January 5, 2009
Florida Agriculture Literacy Day Set For March 24
Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.’s sixth annual Florida Agriculture Literacy Day is scheduled for Tuesday March 24, 2009.
Hundreds of Florida agriculture industry volunteers are invited to read a special children’s book developed in honor of the event. “These Florida Farms” is a children’s book developed by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in honor of the event.
The Department’s Gary Seamans and Mike Wright wrote and illustrated, respectively, the rhyming book that chronicles the adventures of two students who follow a safari guide from a grocery store to farms around the state to learn about different commodities produced in Florida.
Registration for Florida Agriculture Literacy Day begins in January, and online registration will be available on Florida Ag in the Classroom’s web site www.agtag.org. Books, lessons and packets for teachers and bookmarks and other goodies for students will be sent out in February.
The deadline to register to read on Florida Agriculture Literacy Day is Friday March 13. Florida farmers, growers, ranchers, Farm Bureau members, Cattlemen and Cattlewomen members, University of Florida/IFAS extension and 4-H agents and master gardeners, FFA teachers and students and other industry association representatives are asked to schedule their classroom visits at least two weeks before their readings. Though Ag Literacy Day is set for March 24, industry volunteers can read after that date. But Florida Ag in the Classroom asks that the readings be completed by the end of the school year.
Florida Ag in the Classroom is able to provide these Ag Literacy Day books, lessons, bookmarks and other items for free to agriculture industry volunteers because of the funding it receives from the sales of the Florida agriculture specialty license plate also known as the “Ag Tag.”
Florida Ag in the Classroom is a non-profit association based in Gainesville, and charged with educating Florida students and teachers in kindergarten through 12th grade about the importance of the Florida agriculture industry.
For more information:
Lisa Gaskalla
(352) 846-1391
gaskalla@ufl.edu
