I was a little nervous about starting this meeting. I thought for sure someone would forget their homework or items for their Jared box and then my whole plan would be out the window.
But my girls remembered everything. I had posted a reminder mid-week on our parent troop Facebook page on what the girls needed to do. I am just glad that they can prepared!
We stuffed the boxes and the girls drew pictures on the top of the plastic shoe boxes. As we worked on them we talked about the questions that they wanted to ask the rescue agencies. There were not that many repeats.
Some things that they asked were:
Do we have to give them a bath?
What time of the year is best for an adoption fair?
Who cleans the poop?
What questions do you ask the person who wants to adopt the pet?
All good starting points. Unfortunately out of the 5 agencies that I emailed, only 3 responded. Out of those 3, we got 2 no's. The other one asked that we call and not email the person who would be in charge of setting up an adoption fair.
So it looks like we may be going back to the drawing board.
After they finished the lids on the Jared Boxes, I had a bit of a science project for them to do. It is something that I came across in my many hours of Pinning. It was making plastic from milk. I thought this would go great with our other explanations of teams, community and polymers.
Two girls were done first and I took them in to do the project while the other two continued to work on their lids.
The directions were simple-
To a bowl add:
1.5 cups of skim milk
4 teaspoons of vinegar
Place bowl into a microwave for 1 minute.
Stir the mixture until it forms a ball.
Strain the liquid off.
Mold the curds to a shape.
Original explanation and picture tutorial can be found here
A few things, the girls found this gross. Maybe because it was milk?? It had the same consistency of the bouncy balls, but there was a lot more complaining about this. The girls thought it smelled. I did not notice a smell, but they did. I also don't know if it is because one girl said it smelled so the rest of them did. Who knows, they are 9. And it was very crumbly once they got beyond a certain point. If you are going to do this with the girls, do not let them over work the milk.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Agents of Change- Power of Community- Bronze Meeting
In the beginning of the year, I asked the girls what they liked to do and they told me science and baking. We had done science the week before with bouncy balls and polymers and this week I decided to bake something.
But how do you turn a baking project into a conversation about community?
At first I thought that we could just talk while they baked. Then I thought that I could compare the ingredients to people and how they can come together, combine ideas and be a part of something great. I think my girls know I am a bit artsy fartsy so they give me a bit of lea way. The concept worked for them. They made banana nut and chocolate chip muffins. I was brave enough to try one. Brave because I have done the hand washing/black light experiment with these girls and it will change your opinion of them! Ewww!!!
We had decided to do Jared Boxes for our TAP. I was excited to see that there was a hospital locally that would accept them. Miss B's mom works for the one hospital and we are in the process of seeing if the girls can stop by themselves and drop them off or if they would just go with her. I am hoping the girls can take them in. The hospital is not that far from us and would be a short trip. The girls decided on a budget, what they were willing to work for from their parents, and they decided what each would bring for the box.
While we munched on muffins, we started to talk about our Bronze award. The girls want to hold a pet adoption fair in the town park. A day where they can have a bunch of different rescues come to the area and people who are looking to adopt can come and see them. Great idea..... I have no idea where to guide them to start it.
They left the meeting with shopping lists and homework. They need to come up with 5-8 questions to ask a rescue agency.
But how do you turn a baking project into a conversation about community?
At first I thought that we could just talk while they baked. Then I thought that I could compare the ingredients to people and how they can come together, combine ideas and be a part of something great. I think my girls know I am a bit artsy fartsy so they give me a bit of lea way. The concept worked for them. They made banana nut and chocolate chip muffins. I was brave enough to try one. Brave because I have done the hand washing/black light experiment with these girls and it will change your opinion of them! Ewww!!!
We had decided to do Jared Boxes for our TAP. I was excited to see that there was a hospital locally that would accept them. Miss B's mom works for the one hospital and we are in the process of seeing if the girls can stop by themselves and drop them off or if they would just go with her. I am hoping the girls can take them in. The hospital is not that far from us and would be a short trip. The girls decided on a budget, what they were willing to work for from their parents, and they decided what each would bring for the box.
