Our First Meeting!

Despite all my best-laid plans to have the first meeting go smoothly, it was a bit of a disaster! I forgot something at home and thought I could swing by, pick it up, and still get to the meeting on time. Instead, I ended up being 15 minutes late (Sorry parents!). Because of that, we had to skip some of our planned activities. I'll post what we had planned, then what we did. Hopefully your first meeting goes better than mine!

pre-meeting: nametags/decorate journals

    Nametags: Paper Daisy cards: http://pinterest.com/pin/72057662758108532/ 

We had to skip this entirely!

 

opening: pass out bookmarks. teach promise, law, pledge

We taught the Girl Scout Promise, and skipped the others till next time!

song: Daisy (http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/daisy.html) or I’m A Daisy Girl Scout (http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/imadaisey.html) 

We sang both of these songs while I looked for the mailbox ...

circle: introduce mailbox. name game (activity + name 3x). what does it mean to make a promise? go over rules (http://www.swtblessings.com/2011/07/school-printables.html )

We have a troop mailbox -- each girl has a folder, where they will keep their journals and can give us any paperwork we need. The name game we played was fairly simple -- each girl says her name and something she likes to do, along with an action for the activity. Then, everyone else repeats her name three times while doing the action. We skipped over the rest!

snack

activity: make kaper chart: http://pinterest.com/pin/352054895840448048/

Instead of making our kaper chart, we decorated journals. I brought out all our leftover craft supplies -- foam hearts, construction paper, magazines, puzzle pieces. The girls had a great time!

 

game: Daisy to Daisy and/or The Wind Blows

We played The Wind Blows. All our girls were great about jumping right in with ideas. My favorite was "The wind blows for everyone with parents"!

closing: Introduce friendship squeeze; give out info cards needed for Safety Award; fave thing about meeting

We introduced the friendship squeeze and gave out index cards with blank spaces for address, home phone number, and parent's cell phone. The parents will fill out the cards for the next meeting, where the girls will copy it down and put it in their notebooks.

How did your first meeting go? 

Do's and Don'ts for New Daisy Scout Leaders

Hello, fellow leaders!

Fall is here, which means our troop is starting up again! I and my co-leader will be once again posting our troop's journey over the year, and we'll hopefully be able to offer some advice on how to manage your troop. This is our third year, so we've learned a thing or two. Every Daisy troop is different, but here are a few things to keep in mind as you're planning your year:

DO plan multiple meetings in advance. For the beginning of the year, we've planned the first three meetings. Once the girls choose which Daisy Scout Journey they want to earn, we'll probably plan the next five to six meetings all at once. This way, we're not scrambling every week to come up with activities -- plus, we can drink a glass of wine and eat dinner while we're doing it!

DON'T forget to make your meetings Girl-Led. Sure, this looks different for Daisys than it will for Seniors, but by asking the girls what they'd like to do, having them vote on field trips or which petal to earn next meeting, or even doing Fists of Five at the end of every meeting to see how much they're enjoying it, you're ensuring that their voices are heard, which is a great first step to creating a leader.

DO establish a routine. Our meetings always follow the same agenda: A pre-meeting activity, saying our promise, law and pledge, a song, circle time, a snack, an activity, a game, and our closing. Especially at this young age, girls need structure, and it has helped immensely with behavior management for our troop!

DON'T feel like you have to give 100% all of the time. This is a dirty little secret, but there's no way you can commit to doing everything for a troop unless it's your full-time job! If one meeting all you had time to plan was a fun song and 10 games, don't sweat it! As long as the girls are having fun in a safe, friendly environment, one meeting that's not perfect is not going to affect their leadership skills for life.

DO enlist as many parents as possible to help out with as much as possible! Field trips coordination, supply runs, money manager, cookie manager -- all of these things and more can safely be handed off to parents. Be available to help out and answer questions, but by dividing up the responsibilities, you'll be more able to have a successful year!

DON'T get so focused on earning badges that you forget to have fun! If the girls are really into earning petals and Journey awards, then sure, go nuts -- but there's much more out there for Daisy Scouts to experience, so remember that the Girl Scout Leadership Experience is much more about the journey than the destination.

