Well, I have arrived back to Onarga safe and sound. I joke that I came back to work to rest. It was a wonderful conference and look forward to maybe going to Baltimore, Maryland next year. I decided that I needed a little downtime on Friday evening, so I did not blog. Here is a recap of Friday and Saturday.

On Friday morning we began with breakfast at 7 a.m. These were the state breakfast. Each state had their own table. You could pick whatever table you wanted to go to where you learned about agriculture in their state. Each table tried to get you to come to their table by having lots of "goodies" for those who sat at their table. I joined the Utah table. I learned that Utah is the Bee State. They have more native bees than honeybees. Our goodies included a nutrition curriculum, honey, a Utah truffle, shelf stable milk, Goldfish (Pepridge Farms is in Utah), a bee poster, a brownie mix, and more! After learning about Utah's agriculture we heard from Dr. Jim Painter, Chair of the School of Family & Consumer Sciences at Eastern Illinois University. His documentary titled "Portion Size Me" talks about making healty fast food choices. Visit http://www.eiu.edu/~famsci/portionsizeme/PSMindex.php to see more about "Portion Size Me".

Next we had the opportunity to attend various workshops on a wide variety of topics. The first session I attended was called "Agriculture Puts the Bio into Biotech". Chris Fleming of Tennessee gave us some great activities we can do with students to teach biotechnology. We even got to extract some DNA from ourselves and see it in a dish.

The second session I went to was "An Ag Day? Why?" conducted by Mary Ann Kelsey of Oklahoma. She is a principal at a private elementary/middle school. We learned how to approach administrators and "sell" our program and resources to them.

Next came lunch. We had a great Grilled Chicken salad and mousse that was to die for. During lunch we were able to hear from the five award winning teachers from across the United States and what they are doing in their classrooms.

Following lunch we had another workshop. I attended one called "Ag Literacy in Today's Classroom". Herbert Parks of Tennessee is a Kindergarten teacher. He talked about some great books that can be used in the classroom that teach agriculture to kids. He also gave some activities to go along with them. Research shows that reading a book does little to help a student retain what is read. If you add an activity to the story, the retention is about 75%-90% greater.

We were treated with a snack in the afternoon that consisted of some St. Louis favorites including Fitz's root beer, jumbo pretzels, and Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. We were also treated to hand massages using soybean lotions.

The final workshop of the day was a mini workshop (45 minutes instead of 90 minutes). During this session I learned about North Carolina Sweet Potatoes. I learned of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commissions's CSPI (Carolina Sweet Potato Investigation) project and heard from a teacher who is using their curriculum. Her class has even adopted a sweet potato field. See their efforts at www.ncsweetpotatoes.com.

We had a free evening on Friday night. Several people went to the Cardinals came. Me being a true Cubs fan couldn't bring myself to go (that and the high heat and humidity). I opted instead for a nice relaxing meal with a few of my fellow Illinois coordinators at the Top of the Riverfront restaurant at the top of our hotel. This is a restaurant that revolves so you see the wonderful sights of the St. Louis riverfront. It takes 90 minutes to make a complete revolution. We started out in the daytime, but after 2 full revolutions we were able to see the sights in their night beauty as well.

Saturday was our final day. We began early with coffee (even I drank coffee as I was so tired at this point). I attended another mini workshop. This time I heard Emily White, a media specialist from Alabama, speak on a project done with her elementary students. Many of her students thought french fries came from McDonalds and wool sweaters came from the store. She revealed some great books that help students know where different products come from and the project she did with those students.

Our final workshop of the conference was listening to Rose Judd-Murray of Utah. She taught us how to find a plethora of resources using the National Teacher Resource Directory.

Our conference concluded with a closing brunch where we heard about plans for the 2010 conference in Baltimore, Maryland and the 2011 conference in Florida. We also heard from noted children's book author and illustrator, Gail Gibbons. She spoke on her experiences as a writer and talked about her books.

After that it was home to see my family who I missed dearly. This was a great conference. I was glad to be able to share these experiences with Deb Talbert, Iroquois West 1st Grade Teacher, who also had a great time. I hope that you have enjoyed this blog of my travels. Maybe next year you will want to join me in Maryland where the theme is "Pioneers of Ag...Sailing into the Future". Watch for more details.

If you have any questions about this conference please feel free to contact me at alchandl@illinois.edu or at 815-268-4051.

Wow. Day 2 is done. It has been a very exhausting day. It is 10:30 p.m. so I am going to keep this somewhat short as breakfast begins at 7 in the morning.

