Seeking creative ways to engage your students? 4-H offers a multitude of opportunities, such as school enrichment, field day, and afterschool programs designed to enhance classroom education with experience-based learning. Many programs are coordinated by county Extension offices. To learn more about specific programs and opportunities available in your area, please contact your local Extension office.
Check out the Environmental Education programs offered by Nebraska 4-H Camps. These programs use the outdoors as a stimulus for the appreciation of previously acquired skills, including the areas of reading and language arts, science, mathematics, art, health, physical education, and social studies. Or, consider scheduling a field trip to Raising Nebraska. Raising Nebraska, located in Grand Island, offers several programs for visiting classes of all ages.
Nebraska 4-H also offers recognition for afterschool and school enrichment groups through the Programs of Excellence. The Programs of Excellence is an award program designed to recognize 4-H groups for providing high-quality educational experiences.
4-H OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCHOOLS & TEACHERS
Career Chat Live
Career Chat Live offers live, online career exploration opportunities. Each session focuses on a new set of careers. During each session, youth will get to meet workforce professionals in that career field. The youth will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in small group conversations with the guest speakers. Career Chat Live is designed for middle-school aged youth, and youth do not need to be enrolled in 4-H to participate. You can now request a Career Chat Live session! Simply complete the request form to let us know what you're looking for. While we cannot guarantee that we'll be able to fill all requests, but we will do our best to fit your needs.
Virtual Field Trips
Join Nebraska 4-H as we go on-site to learn more about science, agriculture, technology, and more! Virtual Field Trips offer facility tours, educational experiences, and additional resources for teachers. Virtual Field Trips are perfect for youth in 7th-12th grades. Sessions may be recorded and made available for on-demand viewing. Youth do not need to be 4-H members to participate.
Husker Beef Lab
The Husker Beef Lab provides a hands-on experiences for students in middle school and high school. The mobile Beef Lab experience teaches students science principles through a ruminant animal - its complexities and what makes the ruminant truly unique in the environment and ecosystem. The objective is to teach Nebraskans the value of, and support the production of, high quality, protein beef animals.
INVENTURE Day
INVENTURE Day is a single-day entrepreneurial adventure for middle school youth developed by the Nebraska Extension Youth Entrepreneurship and Business Opportunities (YEBO) Issue Team. Using innovation and creative problem-solving, teams of youth develop unique business concepts around a given widget which is used as inspiration for a product or service. Teams move through the INVENTURE Factory, completing challenges and working together to develop their business idea.
Environmental Education
Each year, hundreds of students and their teachers from schools across Nebraska participate in hands-on, engaging Environmental Education programs and experiences hosted by Nebraska 4-H Camps. Environmental Education is typically held during the months of September through November and March through May. Environmental Education programs and experiences align with the Nebraska Science Standards.
Field Trips
at Raising Nebraska
Raising Nebraska offers several programs for visiting classes of all ages. These two-hour programs allow students to experience Raising Nebraska through a guided tour before diving into a program specific to classroom needs through hands-on education. For more information about scheduling a field trip for your youth group, please visit Field Trips to Raising Nebraska.
Nebraska's Largest Classroom Day
at Raising Nebraska
Raising Nebraska is a proud partner in Nebraska's Largest Classroom Day. Raising Nebraska hosts a variety of educational experiences during Nebraska's Largest Classroom Day at the Nebraska State Fair. These experiences are primarily facilitated by Nebraska 4-H Youth Development professionals.
Connecting the Dots
Connecting the Dots is an interactive career exploration simulation program designed to help 9th and 10th grade students learn more about careers of interest. The simulation experience incorporates local/area business and industry, post-secondary, and military partners. Additional workshops on resumes, motivating skills, and additional topics are a part of this program.
Mapping Your Success
This train the trainer program is designed to help equip students to take initiative in building the path to help them succeed. Students will exit the course knowing more about themselves, how to be successful students and employees, how to thrive in new environments with others, and what they can do now to get started after high school. After attending this training, school counselors and teachers will gain access to the entire curriculum and be trained in implementation for their school.
Additional Resources
Can't find what you're looking for? Contact your local Extension office!