Past Grant Recipients
Spring 2019 Oklahoma Pork Council Grant Winners
Anna Wofford, Frederick Elementary, Frederick, OK $500
Grant Summary
The purpose of the grant is to use the AITC lessons to teach students about the importance of bees. It is important that students understand the work that goes on inside a honeycomb. All bees have a job and the way pollination helps plant life. I want to teach students that there are many things in our environment that we need and don't even realize all the things that go on in an agriculture world. This project will allow my students to learn why we need bees in our agricultural environment. Students learn the bee's reputation for being a pest is outweighed by the benefit they provide. An observation hive will be purchased and the following activities will take place over a 3-4 week period on a daily basis: Learning what can be made with Beeswax and why it is so important while exploring the mathematical design of a bees honeycomb; Learning about a bees life and how they work together, everyone having a job to produce, while learning the bee dance; Learning about pollination and the life cycle; Learning how bees are beneficial social insects. Oklahoma AITC lessons Bee's Wax, Bee Dance, Bee Smart: Bee Happy, and Bee's Honey will be used.
Christie Puckett, Maysville Elementary, Maysville, OK $500
Grant Summary
Grant funds will be used to purchase 3 different versions of "The Three Little Pigs" including the "Three Little Pigs: Architectural Tale," and "Hogwash. Several lessons from AITC will be incorporated including, but not limited to, This Little Pig, Truth or Hogwash, and Clucking Chickens. Working in teams students will build a house out of given material (straws, Q-tips, toothpicks, masking tape, sugar cubes, clay, marshmallows, coin wrappers). The houses need to withstand wind from a blow dryer. If it doesn't they will go back to the drawing board to reconstruct a stronger house as time allows. Students will also work in teams to develop a race track from string and chairs as anchors, to race their balloon pig on a straw, students will work with elevations and heights for ultimate results. Using the lawn game Jenga or Cornhole game, students will answer various question on Ag Literacy and swine history facts. They will demonstrate what they have learned from the the lessons. Using empty water bottles students will work in teams to make four breeds of swine after their research. All of these lessons will enhance and supplement my 3rd-6th grade Science class with STEM Lessons. Part of the funds will be used to teach kindergarten through second grade ag related topics. Once a month I read an accurate ag books to the entire student body then over the course of two days bring in the lower grades to my lab and do an AITC lesson with them. Using the book "From Egg to Chicken" students will learn about the growth and chicken cycle. Students will construct their own chicken from solo cups string and damp sponge making the chicken sound.
Michelle Spurgin, Mark Twain Elementary, Duncan, OK $375
Grant Summary
Students will examine the creations, supply, use, and trade of wheat and other agriculture crops in Oklahoma. Students in 1st grade will use versions of "The Little Red Hen" to examine the process of bread production using wheat from start (creation) to finish (use). Third graders will explore the supply and trade of wheat and other crops across Oklahoma using their knowledge of Oklahoma' s tourism regions. 3rd graders will complete Oklahoma boxes of crop commodities based on regions in Oklahoma. Both grades will have their final assessment of their knowledge of the food process by grinding some wheat and making "Tortilla's in a Bag." AITC lessons used will include: Bread in a Bag, Clucking Hens, Ag in my Community, Oklahoma Grown, and Tortilla's in a Bag.
Kellie Badley, Laverne Elementary, Laverne, OK $500
Grant Summary
Supplies that make learning more exciting and fun for students cost quite a bit. I have many Ag in the Classroom projects I like to do with all of the students in 2nd grade in our school. Here is a list of projects: Ice Cream in a Bag, Wet and Woolly, Tortilla in a Bag, Weeds in the Windowsill, Playing in the Dirt, Bean is a Seed, Pumpkins, Squash, and other Cucurbits, Bread in a Bag, Agriculture is a Cycle, Cornbread in a Bag, & Peas, Please. I am using the Educator's guides for several books that I have received and getting supplies for each project. We start off with a literacy book (10 to 15 minutes) then I do a hands on project to make it come alive and help the students comprehend what they have read. Also we learn about what it is like in other places that grow products, how food gets to the table or how it is used. I try to take about 30 minutes per lesson total because of time restraint with in the class period.
Lisa Nicholson, Tulsa County Extension, Tulsa, OK $500
Grant Summary
I have started teaching a nine week program called Farm Fun in Union Public Schools in Tulsa mainly with first and second graders. Many students have zero knowledge about agriculture and how it affects our daily lives. I want to change that by introducing them to new agriculture experiences. I start the program with the Ag in the Classroom lesson Farm Babies to introduce simple terms and concepts. We then build each week by introducing a new farm animal or seasonal lesson ( such as Pumpkins, Make Mine Turkey, and Oh, Christmas Trees). While teaching the Story of Milk, I bring part of a milking machine so they can see how it works and we also make butter from heavy whipping cream. During the last few weeks of the program I like to teach the lessons, A Day Without Agriculture, Made From Animals, and The Magic of Agriculture so students can see how important agriculture is to their everyday lives. During the summer months of June and July I have already scheduled some programming with older students. I plan to expand the lessons I am currently teaching. For example we will make a STEM structure that can withstand wind (hairdryer) in the This Little Pig lesson.
Michelle Berry, Oklahoma Christian Academy, Edmond, OK $350
Grant Summary
Grant funds will be used to help purchase supplies to observe chick eggs from incubation to birth. We get eggs from a teacher within our school, but need the other supplies to help with the incubator, lamp, etc. We will observe and discuss the life cycle of the chick from Day 1 to Day 21. We will discuss how a chick egg can be fertile, vs. non fertile. We like to show the different stages as to how the chick forms in the egg, how they use the egg tooth and the air sac. We will also show them all the ways a chick is helpful within our daily lives and how they are useful to us. We will use the lessons from Ag in the Classroom: Chicken and Eggs along with corresponding activities as in Chicken and Eggs reading page, Clucking Chickens craft & Egg Toss Math; we will also include the lesson Farm Babies.