Need CPDUs? Want to learn about some new materials available through Ag in the Classroom? The Agricultural Literacy Program will be hosting workshops in October.

October 1st—New Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom materials including ISATs—10 Minutes A Day The IAITC Way! Illinois Ag in the Classroom has put together ISAT prep materials based off their popular Ag Mags. There are vocabulary, math, and reading activities as well as an extended response question for each of the 20 Ag Mags that are currently in print or available online.

October 8th—The Very Hungry Caterpillar Visits Hancock County. Based on the popular book, participants in this workshop will make a book to take back to their classrooms. As The Very Hungry Illinois Caterpillar eats its way through the Illinois crops, the book teaches about the lifecycle of a monarch butterfly as well as Illinois commodities.

Look for more registration information about these workshops to be mailed to schools soon.

Do you teach agriculture to your students by participating in county agricultural literacy programming or by enhancing curriculum on your own? Would you like to be able to purchase some new classroom resources like books, videos/DVDs and educator resources for your classroom? IAITC has a $250 classroom grant available for non-consumable resources available to Illinois teachers. The grant application can be found at http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/hancock/downloads/16421.pdf

The application is due October 1st. For more information or ideas, contact Dawn at 217-357-2150 or dweinber@illinois.edu. Let's bring some of this money to Hancock County!

I would like to welcome Hamilton Kindergarten and Dallas City Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms to Ag in the Classroom this school year. With the addition of these classrooms, I will be visiting over 1,500 Hancock County students in 86 classrooms each month through the school year.

Thanks to all of the teachers that have made the Hancock County Agricultural Literacy Program successful over the last 11 years.

Three Hancock County educators, joined by six others from Fulton and McDonough counties, earned three graduate credits by participating in the Western Illinois University Summer Agriculture Institute July 22—24 and 27—29, 2009.

Rena Rose, Adele Litchfield, and Karen Nolte, all Nauvoo—Colusa Elementary teachers learned about ways to incorporate agriculture into their classrooms while taking "field trips" to various destinations in Brown, Fulton, Hancock, McDonough and Schuyler counties.

Some of the stops included a beekeeper, DOT Foods, a winery, Timewell Tile, equipment dealership, veterinarian, and beef, and dairy farms.

In addition to these tours, the teachers learned about resources available through Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom and had an opportunity to work through some of the lessons in the mAGic kits.

For SAI alumni, you may want to make note that WIU is planning an SAI 2 for the summer of 2010! Keep checking this newsletter for more information as it becomes available or contact Dawn to be added to a mailing list.

Mark your calendars for February 9, 2010 to attend the Ag Awareness Conference, Renewing Your Energy in Ag Literacy. This day long conference will be held at the Parke Hotel in Bloomington.

Looking for a conference for next summer? The 2010 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference will be held in Baltimore, Maryland June 24—26 at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel.

More information about each of these conferences will be sent to schools as it becomes available.

September is…

· National Honey Month

· National Nutrition Month

· National Rice Month

· National Chicken Month

· National Pancake Day (26)

October is…

· National Pasta Month

· National Pizza Month

· National Popcorn Month

· National Pork Month

· National Apple Month

· National Pretzel Month

· National Candy Corn Day (30)

· National Chocolate Day (28)

November is…

· National Peanut Butter Month

· Sandwich Day (3rd)

Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom

www.agintheclassroom.org

National Agriculture in the Classroom

www.agclassroom.org

American Farm Bureau Foundation

www.ageducate.org

ARS Science 4 Kids

www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids

EPA Teaching Center

www.epa.gov/teachers

Agricultural Web Quests

www.mofb.org/webquest

U of I Extension Schools On-Line

www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/SchoolsOnline/index.html