New Year: We are Brownies!

First is our parent meeting is coming up!
We lost two girls to soft ball, but gained several others to round out our troop. I am hopeful that this year will be great!

We first meet at the pool and had a potluck. This will provid the girls a great opportunity to get to know one another, since some of the girls are going to different schools. While they were swimming, the parents will be able to look over and sign the new medical forms and troop information.

Some of the policies to discuss:

1. I learned from a stressful year, that I cannot do it all by myself; it takes a village! This year, I am asking each parent to lend their skill by planning/organizing one badge each. So if they are a nurse, they can teach first aid... that sort of thing. There are so many options! Even if they want to do a specific activity that is non-badge related and the girls can earn a patch.
   Besides each parent contributing, this also means that each girl can take turns as the "leader daughter." 
2. Dues. This year, I am planning to cover the cost of a brownie sash, patches, badges, and (if there is room at the end of the year) the girl's membership for 2018/19
3. Volunteer sign ups. I am having a snack and duty sign up and get a feel for who is willing to get trained.

Last year we had 3 involved parents the others were not as involved, I think because I did not make it as obvious that I needed the help. Overall, I do not want this to be a stressful experience for anyone.

So this year, we are starting from the get-go!

Also to discuss is some of our outing opportunities and holiday events that are in the first couple months. 

What are the parents interested in getting out of this program? The next meeting we will be discussing this with the girls; what do THEY want out of THEIR program? We can move on from there. This year will be a great stepping stone toward leadership!

Next, It is time to organize my binder and files for this go round... I've been procrastinating on that a bit.

What I learned from Fall Sales

I do not remember doing a fall sale when I was a young girl scout, so this was a new experience for me. While my troop might have elected to opt out of the sale, we decided against it for two reasons:

1. As a new troop, our account is bare. If we choose to go anywhere or do anything special we needed to have some funds. The parents in my troop have no desire to carry the weight financially for everything, and they should not have to.
2. Troops are not allowed to (or supposed to) participate in any other fundraising activities if they do not participate in both the fall and cookie sales. I thought it would be a mistake to limit the potential of future opportunities...

So after a successful fundraiser, I thought I would share my reflections with the two other people who read this.

Communication

This includes regular reminders and updates. A big part of this is encouragement!
What made this sale so difficult for us is that it is right after our first meeting. So it really is important to constantly talk to the parents about it. LOVE social media!

Overall, It was really important to just relax for this sale. Yes, it brings 20% revenue to the troop. Yes, it is a good first sale for the girls and a chance to earn some patches and stuff. They have to motivate themselves a little for this!
This sale was mostly the parents effort. That was ok, but next year, we will have to include the girls more.

One thing that was interesting was that since none of the girls had sold the products before, they didn't know if they were selling Good Stuff. But everyone unanimously decided that they WISH they had ordered MORE! The chocolates were SOOO yummy! That is a good sign that 2017/18 will be even better.

Best Part:
Our troop was able to earn more money from our cookie sale because we sold a certain amount of products per girl. WooHoo!

On my Honor...

Earning the Blue Center of the daisy is the simplest and the girls earned that between our parent meeting and first meeting.

Next is the first petal: 

Honest and Fair (light blue). 

I had some fun with this since we had just been talking about money, earning the Money Counts leaf, and with the elections so close all the girls are aware of political changes, even if they do not understand it.

I segwayed into the Honest and Fair by talking about what each of those words meant to the girls. I then showed them pictures of presidents on my phone (I just googled president's pictures) and asked who those people were.
They recognized George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and some of the other pictures that I pointed out. I told them that we would have a new president soon and we talked about what it meant to be president.

"A President is a person in charge of our country. In your house, who is in charge?"

Then I asked what they would do if they were in charge. There were some pretty silly scenarios that they came up with before I asked,

"How would you be Honest and Fair if you were in charge?"

You can see the backdrop to their
speeches behind my daughter.

With that in mind, as they were discussing I took out a box of fun dress-up accessories: hats, scarves, jewelry, crowns...

In a corner of the room I had set up a little backdrop (fabric on the wall) with a podium (table) so they each could give their "presidential speech" on how they would be honest and fair.

