Expanded 4-H & School Enrichment(Santa Fe County)

Agents from Santa Fe County collaborated with the RiverXChange Program to deliver youth water education. RiverXChange is an outreach program that integrates water resource topics with computer technology, hands-on curriculum and classroom partnerships. The goal is to strengthen 4th grade students’ and teachers’ understanding and appreciation for the local river ecosystem and to protect water resources. County 4-H Agent presented commercial uses of water: “Irrigation Methods” a hands-on educational program related to farm irrigation systems and conservation technology. 222 students from 10 Santa Fe County classrooms participated. Students gained knowledge about their local river, watershed and water resource issues and posted what they learned on a wiki website. Each class was partnered with a 4th grade class in another US state.

As a result of the collaboration the Small Farm & Ranch Task Force was approached by the RiverXchange program to assist with providing an educational field trip for 147 fifth grade students from Pojoaque Intermediate School. Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Santa Fe counties have worked with the RiverXchange Program throughout the school year providing hands-on educational activities that examine commercial uses of water in 45 New Mexico RiverXchange classes.
In order to emphasize the concepts covered in the classroom, Extension Agents partnered with RiverXchange and the Alcalde Ag Science Center to provide a hands-on learning experience. Additionally, the purpose of the program was to:
* educate students about the governess and issues related to water
* promote the benefits of environmental stewardship
* increase students' environmental literacy and agriculture role
Students were transported to the Ag Science Center where they participated in 6 different interactive workshops. Workshop presenters included representatives from Santa Fe County Cooperative Extension Service, Sandoval County Cooperative Extension Service, Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Service, Valencia Cooperative Extension Service, Rio Arriba County Cooperative Extension Service, and NMSU Rural Agriculture Improvement and Public Affairs Project (RAIPAP).
Workshops topics were as follows:
1. Soil pHizz Test- Students examined how soil pH levels can affect crop productivity, and through visual pH tests, were able to identify if a soil sample is acidic or basic. Students were also able to understand how soil nutrient levels are affected by pH.
2. Drip Irrigation- Students assembled a simple drip irrigation system and were able to see how it functions.
3. Soil as a Filter- Students learned how soil quality and composition relates to its ability to filter contaminants in water.
4. Water Quality- Students learned how to test for 8 parameters that affect ground water quality.
5. Irrigation Tour- Students took a walking tour of the Ag Science Center and got to see the different types of irrigation methods used at the center. They examined the pros and cons of each system and when and how each method would be appropriate.
6. River Tour- Students rode a hay wagon to the river diversion. They got to see first-hand how we use the river to irrigate our crops. They also examined the importance of the river to the environment and riparian habitat. Students learned about the governess of water and water issues.
Pre and post tests were administered to the students. Based on the evaluations a 13% increase in knowledge was measured. Teachers were also asked to evaluate the program. All teachers that completed the evaluations rated the overall field trip as “Excellent” and stated they would take part in the field trip if offered again. Some comments from the teachers included:
“All activities provided effective learning and growth for students. Thank you for this opportunity.” and “Thank you all so very much for this wonderful opportunity. This was one of the most interesting field trips I have experienced.”

Continuing youth water education, the agriculture agents worked with the Santa Fe Children's Water Festival. The goal of the water festival is to deliver water education programs to 4th grade students throughout the Santa Fe area by means of an interactive field trip as well as follow up evaluations. Agents delivered the “Irrigation Methods” workshop to 110 students in 5 classes.

Throughout the year agents reached 289 students in 18 different classrooms in the area of youth water education.

The chick embryology project is among the favorites of teachers for school enrichment projects in Santa Fe County. As spring approached schools from across the county were targeted to conduct this project in the classrooms. The response was overwhelming and materials for the 21 day project were booked solid for the spring semester.

The Chick Embryology project includes approximately four lessons to be delivered throughout the duration of the project. Eggs are placed in incubators and educational display boards as well as supplementary handouts are placed at each site. During routine visits, the 4-H agent candles the eggs and listens to heart beats with the students as well as discusses the developmental stages of the embryo.

