4-H on the Move A Newsletter for 4-H Families    DECEMBER	Archives of the Newsletter
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County News

Welcome to our 4-H Newsletter

If you are new to Waldo County 4-H, then welcome to our monthly family 4-H Newsletter!  This newsletter contains information about 4-H for families with members and/or volunteers enrolled in the program.  We also want to exchange news about what different 4-H clubs and independent members are doing.  Please submit articles to bpendleton@umext.maine.edu 

New employee Please welcome Billiejo Pendleton to Cooperative Extension. She will be working in the Waldo County office three days a week. Supporting the 4-H program will be one of her responsibilities.

Billiejo has been working in our office as a temporary employee since late June so she may be a familiar voice. She lives with her family in one of our border towns, Prospect, and has deep roots in the county.

We are delighted to have her join our staff with her welcoming smile and willingness to jump in and learn what there is to know about us, the county, 4-H  and Cooperative Extension.

 

Waldo County Leaders Association

•  Meeting called to order @ 6:45

•  In attendance: Jennifer Turnbull, Joyce Weaver, Lucy & Frank Whiting, Marilyn & David Schofield, and Anne Ambrose.

•  We completed comments for two Cloverbud activity records.

•  Ribbons, pins, and gifts were decided upon and collected/ attached to project sheets.

•  Discussed Achievement Night program: intro flag ceremony, eat, 3-5 speakers, dessert auction.

•  Exhibits on sidelines.

•  Meeting adjourned @ 7:45

•  Next meeting, Wednesday December 10, 2008 @ 6:30 pm

Volunteer Question and Answer Corner:

Q.  Can Cloverbuds do demonstrations?

A.  We encourage all 4-H youth to strengthen their skills in communication.  Presenting a demonstration is one way to practice this skill.  Demonstrations can be done in the club setting, at other 4-H gatherings such as achievement night, or at school.  Remember however, that the Maine 4-H Cloverbud policy states that Cloverbud activities must be age-appropriate and non-competitive.  So the requirements for a 4-H Cloverbud demonstration may be somewhat different – shorter, for example, or fewer visual aids required. And while Cloverbuds should certainly receive feedback on their presentation, they do not receive blue, red, or white ribbons or competitively awarded premiums. They may receive tokens (ribbons or small prizes) for participating as long as all Cloverbud participants receive the same thing.

Volunteer Training On Wednesday, January 14, 2009 a 4-H Volunteer training will be held here in Waldo County from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Please bring your lunch, completed application forms. Location will be at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Office, 992 Waterville Road. Waldo Maine Please register ahead of time by speaking with BillieJo or Sonia at 1-800-287-1426 or Joyce EXT 1012 or through email jweaver@umext.maine.edu.  SNOW DATE is Wednesday, January 28, 2009

2008 4-H Volunteer and 4-H Friend

We recognize Marilyn Schofield, as Waldo County’s 2008 4-H Volunteer and Friend of 4-H.  In the fall of 2003, Marilyn Schofield contacted Cooperative Extension when she wanted to get her grandchildren involved in the Waldo County 4-H Program. Why wouldn’t she? You see, Marilyn and her family have been involved in 4-H for many years. Marilyn joined 4-H when she was a nine-year old. Her family is one Waldo County family who captures the true essence of 4-H Generational Families.

Waldo County was pleased to welcome Marilyn back as a 4-H Volunteer.  She reorganized the Little Beavers 4-H Club, a club that offers many opportunities for animal projects and general 4-H club projects like sewing, woodworking, arts and crafts. Marilyn has helped the Little Beavers 4-H Club exemplify a high commitment for community service and citizenship.  Club members have raised animals and donated meat locally to a food cupboard, purchased and placed flags on the graves of Maine Veteran Cemeteries and worked diligently on the Knox Veteran’s Memorial with paver stones for families to purchase to honor family members that have served in the service in both war and peace times.

Marilyn has been instrumental for years, helping not only her children, but now her grandchildren and other community children. Marilyn, you  been part of the Waldo County 4-H Program since you can remember – now you are providing leadership for both local club programs and the county association.

Congratulations!

Fun Science and Technology Activities

Waldo County 4-H Volunteer, David Schofield and the Little Beavers 4-H Club presented two Science and Technology activities on Pneumatics and Electricity. The National 4-H Program recognizes a need of getting more youth involved in fun Science and Technology activities. Thank you Little Beavers for helping the Maine 4-H Program meet a National 4-H goal. Many of the 4-H families had fun doing these activities. Both activities were very much hands on.

Pneumatic Workshop The Lego movie shows Free Willie and how he is built and works on pneumatics and hydraulics at MGM.  Both programs are very much hands on. David has 15 sets of Lego didactic kits, with three 4-H members working together in each group per set. The challenge is to build one of several items depending on the age and make it work with pneumatics.  Ex: a medical chair that will go in a lay down position and upright. This is done with pistons, air lines and valves.  Also, available is a more advanced pneumatic training where they actually use switches, cylinders and air motors.  This is used in robotics and automation.  This is for 11 year olds and up.   Electricity Workshop The electricity workshops are also three hours and they play with lights and batteries.  This has a small manual that comes with it.  This is a workshop trying to shows how motors and switches work. 4-H’ers will set up a series circuit and a parallel circuit which is used in holiday lighting. I have 10 units with two or three kids in each group.

