STEM Workshop

Yesterday we had a successful STEM workshop with 9-13 year olds. We had 8 kids show up and participate in the workshop. We started the day with Dancing mothballs which we had fun watching bounce up and down in a liquid solution. After that we made thermometers with water, rubbing alcohol, and food coloring. Following the thermometers, we made drawbots. Our drawbots were made out of styrofoam cups, wire, a small motor, a push button, a battery pack, a penny, and washable markers. The children worked in pairs and designed their robots cup with different colors then we began attaching the motor, push button, battery pack, wires, and electrical tape in the correct places. We then attached markers around the base and used a white tablecloth and turned on all of our drawbots on at the same time and let them draw all over the tablecloth. It was awesome! Random items that we attached created a robot that could draw!
We took a break for lunch and watched some Bill Nye the Science Guy while we ate. Following lunch we made ice cream in a bag. This was a good dessert surprise after lunch!
After we cleaned up from the ice cream making we started our Bubbleology unit. We spent the rest of the afternoon testing soaps and bubble solutions to see which made the biggest bubbles. We had some children make some HUGE bubbles. We also had a competition to see who could create a device that would make the biggest bubbles. Everyone had fun, got covered in marker and bubbles!

Workshop & Fair Planning and Preparation

I've been planning for workshops and going shopping with Karrin for workshop and fair supplies. I have typed many documents, organized binders and papers, and helped pick out things for the Albemarle County Fair this year! I am excited for the fair to be here. Like camp, a lot of planning has gone into the fair and I am excited to see the how it goes! I'm from Rockingham County so I've heard Albemarle's fair is a little different than ours, and a little smaller. I guess I'll find out firsthand!
I have been putting lots of time and energy into planning my upcoming workshops and I'm excited to teach them! We will be doing lots of fun activities at each workshop! I hope to see lots of people at the fair and lots of children at my workshops! :)

Wacky Science Cloverbud Workshop

Yesterday I hosted the Wacky Science Cloverbud Workshop from 9am-3pm. We started the day by using air dry clay to make volcanoes around a soda bottle, After that we looked at the way rain works by using water, shaving cream, and food coloring and watched the food coloring go through the shaving cream cloud. We also soaked gummy bears in different solutions. We used water, soapy water, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and liquid starch as solutions and checked to see the growth of the gummy bears throughout the day. (The gummy bear in water was the largest, but each solution had different effects on the gummy bears.) We then looked at density and used honey, corn syrup, dish soap, water, olive oil, and rubbing alcohol (dyed different colors for different layers) and out them in clear cups to observe the differences in densities between different liquids. We colored some coffee filters with washable markers and used water to watch the ink colors spread out. We were going to make these tie dye filters into butterflies but we ran out of time. :( The kids all wanted to take a little break after that and we took about 15 minutes to sing along to songs from the movie, Frozen, and dance. We did the Macarena, Cupid Shuffle, and Cha Cha Slide before we decided we were hungry and wanted lunch. We ate lunch and watched some Magic School Bus, then decided to have some free play with spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. A lot of marshmallows disappeared during this activity and it was cool to see all the creativity during this time! After that, we cleaned up LOTS of spaghetti noodles and headed outside to see how the volcanoes the kids had made earlier in the day worked! We used lots of baking soda and vinegar and both volcanoes erupted multiple times. Everyone enjoyed that. We also looked at the difference between pouring baking soda into a vinegar/water solution or pouring vinegar/water into baking soda. We found out that pouring the liquid over the baking soda causes a much larger and faster eruption. After the volcanoes were full of vinegar and were not erupting anymore, we moved on to Diet Coke and Mentos! We put Mentos into 6 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke and watched the Diet Coke spray at least 20 feet in the air. This was the most exciting experience of the day! But we didn't stop the fun after that! We came back inside and finished up the day with some Dirt Pudding, showing the different layers of dirt in the ground, and then made Slime/ooblek/gak/goo. It was a fun ending to the day and everyone left with food colored hands and a bunch of slime to play with. :) The day was great! The adults had fun, the kids had fun, and we all learned about science! :)

Eliza enjoying her dirt pudding snack!

Diet Coke and Mentos Fun! :)

4-H Camp

Thursday went well and everyone had fun at their final day of classes. We had an extra long recreation time which gave the children time to spend with their friends on their final day of camp. 

Scott and I were in charge of Albemarle's bank for the children who wanted to buy items from the camp store. When about 90 hot, sweaty, tired children are waiting in line for their money to go buy ice cream, I learned the kids' names pretty fast. I was pretty impressed with the number of names I could put to faces as the kids came through the line every day. 