The agent conducted the project in grades ranging from kindergarten through sixth grade. This included four first grade classrooms that were “Spanish speaking only”. The agent also conducted the project in two private schools that had never before used 4-H curriculum as well as collaborated with a student for her science fair project.

The satisfaction of this project by both teachers as well as students was overwhelming. Students received a pre and post test to measure their knowledge gained throughout the project. Students were asked to define basic embryology terms, and basic egg anatomy. The results of this evaluation showed that there was an overall increase in knowledge of 57%. This is a 26% increase from the previous year. Teachers also received an evaluation asking them to describe their satisfaction with the project. Teacher evaluations showed extremely high satisfaction with the curriculum.

This year 132 students from seven different classrooms completed the project.

Kid & Kows & More is an educational program designed to teach youth about where food and fiber comes from and for them to understand the importance of agriculture to their local communities. This program was once again offered to 500 fourth grade students from the Santa Fe area elementary schools as well as to 500 fourth grade students from the southern Santa Fe County and Torrance County elementary schools. The Agents secured funding to offset the cost of transporting the youth to the Santa Fe County Fair Grounds and the Moriarty Civic Center where the educational programs were conducted. The youth were rotated through the various stations where they learned about vegetables production and marketing, field crops, ranching, water quality and conservation, bees and apple production, and the dairy and sheep industry.

The program information was presented by representatives from various organizations including, Cooperative Extension Service, New Mexico Beef Council, New Mexico Apple Council, Edgewood Soil and Water Conservation District, Farm to Table, Santa Fe County 4-H Council, and the Southwest Dairy Producers.

This year 605 participants were reached at the Santa Fe site.

The chick embryology project is among the favorites of teachers for school enrichment projects in Santa Fe County. As spring approached schools from across the county were targeted to conduct this project in the classrooms. The response was overwhelming and materials for the 21 day project were booked solid for the several weeks.

The Chick Embryology project includes approximately four lessons to be delivered throughout the duration of the project. Eggs are placed in incubators and educational display boards as well as supplementary handouts are placed at each site. During routine visits, the 4-H agent candles the eggs and listens to heart beats with the students as well as discusses the developmental stages of the embryo.

The agent conducted the project in grades ranging from kindergarten through sixth grade. This included four first grade classrooms that were “spanish speaking only”. The agent also conducted the project in one private school that had never before used 4-H curriculum.

The satisfaction of this project by both teachers as well as students was overwhelming. Students received a pre and post test to measure their knowledge gained throughout the project. Students were asked to define basic embryology terms, and basic egg anatomy. The results of this evaluation showed that there was an overall increase in knowledge of 31%. Teachers also received an evaluation asking them to describe their satisfaction with the project. Teacher evaluations showed extremely high satisfaction with the curriculum.

The demand for the Chick Embryology project has become so overwhelming that the agent developed a kit that can be checked out by the teachers to use without the assistance of the agent. The agent developed a Chick Embryology notebook which contains detailed lessons plans, instructions on using an incubator, egg anatomy, egg candling, developing embryos, and supplemental activities to use with students. Each kit also includes the incubator, egg candler, display board, stethoscope, posters, and fertilized eggs. The agent trains the teachers on how to use their kits and provides pre and post tests for both students and teachers. The kits were very successful and allowed the agent to reach more students and teachers. It also allowed the agent to have more direct contact with teachers. By allowing the teachers to conduct the lessons themselves, the agent noticed that more supplemental activities were taking place in the classroom. Teachers took more ownership of the project and began to provide more materials to their students. This year 222 students from eight different classrooms completed the project.

Two years ago the Agriculture Agents in Santa Fe County began to focus on youth water education. Upon completion of a successful program in collaboration with the Children’s Water Festival the agents submitted a grant proposal to the Southern Regional Water Coordination Project. The grant was awarded and the project, entitled "Water Ripples" received $12,000 to develop a youth water curriculum. The agents have worked collaboratively with New Mexico State University, Louisiana State University, and University of Kentucky to develop both a computer based curriculum to be delivered to students throughout the 13 state southern region.

