2014-2015 East Hills Projects and Descriptions

These are all the projects we offered for the year 2014 – 2015.  Many of these projects will be offered again for the 2015-2016 year, along with new ones. Any parent can become a volunteer leader and organize projects of their own choosing, just ask for help!

4-H Makerspace
Come and build, tinker, design and create all sorts of toys and gadgets using everyday materials like old CDs, straws, and more. Of course, you don’t have to make just toys. This will be a Makerspace, so if you have your own ideas about what to make, that is great too! We will begin each project meeting with an example build, but members can pick and choose which projects they would like to make. The Toys from Trash website (http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/toys.html) has hundreds of ideas, plus we will have Make magazines and other websites for ideas and inspiration. We are hoping to be able to present a booth at the East Bay Mini-Maker Faire (coming up soon!), and the main MakerFaire in May.  Both of those would involve bringing projects from our meetings and showing them off.    


Amateur Naturalist Project
Come and join us in exploring nature. We will be keeping journals, finding plants, insects, birds, and mammals. We will be learning about ecology, good stewardship of our green spaces, and of course, the natural world. The Amateur Naturalist project will be meeting at Redwood Regional Park every meeting, rain or shine, where we will do a short learning activity to get started before hiking in different areas of the park to explore and find fauna and flora for our journals. (Digital cameras or drawing with pencils are both great.) Hikes will be 2-4 miles, depending on the energy and stamina of the kids.  If there is rain, Redwood Regional has two very nice weatherproof shelters for us to use for activities and work on our journals.

Archery
This project will explore the lore of archery.   We will study:     1. bows and arrows: the long bow, the recurve bow, and the compound bow,   2. nomenclature: parts of the bows and arrows, and other archery concepts,   3. mechanics: how to make a bow stringer and how to string a bow,    4. marksmanship: how to increase marksmanship skills, concepts.

Arts & Crafts for Teens
In Arts & Crafts for Teens, members will express their creativity using a wide variety of crafting techniques and media.

California’s Gold: Bay Area CA History Field Trips
We’ll meet and prepare one month then go out the next. Field trips to Coyote Hills Ohlone program, Mission Dolores in SF, Oakland Museum CA History, Peralta Hacienda Rancho Life. Possible overnight living history trip in spring!      Parents, please be ready to make coordination and organization of trips as easy as possible for me. Know your calendar, bring permission forms and payment promptly, and be thoughtful about emails. Kids, be ready to work hard, have fun and do lots of hands-on.  


Card Games
There will be two sections of the class. One is for ages 9 and up. We will ask each participant to bring a fun fact about the history of cards to each meeting. We will learn one new game per meeting: 65, James Bond and Rummy. Participants will be asked to write newsletter articles and give project meeting talks about the class.
In the second section, younger participants (ages 5-8) will play games such as Sleeping Queens, Spot It, and UNO. They will bring a fun fact to each class and write newsletter articles and give project meeting talks.

Christmas Caroling Community Service
Members will get into the spirit of the season and learn and practice singing a variety of Christmas carols.   We will also make Christmas cards and possibly other crafts. Then we will take our performances to senior centers and spread holiday cheer to the residents.

Cooking, Allergen Free
In this project we will focus on creating our own healthy snack and one light lunch or breakfast item. We will learn the basics of reading and preparing a recipe while also taking a look at what makes these snacks healthy and oh so yummy! No cooking experience is required. The recipes will be fun and manageable for all ages, but parents of primary members should plan to stay in case a bit of help is needed. After your recipes are complete, you will have something good to gobble down and the skills to take home and keep creating more for your family and friends.   All foods will be free of gluten, soy, dairy, peanuts & egg.

Cooking, Beginning
In Beginning Cooking, our young chefs will prepare simple, fun recipes, most using little or no heat.  As we go along, we’ll also discuss nutrition and meal planning, table setting, and basic kitchen safety.

Emergency Preparedness SLP – In Case of Emergency…
Do you know what to do in an emergency?  In this service learning project, we will learn what to do to prevent, prepare and respond to a variety of emergencies.  Then we will share what we learn in the community and help others to be prepared as well.

Endangered Species
We will examine the species in our ecosystem, and the communities within:  the birds and animal community, the plant community, and the sea-life community.  This will help us to gain a perspective of the world we live in.  Next, we will identify some of the dominant species in each community, such as the condor and migratory birds (bird community), the gray wolf  and polar bear (animal community),  the oak and pine trees (plant community), and the star fish and sea otter (sea-life community).  As background we will examine life on earth, species, and mass extinctions.  Finally, we will ask what we can do and seek ways to help.

Environmental Stewardship – Sausal Creek Community Service
In this project, we will continue to restore a site at Dimond Park under the supervision of the Friends of Sausal Creek.  We are removing invasive plant species and replacing them with plants that are native to the Sausal Creek watershed.  As the project enters its third year, we now have a fairly large hillside that has been cleared and is in need of planting.  We will be learning about erosion control and irrigation management while continuing our exploration of various native plant species and their cycles of growth.
Parents, please be aware that this is not a drop-off project.  All ages are welcome.  However, the hill the youth will be climbing up and down is fairly steep, and parents are responsible for supervising their children.  While the youth make many of the decisions, adult grunt work is very much needed.