What advice would you give to a new leader? What has helped you with your troop? Leave us a message below!

March Meeting

I know I've fallen way behind on keeping you updated with our meetings! I hope your year has been a little less crazy than mine. I can't find my meeting schedule/agenda for the past couple, but here's our most recent one!

Pre-Meeting: Journal what do you want to be when you grow up?

Song: "If I Were Not a Girl Scout" or "Hot Time in Old Town"

Circle: We had a guest speaker, a woman rocket scientist who was a friend of one of our parents. She came and talked about outer space and what she did to build rockets. The girls had some super interesting and thoughtful questions to ask her! Most of them also answered their journal questions with some type of scientist, so yay for STEM focus!

Snack!

Activity: To go along with the space theme, we made Galaxy Play-Dough. Great way to teach the girls about lab rules (No smelling!). The girls added the ingredients to the bowl and pot, my co-leader operated the stove. Once the play-dough was formed, we put the girls at the table and gave them glitter to knead into the dough.

Game: We played a couple quick games of "Hot Lava", where the girls lined up and we outlined their feet on the floor with duct tape. Outside the tape the floor was hot lava, and the girls had to switch the order of their line without stepping outside of it. They did such a great job we had them line up from oldest to youngest without talking. Even the parents were skeptical of their ability to figure it out, but they got it done!

Closing

What has your troop been up to? Leave me a message below!

Our Fifth Meeting: October

Premeeting: Journal Question

Opening

Song: Alice the Camel or Princess Pat

Circle: Share Secret Agent Fairness Task. Read JulietteGordon Low story

Snack

Activity: Make I Am Collages in journal

Game: Handshake Game—teach GS Handshake

Closing:

Our Third Meeting: October

Leaders, I just want to take a minute to say thank you. I think it's easy for people -- including ourselves -- to forget how much work goes in to being a Girl Scout leader. There's the meeting planning, paperwork, money handling, setting up for Fall Sale and Cookie Sale, planning field trips ... the list goes on and on. So when you have a bad meeting, don't worry. You're making a difference in these girls' lives, and they won't remember one meeting where things weren't perfectly planned and you were freaking out. They're learning life skills, and having lots of fun doing it. Give yourselves a pat on the back. Go ahead, I'll wait.

...

Done? Awesome. Now, on to our third meeting, which, as you may have guessed, didn't go completely according to plan.

Pre-Meeting: We had the girls do the worksheets to earn their Money Counts badge, while we went around and helped them out. Fall Sale is a perfect time to think about earning one of your Financial Literacy Leaves! They're totally age-appropriate, too, so don't worry about it going over the girls' heads. We also decorated the front of our journals.

Opening: We played a name game, where you stand in a circle and say your name and something you like to do, then do an action related to that thing. Everyone repeats the action and says your name three times fast. Go around the circle. I like this game because it's quick and easy, and it gets everyone introduced and back to business. We also said our Promise, Law, and Pledge. The girls were given these freaking adorable Promise and Law Daisy bookmarks that I had laminated. This way they each get their own!

Song: Our options were either "The Button Song" or "Boom Chicka Boom". Our Song Chooser picked the latter, and they really liked it. Especially when we did "loud style," haha!

Circle: For our circle, we shared the worksheets we did in Pre-Meeting. We also talked about budgeting, and how much each girl would need to earn if we wanted to spend $100 on our Birthday in a Box field trip. One of our girls was amazing at the math!

Snack!

Activity: Originally, we were going to do more budgeting stuff, but it wasn't very interesting to the girls, and I completely forgot my store handouts, so we made All About Me worksheets to put in our Time Capsule. They're pretty excited about that Time Capsule!

Game: We were going to do What's That Smell (where you put something in a paper bag and they have to guess what it is by its smell), but once again I forgot to bring things. My poor coleader, who did remember everything for this meeting! Instead, we played Fruit Basket: We sat in our chairs in a circle. Each girl was assigned a fruit (apple, orange or banana). When their fruit was called, they had to find a new chair. If I called "Fruit Basket" everyone had to find a new chair. I like this game because there are no winners and losers and nobody is left out. Just fun for everyone!

