|
LITTLE ROCK — Sarah Glenn, a fourth-grade
teacher at Huntsville Intermediate School, is Arkansas Farm Bureau’s
2010 Ag in the Classroom Outstanding Teacher.
Glenn received the award during a special ceremony with her students April 8.
The award is presented to a teacher who integrates
agricultural concepts into their regular curricula to educate students
about how agriculture fits into their daily lives.
Glenn’s goal is to inform and educate her students about the
importance of agriculture to the world, the nation and local
community. She is also teaching them about the role Arkansas
agriculture plays in a national and global economy.
“Every year we try to improve the world around us,” Glenn
says. “This year we are involved in Heifer International’s Read to Feed
program, which allows students to raise money for Heifer by reading as
many books as they can in a certain time period.”
Glenn says the students get to choose a farm animal or animals to donate to a needy family.
She is integrating agricultural concepts into her curricula
in a variety of ways. One is by developing an outdoor classroom garden
where students get hands-on experience in growing a number of different
Arkansas commodities. The garden is designed in the shape of the state
and divided into six natural regions where crops indigenous to a
particular region are grown.
Another program is to have her students plan, prepare and
serve an Arkansas Thanksgiving feast for themselves and their parents
using Arkansas-based food products. This allowed the students to
research the products included in the meal and learn to follow recipes
to prepare the meals.
“Watching Sarah’s students work on her Commodities in
Arkansas project, it’s obvious their attitudes are at their peak,” says
Linda MacLean, one of Glenn’s mentors and a fellow fourth-grade
teacher at Huntsville Intermediate. “Their excitement is overflowing as
they collaborate with each other on the agricultural subject matter at
hand. Sarah has an aptitude for integrating ag concepts into
non-agricultural curricula and is very deserving of this award.”
Glenn also receives an expense-paid trip to Baltimore, MD to
represent Arkansas at the National Ag in the Classroom Conference, June
24-26.
|