Third grade teachers receive photosynthesis kits

Posted Wednesday, September 12, 2007

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Chatham county, NC - During a staff development session on Thursday, September 6, third grade teachers in Chatham County Schools received photosynthesis kits to use during classroom instruction. The “Photosynthesis Promenade” kits were compiled and donated by the Chatham County Farm Bureau. The kit development was supported by a Monsanto grant to North Carolina Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom.

Joe Burke, a retired Chatham County Schools administrator and member of the Farm Bureau board, introduced the kits at the beginning of the meeting. He expressed how important it was that each third grade teacher, not simply each school, receive a kit. Burke also noted that the Farm Bureau will replace kit contents as needed.

The kit contains a comprehensive set of lesson plans and materials related to plant science. The lessons are activity based and hands-on in nature. All activities are based on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The lessons culminate with a square dance activity during which students take on the roles of carbon dioxide, water, sunlight, and chlorophyll. As they dance through the steps of the promenade, students transform into sugar and nourish the plant and oxygen to be returned to the atmosphere.

Jean Blackmon-Brauer, Director of Elementary and Middle Grades Education for Chatham County Schools, expressed her appreciation to the Chatham County Farm Bureau for its commitment to helping teachers educate students about science and agriculture. She noted that the Louise Lamm and Ellen Gould of the North Carolina Farm Bureau coordinated a staff development session, entitled Ag in the Classroom, for all second grade teachers in the district on August 21 and is giving program materials to kindergarten through fifth grade teachers.