Introduction
One hundred years ago nearly every man, woman and child had to be involved in growing the food and fiber he or she needed just to survive. Today only about 2 percent of the American population grows all we need, leaving the rest of us to grow in other areas - in medical advancement, communication and information technology, space exploration, the arts and much more. Most of us are three or four generations removed from the farm, but all of us depend on agriculture. Tomorrow's leaders must be agriculturally-literate to protect and preserve the advantages we gain from a strong agriculture. Building that essential literacy is the purpose of Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom.
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a project of Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, 4-H Youth Development, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, and the Oklahoma State Department of Education. The purpose of Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is to help familiarize Oklahoma school children with Oklahoma's number one industry - the food and fiber industry. The lessons included in this package are hands-on and fun, making use of a subject and a substance that is very familiar and dear to most students - food.
Features
Oklahoma Academic Standards
The Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom curriculum features lessons for grades pre-K-12. The lessons use agricultural topics and ag-related activities to reinforce core skills in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Visual Arts and Music. Most of the lessons are interdisciplinary and all are aligned with Oklahoma Academic Standards.
Background
Each lesson includes simple to use background information to help you answer students' questions about the agricultural topic addressed.
Cross Reference
Because every teacher has her/his own approach to teaching Ag in the Classroom, we have indexed the lessons in several different ways - alphabetically by lesson title, by agricultural topic, by grade level, and by other categories appropriate to the classroom.
Extra Features
We have also included classroom recipes, a list of books sorted by agricultural topic, quick ag facts, some games, a few maps, some pattern pages, some songs and poemsrelated to agriculture and much more.