This is a badge that I was not looking forward too. More so than scribe. I don't know why, but it just seems like something that is a buzz word badge. I am all for the girls learning to be healthy, but we just did all of this during the council's Healthy Promise campaign. I feel like I am beating a dead horse. And I think that the girls have turned me off and I sound like the Charlie Brown teacher to them.
So how do we take a badge that no one wants to do and make it fun?
I purchased a few different foods; pop tarts, apples with yogurt dip, pineapple and a few different candies. I also brought in a bag of sugar and my digital scale. We looked at the amount of sugar that was in each of these products. We compared natural sugar vs processed sugars. The girls seemed really interested in it, and I think seeing the sugar in real life made an impact on them.
We then did some yoga and stretching. I came up with the idea of having the girls do some double dutch jump roping. Wow, did I not think this through. I bought 2 jump ropes, 7 foot long each and I thought that this would be big enough. I was trying to remember from my childhood. But this was clearly the case of things looking so much bigger when you were a child than when you are an adult. 7 ft long jump ropes is not big enough for double dutch. In the end we tied it together and the girls gave it a shot. The girls giggled but they could not figure it out. Unfortunately we were right at the end of the meeting and we planned on picking it up the next time.
*** Update on our Halloween Parades. The girl participated in 3 parades and they won Judges Choice at one parade and 3rd place in the groups category in another parade. The judges said that they were touched by how the girls were able to take a somber subject like breast cancer and bring awareness to it by having a fun presentation. The girls won money at both parades that we are going to use to help lower the cost of our winter camp.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Scribe badge 3
This took forever to get done. I think because the girls, or some of them, are doing something similar in school. Last night, we sat down and they wrote up their articles. This morning I typed them into Word under a news letter template and sent it out to our Service Unit. I can not wait to have feedback from the other troops. I debated on posting what the girls wrote on here, but there is too much information on them. Not sure if other troops want that out in the great big cyber world.
So what is next for our troop. Right now we are in the middle of our fall product sale. This sale is important to me, more so than cookies. But I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed when I asked how the girls were doing and no one really answered. I hate to tell them that they really have to sell, or they will be paying a lot more for winter camp than they would like. My daughter is nearing the half way mark for her sales, but we haven't sold any magazines yet. I really want her to sell 100 pieces so that she gets the 90$ in product money to use toward camp. I don't understand why councils do not change up this program to get it a better rap. This is such a good opportunity for troops to earn start up cash, but no one wants to do it. We make more than we do for cookies, if people just tried. End of vent.
Next week we are working on the staying fit badge. This should be fun since I am anything but fit. lol
So what is next for our troop. Right now we are in the middle of our fall product sale. This sale is important to me, more so than cookies. But I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed when I asked how the girls were doing and no one really answered. I hate to tell them that they really have to sell, or they will be paying a lot more for winter camp than they would like. My daughter is nearing the half way mark for her sales, but we haven't sold any magazines yet. I really want her to sell 100 pieces so that she gets the 90$ in product money to use toward camp. I don't understand why councils do not change up this program to get it a better rap. This is such a good opportunity for troops to earn start up cash, but no one wants to do it. We make more than we do for cookies, if people just tried. End of vent.
Next week we are working on the staying fit badge. This should be fun since I am anything but fit. lol
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Skill Builder/ Scribe 2/ Halloween prep
I can not believe that it is almost Halloween time! Around here there is a huge high school football game happening on Halloween so everyone has moved up their parades and activities a week, which means I am running out of time!
This year the girls wanted to be super heros, but we just couldn't get a good idea beyond that. Then I was looking over my finances and the calendar and I haven't even done my kids costumes yet, let alone make a second costume.
What could be do??? Well it is Breast Cancer Awareness month. JGL did die from breast cancer. What if we did a pink out?
The girls went nuts! They love pink! Plus it is something they all have in their drawers.
Ok so we are going to all wear pink....What if we are Breast Cancer Awareness super heros? We can make pink capes!
I thought that we could purchase either pink felt or pink fleece relatively cheaply. Boy was I wrong. Felt was 3$ a yard and fleece was 6$! But before I turned down the fabric aisle, I saw fleece blankets for 3$. There would be enough fabric to do 4 capes.
They all have a basic fleece (no sewing) cape that they have to decorate this week.
