As Jo Conrad, a 3rd and 4th grade teacher at Dodge Public School in Dodge, Nebraska, looked at different ways to introduce agriculture to her students and reach many of the goals set forth by the State Standards and her school district, she wanted to increase reading fluency, comprehension and note taking. Through her innovative ideas, the students became excited about reading and agriculture.

The crop and livestock cards developed by the Nebraska Agriculture in the Classroom Program were important components in Jo's lesson plans. To start the unit, the students would use the cards for timed reading exercises. The information on the cards piqued the students' interest in agriculture and at the same time met State Standards. Jo continues to look for creative ways to teach the basic subject areas using agriculture as the vehicle.

To connect agriculture and science concepts, Nancy Miller, a middle and high school teacher at Potter-Dix School in Potter, Nebraska, utilized a variety of educational resources from guest speakers, research publications and curriculum materials. One of the resources, Science and Our Food Supply, contained five modules that all touch upon agriculture. Each student completed an activity called "The Twelve Most Unwanted Bacteria." To assess the student's knowledge of the bacteria, each student developed a poster to share their findings and presented this information to the class.

Through all of these experiences, the students were learning not only science State Standards, but math and reading/writing standards. This enabled them to make the connection of our food system and science concepts, but also the importance of using science to keep our food safe.