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Mentoring: Making a Lifelong Difference In the past decade, social scientists have begun to uncover what volunteers across America have long known: mentoring works! "Private/Public Ventures" evaluation of eight urban Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs has uncovered incredible results. Youth with mentors face less risk of initiating drug use (-45.8%), alcohol use (-27.8%), and the number of times they hit someone (-31.7%) and also reported attending school more regularly and earning better grades than their peers without a mentor. Marc Freedman in his book, The Kindness of Stranger, outlines a number of issues to enhance successful youth outcomes through mentoring. The following are a sample of his recommendations.
Whether you are mentoring in a one-to-one situation or in a relationship with a group of youth, your interactions are of immense value. Make the most of these opportunities with an eye towards the future! Laurie L. Meschke, Ph.D. Hello again! It feels good to make another Cloverbud Connections with you! Here is a riddle - What is tall, short, thin, round, smart, kind, helpful, and makes the Cloverbud world go around? A Cloverbud Volunteer. Yes, you! Cloverbud Leaders are made up of all kinds of individuals who make what we do happen - promote healthy development in children by enhancing life skills. I am confident our program, through developmentally appropriate practice, is able to make a difference in the lives of children and their families. Now on to the good stuff!! Having received my latest issue of Teaching Pre-K to Grade 8 (1999), there are some cool activity ideas from their green pages. They fit the Cloverbud Program according to our Program Parameters. Here are some activities you may want to incorporate into your Cloverbud group. Story Imagination (thinking skills) Select a new storybook. Read the title and the first two or three pages of the story to the children. They image pictures of that part of the story. Then, show the storybook pictures. Follow the same procedures for the other pages of the story. Hop Stop (physical skills) Have a group of Cloverbud children stand apart in a line at one end of your meeting area. On signal, they hop forward on the right foot as you beat a rhythm while counting 1, 2, 3, 4. Call out, "Stop." The children repeat, "Stop," and count 1, 2, 3, 4 to the rhythmic beat. They then hop forward on the left foot to the rhythmic count. Continue the activity until the children reach the opposite end of the meeting area. Have the other children participate. Sentence Pairs (decision making skills) Make sentence strips on pieces of paper. For example: "I have __________. It is brown." Or, "My pet likes ___________. I like apples." Have the Cloverbud children work in pairs. Give each pair a sentence strip. With your help, each child takes a turn reading the sentences aloud completing the first sentence with a word choice. Have older Cloverbud children work with the younger ones. Well until next time, take care and have fun. I look forward to sharing more ideas with you soon. Scott D. Scheer Ingredients 2 cups fresh (chopped) or frozen strawberries
Directions
Makes 12 popsicles Supervise children while eating popsicles. Throw away sticks after eating. Source: Tickle Your Appetite - A WIC/Team Nutrition Educator's Kit for Children. Getting Cloverbuds to Cooperate and Have Fun…It is a Mystery! The Mystery… It is time to start thinking of forming those Cloverbud groups for the 1999 4-H year. While some Cloverbuds have been members for years, others are new to the program and each other. This is a great opportunity to get the ball rolling and help them develop a sense of team spirit and trust. By introducing them to mystery and adventure games and incorporating an element of surprise, adults can encourage them to work collaboratively to meet exciting challenges. In these kinds of situations, children talk to each other, solve problems and trust one another to get a job done. Mysteries improve the children's ability to communicate, cooperate and think logically. They also can be used to promote reading, writing and math skills. Each game can be designed to provide a FUN challengeñsomething to solve, discover and play. Here are a few examples The Storytelling Mystery… One of the best ways for children to get to know each other is by sharing stories about their lives. In this game, one person is designated "The Storyteller." He/She then begins to tell a story beginning with the words "Once upon a time." The storyteller either recounts a true story or makes up a tale. For example, the Cloverbud may say "Once upon a time, I went to Disney World and met Mickey Mouse." The group listens to the short story, then votes on whether they thought it was true or false. The narrator then tells the group if the story was true or false and picks the next "Storyteller." This game gives everyone the chance to talk about themselves in a safe environment where people are listening. It allows children to make up tales using their imagination, creativity and promotes the art of storytelling. The game can also help children feel more comfortable talking to a group of people. Often, children will ask the storyteller more questions about what happened and further discussions will take place. The Snack Sneak Adventure… The Snack Sneak can be described by group leaders as a mysterious, imaginary, prankster who ran off with the Cloverbuds' snack. This character would sneak away with the snack and leave a noteóforcing the group to go on hunts, searching for clues to discover where the snack has been hidden. These small games can lead to bigger and stranger things. Fortunately, with a little imagination and some inspiring ideas, anyone can create fun mystery and adventure games for all Cloverbud members. Quick Ideas for Mystery and Adventure Clues…
