Each summer the McDonough County Farm Bureau hosts a Summer Ag Institute, a three-day teacher professional development program geared to strengthen ag programming in schools. Sandy Pendell from the Western Illinois University Infant and Preschool Center is one of the teachers that took advantage of this opportunity. She says that even as a teacher of toddlers, she is able to implement agriculture in her classroom.
“They’re so little but they love to see things grow. They love to have a connection with things that do grow such as the different little plants that we can plant and the care that they have for it.”
Throughout the program, teachers are taken on a variety of ag tours, are shown education resources, and network with one another.
“Just to have a whole different perspective of how we can keep things growing and learning more about science, even bringing it into even someone as young as a toddler to go ahead and enjoy and understand all the different things and possibilities.”
Educators in Illinois have been taking part in the Summer Ag Institute since 1991.
