February Field Trip

For February, we donated our Cookies for a Cause to the Jeanne Jugan Residence, a local nursing home. The girls sang some songs for the residents, then made Valentines with them and ate Girl Scout cookies. Such a fun time!

January Event: Bakery

For our January event, we thought it would be fun to give the girls a behind-the-scenes look at a bakery to correspond with their cookie sales. We went to Hi-Rise Bread Company, and they were fantastic!

The staff showed us how they make cookies, adding the ingredients to a giant mixer. Then, they pulled out the mixed-up dough already shaped into cookies and put them in the oven. We got to sample the fresh-baked chocolate chunk cookies! Yum!

Did you go on a field trip this month? Where did you go?

Meeting 10: January

Sometimes, a meeting just doesn't go as planned. Maybe you get a late start. Maybe you had too many activities planned. Maybe the girls are all feeling fidgety and don't want to sit still. Or maybe (as in my case this meeting), it's all three. So what do you do? It's hard to do, but try to go with the flow. Cut out an activity, and plan to make it up next time. Throw in an energizer get the wiggles out and refocus. Most of all, remember that the girls are here to have fun!

Pre-meeting: We colored in our final totals for the cookie goal chart. My troop sold a whopping 1,000+ boxes--amazing! The girls were very proud of themselves. Then, I had the girls draw a picture of themselves taking care of themselves for the 3 Cheers for Animals Journey. They came up with some creative ideas (with a bit of prompting)--everything from taking a shower to brushing their teeth to drinking water. Finally, we had them look at pages 6 and 7 in their Journey books to find the secret animals.

Opening: We said our Promise, Law, and Pledge

Circle: We had two new girls join this meeting, so we introduced ourselves through the Lucy Lemon game. We went around the circle and shared the pictures we drew earlier, and then each girl showed us one of the animals she found in the Journey book. (We had planned on reading pages 7-13 in the Journey book and adding a lion to our animal mural, but the sharing took much longer than planned and the girls were ready to move on!)

Song: This week's options were "Flea Fly" or "Boy and a Girl and a Little Canoe". They picked the second one. All the lyrics I found online ended with the girl swimmin' all around, but the way I learned it was the girl ended up paddlin', while the boy ended up swimmin'. The girls loved the twist!

Snack

Activity: For our activity, the girls made an obstacle course. We brought a few items from home, and the girls paired up. Each pair got to pick one item, and then had to use that item to make an obstacle station. They then had to show the other girls how to do the station. After they learned all the stations, the girls got to go through the course!

Game: The game we had scheduled to play was Animal Charades, but we didn't have enough time!

Closing: We did fists of five again, plus the Friendship Squeeze. The new girls also received their Daisy pins.

What do you do when a meeting goes off the rails? Leave a message below!

Meeting 9: January

Pre-Meeting: Color in cookie sales goal chart. Backup: Shape Hunt.

Opening: Pledge, Promise, Law

Song: Give 2 Options (Flea Fly or Boom Chicka Boom)

Circle: Introduce flowers, Read page 5 in 3 Cheers for Animals. Talk with the girls, asking: What’s one thing you like about animals? What animals have you seen where you live? Have you ever cared for animals (pets, birdfeeders, etc.)? What did you like about caring for a pet? What’s the most unusual animal you’ve ever seen? Where did you see it? What did it look like? Who takes care of it and how?

Snack

Activity: Make troop birdbath, per Journeys book

Game: Nose Jousting

Closing: Fists of Five/Friendship Squeeze. What are some ways people care for animals? Are any of these the same to caring for yourself?

Note: I was on vacation this meeting, but here's what was on the agenda!

Meeting 8: December

Pre-Meeting: As the girls came in, we had them collaboratively draw a Bald Eagle for our animal mural, which we'll continue to add to throughout our 3 Cheers for Animals Journey (we had a photo of an eagle for reference). It looked so awesome! We also had them do the "What People Need" activity from the Making Choices financial literacy leaf. Finally, they drew a picture of themselves helping someone else, also part of the Making Choices leaf. 

