifically a southern area called Taxco del Alarcon. Around 600 years ago, the ancient Aztecs utilized poinsettias to dye clothing and face paints a reddish-purple color. Poinsettias produce a sappy wax that these ancient cultures used to treat fevers or pains. Today they are typically used as holiday decorations for Christmas time. December 12th is National Poinsettia Day! This day was chosen to celebrate poinsettias and to commemorate Joel Roberts Poinsett, the man who brought poinsettias to the United States and who the plant was named after. Joel Roberts Poinsett was the first United States ambassador to Mexico and decided to bring poinsettia plants home to South Carolina in 1828. Once the plant made its way to the United States, Joel gifted the plants to his friends which led to the sale of poinsettias. Mr. Poinsett passed away on December 12th, 1851, so we celebrate poinsettias on that day. 

Science - Why are poinsettias labeled as the Christmas flower? First, the big colorful part of the poinsettia are not flowers. The red or white flower-like parts of the plant are actually special leaves called bracts! The bracts start out as green, but eventually change colors. To change colors, the bracts need less daylight. The less daylight that poinsettias have, the more the bracts want to change colors. Poinsettias change in response to changes in the day length, this is called photoperiodism. During winter, there are fewer hours of daylight which is the perfect condition for poinsettias to change colors! This means that the poinsettias “blooms” are right in time for the winter holiday festivities.

Agriculture - To have better control of when they change color, poinsettias that are grown to be holiday decorations are grown indoors in greenhouses. Inside of a greenhouse, farmers can regulate the amount of light they receive to control when the bracts change color. In Mexico and other warm-weather climates, poinsettias are grown outside as large shrubs and can reach up to 10 feet tall!

National Agriculture in the Classroom (NAITC) is at risk of losing the curriculum matrix which provides free lesson plans and resources to bring education standards to life with agriculture in the K-12 classroom. The USDA/NIFA grant supporting NAITC was reduced by 50% for FY2024. Please consider reaching out to your Elected Officials to express your support to restore funding to the Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Program. Share how agricultural literacy integration impacts your classroom and the benefits it provides to your students. Learn more here.

Most funding for our local program comes from the Agricultural Specialty License Plate. If you have the opportunity to get a plate, that’s helpful to our Maine program!

You can also donate to our nonprofit board which provides scholarships for teachers to attend the NAITC conference, our Summer Teacher’s Institute, and other professional development opportunities for educators.

Check out our Winter Squash Resource Page for lessons, activities, books, and more!

Click here for the great Harvest of the Month (HOM) materials - posters, fact sheets, recipes, social media promo, and more! Learn more about how schools can participate.

Search the Ag Literacy Curriculum Matrix for even MORE resources!

All of our HOM Resource Pages can be found on our Teach ME site under "Teaching Units"

Don't forget that all SIX of our Agriculture for ME books are available to read online!