State Programs
State Summary 2010 — Washington
State Contact
Ms. Gaynor Edwards
Washington Agriculture in the Classroom
P.O. Box 3638
Lacey, WA 98509-3638
P: 509.349.8833
F: 509.989.0253
E: info@waic.net
Website
Classroom Resources
Teacher Resources
Ag@School
WAIC publishes a student activity magazine targeted at fourth grade students. Three issues are produced each school year and class sets are mailed to subscribing classrooms in late September, early January, and mid March. The magazines are free to Washington teachers. Ag@School is designed to help teachers develop agricultural literacy without adding to an already heavy teaching load. All lessons and activities are geared to Washington's Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs). Class sets come with a teacher guide that includes background, discussion starters, vocabulary definitions, answers, and post-test activities.
Downloads
Select the issue to be downloaded from the list below. Issue Magazine Teacher's Guide Winter. Fine ARTS Contest Ends: March 5, 2011 Volume 10, Issue 2, 2010/2011 Ag@School Magazine (2.45MB) Teacher's Guide (1.32MB)
Fall: Fine ARTS Contest Ends November 5 Volume 10, Issue 1, 2010/2011 Ag@School Magazine (4.48MB) Teacher's Guide (1.72MB)
Spring: Volume 9, Issue 3, 2009/2010 Ag@School Magazine (4.24MB) Teacher's Guide (2.53MB)
Winter: Volume 9, Issue 2, 2009/2010 Ag@School Magazine (4.2MB) Teacher's Guide (1.95MB)
Fall: Art Contest Rules Ends November 9 Volume 9, Issue 1, 2009/2010 Ag@School Magazine (5.11MB) Teacher's Guide (1.13MB)
Spring: Volume 8, Issue 3, 2008/2009 Ag@School Magazine (2.56MB) Teacher's Guide (1.85MB)
Winter: Volume 8, Issue 2, 2008/2009 Ag@School Magazine (8.88MB) Teacher's Guide (1.27MB)
Fall: Volume 8, Issue 1, 2008/2009 Ag@School Magazine (6.51MB) Teacher's Guide (.98MB)
Spring: Volume 7, Issue 3, 2007/2008 Ag@School Magazine (1.82MB) Teacher's Guide (1.26MB)
Winter: Volume 7, Issue 2, 2007/2008 Ag@School Magazine (3.49MB) Teacher's Guide (.81MB)
Fall: Volume 7, Issue 1, 2007/2008 Ag@School Magazine (2.53MB) Teacher's Guide (.73MB)
Spring: Volume 6, Issue 3, 2006/2007 Ag@School Magazine (1.80MB) Teacher's Guide (.53MB)
Winter: Volume 6, Issue2, 2006/2007 Ag@School Magazine (2.03MB) Teacher's Guide (.81MB)
Fall: Volume 6, Issue 1, 2006/2007 Ag@School Magazine (1.68MB) Teacher's Guide (.96MB)
Spring: Volume 5, Issue 3, 2005/2006 Ag@School Magazine (1.26MB) Teacher's Guide (.42MB)
Winter: Volume 5, Issue2, 2005/2006 Ag@School Magazine (1.16MB) Teacher's Guide (.90MB)
Fall: Volume 5, Issue 1, 2005/2006 Ag@School Magazine (1.09MB) Teacher's Guide (1.00MB)
Spring: Volume 4, Issue 3, 2004/2005 Ag@School Magazine (2.12MB) Teacher's Guide (1.64MB)
Winter: Volume 4, Issue2, 2004/2005 Ag@School Magazine (2.23MB) Teacher's Guide (1.32MB)
Fall: Volume 4, Issue 1, 2004/2005 Ag@School Magazine (2.21MB) Teacher's Guide (1.43MB)
Spring: Volume 3, Issue 3, 2003/2004 Ag@School Magazine (2.12MB) Teacher's Guide (1.74MB)
Winter: Volume 3, Issue2, 2003/2004 Ag@School Magazine (1.38MB) Teacher's Guide (1.81MB)
Fall: Volume 3, Issue 1, 2003/2004 Ag@School Magazine (1.36MB) Teacher's Guide (1.38MB)
Spring: Volume 2, Issue 3, 2002/2003 Ag@School Magazine (1.52MB) Teacher's Guide (690KB)
Winter: Volume 2, Issue2, 2002/2003 Ag@School Magazine (1.50MB) Teacher's Guide (1.73MB)
Fall: Volume 2, Issue 1, 2002/2003 Ag@School Magazine (1.47MB) Teacher's Guide (1.53MB)
Spring: Volume 1, Issue 3, 2001/2002 Ag@School Magazine (1.59MB) Teacher's Guide (1.62MB)
Winter: Volume 1, Issue2, 2001/2002 Ag@School Magazine (1.47MB) Teacher's Guide (1.30MB)
Fall: Volume 1, Issue 1, 2001/2002 Ag@School Magazine (1.38MB) Teacher's Guide (.99MB)