Closing: Our new girls received their Daisy Pins and welcome certificates, as well as their Daisy Circle. Everyone got their Money Counts leaf -- woohoo! We did Fists of Five -- not as good as other meetings, but not terrible. When we did the Friendship Squeeze, the girls had to say something they liked about the meeting.

Leaders, what do you do when things just don't work out like you had planned?

Getting Organized, Parent Helpers, and Our First Meeting

Welcome back, fellow troop leaders! I hope you all have had a fun and productive summer! I'm excited to be back and to share our troop's activities with you to hopefully make planning your year of Daisy Girl Scouts a little bit easier. This year, my coleader and I decided not to do a Girl Scout Journey and to instead focus on earning all of our Daisy petals. Be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you're doing with your troop!

For some background, our troop meets every other week for an hour and a half. Every meeting follows the same basic schedule: a Pre-Meeting Activity, Opening Ceremony, Song, Friendship Circle, Snack, Activity, Game, and Closing Ceremony. I have found that having following the same schedule every meeting is helpful for two reasons: The girls are much more manageable when they know what will happen next, and it's a lot easier to plan meetings because you know about how long each thing will take and can just find the activities you want to do to fill in the open spots.

This year, we're asking our parents up front to be very involved. Last year, our parents were fantastic and were super helpful, but we want to be a little more organized about it this year. To that end, we are creating committees that need parent participation. Remember, troop leaders: You don't have to do it all yourself! You can have a much more fun and active year if you get parents on your side to take over some of the tasks that need to be done.

This year, our committees include field trip planners, who will help us make calls to the places we want to go, take care of notifying the council, organize permission slips, and get chaperones. The printing & supplies committee will help us pick up last-minute items for the meetings and print out worksheets we need before the next meeting. Meeting helpers are super important! If you can't find an extra parent who can be at every meeting to fulfill the adult-to-girl ratio, see if a few parents are willing to rotate. It's a lot less investment on their part, so it's easier for them to commit. Most importantly for us, we want a committee to help with Fall Sale and Cookies Sale. Those volunteers will help us pick up order forms, take money from parents, put in the orders, and pick up the product. Super important!

Finally, here's what we did for our first meeting. Hope this helps!

Pre-Meeting: As the girls came in, they made nametags with foam flowers, pipe cleaners, and mini flower pots, based on the Daisy flower garden here. I'll try to take pictures next week so you can see how cute they turned out! Check out how adorable they look!

Opening: We said our Promise and Law.
Song: I like to give two choices for song to encourage girl leadership. This week, our options were Swimming, Swimming and Make New Friends. They chose Swimming, Swimming song.
Circle: To earn our Daisy Center patch, we talked about what it means to make a promise, and what that means when we say our Girl Scout Promise. I also introduced the Daisy Mailbox we'll be using this year. Such a great idea for all the papers that fly back and forth!
Snack: For snack we had cheese and crackers and grapes. Yum yum!
Activity: We decorated our Time Capsule with pictures from magazines. Next week, we'll add things about ourselves!
Game: We played The Wind Blows, always a favorite, as well as Tiger Cowgirl Princess.
Closing: We did fists of five, a really great way to get quick feedback from your girls about what they did at the meeting. Ask your girls questions about the meeting, having them respond with a vote from zero to five fingers. We also did the friendship squeeze.

What did you do during your first meeting? Leave a message below!

Ideas to Tie In to "3 Cheers for Animals" -- Part IV

I've been listing ideas for activities to go along with the "3 Cheers for Animals" Journey book. This week, I'm going to list some ideas to go along with Gloria's story, "Dancing Through Japan." Our girls really enjoyed the Japanese yoga activity from the book, so I'd definitely recommend trying that out!

In this story, Gloria tells her flower friends about Japan without saying a word. She acts like a fish, a butterfly, a turtle, a crane, and a panda bear. She also gives her friends origami presents.

