Pictured from the left with Sue Kirk, Wayland Bonds Elementary first-grade teacher, second from left, are Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Terry L. Peach; Kitty Beaver, Oklahoma Farm Bureau Women’s Committee; and Dosia Jackson, annual donor of $500 in memory of her husband, Paul Jackson. The Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year award was presented at the state capitol during Ag Day, April 2.
Congratulations, Sue Kirk
2008 Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year
Sue Kirk, first-grade teacher at Wayland Bonds Elementary School in Moore, was recognized by Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Terry L. Peach as the 2008 Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom Teacher of the Year.
She received the award because of her consistent use of Ag in the Classroom theme in her classroom and the ways she continuously incorporates Ag in the Classroom curricula in her daily teaching methods.
“Sue. Kirk goes above and beyond when it comes to using the Ag in the Classroom curriculum and study materials, and for her teaching abilities and work ethic,” said Mary Ann Kelsey, Ag in the Classroom coordinator for ODAFF.
Kirk has been with the Moore Public School system several years, and was asked to come over to teach at Waylond Bonds when the school opened three years ago.
“My oldest daughter was fortunate enough to have Mrs. Kirk for her first grade teacher,” said Wayland Bonds pirncipal Robert Romines
“When we entered her classroom the first day we were greeted with a large red barn that serves as a puppet stage and reading nook, a bronco corral that serves as the teacher table, a large lasso with the student names in the center welcome them to the Bronco Corral.”
Romines said Kirk had a watermelon unit in which the students measured, weighed and compared to other fruits and vegetables. The children counted seeds and investigated the life cycle, farmer to their own tables. For a pumpkin unit, the students visited a pumpkin farm. For Thanksgiving, the first grade had a mini-feast, with samples of the four food groups, relating how the foods came through the impact of agriculture.
For the Oklahoma unit, she covered the importance of agriculture to Oklahoma’s history. The students learned about top crops grown, and characteristics of cotton and peanut plants through all five senses. Her land run unit found the students using stamped initials for their own brands, and making their own bread and butter.
As winner of this year’s Oklahoma award, she will represent the state at the National Ag in the Classroom Conference later this year.