4-H Sustainable Schools Volunteer Handbook Table of Contents INTRODUCTION TO 4-H SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS ..................................................................... 4 Program Overview .................................................................................................................. 4 4-H Sustainable Living Member Schools .......................................................................................................................... 5 Program history .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Cost to create a Sustainability Project Site ...................................................................................................................... 6 4-H Sustainable Living Coaches make it Happen! .................................................................... 7 Steps to become a 4-H Sustainable Living coach: ......................................................................................................... 7 Managing Your Project for Success ....................................................................................... 10 Keys to Success .......................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Vandalism Prevention ............................................................................................................................................................ 12 Working with Your School District Staff ....................................................................................................................... 15 Building Support within Your School Community .................................................................. 16 Creating an Annual Calendar ............................................................................................................................................. 16 School Bulletin Boards ........................................................................................................................................................... 16 Developing a Project Notebook ......................................................................................................................................... 17 Celebrating Your Success ..................................................................................................................................................... 20 Promoting Your Program ...................................................................................................... 24 Strategies for Promoting Your Program ....................................................................................................................... 25 Media basics ............................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Other Important Considerations for Media .................................................................................................................. 28 Writing Grants ...................................................................................................................... 30 Common requirements of most grant proposals ....................................................................................................... 30 Grant writing “top ten” list .................................................................................................................................................. 30 Major Components in a Proposal to Foundations ..................................................................................................... 32 Building Support through Volunteers .................................................................................... 35 Why volunteers are important to a successful project ............................................................................................ 35 Recruiting volunteers for the project .............................................................................................................................. 35 Recognize and reward volunteers .................................................................................................................................... 38 THE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT MODEL ...................................................................................... 40 Place-Based Learning ............................................................................................................ 40 Place-based Education .......................................................................................................................................................... 40 Science Inquiry .......................................................................................................................................................................... 40 The 4-H Learning Model ....................................................................................................................................................... 42 The role of the 4-H Sustainable Schools Coach ........................................................................................................... 42 1 4-H Sustainable Schools Volunteer Handbook Sample projects that meet science education benchmarks ................................................................................... 43 Student Journals ................................................................................................................... 46 Getting Started .......................................................................................................................................................................... 46 What goes in a Field Journal? ............................................................................................................................................. 47 Journaling-The Process ......................................................................................................................................................... 48 The Left Brain and Right Brain of Journaling ............................................................................................................. 48 4-H After School Clubs .......................................................................................................... 50 Benefits of an After-school 4-H Club ................................................................................................................................ 50 Enrollment ................................................................................................................................................................................... 51 Features of a 4-H After-School Club ................................................................................................................................ 51 Developing and Managing Your Garden Year Round ............................................................. 54 Fall ....................................................................................................................................... 55 Summer ................................................................................................................................ 59 Developing Your Summer Maintenance Plan .............................................................................................................. 59 Typical tasks in the summer include: ...................................................................................... 59 Tips ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 60 Other considerations for Summer Maintenance ........................................................................................................ 60 FARM AND GARDEN ............................................................................................................. 62 Sustainable Agriculture and Gardening ................................................................................. 62 Why are Sustainable Gardening and Agriculture Important? ............................................................................. 62 Sustainable Garden Practices ............................................................................................................................................. 63 Soil ....................................................................................................................................... 67 Introduction to Soil ................................................................................................................................................................. 67 Soil components, Soil texture and properties of each .............................................................................................. 67 Gardening with Compost ...................................................................................................... 71 The 7 Factors of Composting .............................................................................................................................................. 71 Trouble-shooting 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