Activity

• Make origami. The book has directions on how to make a crane, but you can also make horses, dogs, and much more. I like the idea of having the girls give each other their creations as a gift, like Gloria does in the story
• Create a country box about the people, places, animals, food, and culture of Japan
• Make a fish aquarium from paper plates
• Gloria was able to tell her story without sound. Have the girls practice their sense of sound with this sound-matching activity

Game

• Play animal charades
• Just like Gloria was able to tell her story without talking, have the girls line up in order of height, birthday, or age without talking 

Ideas to Tie In to "3 Cheers for Animals" -- Part III

Hello!

Hope your summers are going well. Have you started planning your first meetings yet? I'm excited to get started and to use some of the ideas I've found from Pinterest to our meetings. The last two blog posts have listed ideas to incorporate into your meetings when you start the "3 Cheers for Animals" Journey. This week, we're going to take a look to see what we can add to go along with the third story, "Bienvenido a Mexico!"

I should say that many of the activities from the Leader's Guide worked really well in our troop. And the activity pages in the girls' Journey book were awesome for pre-meeting activities and then for sharing during Circle time. But there's always room for more fun activities, so that's what I'm hoping to share with you here. Here goes!

Zinni's story is about her trip to Mexico, where she took care of a horse, had a rooster, found a baby chick, rode a burro, and ate quesadillas. She also spent a lot of time with her colorful family, who she misses when she returns. Here are some corresponding ideas:

Activity

• Make a heart map showing the things that are most dear to you. Be sure to let the girls share their maps with each other!
• Make a collaborative color wheel from cut-up magazines! I think it would be really cute to make a daisy in the colors of the Daisy petals.
• Make eyedropper volcanoes in different colors with baking soda and vinegar
• Use shaving cream painting to make colorful rainbows or animals
• Make a continent box--or in this case, a country box--where girls can explore the people, places, animals, and culture of Mexico 

Snack

• Make or serve a quesadilla 
• Eat "horse food"--apples and oats! 

Do you have any additional ideas that would go with Zinni's story? Leave a message below!

Ideas to Tie In to "3 Cheers for Animals" -- Part II

Hello! Last time, I posted a bunch of links for ideas of activities to add to the 3 Cheers for Animals Journey book's first story. This time, we're taking a look at the second story, "The First Stories: A Little Birdie Told Me ..." In this story, the flowers imagine how they got their colors, and they also imagine how the robin got his colors. The leader's guide suggests you have the girls come up with their own story of how something came to be. Here are some ideas that you could incorporate into the meeting where you read this story (be sure to look back at the last post; a lot of the flower activities would work here too!):

Premeeting

• Have the girls make these birds' nest helpers--all you really need is a suet cage and yarn

Snack

• If you have a microwave handy, have the girls help you make their snacks for the meeting, birds' nests

Activity

• Have the girls make get-to-know-you necklaces. During your closing ceremony, have each girl show off her necklace and explain what their personal story is
• Make an "I Am" page, whether it's a collage or a painting or something else. This looks like a great self-esteem activity, and the girls should share all the good things about themselves
• Start a journal that the girls can fill in a little at a time (hello, future Premeeting activities!). This one has poems and is for a Kindergarten class, but I think with a little time you could create a Girl Scout-specific journal where the girls can tell their own stories.
• Make an adorable baby-bird nest from paper plates and pom poms
• Make story bags. For a meeting, I'd have each girl bring in two or three items (depending on how many girls you have) and put one in each bag. Then, split up into groups (however many bags you have). Each girl in the group draws out an item one at a time and adds to the story. Once they've created the story, return to your big group and have each small group tell their story to the troop
• Make a birdfeeder to feed the robin from the story (and all his bird friends). You can make one from a toilet-paper roll, a pine cone, an orange (we made this one in our troop--messy fun!), popsicle sticks, with cookie cutters, and probably a million other things
• Make a bird's nest. This is a suggested activity from the leader's guide for this Journey. They suggest using paper bags, but you could also use more natural supplies
• Make a bird's nest necklace. Daisy scouts might need a lot of help with this one, but they are just so cute I had to include them!
• Make story stones. Use them to create a story at this meeting or at future meetings
• Make these sweet bird-cage lanterns

Have another idea for "A Little Birdie Told Me ..."? Leave a message below!

