The Girl Scout curriculum was carefully designed to go hand in hand with the school curriculum (Common Core Standards). For example, the financial literacy leaves for the Daisies. Right about the time we began the first leaf, our girls had already completed learning the basics about money in school. We then took that concept and expanded upon it. In other words, that means that each level in scouting is going to be different than the other since it corresponds with school work. That also means that planning a joint sleepover with a journey is a little tricky, but totally doable with the right planning (good thing I'm a planner!).
The three Daisy journeys introduce the girls to scouting, teach the girls about the basics of traveling, and teach the girls about the importance of caring for animals (and themselves and others). The three brownie journeys teach the girls about planning and doing a take action project, how to enjoy and conserve water, and how to engage in the world around them through stories and imagination. In other words, these six journeys are so different! First step for me was to read (and re-read) all of the Daisy and Brownie journeys. I also got the leader guides to see if this was even doable. The leader guides were another must on the reading list. Those things are often a lifesaver when planning your meetings! They have so many wonderful ideas, which was great to build upon my planning for this sleepover.
After reading everything, there were a few things that I saw. The first one was that there were several elements of the journeys that really needed to be done over time, in a troop setting. Some of the journeys advocate doing a take action project, which is something that really can't be done overnight. Another aspect is the portions that literally take the scouts on journeys (field trips/outings/camping). I started comparing the journeys within their categories. By doing that, I discovered similarities in the It's Your Story- Tell it! aspect.
The three main elements of 5 Flowers, 4 Stories, 3 Cheers for Animals! include caring for animals and yourself (respect myself and others), how to do this, and how to advocate in caring for animals. The four main elements of A World of Girls are interpreting clues in stories, empowering the girls, advocating for each other and how to reach people all over. I don't know about you, but once I started with that outline, I thought my head was going to burst.... but it didn't.
The actual logistics of our sleepover were very well planned out ahead of time. We had a group of older girls who came out to help run this too (and they rocked it!). The girls were divided into four patrols- two of Brownies, two of Daisies. Each patrol had a few adults with them, and the older girls manned the journey stations. Four activities (two Daisy, two Brownie) were done Friday evening, and the remaining four were done Saturday morning.
To start out our sleepover. everyone made terrariums out of recycled bottles. We told them that once their seeds have sprouted enough, they need to ask an adult to help them transplant it somewhere, then recycle the bottle. That took care of the Take Action component. It's not something big and extravagant, but with 60+ girls there, if only half of them remember to do it, that little bit can make a big difference!
The Daisies were asked to bring a used (empty and cleaned) milk or juice container (the quart size) to make a bird feeder. Before doing this, they read a passage from the journey book. On Friday evening, they then got to do a fun activity of making pipe cleaner crafts. It really didn't have anything to do with the journey, but they did learn to make flower rings, and it was fun.
For the Brownies, we created a "storybook" theme. We asked the brownies to bring with them an empty cereal box. On Friday evening, they created their journal. We gave them a lot of freedom with it, since it's their journal. The only requirement was that they put several pieces of construction paper in it, and the copies of GS mad libs we made, and decorated it anyway their hearts desired. Next, they read a passage from the journey book and created positivity "globes." It started out like our Mother's day vases (plastic bottles decoupaged with tissue paper). Before they finished, they all took small scraps of paper and wrote encouraging words/phrases on them and stored them in the bottles.
It's time for a lesson learned. After we cleaned up from Friday's activities, we had snack time. I bought ice cream for the girls. I thought this would be a good idea because they would get so excited, gobble it up, and then be tired. Yeah, no. They were all a little wound up. We played a movie before bedtime thinking that would calm them down too, but when it was over, at least 90% of them were still up (and it was after 11 when the movie finished!). I am never serving ice cream at a sleep over ever again!
