Brownie Ceremonies

We had our first Court of Awards of the year this year and it went wonderfully. We started with a candle ceremony. We had a raised candle holder with three candles symbolizing the three parts of the Girl Scout Law, and ten tea-light holders, each symbolizing part of the Girl Scout promise. We have thirteen girls in our troop so this made it the perfect ceremony for us.



Next, I wrote a special ceremony to commemorate the 100th anniversary of girls showing up at a Boy Scout meeting in England and announcing that they wanted to be scouts too. WAGGGS made the charge "plant seeds for growth" this year, so I talked about how our troop had done that by inviting five new girls into our troop, and to make it more memorable, had each girl plant 6 herbs in little pots, and gave them the 2010 WAGGGS patch.

Next, we did investiture and rededication by having the experienced members of the troop put the newer girls' uniforms on them.

Last, I gave out the awards, shaking each girl's hand and giving them an envelope. On a side note, I am especially proud of my daughter, who got a huge pile. Of course, she has to come to every event, so it makes it easiest for her to earn Try-Its and patches. She got Girl Scout Ways, Dinosaurs, Bump in the Night, Bicycling, Archery, Animals, Art to Wear, Caring and Sharing, Water Everywhere, Fishing, her Brownie Quest Journey set, the WAGGGS patch, Halloween Fun, and more. She has really put a lot of effort into Girl Scouts this year, and has done a great job!

This Past Week in Girl Scouting.....

I had my Cadette meeting Wednesday and it went very well. We finished up the "talking" part of our aMaze journey by talking about bullying. I was very impressed the girls shared their personal stories, and was saddened by the story one girl told of being bullied by a teacher so much that she had to hide in the bathroom and cry. 8-( Now we are on to our Take Action Project - we're using World Thinking Day to complete this project!


This week my Brownies attended a Try-It day at our local children's museum. They did some great projects - a collage mask, T-shirts decorated with fabric paint and markers, reindeer headbands, face painting, and friendship bracelets, earning Art to Wear. They also got two hours of free play in the museum, which may have been their favorite part!

Today we have our troop cookie kick-off meeting - if anyone needs some Thin Mints, let me know! We're selling as of Wednesday.

Going to the Mall

Both my troops have had recent mall experiences. My Cadettes earned a mall overnight with approximately 750 other girls in their council. We arrived at the mall just before 9 pm and after the stores closed down the council offered all kinds of activities like crafts, games, juggling shows, movies, nail painting, yoga, dancing, video games, and more. The girls got about an hour of sleep each with Lisa and I staying up all night. They girls had a great time and LOVED this event.

My Brownie troop went shopping at the mall tonight. They broke into small groups and had a budge of $10 per group to spend on toys to donate to Toys for Tots. Different moms led each group and the girls did a great job, picking a tea set, a baby doll, accessories from Claire's, and a stuffed giraffe. After the big unveiling we went to Target and purchased some food for our pet food drive. I was very proud of how the girls did on this trip.

The Day My World Collided, and my thoughts on Journeys

My goddaughter came up to earn her Leadership in Action award while my Brownies did their Quest in a day at a local Girl Scout camp. Kristina is not one to be happy with sitting and listening so the planning section was not her favorite, but she did enjoy working with the littler girls, and Esme got to be in her group.



Initially, I was very skeptical about the Journeys. As a die hard leader, I am not sure I like something that takes weeks and tells me exactly what to do. Consequently, when Lisa (Kristina's mom and my Cadette co-leader) and I were making plans for the year, we were trying to decide if our girls should go do aMaze in one day in a council-sponsored program, or if we should do it as a troop. The more we weighed options for activities, the more I actually got excited about doing it. I can't speak to other troop's experiences, but for a brand new, very small Cadette troop, the aMaze Journey was actually the perfect first activity for us. Girls had never been Cadettes before, and one who had never been a scout at all, actually had a good way to get started and get some direction, while learning a bit about Girl Scouts and a lot about each other. We did adapt it quite a bit, mostly to keep the girls physically busy while discussing the issues outlined in the program - we found this kept them much more engaged.