While we munched on muffins, we started to talk about our Bronze award. The girls want to hold a pet adoption fair in the town park. A day where they can have a bunch of different rescues come to the area and people who are looking to adopt can come and see them. Great idea..... I have no idea where to guide them to start it.
They left the meeting with shopping lists and homework. They need to come up with 5-8 questions to ask a rescue agency.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Kick Off Camp- Camp Wood Haven- Day 2
It never fails. If you are going Girl Scout Camping, it will rain. And boy did it. We woke up to a low 50's temperature and right after breakfast the skies opened up. And it rained till 4pm!
We all had some breakfast and some caffeine and I went to find out where I would be setting up my station. I was doing science experiments with the kids. I had found on a Facebook group, a link for a Girl Scout fun patch from the PBS show Fetch! I knew that these would be activities that my girls would like, and I thought that others would as well.
I would be spending the day at the Shandy Wood pavilion, so I packed everything back up into my car and we proceeded to get lost. Seriously, I get lost everywhere I go. When we found it, I was impressed with this site as well. Of the two sites, I think I would take my troop to this site. It was back pretty far and way from the other sites. I like to be alone with my girls so that if they start acting like monkeys, they wont bother anyone.
The pavilion was very nice, and they also had a fireplace and refrigerator. With our small troop, I think we would be comfortable there.
Like I had said, I am organized. I set up each experiment and put them in separate bags so all I have to do is pull out the bag and everything is right there. I would have Daisy and Brownie girls first, then Junior's two groups of them, and finally Cadette and higher.
We started off with building tin foil boats. Originally the instructions said to use pennies, but I was using pennies for a later experiment and my darling husband decided to cash all of my pennies in, 3 days before camp! However, the paperclips were not heavy enough so Miss B proceeded to use the pennies we had and prayed that there would be enough.
The girls built some nice and sturdy boats. One looked like a turtle. Some built some really pretty boats that held nothing. The big winner of the day was a boat that barely looked like the girl worked on it. It looked like all she did was halfheartedly bent the foil edges up. That boat held 50 pennies.
The next experiment was one all about balance. The girls had to stand up against the wall and try to lift their legs or to bend over with out bending their knees. Every group had girls who were thinking that it would be super easy, but once they tried it, they were confused about why they could not move. We talked a bot about balance and what the body does to compensate for your movements.
Third experiment was with the pennies. We had to see which household solution would clean pennies better.We used vinegar, water with baking soda, cola, lemon juice, ammonia cleaner and ketchup. The girls soaked the pennies in the solutions and drew conclusions on what they thought would happen.
I did this experiment at home before we left, and I was totally surprised about the outcome. You should definitely try this at home! When we did it at camp, the first group had three groups and each group had a different solution that worked best because of variables in the experiment.
We all had some breakfast and some caffeine and I went to find out where I would be setting up my station. I was doing science experiments with the kids. I had found on a Facebook group, a link for a Girl Scout fun patch from the PBS show Fetch! I knew that these would be activities that my girls would like, and I thought that others would as well.
I would be spending the day at the Shandy Wood pavilion, so I packed everything back up into my car and we proceeded to get lost. Seriously, I get lost everywhere I go. When we found it, I was impressed with this site as well. Of the two sites, I think I would take my troop to this site. It was back pretty far and way from the other sites. I like to be alone with my girls so that if they start acting like monkeys, they wont bother anyone.
The pavilion was very nice, and they also had a fireplace and refrigerator. With our small troop, I think we would be comfortable there.
Like I had said, I am organized. I set up each experiment and put them in separate bags so all I have to do is pull out the bag and everything is right there. I would have Daisy and Brownie girls first, then Junior's two groups of them, and finally Cadette and higher.
