Book Donations to Greenvale Elementary

The Dakota Rice Corn and Soybean Growers donated 5 book bundles to the Greenvale Elementary School in Northfield. Each bundle contains 10 agriculture themed books. The books include fiction and nonfiction books centered around a wide variety of topics that represent agricultural plants, animals and natural resources. Each bundle has an Educator Guide. This can be very helpful for teachers who do not feel comfortable including agriculture in their classroom curriculum. Many teachers do not have a background in agriculture.

The book bundles are available through the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) program. Tiffany Malecha is a kindergarten teacher at Greenvale Elementary and initiated the donation. Tiffany was a MAITC Teacher Champion and knew about the books. Other teachers were requesting the book bundles so Tiffany asked the Dakota Rice Corn and Soybean Growers if they would cover the cost of the book bundles. The Dakota Rice Corn and Soybean Growers agreed to donate the 5 book bundles.

The MAITC has many resources developed to include agriculture in school curriculums. All it takes is a suggestion like Tiffany did at Greenvale Elementary and students can learn about agriculture and food production. The MAITC is program within the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.