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ARIZONA AGRICULTURAL LITERACY DAYS |
We're excited to announce a pilot of the first children's book dedicated to Arizona's agriculture industry. Since circumstances have prevented the printing of the book in time for the 2012 AZ Ag Literacy Days, a PowerPoint version will be used instead.
Arizona Agriculture Literacy Days began in 2005 with the goal of having a farmer/agriculturalist visit a classroom to help students understand our connection to agriculture. For the past seven years, Arizona Agriculture Literacy Days has taken place the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Thanksgiving. What better time of the year to show our gratitude to Arizona agriculturalist than during the Thanksgiving season! Over the years, others who didn't consider themselves farmers/agriculturalist, but had a passion for our connection to the land, wanted to help educate students about where our food and clothing really comes from.
Unfortunately, most children tend to only consider the grocery and clothing stores and aren't aware that it all starts on the farms and the ranches. Each year, we have encouraged volunteers to take 20 minutes of their time to visit a near-by elementary school and read a provided book on agriculture to young students. It has been our intent to help the upcoming generation see how connected we all are to agriculture.
There are three easy steps to make your visit happen. First, think of the children in your life. It may be your own child, niece/nephew, or grandchild. It could also be some kids in your neighborhood, or even those at the elementary school whom you smile at as you drive to work. Second, contact an elementary school. If you have a specific K-3 classroom in mind, then get in touch with the teacher and schedule the visit. If you're unsure which classroom to visit, be sure to contact the school's librarian and work with her/him to set-up the visit with a specific class. Finally, once you've set-up a date and time with a classroom, you'll need to complete the Online Registration Form.
Once we receive your submitted form, you will be given access to a PowerPoint that will be shown to the students as if it were a book. You won't have to bring the PowerPoint with you to the class, but you will need to view it in order to familiarize yourself with the story. We will coordinate with the teachers to ensure that they will have downloaded the PowerPoint prior to your arrival. We will also arrange for the teachers to advance the slides during your visit if this is helpful for you. In the event that your classroom does not have the ability to view a PowerPoint, we will mail to you materials that will allow you to share the "book" with the students.
In order to complete logistics, we ask that you set-up the class visits and submit the online form no later than two weeks before Thanksgiving. Please feel free to contact BMoak@cals.arizona.edu with any questions.
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