4-H School Enrichment - Jr/HS

Email: thurston-county@unl.edu
Website: thurston.unl.edu
Location: 415 Main St, Pender, NE 68047
Phone: 402-385-6041
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UNLExtensionThurston/
Twitter: @UNLThurstonCty

School Enrichment programs are a cooperative effort between schools, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Nebraska Extension, which complement the educational goals of all organizations. The materials used in 4-H are based on research and produced by specialists from the University of Nebraska, National 4-H, and various universities and organizations throughout the United States. The lessons use the Experiential Learning Model: Do, Reflect, and Apply to develop critical life skills.

4-H School Enrichment resources include teacher guides, student manuals, DVDs, teaching kits, and staff presentations. All lessons are FREE, unless otherwise designated!

If you have any specific topics or areas that you would like resources on please let's have a conversation! Especially in the areas of College & Career Readiness, STEM, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call or email. We hope these programs will enhance your existing curriculum and you will take advantage of these programmatic opportunities. We look forward to working with you.

STE(A)M - Science, Technology, Engineering, (Art), Math

• Food For Thought
• Power Protectors
• Explorers of the Deep
• Galactic Quest
• Mars Base Camp
• Motion Commotion
• Rockets to the Rescue
• Power of Wind
• Embryology

Personal Development & Leadership

• Health Rocks!
  
• Leadership Summit

College and Career Readiness & Financial Literacy

• Money Makes Cents
• Discover Your Future
• Dress to Impress
  

Entrepreneurship

• INVENTURE Day
  

Target Audience Programs

• Real World Money
  
• Connecting the Dots
• Credit Card Blues

4-H is the premier youth development program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Originating in the early 1900’s as “four-square education,” the 4-H’s (head-heart-hands-health) seek to promote positive youth development, facilitate learning, and engage youth in the work of their community through the Extension Service to enhance the quality of life. For more than a hundred years, 4-H has been dedicated to creating research based learning opportunities for youth that broaden skill sand aspirations nurturing the full potential of youth.

Suggested grade levels: 3rd-8th

Sessions: Three, 20 - 45 minute sessions

Food for Thought is a new 4-H challenge that's ideal for youth ages 8-14 years to spark an interest in STEM and inspire real-world actions to help build food security on an individual and community basis.

Activities include:

Food Fighters - This collaborative board game gamifies learning about the global food supply chain. Students work together to secure their town's food supply, making strategic decisions and building teamwork skills.

Chew on This - This entrepreneurial challenge encourages students to think critically about food waste reduction. By brainstorming innovative uses for food scraps, students develop problem-solving and design thinking skills.

Know to Grow - This hands-on engineering activity introduces students to plant science and controlled environment agriculture. Students design and build efficient growing environments, fostering an understanding of plant cultivation and its role in food security.

Suggested grade levels: 4th+

Sessions: Three, 30-45 minute sessions

Explore the exciting world of renewable energy with the 2023 4‑H STEM Challenge, Power Protectors! Developed by 4‑H educators from Cornell University, The University of Illinois, West Virginia University and Utah State University, Power Protectors teaches kids about the exciting world of renewable energy, how to address real‑world issues and explore careers in energy.

Suggested grade levels: 3rd-8th

Sessions: Four, 30-45 minute sessions

Galactic Quest explores the history of humans in space, the technology and resources needed for missions, and the obstacles humans encounter in orbit. Activities explore important STEM topics ranging from physics and engineering to computer science and space agriculture.

Challenge Activities:

Astro Adventure
This unplugged board game promotes teamwork as kids gather the resources needed to live and work in deep space.

Stellar Optics
In this offline activity, kids build a telescope and learn about physics and light and how telescopes have been used to explore space.

Cosmic Claw
Kids work hands-on to engineer a mechanical arm that works to harvest crops in space.

Cyber Satellite
In this computer science activity, kids learn about cyber security and decoding to stay safe from obstacles in orbit.

Suggested grade levels: 4th+

Sessions: Three, 30-45 minute sessions

Ocean exploration and research are important tools that help scientists, policy makers, communities and individuals prepare for and adapt to changing ocean conditions. Since Earth is an ocean planet, these impacts affect humans and organisms all around the world, regardless of their proximity to the ocean. The challenge activities are designed to help youth develop observational and critical thinking skills while exploring the interconnections between the ocean and humans, regardless of where they live. The activities are based on the long-standing Ocean Literacy Principles and Fundamental Concepts, developed by ocean scientists and K–12 educators in 2005.