A mom asked at the hospital for some of those paper ribbon cards. The ones they ask you for a dollar for at the grocery store and then you right someone's name on it. I split them up and handed them out to the girls. They all have different ideas on that they want to do with them. I just told them that it needs to be done by Tuesday.
I can not wait to see what they come up with.
They have a little skit planned out and they are going to recite the promise this year. Think that voice in the old school super hero comic shows. "Meanwhile back at the Hall of Justice". They are going to do it all powerful like that.
SCRIBE BADGE- PART 2
After we got Halloween out of the way, we worked on our scribe badge. The girls had interviewed 3 troops but they did not get a chance to do our troop. Four girls, Four Troops, perfect. Our one girl who was not able to ask the interview questions at the nut rally interviewed our troop. And let me tell you, 4 girls means 4 different ideas and opinions. It took longer than I thought for them to get everything down and we are going to have to finish up the newsletter next week. I gave them the option of finishing up at home or at the meeting and they chose the meeting.
This year the girls wanted to be super heros, but we just couldn't get a good idea beyond that. Then I was looking over my finances and the calendar and I haven't even done my kids costumes yet, let alone make a second costume.
What could be do??? Well it is Breast Cancer Awareness month. JGL did die from breast cancer. What if we did a pink out?
The girls went nuts! They love pink! Plus it is something they all have in their drawers.
Ok so we are going to all wear pink....What if we are Breast Cancer Awareness super heros? We can make pink capes!
I thought that we could purchase either pink felt or pink fleece relatively cheaply. Boy was I wrong. Felt was 3$ a yard and fleece was 6$! But before I turned down the fabric aisle, I saw fleece blankets for 3$. There would be enough fabric to do 4 capes.
They all have a basic fleece (no sewing) cape that they have to decorate this week.
A mom asked at the hospital for some of those paper ribbon cards. The ones they ask you for a dollar for at the grocery store and then you right someone's name on it. I split them up and handed them out to the girls. They all have different ideas on that they want to do with them. I just told them that it needs to be done by Tuesday.
I can not wait to see what they come up with.
They have a little skit planned out and they are going to recite the promise this year. Think that voice in the old school super hero comic shows. "Meanwhile back at the Hall of Justice". They are going to do it all powerful like that.
SCRIBE BADGE- PART 2
After we got Halloween out of the way, we worked on our scribe badge. The girls had interviewed 3 troops but they did not get a chance to do our troop. Four girls, Four Troops, perfect. Our one girl who was not able to ask the interview questions at the nut rally interviewed our troop. And let me tell you, 4 girls means 4 different ideas and opinions. It took longer than I thought for them to get everything down and we are going to have to finish up the newsletter next week. I gave them the option of finishing up at home or at the meeting and they chose the meeting.
Nut Rally
It is that time of the year again, Fall Product sale. As the service unit product lead, I feel like it is my duty to make sure that everyone is informed and that the girls do a good job. I also feel like so much focus is on cookies, that people forget about nuts or they just don't want to do it. But the truth of the matter is, that the troops make more money with nuts than we do with cookies. I ask my troop to really focus on this. If they sold 100 nut products (which I know is a lot) not only does the troop get 100$ but they can also earn 90$ in product gift cards from council which can be used for camp! I will tell you, knocking 90$ off of camp can make it affordable.
This is my second year running a nut rally. This year we had 3 troops participate and about 25 girls attend. Which is a really nice number. It keeps the volume down and it makes sure that each group gets to do things. Sure I would love to have a huge nut rally, but I am happy with what we get.
Planning this started after my training, at least some part. I knew the stations that I wanted to have, but I did not know how to exicute them. I also knew how much time I wanted to spend at each activity.
What I figured out was that we would have a hour and a half for the event. 6 stations at 10 minutes each, and that would leave 15 minutes in the beginning and 15 at the end for announcements and a little over view of the sale.
My stations were-
An Activity called Jump in/Jump out which is in the rally handbook
Pictionary with words from the handbook
Scribe badge interview station
Lip Gloss making
Paper bag otter puppets from the handbook
Puzzle from the handbook
Plus I had a snack table with the new orange almonds, pretzels, cheese curls, apple juice and water.