My daughter is also almost done with her first Journey. I am so glad my Brownies had the opportunity to do this in one day - I think it worked much better for them. I have some non-readers in my group from what I've seen, it would be difficult for them with so much reading and writing to do. However, when they had Cadettes assisting them and the stories read aloud, it worked out perfectly. Also, I am very proud of what they chose as a group for their Take Action project - a pet food drive to help people who are out of work keep their pets.

Loving Cadettes

We've been working on our aMaze Journey for several weeks. Last night we used an idea from the leader book - we made a circle on the floor and put post-its saying what we want from friends in the middle, and what we bring to a friendship on the outside, then compared the two by grouping the post-its. At that point energy was high so we played Machine a couple times and played the froggy song. After that we talked about I Statements and gave examples of how to use them in our lives, and make some great junk necklaces, with the theme that I Statements are Key. The girls had such a good time with this, we are considering working on the Just Jewelry Interest Project.

Before we started I was a bit intimidated by the idea of working with middle schoolers, but I am so happy with the way our year is going. Plus I love that my goddaughter is excited about Girl Scouts again - every meeting she says it was better than the last!

Centenary, Awards Ceremony, and Presents

In 1910 a group of girls in the UK presented themselves at a Boy Scout meeting because they wanted to be scouts. This event is officially recognized by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) as the beginning of the movement. WAGGGS has put out a really cool patch set - four triangles that fig together) to commemorate the centenary events, and I'm excited to get them for my girls.



Our first mid-year Brownie award ceremony is a month and a half away. I am excited to have investiture for some new girls, and rededicate the rest. My daughter has put in a ton of work and will have a mountain of new Try-Its.

I am also excited that we'll be having our first-ever awards ceremony for our new Cadette troop. Last year the only awards my goddaughter received were for fundraisers, so I am really glad to have helped her earn something more significant this year. She'll be getting Journey, LiA, PA pin, and fun patches of course.

Field Trips, New Members, and More

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for us. We've been helping out with recruitment nights, going to meetings, and trying to keep up with all the other activities in our busy family's schedule.

I am happy to say we finally have enough girls to be an official Cadette troop! Hip hip hooray! We went on our first field trip this week, a corn maze, since we have just started the aMaze Journey. A couple weeks ago we talked about first impressions and what is on the inside, and made some awesome T-shirts. I was especially happy to do this because my goddaughter has expressed interest in fashion design, and I want to make sure we are pursuing her interests!


Brownies is continuing to go wonderfully. A few weeks ago we had a police officer from our city come in and talk about bike safety, and at our last meeting the woman who runs a local bike clinic came it and showed the girls how to do some basic work on a bike, like taking off, patching, and putting a tire back on. They LOVED this. I don't think I could have predicted how much they would love this. They were super engaged and even started the closing ceremony without me while I wasn't looking, because they were so excited to share it with their new-found friend.

This past weekend we finally set out on our bike trip to a local trail. I was disappointed with the attendance on this trip, but right now it seems like sports is a big conflict for lots of families. The girls who did come had a great time and I was really glad to see my own daughter having a blast.

We have three new members who will join us at our next meeting bringing our Brownie total up into the teens. Hoping everything will continue to go smoothly with a bigger group!

First Cadette Meeting

My goddaughter wants to be part of a really active Girl Scout troop, and get a chance to earn her Silver Award. The troop she was part of last year moved on to Seniors this year, so she needed a new troop. Kristina was the first baby in my life, and has been a big part of my life since the day she was born. Even though she lives about 75 miles from me, I really want to help her reach her goals.



We had our first Cadette meeting this week. Other leaders have told us we might have trouble recruiting middleschoolers and I'm disappointed to say they were right. So far we only have two girls, but we still had a super fun meeting last night! We played games, talked about what it means to be a Girl Scout, etc. I left feeling very uplifted about Cadettes, even though we need at least one more member to have a troop.

Mail Call - Caring & Sharing

Last week I handed out envelopes with blank cards inside, each one addressed to a girl in the troop, with a stamp already on it. The girls' task was to decorate the card and include a message of card to one of their friends. Everyone loves to get mail - I thought this would be a good way to work toward the Caring & Sharing Try-It. My daughter got the newest girl in our troop, and mailed her card yesterday. I'm hoping we get full participation so that everyone who mails a card receives one as well.

