Maine Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) recently awarded Sebago Elementary School fourth and fifth grade teacher Ted Bridge-Koenigsberg as the 2020 MAITC Teacher of the Year. Pictured above is Ted receiving his award from Amanda Beal, the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, and Willie Grenier, Executive Director of Maine Agriculture in the Classroom.

In their Newsletter, MAITC talks about Ted and how he integrates agriculture in his classroom:

Ted currently teaches grades four and five at Sebago Elementary School and has been using agriculture in his classroom for years to help transform the educational experience of his students. The Sebago Elementary School Garden hosts a combination of flowers, vegetables, fruit trees, and the centerpiece: grapes. Ted has been using the grape vines, perhaps more than any other species in the garden, to get kids interested in plants, and the food they produce. Ted has coordinated with Sebago Elementary kitchen staff, providing hands-on lessons that have seen the students make grape jam, and even grape fruit leather, right in the classroom. His current project is “Fleece to Felted Footwear,” where students are learning about fiber processing by turning raw wool and natural dyes into warm felted woolen shoes they can wear, integrating art, science, and social studies! In June, Ted will be traveling with us to the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah to attend sessions, and learn and connect with other educators from all over the country, and take that information and resources back to his school.

As part of the award, the MAITC teacher of the year gets to attend the MAITC annual Summer Teacher’s Institute free of cost and they also get to go to the National Ag in the Classroom conference.

The MAITC Teacher of the Year is a Maine elementary or secondary teacher who is using agricultural education materials/activities/resources in their classroom to teach core subjects. Teachers can apply for this award or be nominated. More information about the award and how to nominate or apply is available on the MAITC website.

School Union (SU) 76, which is comprised of The Brooklin School, Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School, Deer Isle-Stonington High School, Sedgwick Elementary School, and the Isle au Haut School recently celebrated National Public Schools Week by creating a video about their schools and the communities that come together to make these schools so special. Check out the video here:

This video was submitted by Christian Elkington, Superintendent of School Union 76 as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

On February 5, 2020, MSAD #42 in Mars Hill hosted two virtual author visits in celebration of both World Read Aloud Day and Aroostook Regional Gifted and Talented Battle of the Books.

Each year, with the help of a list created by Author Kate Messner, teachers and librarians from across the country are invited to contact authors willing to offer free virtual visits with students via Skype. MSAD #42’s District Librarian and Gifted & Talented teacher Natasha Brewer, in conjunction with Aroostook Regional Gifted and Talented (ARGT) teachers, organized two author visits.

Each school year ARGT hosts both middle school and high school Battle of the Books competitions.  Students read several books and gather in the spring to test their knowledge and recollection of the information covered in the texts.  Using this year’s ARGT Battle of the Books competition as a guide, Brewer was able to schedule visits with two authors who wrote books on this year’s list. All ARGT schools were invited to join Mars Hill’s students for the visits. Taking part in the event were teachers and students from MSAD#24 in Van Buren, MSAD#20 in Fort Fairfield, Easton Jr/Sr High School in Easton, and SAD#32 in Ashland.

Middle school students and teachers spent forty minutes with author Ann Braden who read an excerpt from her debut novel, The Benefits of Being an Octopus, and then answered student’s questions. High school students and teachers spent forty minutes with White Rose author, Kip Wilson. The collaboration of several Aroostook County schools made it possible for over 70 students to meet and learn from highly successful authors, as well as each other.  Due to the overwhelming response from the students and teachers, Brewer and ARGT hope to continue providing annual author visits to celebrate the benefits of reading, diverse texts, and connections with others.

This story was submitted by Kay York, Principal at Central Aroostook Junior-Senior High School as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email it to Rachel Paling at rachel.paling@maine.gov.