Adopt-a-School program helping to spread agriculture to schools

Thirty-three public and private schools and 96 teachers have been adopted as part of the Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom Adopt-A-Teacher and Adopt-A-School programs.

Participating donors’ contributions were earmarked for the educators or schools of their choice, and those teachers and schools received agriculture education resources and the opportunity to attend an AITC workshop at no cost.

Teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade and schools in five cities and 36 counties were adopted.

Teachers in four Richmond schools and two Henrico County schools in at-risk areas were adopted by Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. employees. Stafford County Farm Bureau promoted the initiative at its annual meeting, resulting in 12 Stafford teacher adoptions. Franklin County Farm Bureau adopted a teacher in each of that county’s 12 schools. Staff at Farm Credit of the Virginias had nine employees participate in the initiative this year.

“Word certainly got out this year about the Adopt-A-School and Adopt-a-Teacher programs, and that contributed to the success of the program. We were able to get Agriculture in the Classroom in front of so many teachers who may not have been aware of our program,” said Karen Davis, AITC executive director.

Adopted teachers received a kit that included a copy of an educational dairy DVD; access to more than 300 agriculture-related lesson plans; information about upcoming AITC workshops; the latest AITC teacher newsletter; and a copy of What’s in the Barn?AITC’s newest curriculum package. Adopted schools received the teacher kit and additional resources such as the Math Ag-tivities curriculum package, What’s Really Going on Down on the Farm poster and lessons, and at least two agriculture-themed books.

Virginia AITC has been providing resources to educators for more than 25 years and is part of a nationwide effort to help teachers and students understand and appreciate agriculture, which is Virginia’s and the nation’s largest industry. All AITC services are provided to educators at no cost.

The AITC program in Virginia is funded by donations received through the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. For more information, visitAgInTheClass.org.