It started with FARM Crates and visits from the FARM Science Lab, then grew into an opportunity to get even more Ag in the Classroom.
Livingston County Farm Bureau’s Growing Seeds and Minds seminar sprouted from a desire to strengthen partnerships with their local schools and increase ag literacy in classrooms across their county.
They were honored this week by the American Farm Bureau Federation as a County Activities of Excellence winner, being selected as one of just 24 counties to receive the award. Livingston County Farm Bureau members staffed a booth on the trade show floor at the 107th American Farm Bureau Convention in Anaheim, California, where they talked with folks from across the country about the seminar.
The four-hour seminar provides K-12 teachers with high-quality, hands-on agricultural professional development that counts towards State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECH).
SCECH credits are valuable to Michigan educators who must receive a certain number each year for recertification, said Livingston County Farm Bureau member Molly Moulton.
“We worked with our local ISD — Michael Hubert is our superintendent there, who is also a local farmer in Fowlerville — and he was able to walk us through the process of applying for an application to get continuing education credit hours for our teachers,” Moulton told Michigan Farm News.
Livingston County Farm Bureau members used rye baskets to demonstrate a lesson on soil that could be used in the classroom to help students learn about ag.
“We talked to them about different soils in our county, what's good growing, what's not so good growing, and what we do at our farm to make sure our soil is in proper growing condition,” Moulton added.
“Rye grain grows super-fast. Within two days, you could see something popping up and sprouts coming — adding math into it, measuring it, and all that kind of stuff. It's just really a great project for the kids to see.”
Check out the video below to learn more about the Growing Seeds and Minds seminar.
