Texas Agriculture Daily

By Julie Tomascik

Editor

Students and teachers spent time digging into plant science and gardening through Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Ag Literacy Week, which was held in conjunction with National Ag Week, on March 18-22.

“Ag Literacy Week provides teachers with additional resources to help grow agricultural literacy among students,” said Jordan Bartels, TFB associate director of Organization Division, Educational Outreach. “The resources and hands-on activities can be incorporated into various grade levels and subject areas to make learning about agriculture fun and relatable.”

About 2,500 public, private and homeschool K-5 teachers signed up to receive a free, accurate ag book to read during the week, as well as an educator’s guide and TEKS-aligned lessons and activities.

The free book TFB provided was titled How to Grow a Monster. The short book highlights how siblings problem solve to grow a garden. The book inspires readers how to overcome challenges and use their creativity, and it also includes accurate, educational information about zucchinis.

Teachers like Alison Davis at Lake Air Montessori Magnet School in Waco used the free resources to introduce agriculture into the week’s lesson plans.

“Incorporating agriculture in the classroom is very important to me,” Davis said. “I chose to participate in this program because it’s an amazing resource for teachers. The purposeful activities relate to the content we teach through TEKS and our standards.”

Davis, who teaches kindergarten, had an exciting week planned for her students.

They planned their garden, discussed the nutrients plants need, the role of pollinators and learned more about companion planting. She even made brownies with zucchini for the students to try and purchased zucchini plants for each of the students to plant at home, as well as in the school garden.

They have a greenhouse, classroom gardens and a large butterfly garden on campus to encourage interactive learning. Throughout the year, the students hatch chickens in the classroom, grow produce in the garden and take care of chickens and goats that are also on the property.

“Ag Literacy Week was hands-on, interactive and really relatable to the kids,” she said. “We’re going to plant some zucchini in the garden, so they can see the growing process. I think making those connections so they can really grasp what we’re teaching them, and the entire growing process, is so important.”

The Ag Literacy Week program resources could be adapted for kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.

“I teach the youngest learners, and I feel very strongly that a part of my job is to make sure that they know where their food comes from, how all things work together from the environment, plants, animals and humans, and how it’s important for children to learn to take care of their environment, themselves and other living things,” she said. “Teaching children these lifelong skills will help them for years to come.”

In addition to the resources provided, Kiki Thorpe, the author of How to Grow a Monster, shared a video of her reading the book with the participating classrooms.

TFB’s goal is to expand student knowledge about agriculture and help students grow into more informed consumers, while also providing resources that educators can use.

View the #ReadAgBooksTX2024 hashtag on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see more ag in the classroom activities from the week.

TFB also works year-round to increase agricultural literacy in Texas classrooms through a variety of in-classroom programs, lessons, resources, grants and teacher professional development. More information on those opportunities and resources is available at texasfarmbureau.org/aitc.