Adult Creativity… Be prepared for the excitement the adventures generate! These games give leaders the opportunity to use there own imagination to draw the guidelines and the plot to each mystery. Remember a mystery has four essential parts A theme, an introduction, the process, and a conclusion. The conclusions of the games are the final reward. They can be events such as songs, dances or a snack. Try to make the game playing worthwhile for its own sake, so that you are not just rewarding effort with treats. Finally, remember to use the cooperative model by developing adventures that have no single winner. All Cloverbuds should feel as if they have succeeded. Adapted from: The Snack Sneak Logic Games, Mysteries and Quests by Carol Ledden. Jason A. Hedrick,
Six, 7- and 8-year olds think in concrete terms and can handle ideas best when the idea is related to something they can do or experience. If they have never seen it, heard it, felt it, tasted it, or smelled it, they have a hard time imagining it. They are learning to think through past actions and to look at their solutions. They are beginning to learn about abstraction. They can classify and group objects. Children make amazing progress in reading and math between the ages of 6 and 8. Sixes are learning to read, do simple math, write simple words and combine words. They may reverse numbers and letters when learning to write. Sevens begin to read for fun. They learn to tell time and develop basic number concepts like counting, adding and subtracting. They have begun to use the written word. ìI love youî letters are popular. Eights have a growing interest in the past and past events. They can tell the day of the month of the year. They like to talk about their family trees and about children from other cultures and other lands. They may also look at the news on TV, in magazines and in newspapers. They become conscious of their own race and nationality and internalize feelings toward religion, money and ethnic groups. Elementary-age children like to read comics, detective stories and fairy tales. They are eager to learn and want to do things for themselves. They are not impressed with others who talk too much or for too long. They ask lots of questions. Their sexual curiosity begins to develop. Six and 7 year olds especially want to know why and how boys differ from girls, and how boys are like men and girls are like women. Generally obedient and well behaved, they try hard to please adults. They want to be accepted, and they care how their families and friends feel about them. They pull pranks, too. For example, eights enjoy seeing others scream when they find bugs and worms in their belongings. They delight in the pleasure of discovery. Sevens use ìbathroomî language and slang, although they often don't know the meaning of the words. They enjoy being right and being the authority. They may be critical of themselves and classmates. Most are outgoing and curious. Eights love to gossip but are not intentionally vicious. They also learn that adults are sometimes wrong. Source: Agriculture Extension Service,
Materials: Large white marshmallows (three per child), pipe cleaners, eight short or four long per child), toothpicks (two per child), scissors, and non-toxic washable markers. Tell the children they are going to make their own ant. Give each child three marshmallows, two toothpicks and four long, or eight short, pipe cleaners. Have the children color their marshmallows any color (s) they want. When the marshmallows are dry, connect them using toothpicks, to make the head, thorax, and abdomen of their "ant." Using scissors, have them cut the Long pipe cleaners in half, making eight pieces. If smaller pipe cleaners are used, each child will need eight, and will not need to use scissors. Have them put the pipe cleaners (ant's legs) in the middle marshmallow (thorax), with one on each side of the thorax closest to the "head", and two on each side of the thorax closest to the "abdomen." After attaching their legs, have them attach a pipe cleaner to their ant's head, one on each side, close to the inside, above the mouth. Finally, to finish their ant, have them draw a small eye above each antenna. Application: By doing this activity the children should learn the three body parts of an ant, the number of legs, and the number of antennae an ant has. They should also learn where these appendages are on an ant. Ask the children the following:
Source: Ohio 4-H Cloverbud Curriculum - Series II. You can find other lessons related to ants in the Ant Antics ! Lesson, located in the Ohio 4-H Cloverbud Curriculum - Series II. |
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All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ad. Admin. and Director,
OSU Extension TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868 |
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