2021/22 Back to School Ag Resources

Hello friends! I am sitting down to write this post on a beautiful Monday afternoon. The sun is shinning and there are fluffy white clouds hanging in the sky. Dean, my 9 month old, has reminded me to slow down and appreciate my surroundings. It is so fascinating to watch him take in new sites for the first time. We went to the dog park last week and Dean was so curious about all of the four-legged creatures running around. It is so cute to see him light up with excitement.

Speaking of excitement, that is exactly what I feel when I think about the upcoming school year! We begin our monthly lessons tomorrow and I feel so blessed to be heading back to the classroom. I can't wait to visit with students in person! We have many great resources to offer for the 2021/22 school year. Our resources include both in-person classroom visits, virtual lessons, and online resources.

Our mission is to increase youth awareness on the importance of ag, ag careers and the benefits provided by ag throughout an individual's life. To help accomplish our goal, we offer classroom visits, complete lesson plans, FarmChats (virtual field trips), career presentations, teacher workshops, publications and hatching!

PreK- Elementary Offerings:

1. Monthly schedule: Experience agriculture in your own classroom by inviting Linn County Farm Bureau Education Outreach to visit your classroom once a month. Visits typically last between 30 and 45 minutes. Lessons are Iowa Core aligned.

2. 4th grade units (by request):

Fall (soil): Four 30 minute lessons. Students will explore soil components, soil particles, erosion and weathering.

Spring (plants): Four 30 minute lessons. Students will experiment with seed germination and parts of a plant.

3. Harvest kit in partnership with ISUEO-Linn County (by request): A fun fall curriculum for 3rd-5th grade classrooms. Learn all about farms and harvesting from local Linn County Farmers. The kit includes lessons that cover corn, soybean, pumpkin, apple, hay and straw harvests. Each kit provides hands-on lessons and activities, books and samples.

4. Publications (by request): My Family Farm Series, Iowa Ag Today Magazines, Flat Aggie Adventures (dairy, pork and turkey).

5. 21 Day Hatching Program in partnership with ISUEO-Linn County (application process): Curriculum for grades K-1.

6. Virtual lessons 2021/22 Virtual Learning | mysite (linncoag.com)

7. Flat Aggie Adventures Newsletter Series Flat Aggie Adventures | mysite (linncoag.com)

8. Pizz-A-Thon Pizz-A-Thon | mysite (linncoag.com) Students will work in groups to research and develop a presentation about where their pizza ingredients come from. Classrooms will be provided a kit that includes materials about pork, dairy, beef, vegetables, and wheat. The program will run for four weeks.

Middle and High School Offerings:

1. Classroom visits: 30-60 minute lesson/presentations by request. We have lessons that teach about soil, water quality, renewable energy, food safety, GMOs, hydroponics and more.

Offerings for all ages:

1. FarmChat®: Take a field trip without leaving the classroom. Through FarmChat®, we can visit a farm or agriculture business with the use of virtual technology. Pre-recorded links: FarmChat® Friday Recordings Available! (linncoag.com)

2. Career presentations: Interested in bringing agriculture into your career days? Invite us to present to your students.

3. STEM Fests/Enrichment Days: Invite us to your school's STEM Fest or Enrichment days.

Offerings for Teachers:

1. Summer Professional Development: Two-day professional development workshops for teachers will be offered throughout the summer and around the state by the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation and partner organizations. The workshops will help teachers apply Iowa Core standards including social studies, and science in the context of agriculture. The workshops will also use agriculture to teach other core concepts and skills like language arts and math. The workshops will be hands on and interactive with one day of site visits and tours and one day of practical classroom application. Many STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) concepts will be integrated throughout.

2. Newsletters: Our monthly newsletters will serve as a place for: updates, upcoming Our monthly newsletters will serve as a place for: UPDATES ̴ UPCOMING EVENTS ̴ BLOG POSTS ̴ NEW LESSONS! events, blog posts and new lessons.

3. Grants: Visit Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation's website to learn more.

Email Morgan Hibbs at mhibbs@ifbf.org if interested in one of our programs.