State Programs
State Summary 2010 — Virginia
State Contact
Ms. Karen Davis
Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom
P.O. Box 27552
Richmond, VA 23261
P: 804.290.1142
F: 804.290.1099
E: Karen.davis@vafb.com
Website
Classroom Resources
Achieve Magazine, a reading comprehension resource for middle school students, was published, distributed, and posted on the AITC website. http://www.agintheclass.org/Teachers/Pages/MiddleSchoolLessonPlans.aspx
VA AITC premiered The Garden Chef cookbook at the AITC national conference. Organized by food group, The Garden Chef cookbook highlights Virginia commodities and supplies recipes feasible for classroom preparation.
Two new teacher newsletters were printed and mailed to 10,000 teachers each. Topics for the 2009-2010 school year were Animal Welfare and Health and Nutrition. Newsletters include informational article, at least 2 lesson plans, book suggestions, and program highlights. All previous VA AITC newsletters are available for download. http://www.agintheclass.org/Teachers/Pages/Newsletter.aspx
VA AITC provided educational content for theDiggin' It" kids' page for the Virginia Farm Bureau associate member magazine, Cultivate. Cultivate has a quarterly circulation of 100,000. http://www.agintheclass.org/Teachers/Pages/SupplementalResources.aspx
Major Program Accomplishments or Outputs
Virginia AITC conducted 84 workshops, serving 1884 elementary, middle, and pre-service teachers. Workshops feature hands-on, standards-aligned, cross-curricular lessons. All workshop participants receive a resource kit with books, posters, and a class set of laminated Virginia commodity maps.
Ready, Set, Grow, a book about Virginia farms was written and published. The book features VA AITC original character, Farmer Ben and his dog Sandy. Farmer Ben and Sandy travel across Virginia visiting various farm operations. Other Farmer Ben items and resources were also introduced, including volunteer activities, coloring pages, and pencils. Farmer Ben materials aid the volunteers by giving them materials to use when working directly with students.
The VA AITC website was given a complete overhaul and facelift. Over 150 lesson plans are currently on the website for teachers to download and use in their classrooms. In preparation for this revamp, the Background Knowledge section of all AITC lesson plans wasbeefed up" to include more detailed agricultural information for teachers.
Major Program Impacts or Outcomes
According to elementary teachers who attended either general or garden-themed workshops: -99.5% of teachers would recommend it to another teacher. -94.5% indicated that their understanding and perception of agriculture had changed as a result of the workshop. -88% of teachers reported that they were very likely to use the AITC materials and resources in their classrooms.
According to middle school teachers who attended an AITC workshop: -100% would recommend it to another teacher. -96% indicated that their understanding and perception of agriculture had changed as a result of the workshop. -85% of teachers reported that they were very likely to use the AITC materials and resources in their classrooms.
Virginia AITC provides support to county Farm Bureaus who would like to supply elementary schools in their area with Learning Barns, which are barn shaped bookshelves filled with agriculturally-themed books. During the 2009-2010 school year, 26 Farm Bureaus utilized AITC support for this project and placed a total of 76 barns in schools across the Commonwealth.
Biosketch
I am graduate of James Madison University in Harrisburg, VA. I hold a BS and MBA from JMU. I have worked for VA AITC for 13 years first as Director of Development and currently as Executive Director.