I had a lot of fun with the Albemarle/Charlottesville and Nelson teens, campers, and adults and was happy with the way camp went. Although we had to deal with a little rain for a few days, everyone still had fun and made new friends. I hope I can come back next year and spend another awesome week  at camp with the great 4-H youth from this county and Nelson. All the time, planning, and energy that went into planning camp was well worth it in the end when we looked outside and saw all the kids smiling and running around the rec field. The week was a success! :)

4-H Rainy Camp Day 3 7/9/14

Rain, rain go away...come again another day (after Friday, preferably). Last night a thunderstorm showed up during campfire (which turned into Ampfire in the Ampitheater because of the weather) and caused a little chaos when it came shower time. No one was allowed to take a shower because of the weather and everyone went straight to their cabins for bed. EVERYONE was quiet withing 30 minutes of lights out (10:45). This meant that campers could get up early this morning to head to the bathhouses for showers. I got up at 5:45 and headed to the showers before the campers got up at 6:30. Breakfast, classes, and lunch went as usual with a few classes relocated because of a short rain shower. After lunch it was pouring down rain so after the afternoon program with a K-9 Unit and a little pool time, everyone was sent to their cabins and had some cabin time, group meetings, and camp store before spending recreation time in their cabins. Nothing like a little cabin bonding on a rainy afternoon to form new friendships! Hopefully the rain will hold off until after the pool party which takes place tonight at 9pm after campfire! Some campers auditioned for the talent show and I am excited to watch the talent show tomorrow evening! Everyone is having a great few days so far and the number of homesick kids is steadily decreasing! Yay! :)

4-H Camp Day 2 7/8/14

Today we had wake up call at 6:50am. The adults had finally gone to bed a while after midnight which made it hard to wake up this morning. (I was up for 19 hours yesterday...) We started the day with a hearty breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits, and jelly. Then had grounds clean up before a morning assembly. Today was the first day of classes so campers went to classes ranging from archery, riflery, animal science, cooking over the campfire, kayaking, duct tape 101, low ropes course, and more. After 4 classes we had tacos for lunch then a good assembly with State Trooper Dempsey, recreation times, and camp store. I did many cabin sweeps to make sure campers were at their classes and I'm about worn out from walking around the campground a million times. Dinner was turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and warm chocolate chip cookies!, followed by flag lowering, mail call, cabin clean up, camp store/group meetings, campfire, and lights out! I'm ready for hopefully a good night's sleep! It's been pretty hot at Holiday Lake, but that does not seem to slow the campers down one bit! Everyone's having fun and doing well! :)

4-H Camp Day 1 7/7/14

Yesterday we all arrived safely at camp and had a great first day! Scott and I arrived at Holiday Lake before the buses and did a cabin check to make sure everything was in check. Nelson County campers arrived first and went to their cabins before Albemarle/Charlottesville campers got here. We had an opening assembly, health checks, recreation time, camp store, campfire, and a few other events before it was time for lights out! Not all the campers were ready to go to bed, but all the adults were ready to hit the hay! There were only a few homesick campers which made the evening a little easier!

My Fifth Week in the Office!

This is my fifth week in the office. MY FIFTH WEEK IN THE OFFICE?! That means I'm almost halfway through my internship here! That's crazy! This week has been a fun and kind of relaxing week. Karrin and I put together the final camp supplies and are ready to go to camp Monday. I helped Ian, the FCS agent with a cooking workshop on Tuesday, which basically gave me the opportunity to color with children and hold a baby for 2 hours. Working with kids is my favorite thing to do anyway, so everyone had fun! Many pictures were drawn, play-doh was rolled around, and food was prepared and enjoyed by all. :) The moms of the children made spicy eggplant pasta and caprese salad and the kids helped make bananas with peanut butter and granola. They LOVED those. I had fun and the kids all had fun that evening!

 
Coloring with the children during the cooking workshop

  

Wednesday I went with Karrin and Carrie to an Ag Day meeting and always learn more and more about the area when I hear about all the agriculture related businesses at these meetings. I meet new people and learn new things every time. After the meeting, the whole office celebrated Karrin and Carrie's birthdays with a Pie Day! We had many different types of delicious pie and had fun trying them all!

         Pie Day!!! :)

I have been catching up on some workshop planning and other random things in my free time this week! Tomorrow we all have all for the 4th of July!

We're Ready for Camp! Are you??

Since I started my internship on June 2nd, everyone has been talking about camp! Can you believe next week is camp?! Everyone at the extension office is excited about camp and Karrin, Ian, Morgan, Carrie, and I are ready to head to Holiday Lake for classes, camp songs, new friends, mosquitoes, and fun in the sun! I am excited to spend my second week at Holiday Lake. Where I am from, Rockingham County, we camp at the W.E. Skelton 4-H Center at Smith Mountain Lake, and I love it there. But after spending one week last summer at Holiday Lake with the Greene/Fluvanna camp, I have figured out how pretty Holiday Lake's 4-H Center is! The classes, programs, songs, and leaders should all be awesome this year and I am excited to sing camp songs again! We have everything packed up and ready to go at the office, all that's left is to wait until Monday and load up the buses! :) So much planning, time, and energy have gone into making this awesome camp week a reality and I can't wait to see how the week goes!

All packed up and ready for camp!