David is willing to do a three hour science and technology workshop with Cloverbuds and 4-H Clubs. Both are free to any group that would be interested. These have been used at several schools in the state and one 4-H club.  Both workshops have a lecture type piece and/or a short movie about it and then the 4-H’ers do the hands on.  For more information email David at  mschof@uninets.net.

Local foods and Flags at 4-H Achievement Night

We set a goal of having 10% of the pot luck food for 4-H Achievement Night be made with one or more local ingredients.  Not only did we meet that goal, but we exceeded it most tremendously!  

Of the 14 main dishes and salads, nine, or  64% of the items, had one or more locally grown foods in them!  What were some of the locally grown (or harvested) foods that were in these dishes?  Potatoes, onions, garlic, red kuri squash, beets, green beans, milk, butter, venison, beef and chicken!  We also had families reporting that they used local foods in desserts made for the auction:  apples, eggs, pumpkin and blueberries.  We had a total of 15 locally grown ingredients!  Congratulations to one and all for being willing to label the dish you brought and telling us if you used local ingredients!

Volunteer Grace Stevenson presented these flag facts after she led 4-H members in the flag ceremony.

Flag Facts

1. How many stripes does the U.S Flag have?
a. 27    b. 13    c. 48   d. none

2. How many stars does the U.S. Flag have?
a. 50    b. 25    c. 13   d. 48

3. When do we celebrate Flag Day?   
a. May 1    b. December 25 c. July 4    d.  June 14

4. How old is the U.S. Flag?
a. 100 years    b. 200 years c. 223 years    d. 500 years

5. What answer below is NOT another name for the U.S. Flag?
a. Stars and Stripes b. Old Glory c. Star-Spangled Banner d. Old Ironside

6.  Who wrote words for the Star-Spangled Banner?  
a. Francis Scott Key b. Elton John c. George Washington d. George Gershwin

Credit: American Legion Website, www.legion.org 

What Do You Know About the Flag? Answers
b. 13   2. a. 50   3. d. June 14   4. c.  223   5. d. Old Ironside   6. a. Francis Scott Key

National 4-H Congress/Conference

Now is the time to start thinking about applying for a State Award to National 4-H Congress or National 4-H Conference. Both of these national programs are excellent opportunities to meet 4-H members from across the nation. At 4-H Congress participants learn about the many career options, and learn through other educational workshops.  At 4-H Conference, participants learn about and are part of a team making recommendations to National 4-H Council at Conference.

When are the programs held?    National 4-H Congress - in November, immediately following Thanksgiving    National 4-H Conference - in April

What is involved in applying for a State Award?

Step 1 - Work on your 4-H Portfolio (Please follow the portfolio guidelines available in your Extension Office.)

Step 2 - Submit your Portfolio on or before December 31, 2008 to:              

Jane Haskell, Extension educator            
992 Waterville Rd
Waldo ME 04915

Step 3 - The State’s screening committee will review Portfolios and invite 4-H members  to interview.

Step 4 - An in-person interview will be held in early June in a central location for those applying.

Decisions Announced - Mid-June             

  

State News

Project Feeder Watch

Here’s news of interest to homeschoolers or anyone who cares about helping children learn and getting them reconnected to the natural world. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has just released its newly revised, FREE Homeschooler’s Guide to Project Feeder Watch.

For more than 20 years, Project FeederWatch has been an easy, fun way for children to learn about birds and strengthen their skills in observation, identification, research, computation, writing, creativity, and more. FeederWatchers keep track of the numbers and kinds of birds at their feeders through the winter and report what they see to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The Homeschooler’s Guide to Project Feeder Watch will guide you through bird-related activities that promote learning across many disciplines, including science, math, history, and the arts. Examples of these activities include: Natural history: Observe and research a bird’s behavior and life cycle Math: Calculate average seed consumption rate and graph data Writing: Keep a nature journal to write stories and poetry Geography: Research the geographic ranges of birds Art: Keep a feeder-bird sketch book or create a Papier-mâché mask To download  the Homeschooler’s Guide to Project Feeder Watch, visit www.FeederWatch.org and click on the “Education/Home School” button. You’ll be able to download the PDF in low (2.2MB) or high (6.7MB) resolutions. You may choose to use the free guide as a stand-alone resource, or sign up for Project Feeder Watch to submit the data you gather.

4-H EDGE Weekend – It’s BACK……

Plans are underway for the 4-H EDGE Weekend 2009: Connecting Kids to Campus!  We had such fun the past two years and this year promises to be even bigger!  So put May 16 and 17 on your calendar right now.  We are hoping to bring 100 kids to EDGE this year and we want to see you!  Keep watching your newsletter for continuing details.

AND…Would you like to have a say in the EDGE plans??  Co-chairs of 2009 4-H EDGE, Kristy Meisner Ouellette and Christy Fitzpatrick are getting together a group of youth and adults who have attended either one or both of the previous EDGE Weekends to help us make plans for this year.  We will be having a teleconference on Wednesday December 10 at 7 pm for anyone interested in contributing thoughts and ideas for the best EDGE yet!  If you want to be part of this group, please email Kristy at kmeisner@umext.maine.edu or Christy at cfitz@umext.maine.edu or call Christy at 1-800-287-1469 and leave your contact information. Once we know how many lines we need, we will let you know the number to call.

Discounted Train Fare to Boston for 4-H Groups!