Spring is just around the corner
Here's how I know spring is just around the corner. When I take my trash out on Monday mornings, I don't have to do it in the dark. And when I walked outside on Saturday morning, I found these little crocuses sprouting under the pecan tree. Of course, the next morning, they were covered with snow, but that's spring, too - especially in Oklahoma.
This is a great time of year to take your students for a walk and observe the signs that tell us spring is on the way. Read more...
Vernal Equinox
March 20 is the Vernal, or Spring, Equinox, the beginning of astronomical spring. The equinoxes are the two days each year when the middle of the Sun is an equal amount of time above and below the horizon for every location on Earth. In other words the sun would be directly over the Equator. Read more, with activities...
In Clover
Shamrock is the English form of the Irish word seamrog which, literally translated, means "little clover." Clover is one of the major crops grown in Oklahoma as hay. It is extremely delicious and fattening to cattle. This fact is where we get the idiomatic phrase "in clover," meaning a carefree life of ease, comfort, or prosperity. Read more, with lessons and activities...
National Weights and Measures Week
National Weights and Measures Week commemorates the anniversary of the date when President John Adams signed the first weights and measures law in the US on March 2, 1799. This week was set aside to make the public aware of this important service. Read more, with lessons and activities...
Red Dirt Groundbreaker: Bermuda John Fields
One of the first acts of the legislature of the Oklahoma Territory was to establish an agricultural college in Stillwater. Iowa-born John Fields was one of the first two assistant professors. In 1899 he was appointed first director of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station. The purpose of the Experiment Station was to conduct experiments to help Oklahoma farmers. Read more...
In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lamb
This phrase has its origins with the constellations Leo, the Lion, and Aries, the ram or lamb. It has to do with the relative positions of these constellations in the sky at the beginning and end of the month. For those of us who live through Oklahoma's volatile spring weather, it is an apt description of this month. Read more, with lessons and other resources...
March 14 is Pi Day
The Greek letter pi, is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi = 3.1415926535... Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. Read more, with lessons and other resources...
Look for OAITC at these events during March:
10—Kids, Kows and More, Miami, Fairgrounds
12—OSDE Zone Day, Pryor
25—Ag Day at the Capitol
Ag Day in Oklahoma is March 25.
Celebrate Ag Day with these lessons
Ag Day Fun Facts: Flora, Fauna and Food for Thought
Project BudBurst
Project BudBurst is a National Phenology Network Field Campaign for Citizen Scientists. Participants help collect important climate change data on the timing of first bud burst, first leafing, first flower, and seed or fruit dispersal. This national field campaign for people of all ages targets native tree and flower species across the country. The observations and records are entered into a BudBurst data base. As a result of the pilot field campaign in 2009, useful data was collected in a consistent way across the country so that scientists could use it to learn about the responses of individual plant species to climatic variation locally, regionally, and nationally, and to detect longer-term impacts of climate change by comparing with historical data.
The website also includes useful information about phenology and climate change.
March is National Nutrition Month
Green is good for you! Have a green lunch for St. Patrick's Day -
green grapes
spinach salad
split pea soup
green-colored milk
saltine crackers painted with green food coloring
Nutritional Recipes for the Classroom
March is National Noodle Month
March 22 is World Water Day
AITC Online Lessons for World Water Day
Additional Resources for World Water Day
What to Do in March
- Spring is Just Around the Corner
- National Peanut Month
- National Noodle Month
- Project BudBurst
- Vernal Equinox
- Clover Activities
- Weights and Measures Week
- Red Dirt Groundbreaker: Bermuda John Fields
- National Nutrition Month
- World Water Day
- Ag Day in Oklahoma is March 25
- Oklahoma Fruit of the Month: Grapes
- Oklahoma Vegetable of the Month: Greens
- In Like a Lion; Out Like a Lamb
- March 14 is Pi Day
- Outdoor Classrooms
- Happy Birthday, Vincent! Ag in Art: Sheaves of Wheat in a Field
- Ag in Poetry: Plowing Through Ashes, by Walter MacDonald
- Writing Prompts
- March Books
March is National Peanut Month
The Five Civilized Tribes brought peanuts to the Indian Territory, planting them in small gardens. After the general settlement of Oklahoma Territory, residents also planted parcels of the nuts, often selling or trading them to neighbors. More about peanuts, with lessons and activities
Oklahoma Fruit of the Month: Grapes
People have been eating grapes since prehistoric times. Raisins were probably first produced deliberately in Asia Minor by the process of burying fresh grapes in the hot desert sand. The grapes used to make raisins are different from table grapes. Read more, with activities...
Oklahoma Vegetable of the Month: Gather the Greens
Greens are the first vegetables to come up in the springtime. If well-protected, some will stay alive through the winter and begin growing once the days start to warm. Spinach that overwinters is sweeter than that which is planted later. Spinach is probably the best known of the greens, but there are many others, including young dandelion greens! Read more, with activities...
Now is the time to start seedlings indoors to transplant into your outdoor classroom later in the spring. More about outdoor classrooms, with lessons and other resources...
Cool weather veggies like spinach, lettuce, beets, peas and many other vegetables can be planted right into the garden beginning in March.
Plan your garden with Garden Grid.
Ag in Art
Vincent Van Gogh's birthday is March 30. Happy Birthday, Vincent!
Vincent Van Gogh
Sheaves of Wheat in a Field
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) viewed wheat as a central metaphor of the cycle of life, abundance and the creative process. As such, it was a theme that he consistently explored throughout his career. Read more, with discussion questions and activities...
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.