Record Books

2024 Record Books are due to the Extension La Crosse County Office by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 5th!

Click here to see what the evaluators will use to judge your Record Book!

What is a record book?

A 4-H Record Book is all about reflecting on your projects … bringing more meaning to what you learned, how you learned it, and how you can grow from it!  Record books are the final step of your 4-H year; your record book tells your story of your project(s) from beginning to end.  It tells what you had hoped to accomplish when you signed up to take the project, as well as the journey of learning along the way.  In the end, it gives a recap of what happened – did it go well, did it not go so well, what would you do differently, etc.  It is your chance to make sure you have reached the goals you set for yourself when you began your project(s), as well as an opportunity for reflection.  4-H Record Books are a big part of achieving in 4-H!

Why complete a record book?

In La Crosse County 4-H, completing a Record Book allows you to compete for multiple county project awards. These awards are given at the annual Achievement Celebration.  Record Book awards are given based on what you have learned in your project, not how you did in any competition (fair, foods revue, etc).

Required Record Book Forms: REMINDER – you can select up to 6 projects to be evaluated. 

Below you will find information as well as the forms that you will need to develop your record book.

Junior books are those submitted by members who were in grades 3-7.

Senior books are those submitted by members who were in grades 8-13 (one year past high school).

Each and every record book must contain the following items, regardless of grade level:

  • A title or cover page that at minimum contains youth’s first and last name, club and grade level. There is no template for this, so be creative!
  • A filled out Record Book Turn-In Form – PDF  Word Doc
  • Divider tabs or table of contents (optional but preferred)
  • A Project Evaluation Form for each project covered in the book – PDF     Word Doc     Fillable PDF
  • NOTE: To work with fillable forms, you will want to download it first to your desktop, then access and fill it out to save the information. If you don’t save it first, any information will not save.

For all Horse Project members (Jr & Sr books), fill out the project-specific form in addition to the Project Evaluation Form listed above:

Horse Project Record – PDF     Fillable PDF     Word Doc

For all Dog Project members (Jr & Sr books), the record book has the Project Evaluation Form included, and all grades are encouraged to complete the Financial section.

Dog Project Record – PDF     Fillable PDF     Word Doc

All senior (grades 8-13) books must contain a filled out a project-specific Financial Record Form in addition to the Project Evaluation Form listed above if they are in any of the below projects:

Clothing & Consumer Savvy Project Financial Record  – PDF     Fillable PDF     Word Doc

Lifetime Dairy Record  AND Dairy Project Financial Record – (Lifetime Dairy Record): PDF     Fillable PDF     Word Doc
(Dairy Project Financial Record): PDF     Fillable PDF      Word Doc

Meat Animal Record Form (Beef, Swine, Poultry, Sheep) – PDF     Fillable PDF     Word Doc

Cloverbud Record Books:

Cloverbuds are youth members in grades K-2, and these members are not required to complete a Record Book. However, it is a good idea to have your Cloverbud complete a Record Book for their appropriate age level to help them learn how to do a Record Book for when they are older. Cloverbud Record Books will not earn county awards, but will receive a participation award for doing one, as well as feedback from a reader that’s appropriate for their age.

Since Cloverbuds can only be in the Cloverbud Project, they may wish to model their books less by project type and more by event, time of year, or in a scrap booking style.

The sky’s the limit as to what a Cloverbud can put in their Record Book. What kinds of areas were they really interested in this year – animals, fishing, flowers? What are their best art or writing projects they brought home from school? Where are those pictures of their trip to the aquarium? This the kind of “record keeping” of educational experiences we want our Cloverbuds to submit.

The Cloverbud Project is all about exploring different areas to find what interests them, and the UW-Extension office emails a monthly e-newsletter to these members to help spark some of those interests called Cloverbuddies. This publication is considered their “Project Literature” for the year. You may wish to include some pages from this as well. If you have additional questions about Record Books and your Cloverbud, please contact the UW-Extension office.