Day Four

Today was a pretty laid back day. Since we were at the program and the Junior Fairboard meeting so late last night, I did not have to be in the office until around 9am this morning. I unpacked all the activities, put them away, and organized the mass chaos that I have inevitable already created in the small space I call my own.

Once I got done putting everything back to "almost normal" I started working on the Ag in the classroom activity for on Monday. I had a really great thought last night that we should try having the kids mix up the material in a plastic baggie to keep the mess factor to a minimum. The age group of the kids ranges from 1st Grade to Fourth Grade. Each group of youth get about 30 mins to complete the activity with us. The activity is really fun! I believe it is called the "Corn Mush" or something like that in the Acres of Adventure (the first book in the series). You combine almost equal parts of cornstarch and water in a bowl, and mix. I also have added food coloring to make the mixture even more exciting. The cool part is that the mixture is both a liquid and a soild. I was reading online in a section about this same experiement and this is what is said:

"The cornstarch and water stirred together create a mixture. When the solid grains of cornstarch are evenly spaced apart in the water, the starch grains slide easily past one another, as liquids do. When the mixture is squeezed, the grains are pushed together. This pressure makes the starch molecules stick together in a different way, so the mixture acts like a solid. When the pressure stops, the molecules come unstuck again, returning the mixture to liquid form." http://60secondscience.org/activities/cornstarchAndWater.html

We filled small bags with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and put OSU Extension stickers (and contact information) on them as a sort of marketing tool. We also put cool 4-H clovers on them also to help visually promote 4-H.

Tomorrow I am working from home on the officer training for April 30th, 2008. The training is something that I am familar with, but I will be re-doing a lot of things to make it more up to date, and interesting for the youth that go through it. I have a few Junior Fairboard volunteers, and some assistance from another intern (with FCS) in the office. My goal is to break down each book into "need to know" terms, and then form an interactive activity that will be fun for the kids to help them learn about each office. I will be corresponding with Mark throughout the day on AIM and on the phone if I have any questions.

My biggest goal for tomorrow is to have an idea of each office, and brainstorm for activities.