Extension Report

Baldwin County Extension Office

302A Byrne Street

Bay Minette, AL  36507

Telephone (251) 937-7176 or

928-0860/943-5061 ext. 2222

FAX (251) 937-7285

Amanda Outlaw

Regional Extension Agent, Urban

June 21, 2011

Summertime and Education are Compatible

Summer time has always been a time to vacation and relax from the school year activities. It also means parents are charged with finding something for students to do during the short summer months. Learning shouldn't stop just because school has ended for the summer break. Summer is the perfect time to find activities that are not only fun but culturally and educationally enriching.  Most children will benefit from exposure to educational activities to help maintain their skills and get them started on the right foot for the new school year.

Parents can make a trip to the grocery store educational by letting students practice making and giving change. They can practice addition and subtraction math facts, story problems, counting coins and money. Parents can make a trip to the park a writing adventure by letting students write about the monkeys in the cage or the Bear family. Trips in the car can be an educational adventure by practicing telling time and elapsed time. The trip should take twenty minutes. If we leave at 3:15, what time will we arrive? If you get stuck at a traffic light, have kids watch the clock and add that on to the total time.

Take a trip to the library weekly. Have your child choose their own books to read. Make a goal on how many minutes or how many books or pages they can read. Chart their reading on a bar graph or sticker chart. Celebrate when the goal is reached.

For teens having a summer job is a great way to earn money for school supplies and uniforms. It also gives them an opportunity to learn new skills that can be used in school and beyond, namely being a responsible employee. Even though the economy is going through a down turn finding a summer job can be a hard search, but you can volunteer at any not-for-profit organization and gain valuable experiences that will always look good on your resume. Skills learned on the job can carry over to different aspects of your life.

Most communities have a list of not-for-profit organizations and the newspapers list activities at churches, summer camps and sporting events that youth can volunteer to help with. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System is always looking for enthusiastic and innovative volunteers to help coordinate activities during the summer and fall. Contact Amanda Outlaw at 574-8445 to see what is scheduled for the summer and fall and also check the calendar listed on the webpage at www.aces.edu/calendar. Health Rocks summer camps are available to any agency, family or group in Baldwin County that would like to empower students to learn about healthy living. Urban Regional Extension Agent, Amanda Outlaw with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System is the facilitator for the Health Rocks program. The goal of the ten session program is to bring youth, families and communities together to reduce tobacco, alcohol and other drug use. Health Rocks helps youth develop life skills in the area of critical thinking, decision making, communication, managing feelings, stress management and goal setting to help them resist risky behaviors. The summer camps are interactive and will help students express their feelings about the struggles they might encounter with peers and the media in relation to living a lifestyle free from drugs, tobacco and alcohol.

The Health Rocks program is part of the National 4-H Curriculum and meets the National Health and Education Standards which are the framework for health instruction in schools. The NHES were designed to support schools in meeting the essential goal of enabling students to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote personal, family and community health. Health Rocks is designed to be facilitated by teen and adult teams that work together to present the Health Rocks curriculum to middle and high school students.

Left -Brittany Davis leads the camp in an exercise

Teen leaders excited about exercising: left - Netanya Dallas, Brittany Harris and Kinadra.

For more information on Health Rocks contact Amanda C. Outlaw at outlaac@aces.edu or call 251-654-5934. Check out the Mobile County Urban Center on Facebook to see some of the fun activities from the Health Rocks summer camps.

Managing Livestock During Drought Conditions Meetings

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System has planned a meeting to be held in several locations regarding managing livestock during drought conditions.  Dr. Darrell Rankins and Dr. Walt Prevatt will be on hand at these meetings to discuss topics such as alternative feeds, stretching hay needs, culling decisions, economics, etc.  in an attempt to help you make sound livestock management decisions when faced with drought conditions such as the one we are currently facing.

The meeting times and locations are as follows: June 27, 12:00 p.m., Gulf Coast Research Station, Fairhope; June 27, 7 p.m., Jon Archer Ag Center, Mobile; June 28,  7:30 a.m., City Hall, Jackson; June 28, 12:00 p.m., Escambia Co. Extension Office, Brewton.

If you plan to attend, please R.S.V.P. to the following contact list. For the Fairhope & Mobile meetings, please contact Anthony Wiggins at 251-575-3477 or 251-238-2007.  For the Jackson meeting, please contact the Clarke Co. Extension Office at 251-275-3121. For the Brewton meeting, please contact the Escambia Co. Extension Office at 251-867-7760.

Email address: aoutlaw@aces.edu

Phone: 937-7176 or 943-5061, 928-0860, ext. 2222

Baldwin County Extension Programs are supported by the Baldwin County Commission.

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture is an equal opportunity educator and employer.