They LOVED this! They got to dress up and be center of attention. I realize that not all girls would like the attention, but that was not a concern for my group. The parents thought it was great too, since it was a good opportunity to record it.

The speeches all started out as "If I was in charge, I would be honest and fair by..."

Fair seemed to be the easier trait to explain since they were able to give an example, like being nice to friends or helping friends resolve a disagreement. I prompted them a little with honesty and asked them what it means, "to tell the truth" and then asked them a question. The question I asked my daughter was whether the candy wrappers I found on the couch this morning were her fault, the other girls had a more generic question like, 'are you excited about your new little sister?' or 'have you ever eaten something without permission?'

We breaked for snack and then play acted out scenarios on how to not be honest and fair, and then what is the right way to be honest and fair with your friends. For example, fighting over the same toy verses sharing willingly. These were also super fun and silly, but the girls know the difference between right and wrong.

We ended the meeting learning Make New Friends.

Kaper Chart

I have a little troop still so created a simple Kaper chart that can grow with my troop.

There are SOOO many great kaper ideas online, it was entertaining looking up so many artistic ideas. I eventually chose this route since I wanted something that would easily store in my file folder between meetings.

I found the cutest girl art on another blog, Snugglebug, that I printed out, let the girls choose one to color, laminated, and glued to clothespins. The girls thought it was super special to have a visual, although they were not sure which one they had decorated. Good thing I put their name on the other side of the pin!

While I looked through google images for ideas and clipart to make it easier to create, I used Macromedia Fireworks to put it together. I like Macromedia for images with pieces, the program makes each piece a separate item which makes editing/adding elements very simple.

There is a bit of glare in this picture, but I used magnets to secure to the white board I brought the meeting to use for discussion. I can also use a large clip to secure to the front of my file folder box.

Overall I am very happy with the results!

Happy Birthday Troop!

The first official meeting had to be special! I wanted the girls to leave so excited for the year, that they asked their parents every day if it was time for girl scouts. So the best way to kick off the year was a birthday party to celebrate the beginning of the troop; kids love birthday parties!

We began the meeting with the flag salute and then went over the promise (we do a little more with
this later to earn our blue center). I then congratulated the daisies on starting their Girl Scout journey by pinning each girl with their insignia tab and pins. The troop purchased the tab and daisy pin and asked the parents to supply the world trefoil pin.

After a little ball game to get to know each other, we went over the Girl Scout promise. I had it in different parts and the girls had to put it in order and then they got to play pin the center on the daisy. I think a couple girls tried to cheat through the bandana.

They made their own ice cream Sundays and after we sang happy birthday to troop 61942, I told the girls about kapers and we talked about the jobs that need to be done at home and during a meeting. When the girls had cleaned up, they colored little Girl Scout clip art that we are going to use for a kaper chart starting next meeting.

Last was PRESENTS!

The parents brought presents for the troop and the troop also had presents for the girls. The daisies sat in a circle with the presents between them. Starting out everyone chose one gift and we played the left/right game, by passing the gift according to the story. Then they went crazy opening the rest of the donated art supplies. The story I used was edited for the girls:

I left my house and was on my way to Lucy Left’s house for our first Girl Scout meeting, but my mom left the directions at home right by the phone! I knew right away that we needed to have the right directions to Lucy Left’s house, so Mom turned left then turned right to go back to my house for the right directions.

Sure enough, there they were, right where I had left them, right next to the phone and left of the picture of my cousins. Finally, we were on the right track. I arrived right on time for opening activities. Everyone arrived and sat right down after the flag solute.

I sat on the left of Lucy Left. The leader got right to work to tell us all about what we would be doing right after snack time then asked for suggestions so we could do things right from the start. There were wonderful ideas right from our own daisies that attended. Nothing was left out. The leader covered what type of meetings we would be having, what patches we could earn that would be just right for our group. She didn’t want anyone to be left out of our activities.

It was chaos! It was hilarious! And by the end of the story the girls were a little more comfortable with left and right.

The girl’s gift was their journal to take to and from meetings and the balloons that were blown up.

In the end it was a successful meeting and produced a very tired leader.

First Meeting Parents

Flyer to the community. Given to teachers.