We started the day at 6:30 a.m. by having a great breakfast here at the hotel. It was a hot day so we loaded up with water and hit the road for our traveling tours. My tour had 44 people and we began the day at the ART Co. which is a River Terminal for ADM. After learning a little bit about the boats and what they do we got to take a tour of the Ardyth Randall tow boat. It is interesting they call it a tow boat because they actually push the barges up or down the river. A tow going up the river can take up to 15 barges (due to the locks and dams) or 25 barges going South of St. Louis (there are no locks and dams south of St. Louis). One barge will hold 65 truckloads of grain or 15 rail cars. The crew that works on the boat work 30 days on and then 30 days off. They work 6 hr. shifts around the clock. The boat we toured was a 6000 hp tow that had two 3000 hp engines.

Our second stop was Hummert International. It is a commerical distributor of horticultural supplies and equipment. Their International Headquaters are in St. Louis. They have an office, 10,000 sq. ft. showroom, warehouses, and 3, 400 sq. ft. display greenhouse all under one roof. We learned about some of the current trends in horticulture and took aways some great activities to use with students.

After a brief lunch at Creve Coeur Park we headed to our third stop at the Monsanto Chesterfield Village Research Center. How cool!!! It was so neat to see the actual research going on there to help develop new seed varieties that help increase yield, resist pests, and even provide more nutritional value. Of course no pictures were allowed, so you will only see a picture of the outside of the building with the greenhouses on the top floor. Biotechnology crops were first planted in fields in 1996. Today there are 25 countries that plant biotech crops. It takes 8-10 years and approximately 100 million dollars for a new idea to go completely through the Monsanto pipeline before being released to the public.

Our final stop on the traveling tours was Stemme Farms. Warren Stemme gave us some information on his 1100 acre, four generation farm in St. Louis County. We once again boarded the bus to head back to our home away from home.

After we arrived back at the hotel we had 30 minutes to freshen up before boarding the busses again to head to Grant's Farm. At Grant's Farm we took a tram ride through the wildlife park at the Farm and saw Grant's home as well as many FREE ROAMING animals such as buffalo, antelope, elk, deer, turkeys, and LOTS of geese. It was so neat because some of these animals were wandering around and were within arms reach of the tram. We then arrived at the main house area where we enjoyed a wonderful meal and got to sit and chat about our tours with others in the group. We also got to wander around the stables and get our picture taken with Max (a Clydesdale who was in one of the Budweiser commericals). After nightfall it finally cooled off and we boarded the busses to head back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we have State Breakfasts where you can sit at another state's table and learn about their state's programs while eating breakfast. After that we have a full day of workshops with a free evening. Enjoy the pictures of today.

If you have e-mailed me I am sorry that I haven't had a chance to check them. This has been a BUSY but fun conference so far.

Good night!

Well, day one is now done. I have been successful at connecting to the internet from my room, so I am going to post some pictures of some of today's events. In today's earlier post I mentioned the Interest Approach Fair, Roundtables.

I have to say that we are not going to starve here. They are feeding us well. Tonight's supper was a salute to The Hill. The Hill is a unique Italian neighborhood here in St. Louis. It was settled in the early 1900's by Italian immigrants. The Hill and its residents carry on their traditions in this neighborhood - even the fireplugs are painted green, white, and red in tribute to Italiy's tricolors. The meal consisted of many Italian dishes including pasta, breadsticks, and toasted ravioli. Toasted ravioli originated here in St. Louis at a restaurant called Angelo Oldani's (now called Mama Campisi's). It was an accident that turned into a great dish when an assistant dropped a ravioli in what he thought was a pot of boiling water but was oil. Mr. Oldani tried to salvage the ravioli by brushing on some grated cheese.

Also at tonight's supper we heard from Dr. Lyndon Irwin who spoke on the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Some people on tours will be traveling to the original site of the fair tomorrow.

Here are few pictures to enjoy.

I have made it to St. Louis and have experienced some of my first National Ag in the Classroom Conference. I found my way here fine. That was one of my biggest fears as I those of you who know me know I don't like traffic. The Millennium Hotel is going to be my home for the next few days. The hotel is located on the river between the Arch and Busch Stadium. I was hoping for a view of one of these two, but instead have a view of the Interstate.

Upon arriving I attended the Newcomers meeting. We were briefed on the conference events and given some reminders. There are 581 people here for the conference. After the conference we went to the Interest Approach Fair which was themed after The Pike at the 1904 World's Fair. Here there were 40 make and takes like an Earth Bracelet, Thankful Turkey, and Garden in a Glove.