Archery!

I feel really, really lucky that our council is willing to start girls with Archery at a young age! Several of the girls in our troop tried it for the first time when they were only five years old. The first time my daughter shot was a great experience. She is sensitive to certain sounds and was very scared by the whooshing the arrows made. Even though she'd been very excited about trying it, she panicked and cried and didn't want to do it. The other girls in our troop all rallied around her and told her stories of time when they were scared to do things, but then tried it and liked it. The cheered for her when she went up and gave it a try. I was so proud of all of them! Because of their support and her willingness to give it a try, they earned the Sister to Every Girl Scout petal, and she earned Courageous and Strong.



A couple years later, they are still extremely interested in Archery and all want to take part in it whenever they can. Since they all feel so strongly, we got the archery instructor from our council to come out and do a day just for us. The girls went over the safety rules and commands, got to shoot, got practice strings, made their own arm guards, and got to shoot again during the four hours we were there. The Brownies also got to earn the Council's Own Archery Try-It. They've definitely improved as time goes on - my daughter hit the target several times and was very proud of herself!

Two frustrations and then some good stuff

1. RSVPs. Specifically, I am frustrated by parents who do not RSVP and/or pay a fee if there is one, and then still expect their children can show up to an event. This summer I made a new rule for myself, that I am not going to chase parents down to find out who is going to what event. I do not have time. The flip side is when parents do RSVP, but then they don't show. I already know that two of the girls who RSVPed yes to an upcoming event are not really coming.

2. Time. When I handed a parent a newsletter yesterday he said something like, "I really wouldn't have time to do this.," and he said it in a condescending way. I give an enormous amount of my time to Girl Scouting. It is my choice and my pleasure to do it. That doesn't mean I don't have other things I could be doing. If someone feels they couldn't make the time to run a troop, instead of demeaning the person who does, they should say THANK YOU.

We had a meeting this week and it was great! I was so happy one of my most active little girls said, "Jenny, Jenny, can we do skits?," and I was able to say YES. We started working on the Caring and Sharing Try-It, because I thought this would be a good way to start the year and have everyone get to know each other a little better. We did skits on different ways to show you care, showed how the girls in our troop are alike and different, and I gave them each a card, already addressed and stamped, to decorate and mail to a troop member this week.

The best part of the meeting for me was when I said, "We have to do this quickly, it's almost time to go.," and they all seemed shocked and said, "What? It's been an hour? I don't want it to be over!"

Overwhelmed by opportunities......

I don't know if it is because we came up from Daisies and there is more available for Brownies, or if it is because our council stepped up and put out awesome programs this year, but I am overwhelmed by the number of great activities available to my troop this year. They can do everything from Try-It programs at local children's museums, to overnights run by the local Audubon Society, from Journeys in a day at camp, and to learning to sail with others girls. It's amazing! They could be working on something pretty much every weekend from now til the end of June.

In other news, my daughter applied for and was accepted onto the council's Girl Advisory Group. This is a great opportunity for her to work with girls of all ages and some new adults too.

First Official Brownie Meeting!

I wanted to jump right back in to Girl Scouts so we had our first meeting today! We met at a local mountain to start our Animals Try-It. We hiked around the lake and found lots of bugs, squirrels, two lizards, and three frogs. We saw evidence of beavers and chipmunks too. I even managed to keep my cool while a huge, fuzzy, yellow caterpillar crawled up my pants leg!

It was so good to see the girls again! Seven of the girls from last year were able to come, and and we had one brand new members. I am looking forward to lots of great activities this year!

Bump in the Night and Fishing

We went camping with another family from our troop this week and tried our first Council's Own Try-It from Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama - Bump in the Night. Esme and her friend learned about nocturnal animals and saw a bird presentation including an owl, went on a night hike, sang songs about owls and skunks, etc.



Saturday was the Learn to Fish Derby that we've been looking forward to so much. The girls learned the parts of the pole, how to cast, about bait, and spent about 3 hours trying to catch something. A sister of one of our girls did manage to catch a little fish. They did earn their Fishing Try-It , another Council's Own from Girl Scouts of Central Indiana.