Ideas to Tie In to "3 Cheers for Animals" -- Part I

Happy summer! I hope everyone is having a wonderful time and enjoying warm weather! Last summer, I posted ideas on how to plan the first Daisy meetings. This year, since I completed my very first Journey book for Daisys, 3 Cheers for Animals, I wanted to post additional ideas for things to do during your meetings that tie in to the theme.

First of all, I want to say that, while the Journey books have been fairly controversial, I really enjoyed the way 3 Cheers was set up. Our girls really enjoyed listening to the stories; the activity pages in the book worked really well for us as premeeting activities that we could then share in our Circle; and we used a lot of the session activity suggestions during our meetings. That said, I do have a few quibbles: The number of charts the leader's guide suggested we make was crazy! After the first one, the girls were quick to say "BORING!" anytime I tried to set up a new one. Some of the questions posed for the girls didn't really resonate. And some activities just didn't work with my troop. If I have time at the end of the summer, I might go through in detail what worked and what didn't for us.

For now, I just want to share my love for Pinterest and some of the amazing ideas I found there that I wish I had seen when I was planning my meetings!

For example, the first story in the Journey book is about the Daisy Flower Garden, a cat, and a butterfly. After you read the story, it might be fun to incorporate one or more of these crafts into your meeting:

Premeeting

• These butterfly coloring pages and color-by-number pages would work really well for something the girls can do as they come in
• These flowers made from cupcake liners and popsicle sticks would be as easy or as complex as you choose, depending on how many materials you use. You can also paint them, like they did here
• I love this free printable Daisy flower bookmark. If you're introducing the Journey books, this is a wonderful gift to give the girls to get them excited about keeping their places!
• I really love collaborative projects! If your girls are just getting to know each other, this fingerprint flower garden is a great idea. Each girl could start her garden with her fingerprint, then go around to each other's papers and add a flower.
• These straw-printed dandelions are a quick and easy art project
• This bottle-printed flower garden looks like an amazing collaborative garden. Each girl could add a different-colored flower
• These hand-print flowers are adorable
• Use cookie cutters to make flower stamps

Snack

• Make these fun butterfly snacks ... then eat them! 

 Activity

• A butterfly made from a spoon and paper plate. (The pin links back to a Greek site, but you should be able to get the idea of how to make it from the picture.)
• These plantable greeting cards would be fun if you're starting your Journey in the spring or early fall
• Making flowers from recycled water bottles would be a great way to also incorporate the "Using Resources Wisely" petal
• This cute flower egg-carton centerpiece would be great to use at your investiture ceremony. Each girl could create her own, or you could put the girls in small groups to collaborate. This one seems especially good if you have lots of Kindergarten-age girls in your troop
• Another petal you could work in is the "Responsible for What I Say and Do" petal. Have the girls make these handprint flower totes, which they'll use to carry their Journey books back and forth to meetings
• A collaborative troop flower garden centerpiece made from bamboo skewers and green pipe cleaners can be used at the investiture ceremony and again at bridging! (You could also use it as a substitute for name tags. Each box might have six girls, and you could rearrange the names in each box for each meeting. This way, the girls can choose where to sit at a designated table!)
• You can make cat masks with the girls
• These math daisies are a great way to add STEM subjects to your meeting
• This simple giant sunflower craft uses paper bags, black rice, and paint
• Make flowers from paint chips
• Use construction paper to make a big collaborative flower mural
• If you're introducing the Journeys, make these paint-chip bookmarks so the girls can keep their places in their Journey books

Do you have more ideas that would fit in here? Leave a message below! Do you have a Girl Scouts Pinterest board?  Leave the link here!

