Newsletters & Blog

September 2022

Lake Superior State University Education Students Bring Agriculture into their Classrooms

Michigan Agriculture in the Classroom partnered with Lake Superior State University College of Education for the second year hosting a 2-hour professional development aligned to the state science and social studies standards. Michelle Blodgett, Michigan Agriculture in the Classroom manager led this hands-on professional development that left the students feeling more confident about incorporating agriculture into their future classrooms. There were 22 Lake Superior State University K-12 social studies methods students in attendance. Seventeen students had an elementary focus and the remaining five had a middle and high school focus.

During this training, lessons from the National Agriculture in the Classroom Curriculum Matrix were demonstrated including, Right This Very Minute, a 3-5 grade level lesson. This lesson includes an agriculture accurate book about food production and farming following the table-to-farm concept. The lesson includes three activities, and all the necessary materials are free to any teacher. It is broken down into two one-hour sessions. The lesson plan not only provides a step-by-step plan for each activity but also gives background information and more resources for the educator. This lesson focusses on learning about the path food takes to get from farm to table along with the chance to explore what foods are grown locally. Students finish the lesson by writing thank you notes to farmers in their communities. After walking through the lesson and exploring others available in the matrix, the students from LSSU were tasked with creating their own lesson plan which included a Michigan agriculture focus.