Guardians of school-aged children must care for these students during the typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work day, as schools across the state have shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Schools have provided educational resources for these children, but perhaps not their “normal” course load.
One Iowa organization strives to ?increase agricultural literacy in all Iowans,? primarily through school-aged children. The group works towards this goal by providing educational resources for teachers, parents, and students, which align with Iowa Core standards.
Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation (IALF) staff work to provide additional virtual resources for homebound children. Chrissy Rhodes, IALF education program coordinator, speaks to new, online learning opportunities.
?If you go to ?Learning Resources? and then ?Other,? you can see a list of different options for things we?ve created and other people have created. One of our newest things is we?ve created Google Classroom modules. We have social studies, science, and math for grades 3-5. We also have 6-8 classes as well,? Rhodes said.
The Iowa Ag Literacy Foundation offers various student publications, including Iowa Ag Today (Elementary Edition), Iowa Ag Today (Middle School Edition), and My Family?s Farm. All three publications can accessed online at iowaagliteracy.org. My Family?s Farm is also offered as a ?Read Aloud.?
Another resource being offered is a daily updates on chicks.
?We have incubation videos on our Facebook page,? Rhodes said. ?Our Loess Hills, Ag in The Classroom Coordinator Melanie Bruck has eggs in an incubator that we?re supposed to be hatching at school. School is closed, so she?s doing them on a Facebook live for all to see. These chicks are set to hatch on April 1st. Every day at 1:30 p.m., you can check in on our Facebook page, and hear Melanie talk about what?s happening inside those eggs.”