Saturday morning started out with a bang! It was something fun, but was also some creative juice to fill the Brownies heads for what they would be doing next. We gave the girls crazy hair! They had the choice of getting Cindyloo Whoo hair (Whooville hair) or Pipi Longstocking braids. The end results were incredible. I was afraid I would have angry parents calling me later, but I didn't, thank goodness. The girls hair did give us some great photos though!
Saturday morning, the Daisies learned some basic first aide skills after reading a journey passage. This didn't take up the entire time slot we had planned, but the smart cookies that they are, the older girls took the groups and used the rest of the time to play games. Then, the Daisies read another passage from the journey and learned some basic yoga and origami.
The Brownies used their journals all of Saturday morning. In the first station, they read a passage from the journey, and then paired off to work on the mad libs. They had six total, and the girls came up with some very funny stories! For the next activity, the girls were asked to write/draw some comic strips based on what we did at the sleepover, and anything else they wanted to do based on Girl Scouting. I didn't see all of them, but the girls came up with some awesome stuff.
So, how long did this take you ask? We arrived for setup at 4 PM, and the girls started coming at 5, with dinner at 6, and activities starting at 7. Lights out were at 11 PM. Breakfast on Saturday was at 8 AM, with activities starting by 9 AM, finished up by 11 AM, and then we all cleaned up, telling the parents that pickup was at 11:30 AM. So yes, you read that correctly- we did two separate journeys in less than 24 hours and did some fun stuff. It's completely doable, really! I'm doing this again in the spring for the journeys, so I will tell you all about it then!
If any of you want my plans for this sleepover (and I have it all typed out in details/times), please feel free to email me at troop30426(at)gmail(dot)com and I will be more than happy to send them! I know that journeys take up a lot of time that we don't always have, and the girls just love sleepovers!
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Day Camp!
I'm still a little bummed that we missed out on our Service Unit's day camp, but we did have fun at a day camp from a Service Unit just North of us. I got to help teach the outdoor skills class, and I ended up learning a few useful things along the way.
Lesson number one, before doing any sort of camp cooking, you need to teach your scouts basic cooking skills! Seriously! I cannot begin to count how many scouts did not know the difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon, a liquid and dry measure (and how to use them properly), and how to use a knife. Those were the first things I taught my scouts before their cooking lesson, and the first things that you should be teaching anyone in a kitchen.
Lesson number two, learn your knots! Thankfully, of the knots we were asked to teach, I did know them all (though I still despise the bowline). During our knot tying day, we asked the leaders and program aides to join in, as they would be helping out their scouts in their unit time (down time). A lot of the knots even have cute stories to help teach them (my personal favorite being the scout who goes around the world and through the North Pole, to form the 8 knot), so it made it easier to teach the knots. It was still a bit of a challenge, even on our last day, but was something to think about for the future.
Lesson number three, fire safety! As a whole, most of the scouts knew the generalities of fire safety, but there were many who needed that push and reminder. Many of them had to be told to put their hair up (thankfully, we had extra hair ties, but still).
Lesson number four, be VERY clear with directions! With the younger girls, this is easy to remember, but this is something we often forget with the older girls. There were times I felt like I was repeating myself more with the older girls than I was the younger girls. Any sort of directions you give them need to be very clear. I can relate this back to when I learned in college how to write recipes. I was taught that your recipe needs to be written so that an idiot could pick it up and follow it- you need to have specific amounts, types, equipment necessary, and more (you get the point). This goes with our scouts- be specific. Remember, they are here to learn, so we have to give them the tools to learn that they need.
Lesson five, hydrate! We covered this on our first day at camp, but, I still found myself reminding girls to drink water or wet their bandannas. The woman I was helping out explained it as water was our body's way of turning on its A/C. If you think about it, it makes sense, and it was something that was easy enough for the girls to understand.
Lesson six, always have a backup. This goes without saying, but I just wanted to stick this in just to remind you all. Thankfully, it did not rain the whole week, but having a backup was necessary since we were out in the open.
