Showing posts with label Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Engaging youth in agriculture

By Nichole Gouldie, Communications Specialist

Now that school is back in session, kids are being immersed in reading, science and math. Outside the classroom at the Kansas State Fair, children had the opportunity to experience first-hand the importance of agriculture.

Last Friday I had the chance to volunteer with the Kansas Beef Council (KBC) at Agriland. Agriland, an interactive exhibit in the Pride of Kansas building, provides youth and adults the opportunity to learn the importance of agriculture and the impact it has on their everyday lives.

Guests visiting Agriland traveled through learning areas for beef, dairy, soils, grains, stewardship and nutrition/dietary guidelines. In those areas we taught visitors about how crops and livestock provide us not only with food, but also with numerous products we use in our everyday lives—from basketballs to bubble gum. In the livestock area, fair goers took photos with the cutouts and weighed themselves on a scale, comparing themselves with the weights of a calf or a bushel of grain. In the grains area children immersed their hands in buckets of grain including corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum, sunflowers and others. A favorite for the kids was the experience of "driving" a combine.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Ag Advocate Challenge Investment Pays Off

MKC is pleased to celebrate the success of its $2,000 investment in educational programs provided by Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (KFAC). 

Executive Director, Cathy Musick, presents to a group of
grade school students.
The contribution to the Ag Advocate Challenge, pooled together with other donations, allowed KFAC to reach over 23,000 Kansas elementary students and their teachers. Donor dollars helped pay for printing of lesson plans, educator guides and Kansas Kids Connection Magazines. 

Additional dollars were leveraged as teachers attended summer graduate courses and in-service trainings. Funding was used to perform research and development activities to develop new delivery methods for agriculture literacy lesson plans.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Planting the seed

By Kathy Hanks, Freelance Writer for MKC
School funding cuts forced a McPherson teacher, Tiffany Pacey, to eliminate class field trips to the farm.

But, she still wanted to introduce her Eisenhower Elementary School kindergarten students to the world of agriculture and help them understand where their food came from.

So, she visited the Groveland branch of Mid Kansas Cooperative and brought back different grains to discuss with her curious students.

“I was flying by the seat of my pants,” Pacey admitted.