The original goals of The Water Ripples project included developing youth water education materials designed for interactive ‘fun-time’ learning. These materials were to include interactive educational games for age groups ranging 4th to 6th grade. Materials would be designed for standalone instruction as a packaged presentation for young audiences.

Popular game formats such as Jeopardy would be used to facilitate learning about water. Games would introduce students to various concepts that can be adopted for a particular setting, e.g. rural or urban. Playing the games would help students understand relationships of cause and effect in protecting water resources. Each response, correct or incorrect, would provide additional information to enhance knowledge gained. The ultimate benefits of these program materials would be to increase understanding of water quality protection and conservation.

The agent developed four interactive games with four categories in each game were developed. The games are entitled “H2OME Use”, Astounding Agriculture, Water Science 101, and “Let’s Get Growing”. The agent collected relevant water concepts and converted them into a multiple choice question format for students to answer. Along with each question went basics facts and illustrations that further emphasized each concept. Each game is designed in an electronic format for use in LED projection, much the same as large screen television. This capability will allow broader viewing for group team interaction. Approximately two hours of instructional ‘game playing’ is available from the entire package.

The agent completed work on the Water Ripples game and is currently working with the River Exchange Program to provide water education to 5th grade students throughout Santa Fe County. The agent is using Water Ripples to emphasize the importance of water as it relates to agriculture. The agent will be delivering hands on water education throughout the upcoming school year.

Kid & Kows & More is an educational program designed to teach youth about where food and fiber comes from and for them to understand the importance of agriculture to their local communities. This program was once again offered to 500 fourth grade students from the Santa Fe area elementary schools as well as to 500 fourth grade students from the southern Santa Fe County and Torrance County elementary schools. The Agents secured funding to offset the cost of transporting the youth to the Santa Fe County Fair Grounds and the Moriarty Civic Center where the educational programs were conducted. The youth were rotated through the various stations where they learned about vegetables production and marketing, field crops, ranching, water quality and conservation, bees and apple production, and the dairy and sheep industry.

The program information was presented by representatives from various organizations including, Cooperative Extension Service, New Mexico Beef Council, New Mexico Apple Council, Edgewood Soil and Water Conservation District, Farm to Table, Santa Fe County 4-H Council, and the Southwest Dairy Producers.

This year 382 participants were reached at the Santa Fe site and 478 participants were reached at the Moriarty site.

This past year the agent worked on an “Ag in the Classroom” package curriculum that could be delivered in a classroom through a series of lessons. The project entitled “Agriculture for Life” is broken into four different units; Livestock, Plant Production, Agriculture Bi-products, and Natural Resources. The intent of this project is to introduce classrooms to a broad idea of what agriculture means to them on a daily basis. The agent developed and delivered hands-on lessons that include science based experiments, arts and crafts projects, children’s literature, and food preparation. The agent was able to deliver portions of this package to 81 students in three different classrooms from two school districts throughout the school year. In response to some of the emerging issues in our environment, the agent also focused a portion of the lessons on renewable energy such as solar, hydro-energy and wind power. The agent plans to continue work on the project and has developed promotional brochures that have gone out to teachers to help promote the project.

The chick embryology project is among the favorites of teachers for school enrichment projects in Santa Fe County. As spring approached schools from across the county were targeted to conduct this project in the classrooms. The response was overwhelming and materials for the 21 day project were booked solid for the several weeks.

The lesson included approximately four lessons to be delivered throughout the duration of the project. Eggs were placed in incubators and educational display boards as well as supplementary handouts were placed at each site. During routine visits, the 4-H agent would candle the eggs and listen to heart beats with the students as well as discuss the developmental stages of the embryo.

