From Cloud to Classroom

My American Farm is more than fun games that use agricultural themes to reinforce core educational concepts - it's a whole platform of resources!

This page will help you use My American Farm to make an impact in your community. If you have a specific event or volunteering effort you need help with - feel free to contact us

Classroom Visits for Student Organizations, FFA & 4-H

My American Farm offers an exciting opportunity for your FFA Chapter, 4-H club, or collegiate student organization to spread the word about the important role agriculture plays in our everyday lives by working with local elementary classrooms!

Suggested Timeline

Use this timeline to prepare for and conduct the classroom visit.

Pre-Visit Resources

Send this letter to teachers for grades 3-5 at your local elementary.

Visit Planner

After you hear back from teachers, use this form to plan your visit to their classroom.

Post-Visit Press Release

Use this press release to spread the good word about your success!

Classroom Visit Resources

Use this lesson to teach students about agriculture using My American Farm.

Share your Success Form

Complete this form to tell us more about what happened during your visit.

Implementation Ideas for Teachers

Here are some strategies for how teachers can implement My American Farm in their classrooms.

Teaching Guide

A guide for practicing or pre-service elementary teachers for teaching using the "My American Farm" platform and kiosk.

Declare “My American Farm Month”

Encourage students to download their passport to sustainability and play the games over a one-month period. If students complete all 12 games, they can display their completed passport on a special board in the classroom along with one thing they learned about agriculture. Consider giving out prizes to students with high scores in the class.

Earth Day Celebration

Play Keys to Stewardship and discuss what farmers do to preserve our environment.

Food Day Celebration

Read the Finders Keepers or Farmers Market e-comics with students and use the Agriculture is Everywhere lesson (or any other lesson) to discuss where our food comes from.

Games as Pre/Post Test

Give students the opportunity to play a game before a relevant lesson. After the lesson, have students play the game again to evaluate learning.

Early Completer Activity

If a student finishes an assignment early, give them the opportunity to play an enriching My American Farm game online until peers have completed the task.

Rainy-Day Recess Activity

If your students are stuck inside on a rain day, set up some computer stations with My American Farm.

Computer Lab

For this option, students complete the games individually or in pairs on a computer. Prior to turning students loose with the game, there are few decisions to make:

• Which activities would you like them to try? Or, will you leave it completely up to them?
• Will they need to play all of the activities in the time allotted? This is important if you want to see their final scores, as the game will not save progress from one sitting to the next. If you plan to have them return to the game later, have students record their score before closing the Web browser.

Teacher-Led Bell Work Activity

If you’re short on computers, you can project your computer screen for all students to see and allow them to guide you through the activity either verbally or by calling them up to make the move for themselves. Engage students with this strategy at the start or conclusion of a class period.

Activity Station

For many elementary classrooms, My American Farm may fit best by including it as an activity station for students to use during discretionary time.

Substitute Activity

If you are creating plans for a substitute teacher, include a My American Farm game and activity sheet. Identify a game that correlates to your students’ levels and interests. Next, select an activity sheet students can complete after playing the game.

Activity Sheets

E-Comics

Lesson Plans

In Class & Home Learning Activities

Almost all of the games on My American Farm are paired with learning guides, activity sheets and other educational resources. You can find these valuable learning tools on each game page. Also, below you'll find activity books that can be applied to the My American Farm project at large.