Lesson seven, label EVERYTHING! I mean it! You need to get OCD and label everything that will be used, since there are girls who will look right at it and not realize what it is they are looking at. We put all our food in coolers that were labeled, but we still had girls asking us where things were (but that's fairly normal).
Lesson eight, be patient. We're scout leaders, so we should already have patience, but for things like day camp, we need an exceptional amount of patience. I was reminded of this quickly on our first day when we were menu planning. Some of the girls had some really out there ideas on what they wanted to cook, so we had to carefully bring them back to the here and now in what was truly feasible. I was reminded yet again on day two when I helped out with crafts. They were making SWAPS and a few scouts did not know what a SWAP was, but they got it once we told them. Again I was reminded on day three when we tied knots, and BIG time on day four when we cooked. There were several special needs girls that I had the opportunity to work with, and they truly reminded me how important patience is, which brings me to my last lesson learned....
Lesson nine, compassion. Being a volunteer is truly a blessing no matter what it is you are volunteering for. Scout leaders aren't paid! We do it out of the goodness of our hearts, to pass on our knowledge to the next generation of women. We also do it to ensure that our future leaders are capable of tackling any obstacle in life. I was fortunate enough to have two amazing women who were my leaders as a Girl Scout. Those women helped turn me into the woman I am today. I'm sure that after cooking on Thursday, some girls think I'm awful because I harped on them about their cutting skills (honestly, it was because I did not want anyone to cut themselves!), and others probably think I'm nuts for being so in love with a knot (really, I love that 8 knot!). I know from experience that if you're really enthusiastic about something, you can get anyone pumped for it as well.
Most of all, I want to thank everyone I worked with this past week. I've always loved scouting, and this was one of the best weeks in Girl Scouting I've had in a while! Even being a teacher, I learned a few things. My cute kiddo had a blast as well, but she usually does when it comes to scouting. As for me, I am glad I have some down time before I ship out to Girl's World Forum next month!
Lesson number one, before doing any sort of camp cooking, you need to teach your scouts basic cooking skills! Seriously! I cannot begin to count how many scouts did not know the difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon, a liquid and dry measure (and how to use them properly), and how to use a knife. Those were the first things I taught my scouts before their cooking lesson, and the first things that you should be teaching anyone in a kitchen.
Lesson number two, learn your knots! Thankfully, of the knots we were asked to teach, I did know them all (though I still despise the bowline). During our knot tying day, we asked the leaders and program aides to join in, as they would be helping out their scouts in their unit time (down time). A lot of the knots even have cute stories to help teach them (my personal favorite being the scout who goes around the world and through the North Pole, to form the 8 knot), so it made it easier to teach the knots. It was still a bit of a challenge, even on our last day, but was something to think about for the future.
Lesson number three, fire safety! As a whole, most of the scouts knew the generalities of fire safety, but there were many who needed that push and reminder. Many of them had to be told to put their hair up (thankfully, we had extra hair ties, but still).
Lesson number four, be VERY clear with directions! With the younger girls, this is easy to remember, but this is something we often forget with the older girls. There were times I felt like I was repeating myself more with the older girls than I was the younger girls. Any sort of directions you give them need to be very clear. I can relate this back to when I learned in college how to write recipes. I was taught that your recipe needs to be written so that an idiot could pick it up and follow it- you need to have specific amounts, types, equipment necessary, and more (you get the point). This goes with our scouts- be specific. Remember, they are here to learn, so we have to give them the tools to learn that they need.
Lesson five, hydrate! We covered this on our first day at camp, but, I still found myself reminding girls to drink water or wet their bandannas. The woman I was helping out explained it as water was our body's way of turning on its A/C. If you think about it, it makes sense, and it was something that was easy enough for the girls to understand.
Lesson six, always have a backup. This goes without saying, but I just wanted to stick this in just to remind you all. Thankfully, it did not rain the whole week, but having a backup was necessary since we were out in the open.