A New Scouting Year is upon us and the first order of business is (1) to recruit new girls and (2) meet the parents.

I was able to reserve my community pool house room for our meeting times, which is perfect since it opens up to a grassy area and has its own kitchen.

Our troop plans to meet every other week and have at least one weekend activity a month. I find that the busier the troop, the best experience the girls have while making lasting memories.

I wanted to speak to the parents, but also give the girls an idea of how the meetings will run. We opened with the pledge and the Girl Scout promise, which they repeated after me, before giving them a little something to do. The activity did not take them long so they had a little time to play and get to know each other. The snacks were out informally for them.

I put together a craft for the girls to do while I discussed the paperwork with the parents and the way the troop will operate. This includes the dues and uniform pieces. I gave out a packet of papers: a welcome letter with lots of information and our website on it, Uniform pieces and badges to purchase, a Health Form, an Annual Permission Form, and a half sheet of paper about their volunteering ability. I was very happy to have one parent offer to help with Cookies and another offer to do anything needed.

I also showed them the folder I was putting together for each girl. The blue (of course!) folder will be their "Journal" and a way to send/bring papers to meetings. I purchased them for the bargain price of 15 cents each. It will also take the place of the Daisy book, since I see no need for each girl to invest in it. As the year progresses, their journal will grow with their coloring pages and handouts. My girls are all first graders so their Journal will be a nice keepsake of their year as they get ready to bridge to brownies. I will discuss their Journal in another post.

I had to run out early to make the first Service Unit meeting, which was scheduled after I had planned this meeting, so my co-leader collected the completed forms and locked up the room.

For the girl’s craft I had them weave yarn through a daisy to make a necklace. They had to share one pair of scissors to cut out the Girl Scout promise and then share glue to stick it to their necklace. The other side was for them to decorate and write their name.

The next meeting for the girls is the last week of September, and now they have the promise to take home to practice! 

After collecting the paperwork, I am very excited that the troop is finally coming together. We are starting out with 6 girls and a calendar of meetings and a few activities. Hooray for a new beginning!

Becoming a Troop Leader...

As most educational experiences tend to encourage, I have been stumbling around the Internet doing my research, talking on the phone and working with my co-leader.

To be a leader there are only a few things you actually have to do.

1. Register as a Girl Scout
2. Fill out a volunteer form online so the council can run a background check
3. Watch an online training video
4. Find a Co-Leader and some girls who want to participate

That's it. Kind of.
So after that, inevitably you think, what now? Here is what I did.

• Research and put together a list of activities (or choices) for meetings. There is a particular meeting structure to follow and certain items the girls need to earn that you can cater your activities to.
  
  In my case, I am starting a troop of Kindergarten Daisies. So they have to earn their petals and learn the girl scout law. For this group it will be about singing and crafts. These girls will be easy to please since they will have so much fun simply being together.
• What did other leaders do?
  
  Forms, Parent Letters, Girl Journals, Communication, Troop Dues... All things look up and then to brainstorm - What do I, as a leader, want to do? I like to learn from other's mistakes so it is a good idea to also talk to other leaders and get their perspective.
• Decide how to communicate and share pictures with your troop.
  
  This is very important. In this new world of social media, even more so since you do not want to post pictures into cyber space that could compromise the privacy of other families or the girls in your care.
  
  My son's cub scout den uses a private Shutterfly site, which is okay. It sends out emails to members and keeps a calendar. The best thing about this site is that you can print pictures easily and have them mailed to you. However, I do not think it is very user friendly and non-den members cannot find your site (which means that anyone who wants to join the group cannot find your internet presence).
  
  I chose to make a website through Scoutlander, a web hosting site designed for scouting. This site, though it did take time to learn the interface, I am very happy with. It is free, already has a Girl Scout template, has an email/picture/calendar system in place, and ALSO has the public site that can be found through a search engine for potential scouts. I can upload forms to it and even set up a blog-like page for meeting notes so parents know what happened and can print out any forms their daughter lost.
• Meet with your Co-Leader.
  
  I did not know my co-leader before starting on this journey, so had to become friends and learn each other's strengths. After talking (and talking and talking and talking) we started to hash out the details of what we expect to accomplish together. It was very important to my co-leader that we work at the girls' pace and age-appropriate level.
  