Brownie Try-Its and Council's Owns

It's been fun starting Try-Its with the girls! We completed two as part of our activities to earn the Daisy to Brownies bridging award - Outdoor Adventurer and People of the World. This summer, I've been working with Esme. Today we finished the Water Everywhere Try-It.

When I initially looked at the Try-Its book I was actually a little disappointed. I'm blessed with a very adventurous group of girls, and I felt like maybe we are more adventurous than the book. I'd seen our Council's Own Try-Its and we're already planning to earn two of them in the Fall - two which are very specific, Bicycling and Archery. I did a quick Google search to find awards from other councils, and was delighted with what I found. There are lists put together out there, and I know my girls will be thrilled that I've found them for Rock Climbing, Horseback Riding, and many more things - even Caving! I also know my girls would enjoy things like Drama Queen. Esme and I have already started working on the Dinosaur one!

Planning, planning, planning.

Like every mom, I am busy! I'm a homeschooler, churchgoer, sports-mom, work, etc.! It is hard to keep up with everything. Since I had a troop last year I was able to talk to them about their interests for this year. In addition to an upcoming fishing derby, I have set the dates for the entire next year of meetings, and planned our activities through October. In my opinion, this is way easier for levels higher than Daisies, as you have specific tasks to do in order to earn badges. Since this will be my first year as a Brownie leader, I wanted a few weeks to make sure everything is going smoothly before I have to start planning again.

I've clipped all my registration forms to Health History forms and any other paperwork I need to make it easy to distribute and collect paperwork from parents. I like to start the year early so I've already sent out a reminder that our first meeting will be early in September.

Girls' Interests for 2010-2011

I polled my girls to see what they might want to do in their first full year as Brownies. Ideas were rock climbing, archery, earning the Animals try-it, more camping, and horse-back riding. In the past they've also shown interest in snowshoeing and first aid, so I am going to try to make as many of these thing happen as possible this year. I am lucky to have such an adventurous group!

We have two council's own Try-Its we're going to start the year with - Bicycling and Archery. We are lucky to have an awesome archery instructor who is going to come out for a day and help us earn that one. For the other, I'm trying to line up a visit to a local bike shop, a police officer to talk about the rules of the road, and I've already scheduled a trip to a local bike path that goes over an old railroad bridge.

I've read over and over that we should try NOT to be all about the little triangles. I have a few charitable projects in mind for my girls as well. I'm hoping to ship some care packages soldiers stationed in the Middle East, and perhaps help out the Toys for Tots drive.

Last Daisy Event: International Night and Awards Ceremony

This year I tried to get the girls to toss more of their ideas out for what they'd like to do as a theme for our big event. They were very interested in what was happening in Haiti, and one of our girls has dual citizenship in both France and the US. After talking for a while the idea of an International Night came up. (Things about this would also help toward earning their first Try-It - People of the World.)

For the first two years a friend of my husband's had come in and done folk dancing with the girls. We asked him if he would be willing to come and lead the entire party in a couple dances from different countries. I had a connection to the Haitian Health Foundation, so I emailed and asked what we could do to help them. We decided on a canned protein drive (tuna, peanut butter, Spam) and donate the food to be shipped in a container to Haiti. My Cadette Assistant taught the girls a song in French to sing as part of the entertainment as well.

We had a potluck dinner again, and asked parents to contribute dishes with an international flair. We were very lucky and got a variety of dishes from all over the world. There really wasn't room for dancing at the camp hall we'd rented the year before, so this year we rented the Elks Club in our town. They gave us a special rate because we're a charitable organization. I also made simple programs for the event, with black ink on pink paper. The girls made flags to march in with, and centerpieces with small flags made out of paper and knitting needles stuck into flower pots.



The evening went very smoothly. We had dinner, opening exercises, Un Petit Canard, our song in French, the folk dancing, and then we brought it around to the more serious part of our evening. Since this was going to be their last chance to wear their Daisy uniforms, and to avoid parent confusion, I gave the girls all their petals and Daisy patches at our last meeting. They all had them on their tunics at the International Night so I announced the awards they'd received and had them do a twirl. Then I announced the awards that would go on their new Brownie vests and shook their hands, and presented them with their envelopes.

