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Mini Grant Winners 2006
April 2006 Mini-Grants
September 2005 Mini-Grants
November 2005 Mini-Grants
First Cycle (April 2006)
- Grant 1: From Field to Plate
The overall objective is to enrich third graders’ understanding of the problems that faced farmers in colonial Massachusetts and of the farm work that was performed by colonial children. The hands-on activities will enhance the students’ appreciation of the effort that is involved in bringing food from the field to their plates. Classroom activities will link the program to American history, math, science, technology, language arts, and creative problem solving. After establishing a wheat field, a corn field, and an apple orchard and nursery at their renovated school in North Reading, the students will plant, tend, harvest, process, and study the crops as they grow. They will figure out how to hand thresh, winnow, and mill wheat into flour, from which they will make bread. The corn will be dried, shelled, milled, and made into hasty pudding and corn bread by the students. They will prune apple trees and will raise root stock onto which future third graders will graft fruit scions. In future years they will make apple pies with their own apples. They will share their experiences with others in the community through authentic writing, drwaing, and photography for newspapers and our school web site.
Contact: Bill Cassell, 3rd Grade Teacher, L.D. Batchelder School, 25 Williams Street, Stoneham, MA 02080 (781) 438-7811. Note: we are actually a North Reading school, temporarily in Stoneham while our school is being renovated. We expect to return to North Reading in the fall of 2006.
Project Duration: September 2006 through August 2007
Mini-Grant Award: $750
Mini-Grant Liaison: June Johnson
- Grant 2 Red Gate Farm Fleece, Fiber, Fabric Program
Red Gate Farm is proposing a Fleece, Fiber, Fabric Program that will teach students about the connections between livestock, fibers and textiles. Students will participate in every step of the process that transforms raw fleece into fiber and fabric. Through hands-on learning projects, students will care for the Farm’s flock of sheep and goats. They will wash, card, spin and dye the wool and mohair fibers. Finally, they will learn to weave, knit or felt the fiber into fabric. By engaging in the process of fiber production, students will gain an understanding and appreciation for this important aspect of Massachusetts’ agriculture. Audience: last year 200 students from Franklin and Hampshire county schools attended workshop, they hope to increase the number this year.
Contact: Adrienne Shelton, Farm Manager, Red Gate Farm Education Center, P. O. Box 300 Buckland, MA 01338 (413) 625-9503 e-mail: Adrienne@RedGateFarm.org
Project Duration: Spring and summer of 2006 and continued use in future years.
Mini-Grant Award: $800
Mini-Grant Liaison: Lenore Paul
- Grant 3 Raising Our Food with Sustainable Resources
Having embarked on a composting program which recycles Hubbardston Center School food and yard wastes into rich compost, students, teachers, and parents take the next step of using that renewable resource, along with site-collected rainwater to grow food for student consumption. Watching the return of nutrients to the soil, learning the skills of planting and maintaining a garden, and completing cycle by consuming fresh peas and carrots from the garden give students insight into agricultural practices and hands-on experience in the field. These experiences are complemented by interdisciplinary classroom activities: weighing and graphing daily cafeteria leftovers, measuring and charting compost temperatures, and attending a forum if local organic and conventional farmers are among the activities that provide informational background to this experiential learning.
Contact: Gita Haddad, Grade 5-6 Language Arts teacher; Ted Newton, Grade 5-6 Math and Science Teacher
Karen DiFranza, Farmer, educator and compost advisor,
Hubbardston Center School, 8 Elm Street Hubbardston, MA 01452 (978) 928-4487
Project Duration: May 2006 through April 2007
Mini-Grant Award: $500
Mini-Grant Liaison: Janice Wentworth
- Grant 4. Community Supper to Promote Local Agriculture
The Project Runs: Course runs from January through May 2006
The objective of this project is to enhance agricultural literacy in South Hadley, MA through the planning and execution of a local-foods community supper. The supper will assist South Hadley High school students in fostering an awareness of what it takes to get food on the table and will also provide a time and space for student researchers and local farmers to make presentations on the benefits of supporting local agriculture. The community supper will be a collaborative effort between South Hadley High School, local farms, and Mount Holyoke College. In order to put on the supper, South Hadley High School is requesting $475. The primary contact is a student at Mount Holyoke College.
Contact: Emily Morgan, Student Mount Holyoke College 2662 Blanchard Student Center,
South Hadley, MA 01075 (814) 688-4082 E-mail: ehmorgan@mtholyoke.edu
Project Duration: January through May 2006
Mini-Grant Award: $200
Mini-Grant Liaison: Lenore Paul
For more information about Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom or our programs:
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Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom
P.O. Box 345
Seekonk, MA 02771
(508) 336-4426 Fax: (508) 336-0682
www.aginclassroom.org
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