Major Program Accomplishments or Outputs
Ag@School, a full-color 8-page student magazine aimed at 4th grade, is currently our sole project. Each of the three annual issues of Ag@School has a central theme- general Washington agriculture, agriculture technology and stewardship. Articles and activities, all featuring agriculture, are easily incorporated into the existing school curriculum. Many classrooms from K-12 are using our materials in 2010, with newer contact methods.
The included teacher guide provides discussion starters and complementary activities, as well as alignment to state learning requirements.
Our website has been completely updated to include a greater variety of links to lesson plans and teacher resources.
Major Program Impacts or Outcomes
Ag@School is in its tenth school year with over six-hundred classrooms receiving our magazines and reaching 17,415 students per issue. We have numerous testimonies but an email on January 26, 2011 from Deb Castle is the most recent: I have never written in and I am so sorry about this. I just love Ag@School and so do my students. Today, I was evaluated by my principal and it was the first time that she has ever seen this magazine. She was so impressed and pleased with how it fit the guidelines from the state and how well it fit the curriculum that was going on in my classroom. So thank you very much for always providing this to the students of WA. It is just a wonderful teaching tool. Deb Castle Edison Elementary School Bow, WA. Deb's comments parallel what teachers tell us at fair and conference we attend. We benefitted from participated in the AITC's Presidential Turkey Pardon project supported by Foster Farms and California Ag in the Classroom.
Biosketch
In 1964, when Gaynor graduated from Kittitas High School, being a teacher never crossed her mind. Years of seamstress and tailoring work and various odd jobs from moving cattle to cleaning restrooms, bookkeeping and cashier work finally lead her to the teaching profession.
That first step occurred twenty plus years ago when she stepped back into the classroom as a teacher's aide. She found learning along with her students could be exciting and she often felt she learned more by teaching than her students did.
Gaynor took a few evening courses prior to 1991, and she became a full-time student at Big Bend Community College at the age of forty-six. Looking back, before Gaynor could grasp the scope of her decisions, she had finished the course work to become a teacher! One year later, in 1997, she applied for the teaching job at the Marlin Hutterite Community's one-room K-12 school.
From student to teacher, the path was not well marked. It occurred! Gaynor is also an adjunct instructor for Big Bend Community College, Heritage University and a certified Gurian Institute Instructor. The connections between the college jobs and the one-room school provide many opportunities to share agricultural knowledge and educational materials with all her students and future teachers.
These teaching opportunities and her western life style with includes: enjoying life with her husband Roger along with raising, training and working Border Collie stock dogs, gathering cattle occasionally to help her family, keeping up with the grandchildren: Bailey Jo Heath and Cooper Raap and doing some art work have influenced her, but the accomplishments she totally enjoys are the rewards of being teacher!
Now after working as the Executive Director for Washington Ag in the Classroom for almost three years, she feels the need to do more! Being a champion for Agriculture Education parallels her passion for teaching and her plans are only hampered by TIME.