Lesson seven, label EVERYTHING! I mean it! You need to get OCD and label everything that will be used, since there are girls who will look right at it and not realize what it is they are looking at. We put all our food in coolers that were labeled, but we still had girls asking us where things were (but that's fairly normal).
Lesson eight, be patient. We're scout leaders, so we should already have patience, but for things like day camp, we need an exceptional amount of patience. I was reminded of this quickly on our first day when we were menu planning. Some of the girls had some really out there ideas on what they wanted to cook, so we had to carefully bring them back to the here and now in what was truly feasible. I was reminded yet again on day two when I helped out with crafts. They were making SWAPS and a few scouts did not know what a SWAP was, but they got it once we told them. Again I was reminded on day three when we tied knots, and BIG time on day four when we cooked. There were several special needs girls that I had the opportunity to work with, and they truly reminded me how important patience is, which brings me to my last lesson learned....
Lesson nine, compassion. Being a volunteer is truly a blessing no matter what it is you are volunteering for. Scout leaders aren't paid! We do it out of the goodness of our hearts, to pass on our knowledge to the next generation of women. We also do it to ensure that our future leaders are capable of tackling any obstacle in life. I was fortunate enough to have two amazing women who were my leaders as a Girl Scout. Those women helped turn me into the woman I am today. I'm sure that after cooking on Thursday, some girls think I'm awful because I harped on them about their cutting skills (honestly, it was because I did not want anyone to cut themselves!), and others probably think I'm nuts for being so in love with a knot (really, I love that 8 knot!). I know from experience that if you're really enthusiastic about something, you can get anyone pumped for it as well.
Most of all, I want to thank everyone I worked with this past week. I've always loved scouting, and this was one of the best weeks in Girl Scouting I've had in a while! Even being a teacher, I learned a few things. My cute kiddo had a blast as well, but she usually does when it comes to scouting. As for me, I am glad I have some down time before I ship out to Girl's World Forum next month!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
SWAP project
In my planning for year 2, one of my biggest challenge has been coming up with things that are different from everything we did this year. Yes, we only have a few girls not bridging, but if I do anything remotely similar to what we did this year, I will catch flack from them!! We recently received our first SWAP package from a troop out of state (I can not wait to give it to our girls!!). After a little research time trying to come up with more ideas on what we can do next year, I found one line on Making Friends that really stuck with me- "Girls earn their violet petal for reaching out to swap with other girl scouts." Why didn't I think of that earlier?!
Going back to my fab Pintrest board, I "met" a leader from another state and we got to talking (like me, she's already planning for year 2). Some people see Thinking Day as one element to "being a sister to every Girl Scout." Yes, it is, but you're only "thinking" about them and not truly connecting with them. SWAPing actually connects you with Girl Scouts, with a tangible item. For a Daisy, this is simple, and absolutely perfect! But, doing it with just one troop would be too easy. So, why not do it with, oh say, one a month, in different states? That way, not only are you reaching out to many Girl Scouts, but you're also teaching your girls that Girl Scouts are everywhere doing the same things we're doing.
Now, for my shameless plug, please help us out and join in! Join our 2012-2013 SWAP project! We are trying to get at least 10 troops in different states, and are really hoping to find Girl Guides in other countries.
Going back to my fab Pintrest board, I "met" a leader from another state and we got to talking (like me, she's already planning for year 2). Some people see Thinking Day as one element to "being a sister to every Girl Scout." Yes, it is, but you're only "thinking" about them and not truly connecting with them. SWAPing actually connects you with Girl Scouts, with a tangible item. For a Daisy, this is simple, and absolutely perfect! But, doing it with just one troop would be too easy. So, why not do it with, oh say, one a month, in different states? That way, not only are you reaching out to many Girl Scouts, but you're also teaching your girls that Girl Scouts are everywhere doing the same things we're doing.
Now, for my shameless plug, please help us out and join in! Join our 2012-2013 SWAP project! We are trying to get at least 10 troops in different states, and are really hoping to find Girl Guides in other countries.
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