The Madison Parish 4-H Club focus this year will target building communication skills through various interactive lessons and hands-on activities to encourage and practice team-building, organization and record-keeping. Monthly after-school workshops will be offered to provide further training for interested members. In addition, selected teen high school club members will be trained to serve as mentors for middle-school clubs in order to assist facilitation of club activities.

Grades 4-6: promotes the Healthy Living initiative by utilizing nutrition educational resources to involve club members in group activities, show-and-tell demonstrations and journaling.

Grades 7-12: addresses Workforce Development initiative through a series of presentations supporting entrepreneurship.

All educational programs are age-appropriate and presented monthly during club meetings by extension staff. Organizational leaders and club officers coordinate the business meetings with structured member participation.

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

4-H members will:

• Create an inclusive environment for all participants.
• Set goals for personal and club development.
• Work cooperatively with others to accomplish goals.
• Increase knowledge of communication skills and styles.
• Practice good communication skills through various hands-on activities.
• Develop record-keeping strategies to record progress and accomplishments.

TEACHING STRATEGIES

Extension staff will:

• Recruit and train youth and adult volunteers to provide program support.
• Organize and manage 4-H Clubs and afterschool events/activities.
• Publicize and market program/project opportunities using various media (newspapers, websites, flyers, etc.)
• Develop and present hands-on educational programs utilizing the Experiential Learning Model.
• Recognize youth and adult achievement.

Reading to the Heart is a literacy enrichment program designed to encourage youth to become life-long readers. RTTH is sponsored by a USDA Children Youth and Families At Risk Sustainable Communities grant and coordinated through the LSU AgCenter.

The four components of the program include:

• A high-context focus group (fourth grade youth in classroom and afterschool settings.)
• Parent-child involvement (all ages.)
• Community Partnerships (Literacy Council, professional development.)
• Teen Reading Mentors (leadership and service-learning.
  

Educational programming this year will target the Citizenship initiative to strengthen character development skills with emphasis on Healthy Living and Science & Technology exploration. Enrolled youth will receive monthly take-home reading kits with books, periodicals, educational activities and fun ideas for the entire family.An increased emphasis on parent involvement will be implemented this year as project curriculum is developed for program sustainability. Parents and guardians will participate in project orientation and follow-up enrichment workshops. In addition, regular assessments will be collected for project research.

Junior Master Gardener is an environmental science program providing curriculum and manipulative's for integrated classroom gardening projects. Projects may incorporate outdoor school garden development or small container gardens, and involve students in independent and group learning experiments in addition to life-skill and career exploration.

Youth Wetlands Week is an environmental awareness program targeting Louisiana Wetlands Conservation issues and utilizes hands-on interactive lessons for grades 4 through 12. Sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, America’s Wetland Conservation Corps, Sea Grant and the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, the program is coordinated through the LSU AgCenter during a week in April following state testing. The program offers free curriculum and manipulative's to enrolled science teachers.

The Essential Elements are intended to be used as a guide to meet the needs of youth:

• Belonging -- knowing they are cared about by others.
• Independence -- knowing they are able to influence people and events.
• Mastery -- feeling and believing they are capable and successful.
• Generosity -- practicing helping others through community service.

Strategies to foster these elements are intentionally implemented through a variety of program delivery modes.

4-H Organizational Clubs: 4-H Clubs are considered co-curricular in Louisiana and organized in school settings with school educators serving as club sponsors. The number of clubs per school is decided based on number of members per grade and age appropriateness of school setting.

Madison Parish has thirteen organized school-based clubs as follows:

• Cloverbuds (grade 3) - 1
• 4th Grade Clubs - 3
• 5th Grade Clubs - 2
• 5th & 6th Grade Clubs - 1
• 6th Grade Clubs - 2
• Middle School Clubs - 2
• High School Clubs - 2

Special Events: A variety of special events are offered to provide extended learning experiences outside the regular club meeting and are open to all eligible members on a first come-first serve basis. Once quotas are filled, an alternate list is maintained in case of drop-outs. Registration fees are determined from fees incurred for admission, transportation, meals, etc.

• 4-H Night with the New Orleans Hornets (New Orleans, La.)
• 4-H Day at the Capitol (Baton Rouge, La.)
• 4-H Night in Death Valley (LSU Football Game, Baton Rouge, La.)
• Ag Adventures (Delhi, La.)

• Summer Camp (4th-6th grades)
• LOST Camp (7th-8th grades)
• Challenge Camp (7th-8th grades)
• Junior Leadership Conference (9th-12th grades)
• Co-op Conference (8th-12th grades)
• 4-H University and Clover College (8th-12th grades)
• Wild Woods Wanderings (4-year rotation) (9th-12th grades)
• Marsh Maneuvers (4-year rotation) (9th-12th grades)

Fund-raising: 4-H is a non-profit youth organization and relies on self-generated funding. Fundraisers are an important responsibility of all members and serve to teach organization, management and communication skills.

• Meet genuine community needs.
• Are coordinated in a collaborative effort between 4-H and other individuals or groups.
• Link an educational process supported by research-based information with the hands-on service experiences.
• Establish opportunities for young people to apply 4-H project skills and knowledge in real-life situations in their own communities.
• Provide structured reflection time for young people to think, talk and write about their project throughout the entire experience.
• Promote a commitment to active citizenship where youth understand that they can make a difference.

Youth Volunteers: teens and pre-teens “Learn By Doing” while helping others through organized leadership and service training. Youth support community service-learning such as Reading to the Heart, Health Rocks!, and Junior Master Gardener programs. Teens also serve as mentors and role models to younger youth through:

• Teen Junior Leadership Club.
• Camp Counselor Certification.
• Teen Reading Mentors

Adult volunteers: 4-H offers many opportunities for parents and other adults to volunteer. Whether as a one-time helper or middle manager, volunteers are caring, responsible adults who provide leadership and support to youth development programs as:

• Organizational Club Leaders.
• After school Project Leaders.
• Madison Development Foundation Board of Trustees.
• 4-H Advisory Leadership Council members.
• Louisiana 4-H Volunteer Association members.
• Regional Volunteer Leader Training delegates (September).
• Southern Regional 4-H Volunteer Leader Forum delegates (October).
• Certified Overnight Chaperones.
• Certified Master Horsemen.
• Certified Master Gardeners.
• Certified Master Volunteers (four levels).
• Episodic volunteers such as contest judges, day tour chaperones, event assistants, fund raising resources, etc.
  

Madison Parish has one agent with a 100% assignment to the 4-H youth development program. Organizational club sponsors may volunteer or are appointed by the principals in each school. Sponsors receive a volunteer service contract, job description, leader guide, training opportunities and promotional tools to use throughout the year to support 4-H Club programs and activities. After school project leaders are volunteers who receive training and supervision appropriate to the subject matter area. Teen volunteers are trained to serve as teen mentors and camp counselors .