Filmmaking
In this project we will examine various aspects of filmmaking from preproduction to postproduction. We’ll learn techniques for operating the camera, using a green screen, making low-budget props and sets, and creating special effects. The teen leader, an ardent movie buff, will provide lots of pertinent examples from the history of filmmaking.

History, Ancient World
Make a sugar cube pyramid, a Roman aqueduct, and a Greek warship made entirely out of ice cream!  In this project, we will explore ancient cultures by creating fun, hands-on activity projects.  For youth who want to explore topics further, a suggested book list for further reading will be provided.  However, we will not be doing much reading or writing in the project meetings.

History, Modern World
In this project, we will be exploring history through active, hands on projects.  We will be making models of historical architecture, cooking food from around the world, playing games, conducting science experiments, and building crafts.  History topics will be briefly introduced, and a suggested list of books for further reading will be provided for youth who are interested in learning more about the topics explored.  However, actual project time will be devoted purely to fun and interactive projects and will not involve much reading and writing.

Illustrated Writing
Comic books, Manga, children’s books and more, all use drawing skills to tell their stories.  In this project, we’ll learn different techniques as we draw and write our own creations.

Jewelry Making
This project will be mostly beading, using different techniques to make necklaces and bracelets (and/or earrings) using beads, wire, leather, string and/or elastic.                                                                         

Journalism
The Journalism Project will be an introduction to writing newsletter/newspaper articles.  We will learn how to ask good questions as well as how to gather and organize the important facts in order to write an interesting and informative article.   We will also consider doing a group project for the County Fair.

Jump Rope Skills
In the spirit of healthy living, we will focus on advancing our jump roping skills. We will warm up with individual jump ropes. Then we will split into groups and practice jumping as the ropes are being turned by our fellow 4-H members. Everyone will take a turn turning the ropes, and everyone will get to practice jumping. We will learn a new jump rope song at each meeting and at least take a shot at a few different tricks. If there is interest, we can advance to double Dutch. We can also discuss the idea of a jump-a-thon to raise money for our club, East Hills 4-H.

My Little Pony
Join us each month as we make a craft inspired by an episode of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. While we are crafting, we will talk about the friendship lessons of the episode and other MLP related things. My Little Pony is available for watching on Netflix. In the event that someone doesn’t have access to that, we can send a link to the episodes so you can watch online. The craft projects are probably best suited for kids 7 & up, but parents can use their judgment about what their child is capable of. Primaries should bring a parent to help.

NaNoWriMo
November is National Novel Writing Month.  Come join us as we write a novel!  We will help you plan your novel, work on your characters, and chart your course on this exciting adventure.  And we will write, write, write!

Narnia Project
In seven books, C.S. Lewis introduces us to the world of Narnia.  We will devote a project meeting to each book.  How did the events in Lewis’ life affect what he created in Narnia?  Do you think The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Magician’s Nephew is the better start to the series? And what was that Turkish Delight candy that Edmund was so fond of, anyway?  Join us as we stay in Narnia just a bit longer by way of discussion, activities and games.

Outdoor Adventures
In Outdoor Adventures we will hike on moderately challenging trails in nearby local and regional parks including the Oakland Hills, Hayward and Castro Valley. Get some exercise and enjoy the great outdoors with your 4-H friends! The hikes usually last about 2 hours, and parents are always welcome to join.

Performing Arts for Primaries
Performing arts is a fun form of public speaking and is a good way to become comfortable talking in front of an audience. Primary 4-H members will be using their imagination and craft skills as well as learning new things. Members in this project will make their own props, and perform as a group at a 4-H Club Meeting, Presentation Day and East Hills 4-H Talent Night.

Rainbow Loom Bracelet
Join us each month to learn to make a new design. We will start with learning a basic bracelet design and work up to making more complicated bracelets and charms. Each person should bring their own loom, hook, and bands.

Rising Stars
This project is a county-wide public outreach project in which members would bring awareness of 4-H to the community.  This would be done by designing and executing an outreach project.  While working on the project and other related tasks, they would develop skills in teamwork, leadership, public speaking, and citizenship.  Activities could include planning and work parties and related field trips.

Sewing with Recycled Materials
We will make projects out of mostly recycled material such as a t-shirt bag and hat, jean purse, donut pin cushion, & dress shirt pillow. Participants will be asked to bring stuffing and other supplies as needed. Participants will be asked to write newsletter articles and give project meeting talks about the class. Members will have the opportunity to showcase their items at the County  Fair or at Fashion Field day. You can also use skills learned to make your own project to enter into Fashion Field day. No patterns will be taught in this project.

Square Dancing
4-H members come join the fun!  This is a county-wide project so you can meet members from other clubs.  Boys and girls learn to square dance from basic beginner to Mainstream and Plus as well as some line dancing.  There are also community service and project exhibit opportunities with this project.  Square dancing outfits are not required, but be sure you wear tennis shoes, not slip-ons or sandals, and clothing you can move around in.  In this project, you can have a lot of fun, meet new friends and get great exercise!   Bring your friends (they don’t have to be 4-H members) and parents too!