Junior Master Gardener Continues To Grow Good Kids!

As we approach the 2010-2011 4-H year if you are planning to use the Junior Master Gardener program materials with your gardening groups you are encouraged to register your group with the National Junior Master Gardener organization. Just like with our 4-H program we like to know who is participating and using our materials. This allows us to show an impact the programs are making and the information collected allows for funding opportunities. Its FREE to register and now you can even register online! It takes only a few minutes to do too! Several schools and youth groups have already begun to register. Don't miss out! The Junior Master Gardener program offers many great resources to it's members, there are fun activities you can use with you members/students and you will be kept up to date on garden grant opportunities as they develop. For more information on how your county groups can get started, please contact Becky at settlage@hawaii.edu.

Here's A Bright Idea!

Recently the East Hawaii 4-H Exchange Club participated in a light bulb exchange as part of a fundraiser project. The project was done in collaboration with the Blue Planet Foundation and the Kohala Center. Our club was given 500 CFL bulbs and were asked to put on a community event where they could have the community come and exchange their incandescent light bulbs with a CLF bulb. Our 4-H Exchange decided to have their events at the 4-H Expo and at a local farmers market. With a large group of people lined up to participate before we could even get set up, the light bulbs went very quickly...making this a very easy fundraiser, and the club will receive $1 for every bulb they exchanged. The money raised will go toward defraying costs associated with hosting a group of 4-H members and their chaperones who will be visiting from Alaska, June 26th-July 4th. So then you might ask...what to do with 500 light bulbs?? Well the group decided to promote 4-H of course!

Military 4-Hers Join Ahaolelo as First Time Participants

Last week, more than 30 teens from across the state of Hawaii gathered for a week long annual event, Ahaolelo. You can learn more about past conferences here.

This year, however, Claire and Carmen reached out to the military teen programs who have been conducting 4-H clubs throughout the year and asked if there were any teens who might want to attend Ahaolelo this year. Six responded with applications and were accompanied by Schofield Barracks teen center staff member Alexis SanNicholas.

Teens worked at the loi, did a cooking class, learned about beekeeping and did a robotics workshop among other fun activities.

New 4-H Clubs Earn Charters

Ten new 4-H clubs will receive official charters this year. In order for these military clubs to be recognized in this way, the leaders must submit complete youth enrollment forms and 10 detailed lesson plans for club activities including processing questions. After enrollments and lesson plans are received, we provide written feedback on a score sheet to the leaders so that they might improve the lessons using ESPGA and emphasizing Belonging, Independence, Generosity and Mastery.

The ten clubs receiving charters this year:
Aliamanu School Age: Theater Club, Up for the Challenge, Pet Pals, Gardening
Bennett Youth Center: Multicultural Club
Helemano School Age: Cooking Club, Theater Club
Camp Walker (Korea) School Age: Community Club, Music Club, Photography Club

If you have questions about the lesson plans or feedback we provide, you can ask Carmen or Claire. thanks!

Oahu Military 4-H Leaders Attend Training

January 14, 2010: 22 Oahu-based military 4-H leaders participated in a half-day meeting and training. Throughout the year the leaders are tasked with promoting their club activities or a specific event so we conducted a hands-on "poster making" session. Utilizing the 4-H Communications Toolkit, we took a train-the-trainer approach so that leaders can help club members understand basic design principles when promoting their 4-H events.

We also began planning for "Spring Fling" 4-H events. Each year in March, during the Spring Break holiday, 4-H clubs host or attend various events to celebrate the end of their 4-H year and accomplishments. More info to come on what the group has planned for this year.

If you have questions or want to know more about military 4-H clubs in Hawaii, Japan, Korea or Kwajalein, you can contact Carmen Golay: military4-h@ctahr.hawaii.edu.

Western Region SET Conference Call

I attended the Western Region SET Liaison conference call today (Jan. 27th) and thought I would pass along some of the relevant highlights:

• There is a new online project, called “Planting Science” for youth interested in botany/horticulture. Two modules are available to teachers/students from Feb. 15 – April 30 – “The Wonder of Seeds” and “The Power of Sunlight”, and while it is for classroom use, some of the information may be applicable to our 4-H work. The target audience is high school. 4-H is a partner in this effort, along with the Botanical Society of America.

http://www.plantingscience.org/index.php

• There is a 4-H Robotics Curriculum in development that will be released this fall and will feature 3 modules with a variety of games and platforms (including LEGO NXT, VEX, TETRIX and the Jump-o-bot).
• National 4-H is sending out a survey to State SET contacts and State 4-H Leaders to determine the needs of each state’s 4-H staff. These needs will be addressed at a conference in D.C. from Dec. 7 – 9, 2010. There are currently no funds to support travel, lodging, fees, etc. for attending the conference, but they are working on getting sponsorship.
• The 2010 National 4-H Youth Science Day letters of intent are due by Thursday, Jan. 28^th. The 2010 theme will be related to water quality/climate change and will be held on Oct. 6, 2010.

https://www.4-h.org/NYSD/2010experiment.php

• We discussed a couple of PBS sites (and TV programs) with some great, downloadable science/engineering activities that I thought some of you may be interested in:

http://www.pbs.org/parents/fetch/index.html

http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/index.html

• There is a very relevant PBS program coming up:

DIGITAL NATION
Tuesday, February 2, 2010, from 9 to 10:30 P.M. ET on PBS

FRONTLINE EXPLORES WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN IN A WORLD IMMERSED IN TECHNOLOGY

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/press/

• And if you want to learn more about using technology with our members, there is a series of free Media and Technology Webinars, presented by PBS Teachers and “Classroom 2.0”:

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/webinar/

Hawaii's National 4-H Congress Delegates Hula

Congratulations to Hawaii's 2008 National 4-H Congress Delegates. They a great job in their hula performance.