CRESTVIEW — The 15th annual Florida Agriculture Literacy Day is May 1, with a materials registration deadline of April 23.
Readers are asked to schedule their classroom visits first and then order materials on the Florida Agriculture in the Classroom website at www.agtaq.orq.
Area teachers may receive free books and materials for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
All materials will be mailed to readers. Readers will receive one book, teacher and volunteer flyers and one set of stickers and bookmarks per classroom, which they will deliver to the classroom the day of the reading.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and FAITC invite farmers, growers, ranchers, Farm Bureau members, Florida Cattlemen and Cattlewomen, University of Florida IFAS Extension and 4-H Agents, Master Gardeners, FFA teachers and students and agriculture industry representatives to read in elementary classrooms around the state as part of the event.
The fourth and final book available in a series of nonfiction children's books developed that highlights Florida's fruit industries.
The book, "Drive through Florida: Fruit" features the animated red truck named Ole Red that takes students on a tour around Florida to learn about our diverse fruit industries.
Readers are invited to read on any day that works best for the teacher and reader until the end of the school year. The book is geared to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Readers are encouraged to read the book ahead of time to familiarize themselves with the content before their classroom readings.
Funding for the event comes from sales of the agriculture specialty license plate called the "Ag Tag" and a donation from the Florida Farm Bureau's Women's Committee.
Agriculture Literacy Day will be moving to the fall in the 2018-2019 school year with the book These Florida Farms. Readers will be able to read throughout the school year as needed.
Florida Agriculture in the Classroom is a non-profit organization that educates Florida teachers and students about where their food, fiber and fuel comes from using lessons, materials, grants and other programs like Florida Agriculture Literacy Day.
Contact Molly Huffman, 682-3536 or molly.huffman@ffbic.com, for more information about the program.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Deadline to order books for Literacy Day approaches