We got off to a slow start, as we waited for people to arrive but then I did my little talk. I tend to goof around and I probably talked to long for the girls liking. I split the girls up by troops and split my troop up in those troops. This way when it got time to get to the scribe station, someone in my troop could interview them.
A few things, with only 3 groups switching, I only needed 3 volunteers. One leader asked me in August what could she do to help, which was so nice! And never happens. I gave her the lip gloss station and she did a great job with the girls at that one. The jump in station was a hit. My CO took care of that area and I heard lots of giggling so I knew she was rocking it. I bounced between the stations, depending on where the troops were going next. Pictionary was lots of fun and the time went really quickly there. The otter puppets were cute but I do not think the Juniors really liked doing them. I think that would have been great for Daisy's but I only had 1 of them there. The puzzle making was a bust. They did not like that at all. The scribe badge was fine depending on which troop was there and who was asking the questions. No adult over saw that one, because it was badge work, the girls had to do the questions on their own. Some troops just answered and then it was silent and some had so much to say that the 10 minutes was not enough time.
We ended up running out of time, even with a timer running and switching pretty efficiently. I just don't think you can ever schedule them where it runs perfectly, time wise. At the end, the girls were able to have a snack.
Surprisingly the nut samples were a huge hit! The girls loved it and so did the parents. I was really surprised by that. And I did not buy enough cheese curls. I never buy enough cheese curls. lol
The cost of the rally was under 30$. I charged 1$ per girl, which was to cover the cost of the patch and pay for a bit of the rally. Turns out that they raised the price of the patch from 0.50$ to 0.75$. Which means my troop ate a lot more of the cost than I wanted to. The snacks can really add up. the only craft that I had to purchase items for was the lip gloss. We bought small closable containers, Vaseline, cocoa, mint extract, and koolaid.
I will do it again next year, if I am the Fall Product person again. I had a good time.
And I have no pictures, because I forgot to take them. :( You just get busy and forget. lol
This is my second year running a nut rally. This year we had 3 troops participate and about 25 girls attend. Which is a really nice number. It keeps the volume down and it makes sure that each group gets to do things. Sure I would love to have a huge nut rally, but I am happy with what we get.
Planning this started after my training, at least some part. I knew the stations that I wanted to have, but I did not know how to exicute them. I also knew how much time I wanted to spend at each activity.
What I figured out was that we would have a hour and a half for the event. 6 stations at 10 minutes each, and that would leave 15 minutes in the beginning and 15 at the end for announcements and a little over view of the sale.
My stations were-
An Activity called Jump in/Jump out which is in the rally handbook
Pictionary with words from the handbook
Scribe badge interview station
Lip Gloss making
Paper bag otter puppets from the handbook
Puzzle from the handbook
Plus I had a snack table with the new orange almonds, pretzels, cheese curls, apple juice and water.
We got off to a slow start, as we waited for people to arrive but then I did my little talk. I tend to goof around and I probably talked to long for the girls liking. I split the girls up by troops and split my troop up in those troops. This way when it got time to get to the scribe station, someone in my troop could interview them.
A few things, with only 3 groups switching, I only needed 3 volunteers. One leader asked me in August what could she do to help, which was so nice! And never happens. I gave her the lip gloss station and she did a great job with the girls at that one. The jump in station was a hit. My CO took care of that area and I heard lots of giggling so I knew she was rocking it. I bounced between the stations, depending on where the troops were going next. Pictionary was lots of fun and the time went really quickly there. The otter puppets were cute but I do not think the Juniors really liked doing them. I think that would have been great for Daisy's but I only had 1 of them there. The puzzle making was a bust. They did not like that at all. The scribe badge was fine depending on which troop was there and who was asking the questions. No adult over saw that one, because it was badge work, the girls had to do the questions on their own. Some troops just answered and then it was silent and some had so much to say that the 10 minutes was not enough time.
We ended up running out of time, even with a timer running and switching pretty efficiently. I just don't think you can ever schedule them where it runs perfectly, time wise. At the end, the girls were able to have a snack.
Surprisingly the nut samples were a huge hit! The girls loved it and so did the parents. I was really surprised by that. And I did not buy enough cheese curls. I never buy enough cheese curls. lol
The cost of the rally was under 30$. I charged 1$ per girl, which was to cover the cost of the patch and pay for a bit of the rally. Turns out that they raised the price of the patch from 0.50$ to 0.75$. Which means my troop ate a lot more of the cost than I wanted to. The snacks can really add up. the only craft that I had to purchase items for was the lip gloss. We bought small closable containers, Vaseline, cocoa, mint extract, and koolaid.
