Free In-School Field Trips
Cook County Farm Bureau® Ag in the Classroom program offers FREE 1-hour presentations to 4th-grade students in Cook County. The program began in 1986 when we visited 79 classrooms. During the 2018/2019 school year, we visited 1,200 classrooms and reached over 30,000 students. Customized programs for other grades are available on a limited basis if related to the study of agriculture.
Presentations are given from September through May.
To sign up for your FREE In-School Field Trip call us at 708-354-3276 or complete the request form under the program you are requesting.
Free School Presentations
Intro to Agriculture in Illinois
4th Grade
This free on- hour program will allow students to discover how Illinois agriculture production and processing meets the local and world demand for food, fiber and energy. This hands-on presentation introduces basic agricultural information such as crops and livestock, agriculture’s important relationship with natural resources and the environment and the use of 21st century technology in farming today.
There’s AG on My Plate
4th Grade
This follow-up to the Intro to Agriculture in Illinois program is designed to engage students in thoughtful discussion and activities connecting what farmers produce to the USDA MyPlate®.
Presenters
Jim Bloomstrand
Agriculture has been Mr. Bloomstrand’s life-long focus; from growing up on a grain and livestock farm in East Central Illinois to receiving an Agriculture Engineering Degree from the University of Illinois.
Toni DeLaurentis
As a young child, Toni lived on the island of Malta where her grandfather worked on a dairy farm. Her family eventually settled in Lansing, IL where Toni went into taught fourth grade for 25 years.
Linda Dunn
Mrs. Dunn has been a presenter with Ag in the Classroom since 2007. The highlight of this job for her is being able to reach children who know little to nothing about agriculture and watch them absorb the information she presents.
Valerie Jones
For more than 20 years, Ms. Jones worked with teachers, parents and students as an educator in and out of the classroom. She taught them about healthy living and proper nutrition.
Sarah Koukol
Mrs. Koukol is a certified teacher with 13 years of classroom teaching, most in fourth grade. During those years she taught about agriculture in her classroom and took workshops on agriculture from Ag in the Classroom.
Kathy Lesser
Mrs. Lesser was born in Chicago but has always had a love for farming.While in college she worked for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and after college became a Kindergarten teacher in Chicago.
Linda Schaeffer
Mrs. Schaeffer is a certified teacher who has been attending Ag in the Classroom workshops for years. She has taught 1st grade and preschool for 18 years and became interested in teaching...
Amy Toth
Amy Toth began with Ag in the Classroom in 2015. She is a certified teacher who has taught both second and fourth grade. She loves to visit fourth grade classrooms to give her presentations.