Connecting Kids and Agriculture Hello! Agriculture in the Classroom Saskatchewan (AITC-SK) is a registered charity dedicated to connecting kids and agriculture through innovative, experiential, curricu- lum-based programs and resources. At AITC-SK we are building a Saskatchewan community that understands, appreciates and respects agriculture. “First of all, AITC has been an absolutely incredible resource for my classroom! The excitement for learning that it has cultivated in my students has been inspiring to me! We have accessed about 10 different 71,000 types of AITC resources this year and Students all of them have been incredible.” – Kirsten Tucker, South Corman Park School 11 Teacher 14 Conventions Teacher PD Sessions & Workshops 7,641 Followers +34% 581,047 Reach 38,229 Engagement 22,686 Website Users 83,569 Website Page Views 327,000 Learning hours 241 623 Communities Schools * Every year, our program offerings change slightly due to funding availability and partner priorities. * Funding for farm tours was very limited in 2019. Seed Survivor, a partnership program with Nutrien, was only offered in Spring in 2019. * We track the statistics as carefully as we can to eliminate overlap in our total count. However, this is not possible for events/program that are not registration only such as Ag in the City, Children's Festival and Western Development Museum public days for Explore AG. 2019 was an inspiring year! We gave thousands of students’ meaningful experiences with food and agriculture. Planting a seed, digging in the soil, harvesting a crop, feeding a cow, preparing a meal – these types of experiences help students to understand, appreciate, and respect farmers and agriculture. In 2019, the AITC-SK team worked incredibly hard, delivering resources and programs to 241 communities across Saskatchewan. We could not have done this without the involvement and support of our sponsors, partners, volunteers and board members. Last year, we increased our focus on teachers. We hosted different professional development experiences for teachers to give them the tools and knowledge to confidently bring agricultural learning into their everyday teach- ings. We are inspiring teacher champions who are helping us tell Saskatchewan's incredible food story! The momentum from last year is driving us through the global pandemic we face. The innovative ideas of our staff, our focus on creating memorable experiences, and strong teacher connections have helped us to adapt to the changing educational needs in our province. We are more committed than ever to agriculture education in Saskatchewan, and will ensure that our support for teachers, students and parents continues to evolve. We look forward to sharing our virtual offerings with you in next year’s report. Until then, stay healthy and safe! Sara Shymko Executive Director The best part of CALM this year was the engaging discussion students had with our presenter...they had a lot of background knowledge from attending Ag-Experience and seed survivor at WDM!" - Sheri Ritchie, St. Nicholas School Our Team Shauna Hill Brit Susan MacDonald Jorgensen Finance Officer National Program Director, Programs Little Green Thumbs Manager Kirsten Paige Leah Chandra Falzarano Pister Hermanson Gusikoski Program Program Program Coordinator Coordinator Communications Coordinator Coordinator Brent Jenny Hofstede Zach Klassen Fellows Explore AG Program Program Sustainability Coordinator Program Coordinator Coordinator Melanie Morgan Veith Daryl Lester Lesyshyn Administrative Program Assistant, Assistant Little Green Thumbs Fund Development (on leave) Coordinator Thank you, Christine Meachem and Christina Krysa, for your dedication, enthusiasm and hard work during your time with AITC-SK! Little Green Thumbs Students in SK Little Green Sprouts Students in SK For over 10 years, Little Green Thumbs has helped students and teachers across Canada become food producers right in their own classroom. Gardens are living laboratories that help inspire students to wonder, of teachers agreed Little Green question, experiment and construct their understanding Thumbs promoted of the world around them. AITC-SK manages the national healthy eating. Little Green Thumbs Hub and provides support to organi- of teachers agreed Little zations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfound- Green Thumbs helped their students gain a greater land and New Brunswick to deliver the program. understanding of how food is produced. In 2019, Little Green Sprouts became the official junior of teachers said students gardening program to Little Green Thumbs. A new Little had a positive attitude at the toward agriculture and beginning Green Sprouts logo was launched, and the teacher farming at the end of of the year manual was updated to bring this program to it’s full the year compared to... potential. Little Green Sprouts is a small-scale gardening program that focuses on growing micro-greens, lettuce and herbs while still offering ample learning opportuni- ties for young students. Both programs offer students the opportunity to learn about where their food comes from. By being directly responsible for growing and harvesting food, students have a better understanding, appreciation and respect for the food they eat. “Being a Green Sprouts classroom has been one of the best additions to my classroom this year. The students love being involved in the planting, watering and harvesting!” – Twyla McNeil, Traditions Elementary School During March, Agriculture in the Classroom organiza- tions across Canada celebrate agriculture through programming designed to help students learn about, connect to and understand agriculture. In Saskatche- of teachers agreed CALM increased their students under- wan, we coordinated classroom visits with volunteers standing and appreciation of from the agriculture community to provide students with agriculture and farming. the opportunity to learn about where their food comes directly from those involved in producing it. By creating of teachers agreed CALM helped their students understand where their food this personal connection for students, we are building comes from and how food is produced. trust and respect for Saskatchewan agriculture in our future consumers. Last year, we reached an incredible of teacher agreed CALM is a valuable at the 9,192 students through CALM who were inspired from curricular-linked learning experience beginning for their students. of the hearing our volunteer’s personal agriculture stories. year “Our presenter and the information was amazing! We are a largely based rural school and seeing how much farmable land there is and learning about food and food waste fit right in my little learners were so engaged!” - Amber Pladson, Lindale School of teachers Minister Marit shares his personalagreed ag story with students! 10,000 Taste tests done 345 Kits distributed To support Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month, we developed a new resource where students learn about food waste in Canada. Students explore how food is lost or wasted throughout the food value chain, and what the agriculture industry is currently doing to reduce loss and waste. The resource includes a fun activity to see what type of taster students are, and how their personal tastes and actions could contribute to reducing food waste. At the end of their learning, students take the 'Food Waste Pledge' where they vow to follow five action items that will help them personally reduce food waste. “The slide show was the best part of the presentation. It had so many good visuals and great information.” -Bertha Harvey, Wadena Elementary School “Agriculture is more than just farming.” - Grade 7/8 student, Lumsden School, when asked what they New! learned from the game. Our team developed and successfully piloted an excit- ing new career game for High School students. thinkAG Career Quest is an innovative and exciting approach to educating students about careers. This gamified learn- ing experience encourages students to explore how people working in a diversity of agriculture careers help solve social, environmental and economic issues. They use their own interests and goals to earn points for their team, and ultimately begin to see how their inter- ests and goals fit in to a role in agriculture. thinkAG Career Quest’s innovative concept is being expanded “This game allows students to not nationally in partnership with AITC-Canada and will be only discover the variety of jobs available to teachers across the country. that exist in agriculture, but they linked their own interests to a job in the agricultural industry.” - Susan Barton, Yorkton High School 100% thinkAG Career Quest met of teachers curriculum outcomes. agreed Students had a better under- 93% standing of careers in agricul- of teachers ture after playing the game. agreed Their students have a greater 100% appreciation for careers in of teachers agreed agriculture. 750km Agriculture 20 Expedition Teachers 13 In August we connected 20 teachers with agriculture Stops over a three-day, 750-kilometer Agriculture Expedition through west-central Saskatchewan. Teachers experi- of teachers rated the enced first-hand the sights, smells and sounds of farms tour as excellent. and agri-businesses where they learned about ingredi- ents grown and raised in our province, and more impor- of teachers said the tour tantly about the people involved in producing these completely increased their understanding ingredients. There was teacher representation from of agriculture. communities across the