Saturday, July 16, 2011

What have I taken away from this course that will change the way I teach in the 4-H classroom. I must start off by saying this has been a very challenging course. It is the first course I have ever taken in the summer and was very difficult for me. I did not take into consideration how busy I am in the summer as a4-H agent. However all of it was worth it I have learned so much. For starters I have learned how to use technology in the classroom. Starting this blog was a challenge but it was one with a great reward. I am very proud that I can add pictures, videos and get my information out to the public. My next step is to create a blog for 4-H Camp so all of the parents can follow along as their children attend overnight camp. I also learned that to actively engage learners you have to have several different dimensions in you classroom and lesson plans. You really have to incorporate elements that will engage every type of learner. I feel my lessons from this point on will be better because of this class. Finally reading my book Complete Guide to Service Learning, (The): Proven, Practical Ways to Engage Students in Civic Responsibility, Academic Curriculum, & Social Action (Second Edition) I know have a guide to improve my Middle school leadership program. I want the leadership program to focus on service learning even more in the up coming year and this book will help guide me through the process.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Module 5: Instructional Plan

Step Up to your Leadership Potential

Description:
This unit will be used with 4-H Leadership clubs at each of the Kenton County Middle Schools. The students are identified as gifted in Leadership and will meet monthly for six months to learn Leadership Skills and how they can improve their Community through Community Service Projects. This unit gives control to the students so they can step up in leadership roles. They will have guidance and lessons however how and where the unit goes will be decided by the youth in their club setting using parliamentary procedure to guide the group.

Unit Objectives:
1. Students will learn how to become leaders.
2. Students will learn about Community Service.
3. Students will complete at least one Community Service Project.

Assessments:
• Leadership self-assessments will be used 1st meeting and last meeting.
• Students will assess the program at the end of the year based on a 4-H program evaluation.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Environmental Education Field trip

Partnering with UK Extension office’s Kenton and Campbell County and Kenton County Schools


DJ Scully
Campbell County Extension Agent for Natural Resources and Environmental Management
djscully@uky.edu Phone: (859) 572-2600 Fax: (859) 572-2619



Program overview
This program will allow youth to learn important facts about our environment. This program will be offered as a field trip to Kenton County 5th grade class rooms. The class will visit the Environmental Education Center to encounter several hands on experiences about our environment. Each group will be put into 5 groups and rotate to five different activities, which will include: Soil Studies, Water Cycle, Animal Adaptations, water Quality and forestry.


How this program will be offered.


This program will be offered in the fall and spring to any 5th grade class in Kenton County. It will be posted on the Kenton County 4-H web page and a flyer will be sent to each school.
5th grade Science


Kentucky Learning Goals
2.1 Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real-life problems.
2.3 Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other
2.4 Students use the concept of scale and scientific models to explain the organization and functioning of living and nonliving things and predict other characteristics that might be observed.

2.5 Students understand that under certain conditions nature tends to remain the same or move toward a balance.
2.6 Students understand how living and nonliving things change over time and the factors that influence the changes.


SC-05-3.5.1
Students will describe cause and effect relationships between enhanced survival/reproductive success and particular biological adaptations (e.g., changes in structures, behaviors, and/or physiology) to generalize about the diversity of populations of organisms.
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Students will understand that all organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment.
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Students will understand that the Sun is a major source of energy for changes on Earth’s surface. The Sun loses energy by emitting light. A tiny fraction of that light reaches Earth, transferring energy from the Sun to Earth.
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Students will:
Describe and categorize populations of organisms according to the function they serve in an ecosystem (e.g., producers, consumers, decomposers);
Draw conclusions about the effects of changes to populations in an ecosystem.
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Students will understand that a population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at a given place and time. All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.

Assessment

The students will be assessed by taking a pretest and a posttest over content covered in the program.