  We had to discuss the first meeting, divvy up responsibility and handouts to be given to the parents/girls so that we start the troop off positively. There should be no room for confusion over expectations.
• Meet with the Parents to discuss their roll for their girl scout, troop structure and expectations.

So... This is where I am at. Stay Tuned. Hopefully I will have some nuggets of insight to share and some fun times ahead.

Money Counts

Understanding Different Money Values
Printed out some paper money and we figured out how many quarters, nickles, dimes and pennies would make up a dollar.
I also printed out and made small cookie boxes (we used these to make necklaces) and we played a game with the boxes to count by 5s to figure out how many boxes costed how much. The girls had a blast and took turns figuring out the cost of the cookies.

The Cost of Fun
We finished our Money Counts leaf by discussing what activities cost money and which do not. We made a chart and figured out that more items went in the "Costs $" column. They decided that as a troop they would like to go camping, so we figured out about how much that would be.

Me: "What about food? Does that cost money?"
Girls: "No."
Me: "So when your mom goes to the grocery store, she can choose any food without paying at the cashier? Have I been doing it wrong?"
Girls: "uhh No." ::giggle giggle::

Differences in Scouting organizations...

The structure of a troop to the organization is where Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts differ. I am very happy to say that I did not have to lead a boy scout group, however I have had the opportunity to learn about the differences by volunteering and organizing activities in my son's Pack.

Cub Scouts are grouped in Dens under the Pack umbrella within the Boy Scouts of America organization. Each Pack is its own non-profit, however the Den does not have access to the accounting - that all goes through the pack treasurer. This can be frustrating when you have a large group.

Girl Scouts is set up in troops. Each troop has its own identity within the Service Unit (regional) under the Council umbrella. They have their own bank account and can choose to participate in the activities set up by other troops or not. This means that the leader can set the pace as an active troop or a passive one.

Similarly both troops and dens grow with the group of kids so that scouts do not have to change leaders when they advance, unless a leader steps down.

However, one major difference is how each group works with their scouts:

• Girl Scouts encourages girls to run their own program. Even Daisies are encouraged to make some decisions and are given more responsibility and choices as they move on to Brownies, Juniors and so on, until they are leading and collaborating together to make decisions about activities, patches, and how to use their troop funds. The program goes a long way to promoting an independent spirit.
  
• Cub Scouts do not run their program until they crossover to Boy Scouts. I understand that this transition can be quite a shock on some boys, depending on their personality. Of course, I am sure that the leader can allow boys to make some decisions, but generally it seems the parents and leaders are the ones who choose the activities. 

Both Organizations are amazing for the kids, however it makes a HUGE difference to them if their leaders are (1) organized and (2) willing to organize/participate in activities often.

New Troop Beginning...

A long, long time ago... After about twelve years in Girl Scouts as a young girl, I was super bored with high school so my mom told me to take some leadership classes. I believe her exact words were, "You are still registered. Stop moping around and go volunteer or take leadership classes!" So I did. A bunch of them.

The leadership classes that I did not need to take and do not remember at all, made me realize how much I have always enjoyed being a girl scout. In hindsight, I really should have traveled more in college and kept up my membership... luckily, I have a daughter and can live vicariously through her!

After two years of taking part in cub scout camps and activities, I had to break my daughter's heart, "Honey, I'm sorry, but you cannot be a boy scout."

Enter = Girl Scouts

Now the little girl is in Kindergarten and it is time to be a Daisy.

Do you know what happens when there are no troops? Someone has to step up and be a leader. People can see the "sucker" sign on my forehead from a mile away!

There are a few differences in Girl Scouting that I am having to learn.

1. Tres Condados is no more. Now we are California's Central Coast, which means that it has grown.
2. There are these things called Journeys that include a series of patches.
3. Girls are not required to wear a full uniform. Say What?!
   This one was a shock since I always had a full get-up and I think the girls look the part when selling cookies or going places. I feel a little bad that I did not know this before, since I have said "no" to girl scout cookies a few times because the girl's looked sloppy.

It took several months to find a co-leader. That done, we get our number!

Next Post... How I set up the troop!