After going up to the room to unload my loot (and boy did we get a lot of it) I went to a Roundtable discussion where I learned about some Tennessee curriculum on livestock. Here I was able to taste (yes taste!) Milo packing peanuts. They are similar to the biodegrable corn peanuts. They taste like Cheetos without the cheese. I will bring some home with me in case you want to try one!

I am now sitting in the exhibit area where Dell has sponsored a Cyber Cafe. I am not sure if I will be able to utilize Internet free of charge from my room. So if I have to blog from here I may not be able to blog as often (only 4 computers here) and you will have to wait to see pictures upon my return.

Shortly we will be enjoying supper with a salute to The Hill (Italian) and hearing from a few of our sponsors speak. The morning will begin at 6:30 a.m. with breakfast and then boarding the busses for the traveling tours.

I am learning a lot already and looking forward to bringing these ideas back and sharing them with everyone.

Wow! It is hard to believe that next week at this time I will be in St. Louis getting ready to go on our traveling tours for the National Ag in the Classroom Conference. I hope my family can survive without me for four days! I am very excited to be attending this conference. There are 570 people from across the United States and Canada attending this year. I am sure to meet some wonderful people. There are also a couple of teachers going from this area too - Deb Talbert, Iroquois West 1st Grade and Diana Kaiser, Donovan PreK. I look forward to bringing back some information and activities to share with youth, teachers and the community. Don't forget to check back here next week to see our "Agventures" from the conference.

Are you looking to have your own summer "agventure"?

How about visit the Lincoln Park Zoo where you can see the exhibit "Farm in the Zoo". You can see milking demonstrations, pet some different livestock and see the new soybean display. "Illinois Soybeans: Growing Food, Growing World" is an interactive display that just opened in the "Farm in the Zoo". It features lots of hands out activities that help you learn about how soybeans are planted, harvested, and processed. You will also learn about some of the foods and other products made from soybeans.

The Children's Discovery Museum in Bloomington, Illinois also has a wonderful ag exhibit called "AgMazing". Here you can sit in a tractor and see what happens to the grain after it is harvested. Do you know how many gallons of milk you weigh? Visit this exhibit to find out!

To learn more about the dairy industry take a trip Fair Oaks, Indiana and visit Fair Oaks Farms. See a baby calf being born, learn about the nutritional value of eating/drinking dairy products, and even taste some of them at the Cheese Factory.

Finally, for a closer agriculture experience visit the fair. The 2009 Ford County Fair will be held in Melvin July 5-11. Crescent City will host the 2009 Iroquois County Fair July 15-20. See you there!

There are only 20 days until I hit the road to head to St. Louis to the National Ag in the Classroom conference. Over 300 people will be there to learn how they can bring agriculture into their classroom and integrate it in teaching science, math, language arts, social studies, etc. Here is a little look at what we will be doing for our four fun filled days.

June 24 - Since this is my first time to the conference I will be attending the Newcomers meeting to learn all about the ins and outs of the conference. After that attendees will roam around the interest approach fair that will be set to the theme of the "World's Fair" that was once held in St. Louis. As we attend the "fair" we will be able to learn short activities to introduce different topics to our students. There will also be some round table discussions going on at this time which will allow for idea sharing. Finally that evening dinner will be a "Salute to the Hill" theme.

June 25 - This is going to be a BUSY day. The group will begin early in the morning with traveling workshop. I chose the workshop that will visit an ADM River Terminal, Hummert Greenhouses, Monsanto, and Stemme Farms. Other places on the tour agenda include a lock and dam, the St. Louis Science Center, Fitz Rootbeer, Budweiser, the National corn to Ethanol lab, and Cahokia Mounds. Once we arrive back from our tours we will be traveling to Grant's Farm for an evening meal and fun.

June 26 - Friday is a day of workshops. There are over 20 different workshops to choose from - each 1 hour 15 minutes in length. We will also hear from Jim Painter, author of Portion Size Me and The Right Foods to Eat. That evening participants will have a free evening to see the sights of St. Louis.

June 27 - Before going home we will have the chance to attend a couple of mini workshops sessions. These are 45 minute workshops. The conference will end with a closing brunch with speaker Gail Gibbons, author of many books including Corn.

Those attending also have the opportunity to participate in a pretour on June 24 that will go to Historic St. Charles. A post tour will be held on June 27 and take participants to Kimmswick.

I will attempt to blog and post pictures of the conference while I am there.

There are still a couple of scholarships still available. If you are interested in attending please contact Aimee Chandler at alchandl@illinois.edu or 815-268-4051. Visit the website to register at www.agintheclassroom.org.