The agent conducted the project in grades ranging from first grade through fourth grade. This included seven first grade classrooms that were “spanish speaking only”. Curriculum for the project was translated into Spanish to meet the needs of these students. This included handouts as well as an in depth display board. The agent also conducted the project in two private schools that had never before used 4-H curriculum.

The satisfaction of this project by both teachers as well as students was overwhelming. Students received a pre and post test to measure their knowledge gained throughout the project. Students were asked to define basic embryology terms, and basic egg anatomy. The results of this evaluation showed that there was an overall increase in knowledge of 27%. Teachers also received an evaluation asking them to describe their satisfaction with the project. Teacher evaluations showed extremely high satisfaction with the curriculum. Some comments from the teachers included;
“Great, Wonderful, Yes-We’ll do it again next year.”
“It is a great project. The Children were very interested and excited. They learned a lot and are familiar with embryology.”
“Thank you very much for such a wonderful learning experience for our students. They were very excited about the Egg Embryology Unit. It’s an experience which I’m sure they will always remember.”

Requests for the project have already been made for next year.”


As a result of their work with the Santa Fe Children’s Water Festival the Ag agents developed a water education workshop to present during the festival. The workshop focused on water as it relates to agriculture. The information was delivered in a Jeopardy style game where students competed on teams using responders to answer questions. Students then reviewed the correct answers and explanations for these answers. Over two days the agents reached over 200 4th grade students and their teachers.

The success of the game prompted the agents to pursue further funding to expand youth water education. A grant proposal was submitted to the Southern Regional Water Coordination Project. The grant was awarded and the project, now entitled "Water Ripples" received $12,000 to develop a youth water curriculum. The agents will work collaboratively with New Mexico State University, Louisiana State University, and University of Kentucky to develop both a computer based as well as a non-computer based curriculum to be delivered to students throughout the 13 state southern region.

The original goals of The Water Ripples project included developing youth water education materials designed for interactive ‘fun-time’ learning. These materials were to include interactive educational games for age groups ranging 4th to 6th grade. Materials would be designed for standalone instruction as a packaged presentation for young audiences.

Popular game formats such as Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit, etc, would be used to facilitate learning about water. Games would introduce students to various concepts that can be adopted for a particular setting, e.g. rural or urban. Playing the games would help students understand relationships of cause and effect in protecting water resources. Each response, correct or incorrect, would provide additional information to enhance knowledge gained. The ultimate benefits of these program materials would be to increase understanding of water quality protection and conservation.

Four interactive games with four categories in each game were developed. The games are entitled “H2OME Use”, Astounding Agriculture, Water Science 101, and “Let’s Get Growing”. Each game is designed in an electronic format for use in LED projection, much the same as large screen television. This capability will allow broader viewing for group team interaction. Approximately two hours of instructional ‘game playing’ will be available from the entire package.

A hard copy of the game was also developed in a “Trivial Pursuit” style. The game contained cards with over 1500 questions that students could pick from.

A draft of “Water Ripples” was presented to the Southern Regional Water Coordination Committee. Upon reviewing the game, the committee recommended that the entire game be converted to an electronic version rather than the hard copy. Currently work is being done to convert the game over to an electronic version. Work on this project is nearing completion and should be ready to pilot in select schools by the end of the year.


Kid & Kows & More is an educational program designed to teach youth about where food and fiber comes from and for them to understand the importance of agriculture to their local communities. This program was once again offered to 500 fourth grade students from the Santa Fe area elementary schools as well as to 300 fourth grade students from the southern Santa Fe County and Torrance County elementary schools. The Agents secured funding to offset the cost of transporting the youth to the Santa Fe County Fair Grounds and the Moriarty Civic Center where the educational programs were conducted. The youth were rotated through the various stations where they learned about vegetables production and marketing, field crops, ranching, water quality and conservation, bees and apple production, and the dairy and sheep industry.

The program information was presented by representatives from various organizations including, Cooperative Extension Service, New Mexico Beef Council, New Mexico Apple Council, Edgewood Soil and Water Conservation District, Farm to Table, Santa Fe County 4-H Council, and the Southwest Dairy Producers.