We started off with building tin foil boats. Originally the instructions said to use pennies, but I was using pennies for a later experiment and my darling husband decided to cash all of my pennies in, 3 days before camp! However, the paperclips were not heavy enough so Miss B proceeded to use the pennies we had and prayed that there would be enough.
The girls built some nice and sturdy boats. One looked like a turtle. Some built some really pretty boats that held nothing. The big winner of the day was a boat that barely looked like the girl worked on it. It looked like all she did was halfheartedly bent the foil edges up. That boat held 50 pennies.
The next experiment was one all about balance. The girls had to stand up against the wall and try to lift their legs or to bend over with out bending their knees. Every group had girls who were thinking that it would be super easy, but once they tried it, they were confused about why they could not move. We talked a bot about balance and what the body does to compensate for your movements.
Third experiment was with the pennies. We had to see which household solution would clean pennies better.We used vinegar, water with baking soda, cola, lemon juice, ammonia cleaner and ketchup. The girls soaked the pennies in the solutions and drew conclusions on what they thought would happen.
I did this experiment at home before we left, and I was totally surprised about the outcome. You should definitely try this at home! When we did it at camp, the first group had three groups and each group had a different solution that worked best because of variables in the experiment.
The last experiment that we did with the Brownies and the Daisy girls was to build catapults out of pop sticks, rubber bands and spoons. The girls had a blast with them. And after a day, I have a whole arsenal of spoon catapults.
For the Juniors, we still had two more experiments to do! We followed the directions on the Fetch site and build soda bottle rockets. They were super simple and the girls put them together really quick. The ones who paid attention to the instructions had theirs going right away and it took some others a few more minutes, but it was a simple project.
The last thing that the Juniors did was to test the ph of the solutions that the pennies were in and to talk about the ph scale. We tried to figure out what was on the penny based on what type of solution cleaned it. So if we had a penny that really got clean because of the acid it was in, then there was a good chance that the stuff on it was a base. I had purchased litmus papers from eBay and it was so neat to see it all change colors.
For the older girls, I had purchased a csi dna kit and we did three different punnet squares and figured out who belonged to what parent. I thought it was interesting and I was so looking forward to doing it with the girls, but they weren't having it. I feel like that was my only fail moment during the day. But what the girls really wanted was to make the spoon catapults. lol I guess I should have just continued with what I was already doing and let them do all of the science the young ones were doing. Live and learn, right?
Around 4 o'clock we were done with all of the girls and we headed back down to our tents. It had finally stopped raining. My parent volunteer had to run home quick to check on her ill husband and on the way back, she stopped to get us some BK! It was so good, and I hate that food. But lunch consisted of pb and j sandwiches so, junk food looked so good.
I made sure that we ate somewhere private just so that other girls were not feeling left out. Then we plopped ourselves down in front of the fire. The ladies who stayed at our were trying to get the fire started. After a while, I got my things to build a fire and helped out. I get possessive about my fires. Don't mess with them, I am trained to do it and gosh darn it, I froze my tush off in October to be certified to start the fire. BACK OFF! lol Within 5 minutes the fire was roaring to life and the girls had sticks with hotdogs on them. They ate in shifts, as certain things were done before other things.
My princess took care of me and made me a hot dog. She is a good girl. It was so nice to be warm and semi dry. We decided to pack it in and head into our tents around 9. The girls stayed up till 11 and then it was lights out. The community lead was teaching whittleing to the other girls but knowing my girls, we would have been making a trip to the ER so it was good they were in bed.
The next morning,OMG it was only 45 degrees out at 8am, we ate a quick breakfast, packed up, cleaned out and were on our way home to shower before 11! They also had a really quick re-dedication ceremony. We will be doing one at a troop meeting, since some of the girls in the troop did not come to this camp.
Despite the weather we had a blast. I can not wait to camp again!
Kick off Camp 2014- Camp Wood Haven- Day 1
Kick Off Camp is something that the lower part of our community organizes and puts together. This was our second year of putting this camp together. We had originally wanted to have our camp at our home camp, Camp Louise, but our council is in the process of phasing that camp out. They say that they aren't, but they fired the ranger this year and have not hired a new one. With councils all over the country closing down camps, we see the writing on the wall.