Suggested grade levels: 3rd-8th

Sessions: Four, 30-45 minute sessions

The race to land humans on Mars is on! The 2020 4‑H STEM Challenge will explore sending a mission to Mars with the activity, Mars Base Camp. Developed by Google and Virginia Cooperative Extension, Mars Base Camp is a collection of activities that teaches kids ages 8-14 STEM skills like mechanical engineering, physics, computer science, and agriculture.

Supported by national partners—Bayer, Toyota, and U.S. Air Force—Mars Base Camp is the perfect topic to empower young people to explore a wide range of subject areas in an exciting thematic package, one that allows kids to think about the same problems that today’s top scientists and engineers are working on right now.

Featuring four hands-on activities that can be enjoyed with or without internet access and individually or all together, the challenge teaches kids STEM skills like mechanical engineering, physics, computer science and agriculture.

Suggested grade level: 6th-8th

Sessions: Two, 45-60 minute sessions

Kids who are captivated with the crash collisions and daredevil students of the Fast and Furious movies will have a chance to explore the science that makes it all possible. The Motion Commotion experiment is a two-part science activity that involves every day materials, including a toy car, modeling clay, ruler, calculator and cell phone. In the first phase, youth will construct a simulated runway to analyze the speed, momentum and kinetic energy of a car in motion, and will explore the science behind the cart’s collisions. In the second phase, they will lead an experiment that uses the same physics principles to demonstrate the consequences of distracted driving.

Suggested grade levels: 4th+

Sessions: Three, 30-45 minute sessions

Rockets to the Rescue is an engaging activity that gives young scientists an opportunity to let their imagination take flight and explore how aerospace engineering addresses real world problems, such as delivering food and supplies in emergency situations. Participants will apply lessons in science, math and physics to design and build an aerodynamic Food Transportation Device (FTD) that can deliver a payload to a desired target using different trajectories.

Suggested grade level: 5th—8th

Sessions: Two-Three, 45-60 minute sessions

Are you looking for something to spark engineering and science interest among middle school kids? The activities in The Power of the Wind curriculum involve young people in the engineering design process as they learn about the wind and its uses. Youth work with members of a team to design, create, build, and test a wind powered device.

The device must solve a problem and requires the designers to balance options and constraints. Participants are guided to make adjustments and retest until the vehicle or machine solves the original problem.

(Spring Semester)

Suggested grade level: K+

Sessions: Three, 30-45 minute sessions

4-H Embryology teaches students about science and respect for life. Students hatch chicks in the classroom and witness the exciting miracle of life. Students take the responsibilities of caring for the fertilized eggs and then the chicks after they have hatched. Following each session, the hatched birds are given to local farmers.

Suggested grade level: 2nd—8th

Sessions: Each session is about 30-45 minutes. The program is designed to be taught in full but individual lessons can be utilized individually

Health Rocks! is a curricula for a healthy living program where youth participate in hands-on activities that educate them on the consequences of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. The program aims to:

· Reduce youth smoking and tobacco use.

· Help youth build life skills that lead to healthy lifestyle choices with special emphasis on youth smoking and tobacco use prevention.

· Help youth understand influences and health consequences of tobacco, drug, and alcohol use to make healthy choices.

· Engage youth and adults in partnership to develop and implement community strategies that promote healthy lifestyle choices.

· Build positive, enduring relationships with youth involved as full partners through widely varying “communities of interest” to address youth risk behaviors.

Suggested grade levels: 5th-8th

Sessions: Three-Five, 45 minute sessions OR a full day event

At a critical time when early middle school students choose to take the wrong “trail” in life, help prepare them to be tomorrow’s leaders and role models through Leadership Summit! Middle school youth will see the world from a new perspective and learn to be more effective leaders as well as team members after participating in this program. Leadership discovery and personality trait assessment sessions followed by engaging interactive leadership development activities will build knowledge of interpersonal and teamwork skills.

Suggested Grade Levels: 4th-8th

Sessions: Two-Five, 45 minute sessions

Adapted from the 4-H curriculum "Reading Makes Cents," students take a deeper dive into their financial understanding and education. The lessons engage youth with stories, hands-on activities, and practical application. We have a three year rotation of lessons to keep students engaged year after year. Topics covered are: History of Money, Managing Money, Earning Money, Spending & Saving Money, Supply & Demand, Bartering, SMART goals, and Checks & Consumer Sense.