Opening: Pledge, Promise, Law

Song: We had two options this meeting, "Pink Pajamas" or "Boy and a Girl and a Canoe"--both some of my favorites! Our song chooser picked "Pink Pajamas." I think they were rather shocked! :)

Circle: The girls had made a goal of selling 120 boxes as a troop. During our circle, we talked about how many boxes each girl has sold so far, and what incentives they have earned. Some girls hadn't sold any, and a couple had sold a lot already. We counted up the total number and colored in goal chart. Each girl got to color in about the same amount, to reflect that our goal is a group effort and everybody is helping to sell. So far, we've sold 61 boxes--more than half our goal! We reflect on our event shopping for Birthday Wishes, and the girls got to talk about how helping someone else made them feel. 

We took a quick break to play Daisy to Daisy, and then the girls stood back to back, locked elbows, and tried to sit down in pairs, then stand back up. So funny! We talked about our next Service Project (OperationPaperback), where we'll be collecting children's books for military parents to read to their children via webcam or DVD. We looked at a map to see where military people live, and how far away that is from their families. Then, we brainstormed about how the girls can help get books. They seemed a bit underwhelmed with the project, unfortunately, but hopefully as they see how many books they get, they'll get more excited. We'll be collecting for a few weeks.

Snack: We had gingerbread cookies and pretzels for snack. Yum!

Activity: We looked at pictures of bird nests, and talked about what we have that is like a nest. Then, we made our own nests out of paper bags and tissue paper. We put our pictures of helping other people inside. This is another activity from the 3 Cheers for Animals book.

Game: We played two rounds of Barnyard Bash. The girls each got a secret animal to act out, and had to find the girl who was also that same animal. It was pretty fun, but since we only had 6 girls at the meeting, the rounds went pretty quickly. We played Tiger, Cowgirl, Princess to finish the meeting.

Closing: Fists of Five showed that the girls all had fun at the meeting. They liked drawing the eagle on the mural, and making the nests. The girls got their Making Choices leaf, and girls who had signed up got their Early Bird patch. We did the Friendship Squeeze. 

We sent home the final activity for the Making Choices leaf, the Setting Goals Chart, for the girls to do with their parents and "officially" earn the leaf.

Meeting 7: December

I had a holiday party, so my lovely co-leader filled in for me. Here's what was on our agenda, though! Update: My coleader wrote about the actual meeting. Her thoughts in italics.

Premeeting: We made "Thank You" notes for customers from the Fall Sale. The girls enjoyed making Thank You cards, but most of them didn't really remember the fall sale. So, they made general TY cards for parents, or cards to give out to people who might buy cookies.

Opening: Pledge, Promise, and Law

Song: Our two choices for the kaper girl were Boom Chicka Boom or I'm a Girl Scout. Nora chose "Boom Chicka Boom" as the song. It was a big hit!! The girls especially loved "loud style" and "slow style."

Circle: We read the girls the Daisy Cookie Story, featuring the flowers from the Journeys. Then, the girls learned how much each box of cookies cost to earn their financial literacy leaf. They also made a group sales goal poster together and set their own sales goals. The girls LOVED the Daisy Cookie story. Lisa and I both read it. The girls really reacted positively -- they remembered the characters throughout the meeting and were able to answer questions about the story afterwards. Making the goal chart was ... interesting. It was a good chance to practice estimation and numbers, but it was hard for them to grasp how many boxes they might sell. Lisa was really nervous about the goal being unreachable and the girls being disappointed, so she encouraged them to aim low. We all agreed that we could re-evaluate and make a new goal if we thought we should later.

Snack Snack was AWESOME. Victoria's mom brought cheese and crackers, gingerbread cookies, tangerines, and cider. Also, there was a class going on in the kitchen, and the teacher of that class was a Girl Scout, so she came and talked to the girls about how much she loved selling cookies. It was so sweet! We also went over how to answer cookie questions.

Activity: The girls practiced answering questions about cookies to earn their financial literacy leaf. Then, they made their own obstacle course together. We did not get a chance to make an obstacle course, so that could be something to do for another meeting.

Game: The girls played Daisy Cookie Bingo. The girls REALLY liked the Bingo game!! Nell was a very good caller, and we had two different winners. They stayed really focused, despite the fact that it had been a pretty low-energy-style meeting. We played two long rounds, and then it was time to wrap up.

Closing: We did the Friendship Squeeze. Fists of Five revealed that the girls liked most of the activities for the day. They also had fun trying to make me fake-sad by rating everything badly, and then yelling about how they were kidding. It was very cute! :)