All summer our community lead was told Louise would be open in time, but about 3 weeks before camp she got the call that it would need to be moved. Closest available camp was over 2 hours away, which was not what we were looking for.
I suggested that we look at GS of Eastern Pa's camps because there is one that is close to us, Camp Wood Haven. We were unable to get the whole camp but 3 sites was all that we needed. We stayed at Robins Den, Pioneer 1 and Shady Wood. (I tell you all of this in case you are local and would like to stay at this camp)
At our day camp, we had a contest between the girls to see who can come up with a tshirt design and we were going to sell that. In hopes that everyone who came to camp would order a shirt. I had the screen printer and would take care of that part.
We only had about half of the girls order tshirts and it took me about a week to get them done. I think that the girls liked them. I thought that they looked cute. The design was voted on by them and the winning design was done by a Junior.
Thankfully the camp was not on the tshirt design!
Pretty cute, right?!
Originally the lead and I were going to take our kids out of school early and get to the camp for the earliest possible time, which would have been 3 o'clock. With the change of venue, she was unable to be there for 3, but I would still be able to get there. I like to be at camp early, get everything set up and then enjoy the rest of the night. Honestly, we pay way to much to rent camps to be there only a little bit of the time.
I took the three girls in my troop that were going out of school at 1 pm. We got some gas and stopped for smoothies, but ended up in camp about 3:15.
I was so surprised. It was so nice! My daughter had been to this camp in mid August and we were staying in the same spot she was at. She even picked the same tent. There was 10 platform tents, all actually up. I have had problems with GSHPA camps where the internet says you should have 10 tents and you come to find they only have 5 put up.
Anyway, 10 tents, 2 fire rings and a very big pavillion that had a fire place in side, but also a little kitchen. So we had sinks, a stove and a fridge. At least in our unit. This was a really nice looking spot.
I called our lead and told her she was going to like this place. I asked her if she wanted two fires going by the time she came, and she said that would be great.
My girls had all of their stuff unpacked and had helped me get the stuff I needed to start the fire. I told them them they could wander around, as long as they stayed together.
The site director rolled up a few minutes later, in her golf cart with her yellow lab. S/he was adorable. Very happy and good with kids. She told me she sent the girls back to their site. Apparently I should not have left they explore on their own. She also told us that I could not let them have their cots next to each other, they had to stay the way they were originally. No problem. Every camp is different on how they want things. We have always moved their beds, but they were fine with them once they were moved back.
I told the site director that the community lead would be there shortly. I though that she was very friendly. We talk a bit about the camp and others. She recommended a camp to us for winter use. Then I met the ranger as well. They seemed very helpful.
Once everyone got there, they started the food prep. We had decided to serve walking tacos. And since my family is vegetarian, we brought along our own "meat". We (my kids and their moms) pretty much packed our own food. I know from last years camp that food serving, times and amounts can be an issue, and I did not want my kids to be hungry. I am so glad that we did.
I think that there are several ways that people camp. Me, I am all about pre-prep and relaxing once I am there. I pack clothes and label them for each day. Every day the clothes that we are done with goes into the laundry bag back into the car. Activities are packed the same way. Each one in their own container. We also do food that way. Each day, different container. And for us, we precook our food. I would much rather a child who is hungry have cold/ luke warm ground beef than wait an hour for possibly pink meat. Our community lead is a cook on site kind of camper.
It was close till 8pm before the kids got to eat. And they really skimped on their meals. I felt kind of bad having so much when others weren't getting enough. I offered to share mine with my co-leader and her daughter. But they went through the line. I don't think they wanted to take our food. My co-leader thought that the texture of the "meat" was very much like the real thing. Woot!!
I had just put the sour cream, cheese and lettuce on top of my tin foiled meat and then I was just carrying a frito bag. My daughter was still hungry, so I made her a second out of what I had, and then one of my little girls was just sitting by the fire looking so hungry. I gave her some of mine as well. It had to taste similar, because she scarfed that right down!