I will do it again next year, if I am the Fall Product person again. I had a good time.
And I have no pictures, because I forgot to take them. :( You just get busy and forget. lol
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Skill Builder- Scribe
This week we started our skill builder set for Agents of Change. I have been reading review on Facebook Pages and the general consensus was that this badge is hard for the girls because it was too much like school. That made me worried. I did not want to start the year off with a boring patch.
But they loved it. I must have some really creative girls. I know that my daughter loves to write, but two others did ok with it too. They were giggling and supportive of each other. So nice!
We started off the meeting talking about our Jared Boxes. They are going to the Janet Weiss Children's Hospital. They were all to eager to have them. Then I told them the bad news with their bronze project, that the local animal shelters could not help. I asked them if they wanted to rethink the event or think of something new, and they all said think of something new. So I am excited to see what they come up with.
Next we moved on to our badge work. I asked them about poetry and then we read poems from three different female poets; Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson and Anne Killigrew. It was so interesting to hear the girls take on these poems. They were not thinking literally but they understood the underlining meaning.
Then I asked the girls to write poems themselves. They set right to work on it with no complaints.
These are their poems that they came up with in under 10 minutes!
I believe that unnicorns are real
You might think I am crazy
But I don't care.
If you don't like me or what I believe in,
you have your own opinion and I have mine.
Don't Bully.
I am powerful, so are you.
You don't need fame to shine like the moon.
Don't be afraid to get on the stage,
You'll be great at every age.
Do your best
You don't need to be better than the rest.
For they flow
The Earth's glow
When these women stride
With glorious pride
With their glow brighter
Than the city lights
With each other
With one another
With great strength to help one another
It is ok to believe in all things
Doesn't pull any strings
If one is afraid
Do not go to the parade
The parade will scare
More than the worst fears
And if the fears are silly things
then one will be so scared
Remember to be prepared
Bring a doll
Hug a wall
Girl Scouts is cool,
It's better than school.
My Girl Scout troop has my friends
It never ends
We never say never
That will stay forever
It has E, P, L and me
It has no I in Team
I like my Girl Scout leaders
I like Girl Scouts
I think they were great for the time they had. Sure they all started with, "I don't know what to write" but in the end they all had something good.
But they loved it. I must have some really creative girls. I know that my daughter loves to write, but two others did ok with it too. They were giggling and supportive of each other. So nice!
We started off the meeting talking about our Jared Boxes. They are going to the Janet Weiss Children's Hospital. They were all to eager to have them. Then I told them the bad news with their bronze project, that the local animal shelters could not help. I asked them if they wanted to rethink the event or think of something new, and they all said think of something new. So I am excited to see what they come up with.
Next we moved on to our badge work. I asked them about poetry and then we read poems from three different female poets; Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson and Anne Killigrew. It was so interesting to hear the girls take on these poems. They were not thinking literally but they understood the underlining meaning.
Then I asked the girls to write poems themselves. They set right to work on it with no complaints.
These are their poems that they came up with in under 10 minutes!
I believe that unnicorns are real
You might think I am crazy
But I don't care.
If you don't like me or what I believe in,
you have your own opinion and I have mine.
Don't Bully.
I am powerful, so are you.
You don't need fame to shine like the moon.
Don't be afraid to get on the stage,
You'll be great at every age.
Do your best
You don't need to be better than the rest.
For they flow
The Earth's glow
When these women stride
With glorious pride
With their glow brighter
Than the city lights
With each other
With one another
With great strength to help one another
It is ok to believe in all things
Doesn't pull any strings
If one is afraid
Do not go to the parade
The parade will scare
More than the worst fears
And if the fears are silly things
then one will be so scared
Remember to be prepared
Bring a doll
Hug a wall
Girl Scouts is cool,
It's better than school.
My Girl Scout troop has my friends
It never ends
We never say never
That will stay forever
It has E, P, L and me
It has no I in Team
I like my Girl Scout leaders
I like Girl Scouts
I think they were great for the time they had. Sure they all started with, "I don't know what to write" but in the end they all had something good.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Agents of Change- TAP
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.
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.
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.
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