To keep the program fresh and new the agents re-organized the program structure over the last couple of years offering longer workshops and incorporating a lunch break. The new schedule alleviated transportation issues and offered the students more time to spend at each workshop. The presenters had more time to deliver their information. The agents also added a new workshop to both sites. This year students had the opportunity to learn about the sheep industry in New Mexico as they watched a real sheep being sheared. The students and teachers responded positively to the change and participation increased from the previous years.

This year 498 youth and 66 adults from 22 classrooms in 8 different schools were reached at the Santa Fe site. Unfortunately the Moriarty site had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the H1N1 virus scare.

This past year the agent worked on an “Ag in the Classroom” package curriculum that could be delivered in a classroom through a series of lessons. The project entitled “Agriculture for Life” is broken into four different units; Livestock, Plant Production, Agriculture Bi-products, and Natural Resources. The intent of this project is to introduce classrooms to a broad idea of what agriculture means to them on a daily basis. The agent intends on delivering the hands-on lessons over a period of four separate lessons. Lessons will include science based experiments, arts and crafts projects, children’s literature, and food preparation. A preliminary version of the project was delivered at a private school that was new to 4-H curriculum. Included in their curriculum package was a field trip to a local farm where the students got to see sheep shearing, turkeys, and rabbits. Students also took a field trip to the local county fair. Another preliminary version of the curriculum was delivered at the Santa Fe County 4-H Cloverbud Day Camp. Both groups that took part in the project enjoyed the content. The agent is currently refining the project and hopes to advertise it and offer it in the public schools this school year.

The Agriculture Agents were approached by the Santa Fe Public Schools After School Program Coordinator to assist in developing gardening projects in the elementary schools throughout the district. The Agents pursued a mini-grant offered through the NM Legislature that would allow funds to work with new 4-H audiences. The agents requested money to purchase supplies and materials that would get gardening projects off the ground. The grant request was accepted in the amount of $10,000.

The Purpose of this outreach project is to work with both the Santa Fe Public Schools as well as the private schools within the county to provide instruction and support in the area of gardening. The project plans to use the Junior Master Gardener curriculum to deliver hands on activities that focus on several different aspects of gardening including ornamental gardening, vegetable gardening, landscape gardening, water education, irrigation systems and methods, and environmental impacts. The project will use in classroom instruction to incorporate science, math, health, nutrition, and cultural education into the overall gardening project. The project also includes the construction of pre-fabricated greenhouses and raised beds at each site by the youth and teachers that will serve as a learning laboratory not only for youth taking part in the project but the entire school. The long term goal is that the gardening project will become a community based effort and educate not only the youth in the school but their families about the importance of agriculture to their everyday lives and the role it plays in sustaining their culture, traditions, and ultimately their future.

The goals for this project include:
• Introduce youth and teachers to basic gardening concepts
• Introduce new audiences to the 4-H program
• Introduce new audiences to NMSU and Cooperative Extension Service
• Collaborate with teachers to utilize new curriculum with their students
• Ultimately develop community gardens within the school structure

The two schools that have been targeted for this project are Agua Fria Elementary and The Academy for Technology and the Classics. Both sights have dedicated audiences that will take part in the project. The program at Agua Fria Elementary will be conducted through their after school program. The Academy for Technology and the Classics plans to serve the entire school through the Project Earth class.

The gardening project will use the 4-H model to deliver programs to each sight. The project will utilize curriculum designed for classroom instruction, interactive computer games, and hands on experience to keep students engaged in the learning process. Students will become familiar with the 4-H club model as they take part in the gardening project.

Initiation of the project began in late spring of 2008, and has continued through the current school year. At the current time equipment and supplies have been purchased and placed at each site.

At Agua Fria Elementary an 8x10 greenhouse has been constructed and set up along with a storage shed for their gardening supplies. Raised beds and top soil have also been set up and are currently in production. Lettuce, strawberries and radishes were among some of the crops that were placed in the raised beds this past year. Along with the greenhouse construction and raised beds, transplant demonstrations were also conducted. 93 students and several teachers at Agua Fria Elementary took part in the project in the last year.