After dinner, I handed out snack cakes to all the girls, because it was my birthday. We tucked our girls into bed and gave them a time limit for lights out. I did not want a repeat of our summer troop camp of them being up till 3:30am! And then my co-leader and the volunteer mom from my troop went to our own tent.
I love to camp and I know how hard it is to pull off a camp with one or two troops, that I could not even imagine what it takes to do a community or service unit camp. I am grateful that my lead does this and puts it together. First of all, she only charges 20$ for adults and 15$ for the kids. Where else can you GS camp for 2 nights, have food provided and activities for such a low price. Second, it is a total thank less job, with lots of people complaining with out doing. I hate that.
That being said, there are a few things I would do somethings differently. It needs more planning time coming into it. And it needs more committed adults with defined roles. You are in charge of this, she is in charge of that and you both know what the other one is doing. No troop should come without being able to contribute to the days activities.
I think either food needs to be precooked and preped OR each troop needs to be in charge of their own food. Last year food was an issue, this year it was less of an issue, but I think that next year it needs to not be an issue at all.
I will continue to describe our camp in the next post. Day 2!
All summer our community lead was told Louise would be open in time, but about 3 weeks before camp she got the call that it would need to be moved. Closest available camp was over 2 hours away, which was not what we were looking for.
I suggested that we look at GS of Eastern Pa's camps because there is one that is close to us, Camp Wood Haven. We were unable to get the whole camp but 3 sites was all that we needed. We stayed at Robins Den, Pioneer 1 and Shady Wood. (I tell you all of this in case you are local and would like to stay at this camp)
At our day camp, we had a contest between the girls to see who can come up with a tshirt design and we were going to sell that. In hopes that everyone who came to camp would order a shirt. I had the screen printer and would take care of that part.
We only had about half of the girls order tshirts and it took me about a week to get them done. I think that the girls liked them. I thought that they looked cute. The design was voted on by them and the winning design was done by a Junior.
Thankfully the camp was not on the tshirt design!
Pretty cute, right?!
Originally the lead and I were going to take our kids out of school early and get to the camp for the earliest possible time, which would have been 3 o'clock. With the change of venue, she was unable to be there for 3, but I would still be able to get there. I like to be at camp early, get everything set up and then enjoy the rest of the night. Honestly, we pay way to much to rent camps to be there only a little bit of the time.
I took the three girls in my troop that were going out of school at 1 pm. We got some gas and stopped for smoothies, but ended up in camp about 3:15.
Anyway, 10 tents, 2 fire rings and a very big pavillion that had a fire place in side, but also a little kitchen. So we had sinks, a stove and a fridge. At least in our unit. This was a really nice looking spot.
My girls had all of their stuff unpacked and had helped me get the stuff I needed to start the fire. I told them them they could wander around, as long as they stayed together.
The site director rolled up a few minutes later, in her golf cart with her yellow lab. S/he was adorable. Very happy and good with kids. She told me she sent the girls back to their site. Apparently I should not have left they explore on their own. She also told us that I could not let them have their cots next to each other, they had to stay the way they were originally. No problem. Every camp is different on how they want things. We have always moved their beds, but they were fine with them once they were moved back.
I told the site director that the community lead would be there shortly. I though that she was very friendly. We talk a bit about the camp and others. She recommended a camp to us for winter use. Then I met the ranger as well. They seemed very helpful.
Once everyone got there, they started the food prep. We had decided to serve walking tacos. And since my family is vegetarian, we brought along our own "meat". We (my kids and their moms) pretty much packed our own food. I know from last years camp that food serving, times and amounts can be an issue, and I did not want my kids to be hungry. I am so glad that we did.
