Agriculture Deputy Secretary Reads to Students at Sunderland Elementary School; Promotes “Read Across Maryland” and “Ag Literacy” Campaigns

MDA Dep. Secretary Mary Ellen Setting reads to Sunderland Elementary School students on National Ag Day.

SUNDERLAND, MD – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Mary Ellen Setting today read to kindergarten and first grade students at Sunderland Elementary School in Southern Maryland as part of “Read Across Maryland” Month and Ag Literacy Week/National Agriculture Week (March 23-29).

Deputy Secretary Setting selected What’s in the Garden? by Marianne Berkes to the students. The book explains that good food comes from a farm or garden, not a box on a grocery store shelf. The story features a variety of rhyming riddles about healthy, tasty fruits and vegetables along with hidden pollinators and pests in a garden.

“I’m happy to be here today with the students from Sunderland Elementary School and to share my passion for agriculture and the environment with them. Agriculture provides the food and nutrition to help students to succeed in school,” said Deputy Secretary Setting. “Working together with educators, our public libraries, and families across Maryland, we can prepare the future leaders of Maryland to live and learn with excitement. I encourage every family to take up Governor O’Malley’s challenge and read with their children for at least 30 minutes every day in March and to develop the habit of reading.”

“Sunderland Elementary greatly appreciates having Deputy Secretary Setting visit our school and share her love of reading with our students,” said Sunderland Elementary School Principal Karen Vogel. “As a guest reader, Deputy Secretary Setting enthusiastically modeled the joy that comes from books and the importance of developing college and career readiness skills as young learners.”

For the sixth year in a row, the O’Malley-Brown Administration is partnering with Maryland State Education Association, the Maryland Library Association and the Maryland Association of School Librarians to encourage educators, parents and children to read 30 minutes a day for 30 days as part of a “Read 30 for 30” theme.

This year also marks the 4th annual Ag Literacy Campaign, launched by the Maryland Agriculture Education Foundation, to visit elementary school classrooms across the state, read a selected book and talk to students about the importance of agriculture in their lives. The selected book for 2014 is the What’s in the Garden? book Deputy Secretary Setting read to the first graders.

“Read Across Maryland” was inspired by the National Education Association’s “Read Across America” program, which encourages children across the country to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss. Throughout March, Maryland’s public school students have been treated to readings by community leaders, elected officials, published authors and educators to promote daily reading.

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