Third-graders hear tales of agriculture at SPROUTS

In April, an enthusiastic group of volunteers from the Kane County Farm Bureau brought insights into agriculture to more than 1,400 third-graders in area classrooms through SPROUTS, or Spring Program of Reading and Outreach to Urban Teachers and Students.

SPROUTS is in its second year as the farm bureau's Ag Literacy program. This year, 15 volunteers read "Heartland" by Diane Siebert, to 57 classes, in schools from Aurora to Carpentersville. The volunteers posed questions to the students about the agricultural themes that the book explores in a poem-like story of farm life in America's Heartland.

Suzi Myers, Ag Literacy Coordinator at the Farm Bureau in St. Charles, says she's pleased with the way the program has taken hold.

"We have many new volunteers, and several teachers who want to make it an annual program for their classrooms," Myers said. "It's a great way to get volunteers involved in teaching kids about agriculture."

"I held up the book while Margaret read," said first-time volunteer John Fredericks of Aurora. John and his wife, Margaret, saw SPROUTS as a way to get involved with Farm Bureau and reach out to area kids in a meaningful way. "We pointed out the windmills in the book," said the couple after reading to two classrooms at Lincoln Elementary in St. Charles. "The vivid illustrations helped make it real to them, because they see windmills in Batavia all the time, but didn't really know what they were originally used for."

Each classroom library also receives a copy of this year's Illinois Farm Bureau Ag-in-the-Classroom Book of the Year, "A Hog Ate My Homework," by Gary Metivier. The Farm Bureau also leaves behind a follow-up activity and some Illinois ag facts for the teachers.

As part of the SPROUTS program and in conjunction with National Library Week, April 13-17, Myers and Curtis Miller, her counterpart at the DuPage County Farm Bureau, have arranged for 10 libraries in each county to receive a copy of the book and resource booklet containing activities that teachers can use to compliment the book.

"We appreciate the Farm Bureau donating this book to the library," said Heidi Hohman, children's department head at Dundee Township Public Library. "Much of our farmland is quickly disappearing, and this will help teach children about the heritage and importance of farming here in our area."