I think that there are several ways that people camp. Me, I am all about pre-prep and relaxing once I am there. I pack clothes and label them for each day. Every day the clothes that we are done with goes into the laundry bag back into the car. Activities are packed the same way. Each one in their own container. We also do food that way. Each day, different container. And for us, we precook our food. I would much rather a child who is hungry have cold/ luke warm ground beef than wait an hour for possibly pink meat. Our community lead is a cook on site kind of camper.
It was close till 8pm before the kids got to eat. And they really skimped on their meals. I felt kind of bad having so much when others weren't getting enough. I offered to share mine with my co-leader and her daughter. But they went through the line. I don't think they wanted to take our food. My co-leader thought that the texture of the "meat" was very much like the real thing. Woot!!
I had just put the sour cream, cheese and lettuce on top of my tin foiled meat and then I was just carrying a frito bag. My daughter was still hungry, so I made her a second out of what I had, and then one of my little girls was just sitting by the fire looking so hungry. I gave her some of mine as well. It had to taste similar, because she scarfed that right down!
After dinner, I handed out snack cakes to all the girls, because it was my birthday. We tucked our girls into bed and gave them a time limit for lights out. I did not want a repeat of our summer troop camp of them being up till 3:30am! And then my co-leader and the volunteer mom from my troop went to our own tent.
I love to camp and I know how hard it is to pull off a camp with one or two troops, that I could not even imagine what it takes to do a community or service unit camp. I am grateful that my lead does this and puts it together. First of all, she only charges 20$ for adults and 15$ for the kids. Where else can you GS camp for 2 nights, have food provided and activities for such a low price. Second, it is a total thank less job, with lots of people complaining with out doing. I hate that.
That being said, there are a few things I would do somethings differently. It needs more planning time coming into it. And it needs more committed adults with defined roles. You are in charge of this, she is in charge of that and you both know what the other one is doing. No troop should come without being able to contribute to the days activities.
I think either food needs to be precooked and preped OR each troop needs to be in charge of their own food. Last year food was an issue, this year it was less of an issue, but I think that next year it needs to not be an issue at all.
I will continue to describe our camp in the next post. Day 2!
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
How many chances do you get?
Or an alternative title would be, "as long as council gets their money, they don't give a hoot about the girls or the community."
I get so frustrated with our council. Nothing like having them reinforce time and time again, that all they care about is the money.
That leader who I have complained about before. The one who broke the rules at the Halloween parade and whose float ran over a parents foot, the one who broke the rules of cookie sales and there was photographic proof of what she was doing wrong, the one who did not turn in her financial report till September, and the one who did not give her girls badges they earned and lied about camp requirements so she did not take them on a trip? (I just found that out, but I don't think I wrote about it. Her assistant leader is now getting a troop of her own and sharing all kinds of details about what went on)
Yeah they are letting her keep her troop and take on new girls.
So there are no consequences when you break the rules.
There are no repercussions for failing the girls you are supposed to be leading.
As long as you bring in that cookie profit, you can keep doing what you are doing.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I get so frustrated with our council. Nothing like having them reinforce time and time again, that all they care about is the money.
That leader who I have complained about before. The one who broke the rules at the Halloween parade and whose float ran over a parents foot, the one who broke the rules of cookie sales and there was photographic proof of what she was doing wrong, the one who did not turn in her financial report till September, and the one who did not give her girls badges they earned and lied about camp requirements so she did not take them on a trip? (I just found that out, but I don't think I wrote about it. Her assistant leader is now getting a troop of her own and sharing all kinds of details about what went on)
Yeah they are letting her keep her troop and take on new girls.
So there are no consequences when you break the rules.
There are no repercussions for failing the girls you are supposed to be leading.
As long as you bring in that cookie profit, you can keep doing what you are doing.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Agents of Change- The Power of Team
Second meeting, and the girls jumped right back into it. I think I am going to love having 4 girls this year. Sure a bigger troop means that you can get better group discounts and there is more chance of mixing up the group. But I like the intimate-ness of this small group. I know when I am getting through and when they have stopped listening.