Meeting 17: April

It had been month since our last meeting, due to my coleader and I both being out of town, so I expected the girls to be a bit antsy. I didn't expect them to be quite so cranky, though! It's like the common cold--one girl starts it, and it spreads through the rest of the troop like wildfire. Leaders, what do you do when your troop has a case of the cranks? Please leave your tips in the comments section!

Regardless, here's what we did in the meeting:

Premeeting: We did two pages from the "3 Cheers for Animals" Journey. One had a picture of a zebra head and the girls were supposed to draw the rest--any way they like! A couple girls drew regular zebras, and one girl got really creative and made hers part spotted hippo and part striped lion! The other page had fill-in-the-blanks about them: who took care of them when they were little and something they couldn't do when they were small but they can now, plus a place for them to draw a picture of themselves.

We also added an alligator to our big animal mural. Yay!

Opening: We did our pledge, promise, and law as usual.

Song: I offered our Song Chooser to pick any song she liked, but she was a bit shy. So, I gave her two choices: The Jo Song or O, Chester. She picked The Jo Song. A few girls opted to sit this one out--I'm not sure if they were just feeling contrary or what, as it's been a while since we sang that song, but it is one we've sung quite often in the past.

Circle: For our Circle, I had the girls think back to their last meeting, where we made bird feeders from oranges. Next meeting, we are going to teach our sister Brownie troop how to make these to earn our Red Robin award, so the girls came up with directions. I was really surprised how well they remembered the order we made them in! They seemed really excited about teaching the Brownies how to make them, though not everyone seemed excited to re-do the same activity.

Snacktime! We had a really good snack--raisins, Cheese Its, and juice. Yum!

Activity: This is where the trouble started. :( The idea was to make postcards to send--I had postcard-sized paper with stamps all ready for the girls. They were supposed to make animal-related pictures on the front (it's one of the activities from the Journey book). One of the parents brought in magazines we could use to cut out. One girl wanted to do the word searches in the magazines, which naturally made others who wanted to use them upset. Ah well.

We also called girls over two by two to create a "game cube". They had to come up with an activity, the number of times to do it, and whether it was forwards or backwards. One twosome (including the nonsharer) had a hard time agreeing on what to do, and I'm afraid they weren't able to resolve it to both their happiness. The purpose of the activity was to teach collaboration and compromise, so I'm disappointed it didn't work here. Any suggestions on what I could have done differently?

Game: We were supposed to play the game cube, but we ran out of time. It was supposed to work a bit like Mother-May I, though: A girl rolls the cube and does what it says. The first one to cross the finish line wins!

Closing: We did fists of five. Since the It Girl didn't get a chance to be it, I let her choose a song to sing (She chose "Swimming, Swimming"). The Friendship Squeeze, and that was it!

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! :)

Meeting 6: November

Pre-Meeting: I had our own version of "Will It Float?" set up. I had 10 small bowls filled with water, and each had an object. The girls had to write down a guess about whether or not it would float. The 10 objects I used were a box of floss, a screw, a cork, a magnetic dart, a measuring spoon, a toothpick, a small screwdriver, a contact lens case, a plastic bracket, and an earring.

Opening: We said our promise, pledge and law. The girls were excited to check out what their jobs were on the kaper chart!

Song: I offered the Song chooser either Father Abraham or the Jo and the Button Factory song.

Circle: In our circle, the girls shared what their good deed was since the Investiture and Rededication ceremony. The girls mentioned everything from helping up her brother after he fell, to bringing in supplies for her teacher, to changing the channel for her sister. Then, we did an energizer. Finally, I explained the three Journeys to the girls and had them do a secret vote. Surprisingly, they were pretty equally split between the Between Earth and Sky (science) and Three Cheers for Animals (animals). The tiebreaker went to Three Cheers for Animals--I can't wait to get started next time!

Energizer: For an energizer, we played the "Zoom" game. They had a pretty good time screeching to "put on the breaks" of the car. They weren't so good at being quick though, since they were goofing around :).

