The 14th annual Florida Agriculture Literacy Day is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 2017, and the third in a series of new non-fiction children’s books has been developed that will highlight Florida’s aquaculture and seafood industries.
The book, Drive through Florida: Aquaculture and Seafood, features the animated red truck named ‘Ole Red’ and his new friend ‘Bobby Boat’ that takes students on a tour in and around Florida to learn about our aquaculture and seafood industries.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) and FAITC invite farmers, growers, ranchers, Farm Bureau members, Florida cattlemen and cattlewomen, University of Florida IFAS extension and 4-H agents, master gardeners, FFA teachers and students and agriculture industry representatives to read in elementary classrooms around the state as part of the event.
Readers are asked to schedule their classroom visits first, and then order materials on the FAITC’s website at www.agtag.org. The online ordering system will go live on FAITC’s website in late February. Materials will be mailed to readers. Readers will receive one book, teacher and volunteer flyers and one set of stickers and bookmarks per classroom, which they will deliver to the classroom the day of the reading. Please allow two weeks for delivery.
The deadline to register for materials is Tuesday April 18 for those who are reading on Florida Agriculture Literacy Day two weeks later. Readers are encouraged to read on Agriculture Literacy Day, but they don’t have to. They can read until the end of the school year.
The book is geared to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Readers are encouraged to read the book ahead of time to familiarize themselves with the content before their classroom readings.
The book and materials will be provided to readers for free thanks to funding FAITC receives from sales of the agriculture specialty license plate called the ‘Ag Tag,’ and a generous donation from the Florida Farm Bureau’s Women’s Committee.
Florida Agriculture in the Classroom is a non-profit organization that educates Florida teachers and students about where their food, fiber and fuel comes from using lessons, materials, grants and other programs like Florida Agriculture Literacy Day.
For more information, contact Becky Sponholtz at 352-846-1391 or email sponholtz@ufl.edu