Before the meeting even started there was some heated discussing going on between the four of them and when a mom and I asked what was going on, boy did we hear an earful. The long and the short was that one girl was made to stand along the wall for five minutes* for having a minus in the class room dojo, (goofy app thing that the teachers use), the other girls wanted to know what she did wrong. Thing was the girl had no idea. Someone just told her the teacher wanted her to stand on the wall. Two of the troop girls were so mad because they thought the one who told her was lying and that she didn't really have to stand on the wall. Forth grade girls can be so mean.
Now that seems totally off topic, but it isn't really. These girls are a tight group. They came together for a friend that they feel was wronged so that she did not feel alone. They worked together to come up with a solution so that would never happen to one of them again. All this on their own, with out a leader to say, let's figure this out.
Why does that make me happy?
Because it means that Girl Scouts is WORKING!! Especially for those who it is designed to help. Regardless of what goes on in the "community" or lack of answers/help from council, the GIRLS are getting what we are teaching. They are the reason I come back week after week and year after year. Because it is making an impact on them.
Once the meeting started, we went over last week and I showed them the print outs. They loved them and wanted to make one up for this week. I think they want to cover the whole inside of our craft closet with them. This week when I asked if these words reflected who they were, they were eager to say yes.
We then moved on to talking about team work and what it takes to be a strong team. We have seen so many times before that these girls work well together. It was interesting to see how they see themselves in the group dynamic. One girl was definitely the leader, one I would call the encourager, one is a follower- amazing at carrying out the plan, and the other one is the outside of the box thinker. Unlike the power words, these girls know their roles in the team and they know how the others work. It makes the team work stuff very easy. I can not believe that they know their roles so well already. I mean they are only in 4th grade. Imagine what they will accomplish because they do not have the power struggles many have in a team.
Finally it was time to get to the fun bits. The girls love science and crafts and I was so proud that I thought I found something to combine the two with our team work talk. We were going to make bouncy balls!
First we explained a team with paper clips. How each person is strong but when we link together the paper clips, it makes a stronger chain. Then we took loom bands and attached them to the paperclip chains to make a sort of net of clips. I compared the bands to the bonds that bring together the team. Finally we turned it to science and explained polymers to the girls.
We went into the kitchen and made bouncy balls. I found a recipe online, which I can not find the link to any more. This is not my recipe-
Supplies-
1/2 cup of warm water
1tbs Borax
1 tbs corn starch
2tbs of school glue (washable glue makes softer balls and non-washable school glue makes firmer ones)
1. Combine the water and borax in a cup and stir. You want enough room in the cup to place your next combination.
2. In a seperate container, combine the corn starch and glue until it is well incorporated. It may take more than a few stirs.
3. Pour the glue mixture into the borax solution. Wait about ten seconds. The mixture will get hard. Take it out a squeeze it, then place it back in the solution for another 10 seconds. Take it out and start to squeeze the air out and work it into a ball shape. Once the ball is round, have the girls give it a go at bouncing it. They are not super bouncy, but they do bounce and the girls will love it!!
My girls had a blast. They loved making the balls and the look on their faces when it all came together is priceless!
Next week we are working on our Community TAP and that will be the end of the journey. We will start talking about the bronze award and the girls will plan their next badge. Another successful Junior meeting!!!
* And what is wrong with the teachers??? 5 minutes of standing along the wall while your peers are playing or staring at you. How is this right??? Public humiliation is not an acceptable form of punishment.
Before the meeting even started there was some heated discussing going on between the four of them and when a mom and I asked what was going on, boy did we hear an earful. The long and the short was that one girl was made to stand along the wall for five minutes* for having a minus in the class room dojo, (goofy app thing that the teachers use), the other girls wanted to know what she did wrong. Thing was the girl had no idea. Someone just told her the teacher wanted her to stand on the wall. Two of the troop girls were so mad because they thought the one who told her was lying and that she didn't really have to stand on the wall. Forth grade girls can be so mean.