Activity: For our activity, we did a math chart. The girls each brought in a paper where they had written down the number of pets they had, the number of siblings, the number of closets in their house, the number of doors in their house leading to the outside, the number of TVs they had, and the number of people who were living in their house. Then, we did some comparisons: Who had the most TVs in the group, who had the most pets, what was the most common number of siblings, who had more TVs than people, and other questions.

Game: The game we played today was a Right/Left game. The girls put their chairs in a circle, and I read a short story. Each time they heard the word "right" or "left," they had to move that direction in their chairs. Then, since we had some extra time, we played The Wind Blows (the girls asked to play it!).

Closing: For our Closing, we sang "Good Night, Daisies" and did the Friendship Squeeze. We also did Fists of Five--everyone really liked all the things we did today! Win!

Meeting 5: October

It's time for our Investiture and Rededication Ceremony! We started our ceremony with light refreshments--the girls had voted on having cupcakes, so the two parents who signed up for snack brought cupcakes (red velvent, chocolate, and vanilla--yum!). They also brought cider and lemonade. I made some flavored popcorn to balance out the sweetness factor.

While everyone was eating, I had the girls vote on what song they wanted to sing. They chose "Make New Friends." Our ceremony was pretty short. I said a few words about Girl Scouting. We said our Promise and Law, and sang the song. Then I called each girl over to receive her Daisy pin (for the new girls) and a welcome certificate. The girls who came to apple-picking also got a fun patch! 

I'd love to make our next ceremony a little longer and a little more interesting. Any suggestions about how to add more oomph to our ceremonies? Leave a message in the comments section!

Meeting 4: October

Pre-Meeting: I made an indoor obstacle course out of some everyday items I had at home. First, the girls crawled under two chairs set together. Then, they walked a "balance beam" made out of a strip of painters' tape. Next, they had to toss a bouncy ball into a box. After that, they did 10 jumping jacks, then jumped over two rulers laid on the ground. Next, I had two hand weights set up about three feet apart; the girls had to carry one weight over to where the other was, then carry the second weight back to where the first had been. Then, they had to jump back and forth over a line of tape. Finally, they had to stand on one foot for 10 seconds. The obstacle course was pretty popular! I think I will have them create their own obstacle course in the coming meetings ...

Opening: As usual, we said the Promise, the Law, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Song: I had two songs for the kaper girl to choose from; she chose the (adorable!) "I'm a Little Daisy" (to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot"):
I'm a little Daisy (hands together at side of face, head tilted)
Dressed in blue (pick up hem of uniform)
I am a Girl Scout (make Girl Scout sign)
And you are too (point to neighbor)
When I go to meetings (hands out, palms up)
I sing and shout, (hands cupped around mouth)
I love being a (hands on heart)
Daisy Girl Scout! (clap once on each word)

Circle: We talked about how they felt when the completed the obstacle course (mostly "good" and "happy"!). We also talked about what we should do at the Investiture Ceremony next time. The girls voted to have cupcakes for the food, and to hang up the troop mural we made last time on the front door so parents could see it when they came in. I also taught them the Girl Scout handshake. Finally, I checked in with them about how the Fall Sale was going.

Energizer: Since we had a couple new girls joining us, and a new assistant troop leader, we played the Name Train game. I started as the engine, with the girls spread around the room as "stations." When I got to a station, I said "Hi, I'm Jacy" and the girl said "I'm [name]!" I then said "It's [name]!" to the person behind me, who passed it to the "car" behind them, until it got all the way to the person in the back, who said "Hop on, [name]!" That girl then became the caboose of the train until we got to the next station.

Snack

Activity: The girls made invitations for their ceremony next time.

Game: As a fun way to reinforce the Girl Scout handshake, we played the handshake game (the "It" Girl helped me demonstrate). Each time I called out a new handshake, they had to find a new buddy to shake hands with. Besides the Girl Scout handshake, we used:
Farmers' handshake: One person interlaced their fingers, pointing the thumbs down. The other person pulled on the thumbs like they were milking a cow.
Ankle shaker: One person held out her leg; the other person shook it.
Lumberjack handshake: The girls made fists, sticking their thumbs up and grabbing the thumb sticking out (so there were four fists on top of each other). Then, they sawed back and forth like they were cutting down a tree.
Walleye handshake: The girls put their hands on the inside of their partner's forearm, then slapped their hands back and forth like a fish.
Cowgirl handshake: The partners made pretend shooting gestures with both hands.
Milkshake handshake: Groups of three piled up their fists and moved their hands around in a circle, like they were swirling the milk.

