Farm to School 4-H team teachers trained

High school students from six northeast Iowa school districts recently participated in a training coordinated by Iowa State University Extension at the Northeast Iowa Dairy Foundation Center. The training prepared students for their role as cross-age teachers in the Farm to School program which begins in September.

The high school age 4-H team teachers will facilitate Farm to School lessons with second grade students once a month using lessons developed specifically for northeast Iowa. Farm to School is a national program that teaches kids about their food and how it is grown – especially foods that are grown right here on farms in northeast Iowa counties. Local foods introduced for lessons in 2012-2013 will be raspberries, cabbage, pumpkin, pork, popcorn, cheese, greenhouse tomatoes and salad greens.

Students from Howard-Winneshiek, Postville, Waukon, Decorah, Oelwein and Turkey Valley high schools participated. Each school has an adult coach for the program as well as an AmeriCorps or FoodCorps member and support from ISUEO County Youth Coordinators. In addition to participating in the recent training, the coaches, service members and/or CYC will also be in the classroom to support and supervise the team teachers.

The training was led by ISU Extension and Outreach and the NE Iowa Food & Fitness Initiative. The trainers included Lynette Houser, Region 4 Youth Coordinator, Teresa Wiemerslage, Region 4 Program Coordinator, and Melanie Stewart, FoodCorps.