Photo furnished
Ag in the Classroom
With Ag in the Classroom back for a new season, September’s lesson was on apples. Stephanie Naylor visited Sullivan and Okaw Valley Elementary schools. The Kindergarten and First graders tasted three popular types of apples and filled out a worksheet picking their favorite and completing a craft. The second, third and fourth graders learned several apple facts and completed an experiment creating an apple volcano. Naylor will meet with students one time a month to discuss a variety of Agriculture related topics.

•October 16, 2019•
By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

Stephanie Naylor has, for several years, been the Moultrie County instructor for the Ag in the Classroom program.
In that capacity she visits every K-3 class in Moultrie County once a month for 20 minutes and, in a year, teaches over 6,000 students about the wonders of agriculture through a variety of interactive programs. But such agricultural experiences were not always available.
Throughout much of our history, agriculture and education have been closely related. Old school books are full of agricultural reference because farming was part of nearly every child’s life prior to 1920.
From 1920-1950 farm populations shrank, agricultural emphasis decreased in books and agricultural education became more of an occupational specialty or a trade school course. Ag classes had virtually disappeared from most curriculums.
In 1981 the U. S. Department of Agriculture invited educators and representatives of agricultural organizations to discuss agricultural literacy and to form a task force to help bring agriculture back into the classroom. That same year the national program – Ag in the Classroom – was established and, as result, each state now addresses agricultural education in ways best suited to its own needs. Read More