Now that seems totally off topic, but it isn't really. These girls are a tight group. They came together for a friend that they feel was wronged so that she did not feel alone. They worked together to come up with a solution so that would never happen to one of them again. All this on their own, with out a leader to say, let's figure this out.
Why does that make me happy?
Because it means that Girl Scouts is WORKING!! Especially for those who it is designed to help. Regardless of what goes on in the "community" or lack of answers/help from council, the GIRLS are getting what we are teaching. They are the reason I come back week after week and year after year. Because it is making an impact on them.
Once the meeting started, we went over last week and I showed them the print outs. They loved them and wanted to make one up for this week. I think they want to cover the whole inside of our craft closet with them. This week when I asked if these words reflected who they were, they were eager to say yes.
We then moved on to talking about team work and what it takes to be a strong team. We have seen so many times before that these girls work well together. It was interesting to see how they see themselves in the group dynamic. One girl was definitely the leader, one I would call the encourager, one is a follower- amazing at carrying out the plan, and the other one is the outside of the box thinker. Unlike the power words, these girls know their roles in the team and they know how the others work. It makes the team work stuff very easy. I can not believe that they know their roles so well already. I mean they are only in 4th grade. Imagine what they will accomplish because they do not have the power struggles many have in a team.
Finally it was time to get to the fun bits. The girls love science and crafts and I was so proud that I thought I found something to combine the two with our team work talk. We were going to make bouncy balls!
First we explained a team with paper clips. How each person is strong but when we link together the paper clips, it makes a stronger chain. Then we took loom bands and attached them to the paperclip chains to make a sort of net of clips. I compared the bands to the bonds that bring together the team. Finally we turned it to science and explained polymers to the girls.
We went into the kitchen and made bouncy balls. I found a recipe online, which I can not find the link to any more. This is not my recipe-
Supplies-
1/2 cup of warm water
1tbs Borax
1 tbs corn starch
2tbs of school glue (washable glue makes softer balls and non-washable school glue makes firmer ones)
1. Combine the water and borax in a cup and stir. You want enough room in the cup to place your next combination.
2. In a seperate container, combine the corn starch and glue until it is well incorporated. It may take more than a few stirs.
3. Pour the glue mixture into the borax solution. Wait about ten seconds. The mixture will get hard. Take it out a squeeze it, then place it back in the solution for another 10 seconds. Take it out and start to squeeze the air out and work it into a ball shape. Once the ball is round, have the girls give it a go at bouncing it. They are not super bouncy, but they do bounce and the girls will love it!!
My girls had a blast. They loved making the balls and the look on their faces when it all came together is priceless!
Next week we are working on our Community TAP and that will be the end of the journey. We will start talking about the bronze award and the girls will plan their next badge. Another successful Junior meeting!!!
* And what is wrong with the teachers??? 5 minutes of standing along the wall while your peers are playing or staring at you. How is this right??? Public humiliation is not an acceptable form of punishment.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Agents of Change- Power Words
I took all of the words that my girls used to describe power and made it into a print. I am going to print this out and hang it by our supply closet at scouts. I have a Photoshop addiction. :)
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Agents of Change- power of one
Last night was our first meeting. I started off by telling the girls that this year they have more say and more responsibility. We talked a little bit about what is coming up in the year, what did they want to do, and the importance of their bronze award. Then we started on the Agents of Change journey.
We started off by asking them questions on what they thought power was, and what makes a person powerful. The answers were astonishing because they did not agree at all on what power was or who had it. They also really associated power as either good or bad. It took me by surprise because I figured they would have the same text book answers but none of them did.
We then asked them to give us a definition of power. And we asked them to write power words about themselves. They had a real hard time picking words that were powerful to describe themselves. They could pick words to describe each other but when it came down to talking about themselves they were stumped. I have to wonder if it is a modesty thing or if they don't want to say, "I am assertive".
It is a good thing for me to think about and come up with a way to expand it next week.
I do not read the journey books with my troop, I allow them to read it on their own. My daughter says this one is really good and she liked it.
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