I have been working with a group of teachers to bring how
food is raised into their classrooms through what I call the Flat Aggie
Project. Below is a part of the how we
do the project. Be sure to click on the
Flat Aggie Page to see all the details.
Here is a little about how I do my program.
Starting a Flat Aggie Program
Introducing the Flat Aggie Concept
Start by letting the teacher know that you are going to do
most of the work. Let them know that it
will teach them:
Geography, Envelope addressing, Many many standards are touched upon
Find out how often they would like to get a report from a
farmer.
·
I have done once a week for the last 7 weeks of
school.
·
I am trying once a month for the entire school
year.
I like for the class to color their own Flat Aggie. More on that in the teacher section.
Finding Farmer Hosts for Flat Aggie
I asked my friends to help out with the reports. I have friends all over the US from school
and with being involved with the American Soybean Association. Here is where I would start to ask for help:
- Commonground
- American AgriWomen
- AgChat Foundation
- Farm Bureau
I worked to get a wide range of farmers.
·
Cattle
·
Swine
·
Poultry
·
Corn/Soybeans
·
Technology Applications
·
Fruits and Vegetables
·
Dairy
I really hope to get some southern farmers involved to
include cotton or rice. It would also be
neat if I could get a Kansas wheat farmer in the fall when they are planting
and then have a quick report as school is getting out and the wheat is getting
closer to harvest.
Finishing the Reports
The first year the teacher wanted the reports on
Friday.
·
I set up the schedule for the entire time
period, so the farmers could think about and prepare for FA. I think I would do this again where corn
farmers could have harvest pictures if they are going to report in the spring.
·
I remind the farmers the month before their post
is due as well as the week before. We all
get busy with farmer and a quick email reminded them that a classroom of kids
was eagerly expecting a report.
·
I told the farmers I needed their reports on
Tuesday. This gave me time to edit and
get the pictures inserted in the correct places. A couple of reports I had to wait on until
Thursday night.
·
Most of them were really good about being on
time or before the deadline, but others had issues on their farm that took time
they weren’t expecting. (We all know how
that is.)
The Teachers receiving of the report and presentation
The public school that I worked with has all blogs blocked
on the school server.
1.
I posted the farmer reports on my blog.
2.
I then copied the entire report including
pictures and pasted it into an email. I
used a Word document once, but we had Apple to PC issues. It seemed to work best to put the report in
the body of the email.
3.
The teacher printed the report.
4.
Placed it into an envelope and addressed it to
the class from Flat Aggie.
If the school doesn’t have blogs blocked, it would be easier
to not have to email the post.
If your farmer’s or you want to send a snack to school for
the kids to enjoy on the day of the report, be careful about the school food
policies. Some don’t allow peanuts in
the building and other don’t allow homemade food. Just a little FYI.
-A Kansas Farm Mom
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