Closing: We did fists of five again; most girls had a good time, but I can tell I need to find something besides arts and crafts to keep them interested for the rest of the year! We also did the Friendship Squeeze. Great meeting!

Meeting 3: September

Pre-Meeting: For the pre-meeting, I had a little packet of activities for the girls to do. They all related to the Fall Sale--a nut search, a maze, and some magazine-related activities.

Opening: We said the pledge, the promise, and the law. The girls were really excited to look at the kaper chart to see what their jobs were!

Song: I gave the kaper girl 2 choices: the Daisy Gathering Song and Have You Ever Seen a Daisy. She chose the first one.

Circle: For the first part of our circle, we played a guessing game with the collages the girls had made last time. I showed them the collage, and they had to guess who it belonged to. I had asked the parents of the girls who weren't there last time to have their daughters make a collage so that nobody felt left out. They guessed them pretty quickly. Then we played an Energizer called Boom!--We went around the circle counting up, and each time a girl was supposed to say a number with a 3 in it, she shouted Boom! instead. The second part of the circle we used to talk about the Fall Sale. I tried to keep it pretty simple. I showed the girls the incentives they could earn and asked them which candy/chocolate/nuts they'd like to try. Then we made goals. Our troop goal was to sell 200 items.

Snack

Activity: For our activity, we made a tree mural. Everyone participated in drawing the tree trunk, the leaves, and the roots. In the roots, we wrote down things we like to do. We also decorated foam hands to glue to the tree (though some girls wanted to take theirs home instead!). We'll use the tree for decoration during our Investiture Ceremony.

Game: We played The Wind Blows. The girls seemed to have fun, and nobody got too excited or got hurt, so I'm counting this as a win!

Closing: For the Closing, we sang Make New Friends, then did Fists of Five: I asked a question, and the girls rated their answers from 1 to 5. Right now, it looks like I have one girl who doesn't really like arts and crafts, and one girl didn't like the game we played today. And nobody really liked the song today. But overall, everyone seemed to have fun! We did the Friendship Squeeze--one of our kapers is to start that--and that was it!

P.S. The girls' parents are amazing this year. While I try to have the girls clean up after themselves--and there's 2 spots on the kaper chart for clean-up--they of course don't get everything all put away. But the parents have been so helpful at finishing up the cleaning, which saves me soooo much time. So thank you, parents! I really appreciate it!

Meeting 2: September

Pre-Meeting: I had the "What's in the Bag?" game set up. Girls had to reach inside paper bags to feel the items inside--but they couldn't look! They drew or described what they thought was inside. The bags had a mitten, a spoon, a small cat-shaped ring holder, puzzle pieces, and an umbrella.

Opening: We said the Pledge of Allegiance, the Girl Scout Promise, and I taught the girls the Girl Scout Law.

Song: The kaper girl chose to sing "Make New Friends."

Energizer: We did a quick energizer called "Dum Dum Dah Dah."

Circle: Several new girls joined at this meeting, so we played Lucy Lemon. (My name is Jacy, and I'm bringing Jambalaya to the picnic). I introduced the kaper charts to the girls--the first jobs had already been taken care of. They were really excited about the chart! Then, I revealed what had been in the bags! We went around the circle for each bag, having the girls  guess what was inside. I was surprised at how easily they guessed all the items--next time, I'll have to choose some more difficult things to guess!

Snack

Activity: The girls made "All About Me" collages, putting their names on the back. We'll use these at the next meeting!


Game: I had planned to play "The Wind Blows," but we ran out of time! Next meeting we'll work it in, though, since the girls seemed excited about it.

Closing: We gave the Friendship Squeeze.