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APPLICATIONS SOUGHT FOR TEACHERS TO ATTEND SUMMER WORKSHOP
 | | Area Organization Director Tommy Martin, right, talks about catfish farming with Jennifer Collins, center, and Madonna Choat, teachers at Webster Elementary School in Colbert County during last summer's AITC institute. Ninety teachers attended the institute where they watched catfish being seined from a pond in Perry County. |
MONTGOMERY, Ala.-- Applications are being accepted until April 15 for the annual Alabama Ag in the Classroom (AITC) Summer Institute, a grassroots program coordinated by the United States Department of Agriculture that arms teachers with materials and strategies to increase student knowledge of agriculture.Set for June 17-19 at the Huntsville Marriott, the workshop will include activities for kindergarten through sixth-grade teachers and field trips to several north Alabama farms. The activities incorporate language arts, science, social studies and math skills. "The curriculum, books and hands-on activities through AITC provide educators with exciting ways to incorporate agriculture into their daily classroom activities while also teaching their students where their food and fiber comes from," said AITC Chairman Kim Earwood. "There was a time when most children in Alabama grew up on a farm. But within the last century, most children are raised in a rural setting and many really don't understand how important farms are to their daily lives." The oohs and ahs, smiles and laughter from teachers who participated in the institute last summer were a sure sign they liked what they learned. Workshops included hands-on activities teachers can do with their students like making butter, chemical reactions used to make glue and arts and crafts projects used to demonstrate the water cycle and how plants grow. Jennifer Collins teaches first grade at Webster Elementary School in Muscle Shoals in Colbert County. She said last summer's institute was the best in-service program for teachers she's ever attended. "Everything was interesting, and I learned a lot that I can actually take back and use in my classroom," she said. The Institute will be limited to 95 educators, and applicants will be selected on the basis of an application form provided by the AITC Planning Committee and available online at www.AlabamaAITC.org. Roundtrip mileage to the workshop, lodging, meals and workshop materials will be furnished.
For more information, contact Kim Earwood, director of the Alabama Farmers Federation's Women's Division and AITC chairman, at (334) 612-5370 or email KEarwood@AlfaFarmers.org. Applications should be sent to: Amy Belcher, Alabama Ag in the Classroom, P.O. Box 3336, Montgomery, AL 36109-0336 or faxed to (334) 240-7169.
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