 A science teacher from La Porte School has been recognized by the state of Minnesota for incorporating agriculture in her classroom. Our own Cheryl Moore tells us how the plants make a difference in her teachings for this week's Golden Apple. It's a little more work, but I think it's valuable for the kids. Just seeing them, watching those kindergartners out there picking produce is so fun. Meet Amy Mastin. She's a science teacher at La Porte Schools and has recently been given the Minnesota Ag in the Classroom Outstanding Educator Award for 2018. An award that goes to a Minnesota teacher who has shown use of agriculture in their curriculum in the state of Minnesota. Mastin helps start the growing program at La Porte Schools. You may even remember seeing her here on Lake Lanuse. She incorporated agriculture into her everyday lessons in fun ways that the kids connect to. We do, like in earth science, we talk about soils a lot. We look at how soil and soil erosion affects farms and agriculture and how we choose to farm. Then we look at life sciences. We talked about genetics. I just had a lady come in and talk about the genetics of her cattle. With the fifth grade class, we do a lot of growing. So we have grow labs in our classrooms, and we are about to start our seeds for our community garden. That's all part of the curriculum. I blend it all in so that they learn how to grow it. They learn how to transplant it. They put it in the garden, they watch it grow and take care of it, and then they'll get to eat it in the fall, and then we compost as well. I think having hands-on activities and really connecting it to the world around them helps them remember those concepts. As a part of the honor, Mastern will get to go to the National Agriculture Conference in Maine. She'll also attend two farm tours in Minnesota where she'll speak about agriculture in the classroom. She's already planning big things in the classroom for the next few years. I'm looking at a five-year plan here. I'm looking at an FFA group, like an FFA group, to start using some of this stuff. I'm looking at potentially a greenhouse. I'm hoping for funding and then building classes around a greenhouse production. She also adds that agriculture in the classroom isn't just her. It's a group effort from everyone at La Porte School. It's not a one-person job to do all this. This is something that the entire staff does, and we have awesome staff. Reporting in La Porte with this week's School to Naples, Cheryl Moore, Lakeland News. Along with the award, Mastern also received $500 to put towards her program. She plans to use it to build an aquaponics system in the La Porte School Science Lab. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.