Ag in the Classroom School Grants Due on September 16

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau's Ag in the Classroom program is offering grants up to $500 to formal and non-formal educators and/or groups sponsoring programs or projects that promote agricultural literacy in the classroom. Grants can be used for innovative lessons, activities, resources, presentations, school fairs and other creative ideas. Projects should focus on integrating agriculture into a variety of curriculum areas.

A selection committee will review all funding requests that are properly completed and postmarked by the September 16 deadline. Items considered when evaluating the applications include quality and uniqueness of the agricultural lesson, activity or project, integration of agriculture into a variety of curriculum areas, alignment with educational standards, assessment methods used to evaluate student's knowledge and quality of application.

The proposed project must be targeted to grades pre-K through 12 and should enhance student knowledge of the contribution made by agriculture. Projects that use funds toward an ongoing, sustainable education effort will receive preference over those that involve a one-time program. Proposed projects or events designed to reach large groups of students will be given preference, as will those that involve innovative approaches to promoting agricultural literacy.

Grants are available for public or private school systems. For more information about the teacher mini-grants, call 608-828-5644.