Progress with the project has been temporarily halted at the Academy for Technology and the Classics due to a change in leadership in the past year. The project should resume with a new plan as soon as the new leadership at the school is organized and in place.

In the past couple of years the agriculture agents have worked with the Santa Fe Children's Water Festival. The goal of the water festival is to deliver water education programs to 4th grade students throughout the Santa Fe area by means of an interactive field trip as well as follow up evaluations.

As a result of their work with this group the Ag agents developed a water education workshop to present during the festival. The workshop focused on water as it relates to agriculture. The information was delivered in a Jeopardy style game where students competed on teams using responders to answer questions. Students then reviewed the correct answers and explanations for these answers. Over two days the agents reached over 200 4th grade students and their teachers.

As a result of the game the agents pursued further funding to expand youth water education. A grant proposal was submitted to the Southern Regional Water Coordination Project. The grant was awarded and the project, now entitled "Water Ripples" received $12,000 to develop a youth water curriculum. The agents will work collaboratively with New Mexico State University, Louisiana State University, and University of Kentucky to develop both a computer based as well as a non-computer based curriculum to be delivered to students throughout the 13 state southern region.

The Water Ripples project proposes to develop youth water education materials designed for interactive ‘fun-time’ learning. These materials will include interactive educational games for age groups ranging 4th to 6th grade. Materials will be designed for standalone instruction as a packaged presentation for young audiences.
Popular game formats such as Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit, etc, will be used to facilitate learning about water. Games will introduce students to various concepts that can be adopted for a particular setting, e.g. rural or urban. Playing the games will help students understand relationships of cause and effect in protecting water resources. Each response, correct or incorrect, will provide additional information to enhance knowledge gained. The ultimate benefits of these program materials will be increased understanding of water quality protection and conservation.

A minimum of two separate interactive games with three variations of each game (e.g. agriculture, home and landscape, and general water knowledge) will be developed. A total of six games will be completed. Each game will have hardcopy and electronic versions to facilitate various learning situations. Electronic formats will be designed for LED projection, much the same as large screen television. This capability will allow broader viewing for group team interaction. Approximately two hours of instructional ‘game playing’ will be available from the entire package.

Work on this project is nearing completion and should be ready to pilot in select schools by the end of the year.


Kid & Kows & More is an educational program designed to teach youth about where food and fiber comes from and for them to understand the importance of agriculture to their local communities. This program was once again offered to 500 fourth grade students from the Santa Fe area elementary schools as well as to 300 fourth grade students from the southern Santa Fe County and Torrance County elementary schools. The Agents secured funding to offset the cost of transporting the youth to the Santa Fe County Fair Grounds and the Moriarty Civic Center where the educational programs were conducted. The youth were rotated through the various stations where they learned about vegetables production and marketing, field crops, ranching, water quality and conservation, bees and apple production, and the dairy and sheep industry.

The program information was presented by representatives from various organizations including, Cooperative Extension Service, New Mexico Beef Council, New Mexico Apple Council, Edgewood Soil and Water Conservation District, Farm to Table, Santa Fe County 4-H Council, and the Southwest Dairy Producers.

The agents also noticed a slight decrease in the number of participants in the past couple of years, particularly at the Santa Fe site. To try and remedy this decline the agents re-organized the program over the last couple of years offering longer workshops and incorporating a lunch break. The new schedule alleviated transportation issues and offered the students more time to spend at each workshop. The presenters had more time to deliver their information. The agents also added a new workshop to both sites. This year students had the opportunity to learn about the sheep industry in New Mexico as they watched a real sheep being sheared. The students and teachers responded positively to the change and participation increased from the previous years.

This year 510 youth and over 50 adults from 10 different schools were reached at the Santa Fe site. 291 youth from 3 different schools were reached at the Moriarty site.