We gave gifts to our volunteers - we gave my Cadette Assistant a patch and necklace, and my Assistant Leader/Cookie Coordinator a box of chocolate covered strawberries. The girls presented me with a card they'd all signed and an awesome camping stove!

The last part of our night was Bridging. After much thought to how to bridge, I decided on the human bridge, where the audience raises their hands in the air to make arches and the girls run under them. I took of each girls Daisy uniform and their parents waited at the other end to put on their new Brownie uniforms. My husband put on my daughter's. After I sent her through I took of my Daisy Leader pin, ran through myself, and my mom put on my Brownie Leader pin.

Our Daisies' First Big Event: Fashion Show and Court of Awards

Last year by End-of-Year time, our Daisies were five years old. I suggested a few different themes for the evening, and we ended up deciding on a princess fashion show. Several were obsessed with all things princess, and the rest were at least very interested. We normally use a room at a public library for our meetings, and because we go into mid-June, it changes to summer hours, and starts closing early. We knew we wouldn't be able to use this space for the event if we wanted people who worked to be able to attend. We rented the dining hall at a Girl Scout camp one town away and made it a casual evening. For dinner, we did potluck, any kind of dish acceptable. We did have people sign up in advance, and we ended up with a nice variety.

One of the most important things we did was rent a simple PA system. We got it free from a local college library. The girls were very serious about speaking into the microphone! It made the whole thing more solemn and made them feel more grown-up. I assigned jobs to each girl so they would each have the opportunity to use it. We had girls say welcome, say the pledge, recognize current and former Girl Scouts, say the Girl Scout promise, and sing Make New Friends. I had one especially outgoing girl MC the fashion show. I traced their route on the floor with painters tape and marked the spot where they should twirl. Our MC came out first and I stood with her, to whisper in her ear when she got nervous and forgot her descriptions. She did a great job!



After the fashion show we lit candles to symbolize the serious part of the night starting. I listed the awards that were being given out at the beginning - there were so many that if I tried to list what each girl was getting, we would have been there all night. Each girl came up and accepted her awards and shook my hand. I always present awards in the order the girls joined the troop, from newest to oldest. Then I recognized my Cadette Assistant and my Assistant Leader/Cookie Coordinator. My husband helped the girls coordinating giving me my 10-year pin, and a special daisy card they made me.

At the very end of the evening we did a quick folk dance we'd learned that year, and then closed with a friendship circle for the entire audience. About 45 people attended this event and it went very well. The girls felt a great sense of accomplishment, and the parents and families were very pleased. Within the week, I mailed each girl a note telling her how proud I was.

Building Leaders

One of the best parts of my childhood was being a Girl Scout. Under the care of some dedicated women, I grew from and enjoyed the program to its fullest. I knew from the beginning that someday I would be a leader myself, and I have been for a total of five years. Before my daughter was born I had a Junior troop, and when she turned four I started a Daisy troop. Next year I will also have a Cadette troop - I am planning to help my goddaughter get her Silver Award.

Being a Leader has been as wonderful experience for me! Of course there have been ups and downs, but overall it is a very rewarding. I'd like to share some of my experiences here, and some of my ideas for building a great program for girls.



Since it is June now I'll start with an end of year program. In my opinion, it is important to have a big celebration of all the work your girls have done during the year. Extended families should be invited to come and recognize their efforts. A good end of year party has several elements - food, opening exercises, entertainment that showcases a theme of the girls choice that relates to their activities for the year, a point that brings the party back to solemnity, explanation and presentation of awards, recognition of volunteers, and closing. There are are limitless possibilities for planning this event, and it can be casual or formal, and it can be by troop, or by unit. The most important thing is that the girls are very involved in the brainstorming of ideas, planning, and implementing.

My troop has participated in both unit-wide and troop ceremonies. I love having an opportunity to have girls see that they are a part of the greater Girl Scout movement, but for this, I prefer to do this on a troop level. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc. are more likely to want to attend a smaller ceremony, where they know they will be seeing a lot of their little girl and the focus will be on her. Also, if your unit is large, there is less time for each troop to participate, and the awards section will be much longer. Depending on the age of your girls and their attention spans, this can make or break the party.

More about specific ideas and what we've done in my next post!