Washington County School Enrichment

• Farm in a Glove (Grades offered: 1st - 5th)
  • Students will learn about agriculture in Nebraska, parts of a plant, and grow common crops in a glove. 
    • Nebraska School Standards: SC.1.6.2.B, SC.3.9.3.A
• Ag in the Classroom Kit (Grades offered: 3rd - 8th) 

  • Extension staff with providing you and your students with portable kits that help students to better understand Nebraska’s largest industry – agriculture. Kits include activities in the areas of crop production and livestock production. The kit allows teachers can teach at their own pace.  

• Ag Literacy Festival* (Grades suggested: 3rd-5th)

  • Agriculture is Nebraska's #1 industry, which means we’re all affected by it either directly or indirectly. Through this event, students will learn more about a variety of areas of agriculture including ag technology, beef, dairy, hogs, crops, ag by-products, and ag careers.  

• Husker Beef Lab* (Grades suggested: 6th-12th)

  • The Husker Beef Lab provides hands-on experiences for students in middle school and high school. The mobile lab teaches students science principles through a ruminant animal (4 stomachs) by reaching inside the beef stomach. Students will learn about animal well-being, nutritional aspects of beef, and more about pasture to plate in Nebraska. 

• Look Who’s Hatching (Grades offered: Pre-K – 2nd)
  • Youth will learn how life develops by observing the process of hatching baby chicks over a three-week period. During this lesson, students learn about the makeup of eggs, the difference between store-bought eggs and fertilized eggs, and the process of hatching chicks. Students assume responsibility for the eggs as if they were the mother hen and rotate the eggs in the incubator daily. 
    • Nebraska School Standards: SC.K.7.2A, SC.1.6.2.C, SC.3.9.3.A, SC.4.6.3.C
• Embryology (Grades offered: 3rd-12th
  • This lesson teaches youth how life develops by observing the process of hatching baby chicks over a three-week period. During this lesson, students learn about the makeup of eggs, the difference between store-bought eggs and fertilized eggs, and the process of hatching chicks. Students assume responsibility for the eggs as if they were the mother hen and rotate the eggs in the incubator daily. 
    • Nebraska School Standards: SC.K.7.2A, SC.1.6.2.C, SC.3.9.3.A, SC.4.6.3.C
• Kitchen Science (Grades offered: 1st-8th)
  
  • Students get comfortable in the kitchen with exploring the world of chemistry using simple ingredients, food, utensils, and containers. Advanced level (4-8 grades): Participants will learn to predict outcomes and experiment with ordinary kitchen items. 
    • Nebraska State Standards: 2.1.1.A, 2.2.1.A, 2.2.2,  5.2.1, 5.2.2, SC.4.4.2.B, SC.5.3.1.D, SC.7.3.1.D, SC.7.5.2.A 

• Handwashing (Grades offered: K-1st) 

  • Extension staff will use blue light and a special lotion to show students all the germs that are on their hands. Students will then learn the proper way to wash their hands and check to make sure they clean all the germs. 
•  Crime Scene Investigation: DNA (Grades offered: 5th - 8th) 
  •  Students will construct DNA and discover how DNA sequencing aids investigators in solving crimes. Students will get to extract their own DNA and see it with their own two eyes. 
    • Nebraska Standards Addressed: SC.5.3.1.C, SC.6.6.2.A 
•  Owl Pellet Dissection (Grades offered: 2nd – 5th) 
  • Explore the world of animal predator/prey relationships by dissecting owl vomit (owl pellets). Students will learn about the life cycle of animals in the food chain as well as how food gets broken down during digestion in owls and in humans. 
    • Nebraska Standards Addressed: SC.2.7.2.C, SC.4.6.3.B, SC.5.8.2.A, SC.5.8.2.C, SC.7.8.4.A 
• First Time Physics (Grades offered: K – 3rd) 
  • Students can explore activities that investigate sound and light energy. The class will learn how sound can travel and how light rays slow down and can be bent.  
    • Nebraska Standards Addressed: 2.1.1.B, 2.1.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3.A, 5.2.3.B, 5.2.3.C 
• Microbiology (Grades offered: 5th – 12th) 
  • Gain a crash course in microbiology and learn about different types of salmonella and E. Coli that are present in the environment and on food. Students will also learn about good bacteria and yeasts that make up our food. 
• STEM Days* (Grades offered: K-5th)
  • Students learn about the engineering process through a variety of hands-on activities. 

• Bridges & Structures (Grades offered: 3rd – 8th) 

  • Students work as a team to explore the world of engineering as they build structures to meet specific needs out of household items. 
    • Nebraska Standards Addressed: 5.1.3.A, 5.1.3.B ,5.1.3.C, 5.1.3.D, 5.1.3.E, 8.1.3 

• 4-H STEM Challenge* (Grades offered: K-12th) 

   
  • Each year 4-H STEM Challenge helps students to learn fundamental STEM skills while they wrestle with the same questions as today’s top scientists and engineers. Educators will provide a kit that walks through activities related to physics, light, engineering, coding, and more. 
• Mobile Science Lab (Grades offered: 5th – 8th & 9th - 12th) 
  • The Mobile Science Lab brings science to youth through interactive activities that show youth that science is all around them.  
    • Nebraska Standards Addressed: Water, Soil and Natural Resources: SS 0.3.2, SS 0.3.3,SC 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, SC 2: 2.1, SC 3: 3.4, SC4: 4.2, 4.3; Food Science: SS 1.3.5.A,B,C, SC 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, SC 2: 2.1; Human Health Science: SS 1.3.5.A,B,C,SC 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, SC 3: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4; Energy: SC 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, SC 2: 2.2, 2.3, SC 3: 3.3, SC 4: 4.3; Physical Science: SC 1: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, SC 2: 2.1 

• Smart Cents (Grades offered: 3rd - 12th) 
  • Smart Cents helps youth develop financial skills and habits that will set them up for long-term success. Students become real-world consumers as they gain insight into how they perceive money while making personal financial plans and decisions. 
• T.E.C. Box (Grades offered: 3rd - 5th) 
  • Tinker. Explore. Create. Box was developed to introduce youth to the idea of entrepreneurship, encourage active listening that leads to empathy, creative problem solving, and focus on non-technical aspects of entrepreneurship.  
    • Nebraska Standards Addressed: SC.3.7.2.E, SC.4.4.2.E, SC.5.13.4.E, 
• INVENTURE Day* (Grades offered: 6th - 8th)
  • Youth engage in conversations to develop and evaluate their unique business concepts around a given widget which is used as inspiration for a product or service. Teams more through the INVENTURE factory to complete challenges while learning about product development, target markets, branding, and finance. At the end of the day, teams present their business ideas to local business mentors in a product pitch competition. 
• Engaged U: Mindful Movement (Grades offered: 3rd - 8th)
  • Students will learn strategies that will support them to be more self-aware and enhance their social-emotional learning through movement, mindfulness practices, and team-building activities. 
• Resume & Interview Prep (Grades offered: 9th - 12th)

 Extension staff work with students to prepare them for the “real world”. Students will evaluate and learn about proper interview techniques, building their resumes, and things like making a good first impression with a firm handshake.  

• Connecting the Dots* (Grades offered: 9th – 10th) 

Interactive career exploration simulation program designed to help students learn more about careers of interest. Students explore how to connect the dots from early high school through postsecondary education and training to the workplace. Participants will learn about networking, work readiness skills, and complete personality inventories. Pairs well with Resume & Interview Prep Program.