From Our Fields … To You

Last week marked Virginia’s second annual Agriculture Literacy Week—an opportunity created for volunteers to share agriculture with students across the state.

Volunteers from 40 county Farm Bureaus in Virginia and other agriculture organizations read books about agriculture to students at their local schools.

Many read the book From Our Fields … To You, by Kellie Worrell, a Carroll County teacher and farmer, and donated copies to school libraries. The book features many photos from Worrell’s farm and details the process of planting corn and green beans, harvesting the crops and then transporting them to the local grocery store. Volunteers purchased 1,767 copies of the book to donate to school and individual classroom libraries.

The effort was organized by Virginia’s Agriculture in the Classroom program, part of a nationwide effort to help teachers and students understand and appreciate agriculture, which is Virginia’s and the nation’s largest industry. Virginia AITC provides training and materials to about 2,000 teachers and pre-service teachers each year, and its website provides teachers with Standards of Learning-aligned lessons, literacy activities and more. All AITC services are provided to schools and teachers at no cost.

To find other agriculture-related books for children, review this list on the AITC website. More information on Agriculture Literacy Week can be found here.