Suggested grade level: 5th-8th

Sessions: Three, 45-60 minute sessions

Youth will discover their personal College and Career interests and aspirations. They discover careers, learn the college lingo, and develop their own SMART college goals.

Suggested grade level: 11th-12th

Session: 30-45 minute session

The first impression you give someone is what you're wearing. Let's learn how to make the best impression you can on your future employer, along with some practical skills, like tying a tie!

Suggested Grade level: 5th - 8th

Sessions: A field day experience for youth (8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.). Up to 4 pre-lessons in the classroom.

Cost: Field Day $15/student

INVENTURE Day is a single-day entrepreneurial adventure for middle school youth developed by the Nebraska Extension Youth Entrepreneurship and Business Opportunities (YEBO) Issue Team. Using innovation and creative problem-solving, teams of youth develop unique business concepts around a given widget which is used as inspiration for a product or service. Teams move through the INVENTURE Factory, completing challenges and working together to develop their business idea. Throughout the INVENTURE Day experiences, youth learn about a variety of entrepreneurial topics, including:

• Product Development,
• Target Markets,
• Branding, and
• Finance.

Youth learn what it takes to start a business through first-hand experience while working with adult mentors and entrepreneurs from their own community. At the end of the day, teams present their business ideas to local business mentors in a product pitch competition.

Suggested Grade level: 7th & 8th

Session: Full day event OR Five, 45 min-1hr sessions

Cost: $5/student

This interactive financial management program is designed to help 7th grade and 8th students become better prepared to make financial decisions as young adults.

Schools should bring one adult for every ten students. Teachers/adults will work with students to develop financial skills and put them into practice throughout the day in a real world simulation.

The student will:

• Experience a real life simulation where they can express their views on financial resources and learn the impact of the views on future decisions.
• Explore careers and resources that are available.
• Be able to make wise credit choices.
• Gain a better understanding of family finances.
• Realize the limits of financial resources both within the family and as a young adult.
• Have fun learning together.

Suggested Grade level: 9th & 10th Grade

Session: Day long program (8:45 am - 2:45 pm)

Cost: $2,000

This interactive career exploration simulation program is designed to help students learn more about careers of interest as well as how to “connect the dots” from ninth grade through postsecondary study to the workplace. Students will need to complete Kuder career exploration activities prior to registering and will work in teams of two or three based on career interests.

The student will:

• Experience a “real life” simulation to learn how their high school choices impact their post secondary study and their workplace experiences.
• Learn more about their favorite careers.
• Learn about the importance of networking as they begin to prepare for their careers.
• Build work readiness skills including resume building and interviewing.
• Complete personality inventories to relate to future jobs.
• Have fun learning together.

Suggested Grade level: 12th Grade

Session: 2-3 sessions, 30-45 minutes

Preventing the Credit Card Blues at 22 is a free two-part program designed to provide high school seniors with valuable information to help them avoid credit card problems and pitfalls by choosing and using credit wisely.

If you are interested in any of our programming or would like more information, please contact at the office 402-385-6041 or Jennifer at jhansen6@unl.edu We will contact you and let the education through the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Extension begin!

The purpose of a 4-H school enrichment program is to:

· Encourage long-term involvement in 4-H for enhanced positive youth development.

· Enhance the relationship between 4-H and the school system (public or private).

· Provide non-formal education to complement formal education, leading to better educated youth.

· Enhance the subject matter area being studied.

· Foster and promote enthusiasm and support for participation in 4-H programs, events, and activities.

What does a quality experience look like?

· Delivered by 4-H staff, trained volunteers or teachers.

· A sequential and varied learning experience supporting the school curriculum.

· Youth are able to articulate that this is a 4-H sponsored project.

· An evaluation is completed by teachers and/or school participants.

Jennifer Hansen, Extension Educator, jhansen6@unl.edu

Sydney Williams, Extension Assistant, sydney.williams@unl.edu

Email: thurston-county@unl.edu
Website: thurston.unl.edu
Location: 415 Main Street, Pender, NE, United States
Phone: 402-385-6041
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UNLExtensionThurston/
Twitter: @UNLThurstonCty