IDAHO

State Contact: Mr. Rick Waitley Idaho Agriculture in the Classroom 55 SW 5th Avenue, Suite 100 Meridian, ID 83642

Phone: (208) 888-0988 Fax: (208) 888-4586 E-mail: rcwaitley@spro.net Website

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Major projects accomplished this year

• We have continued our work with the Idaho Weed Awareness Campaign and have developed a new Secondary Teacher Kit. We have also expanded our interest in helping local FFA Chapters conduct field days and Ag Expos for elementary students. The activity is an agriculture education activity for the high school student and of great value to elementary teachers and students. Idaho AITC has played a major role in helping to coordinate educational displays for the Ag Expos as well as to secure materials and information the teachers can use in the classroom following the tours.
• We changed our approach to a student reader this year and contracted with the American Farm Bureau to use their Ag Mags. We have been very pleased with the response from teachers and feel the content and quality of the publication is of great value to the teacher.
• In the fall we targeted schools with the Idaho Preferred Program from the Department of Agriculture and conducted week-long agriculture awareness activities in two local elementary schools. The program was a test pilot for expansion across the state to raise awareness in the minds of children about products grown, processed and produced in Idaho. We had excellent cooperation from the Dept. of Education, local school districts and commodity groups in making this event a success.

Major impacts the program had this year

• Agriculture Education is a vital part of a student's awareness towards understanding our industry. We are attempting to look for every venue that allows this opportunity to be developed from K-12. We have continued to be a resource for teachers for new materials and curriculum that are available, serving as a clearinghouse for these materials. We are concentrating on two areas—social sciences of agriculture and the middle/high school educational materials. We have expanded our partnerships with natural resource education providers throughout Idaho and are looking at developing a Natural Resource Center at the local Discovery Center for children. AITC is taking the lead in this project.
• We are encouraging more and more FFA chapters to explore the Ag Expo approach to education of elementary children in their local districts. We have worked closely with the new Idaho Preferred Program conducted by the Department of Agriculture to raise awareness as to the diversity of Idaho agriculture products and what to look for in the supermarket when shopping that will be from Idaho.