Interesting tidbits about our upcoming cookie sales

I'm pretty excited to run our cookie sales this year.  We leaders recently attended cookie training, and here are some things that I have learned:

1.  Thin Mints are vegan!
2.  We have a new cookie type - Oatmeal raisin with yogurt chips
3.  We are also piloting a gluten-free cookie (but this one has restrictions; no pre-orders, so just a limited number for personal sales, and its and extra $  per box).
4.  Our girls may be able to set up on-line stores to better reach our far-flung family and friends.
5.  Cookie sales start January 16th.

December 15, Happy Holidays

This coming week we will be making Holiday Cookies.  Our plan is to let each girl participate in making a few different kinds, and they will subsequently bring home those cookies they create.  This is a bit of a logistical stretch for our normal meeting time, but I think it will be worth while for the enjoyment (and badge progress) the girls get out of it.  Please bear with us if we end up running a little late as we cycle all the cookies through the ovens.  If you want to help, let me know.  I think we'll be able to use any extra hands, and/or cookie trays, that feel like showing up.

I've got another post in me about upcoming cookie-sale events, so keep watching!

After the 15th week school is on winter break for two weeks, and so is Girl Scouts.  I hope everyone can find peace and rejuvenation with their winter holiday!

December 1 & 8

I owe you guys some updates; sorry for being delayed.

On December 1st we finished our Making Friends badge by playing two games.  In the first game the girls shared some of their favorite activities with each other.  The idea was to see both what types of things excited the girls, and the variety of things that excited the girls.  In the second game girls came up with ways that they could be good friends to other people.

The final activity for this badge is to try a new activity with a friend.  We felt like the girls will be doing plenty of this through the year, with an obvious choice of doing the Pet Badge Activity as a timely example.  (But, I suppose if your girl is a real stickler, or if she missed 12/1, there is no harm in encouraging a novel play-date with a new friend.  We are trying to encourage the girls to connect with other friends in the troop, and not necessarily stick with their tried-and-true buddies.)

On December 8th we worked on activity 4 for the painting badge - painting without brushes.  The girl's worked on two activities - a holiday card and some gift tags, using sponges, q-tips, and cotton balls to do their painting.  Since the paint was still wet at the end of the last meeting, we will be returning the items this coming Monday.

A note on Badge Progress:  We have been working on a number of badges in parallel.  The girls have made progress on the snacks badge, the inventor badge, the painting badge, and the hiking badge.  We have completed the Making Friends badge, and those girls who took part in last weekend's event completed the Pet's badge.

Our girls should have come home with the Pet's badge last weekend.  I think it is easiest to order the other badges en masse, so I will either pick them up at the store or put in a large order and once, and hand them out to the girls in a future meeting.  Once the girls have a badge, you should feel free to put it on their sash/vest.  If you want placement information you can look in their guide books.

Stay tuned for upcoming plans!

Cards and finger puppets for Children's Hospital

News and events

THERE IS NO MEETING NEXT WEEK.  (That is, 11/24.  There is no school that day, and it seemed that about half the troop was going to be gone, so I decided not to arrange a special meeting.)  We'll look forward to seeing the girls again in December.

One activity in December will be making holiday cookies, probably on 12/15.

Remember, on Dec. 6th is the Pet's badge day.  I hope to get out email this weekend or next week with ride assignments etc.

I'm looking at potentially Jan. 18th or even 19th for the cookie meeting.  It will be in the evening, and we will have a girl component and a parent component.  I will nail down details ASAP.

If you didn't see the news, we have an encamporee date on Mother's day weekend, at River Ranch camp.  I'm really excited about this, and hope all our girls can go, so please put it on your calendars now.  I will give you some more information as it becomes available.

Pictures of our funny face snacks:

 

 

Also, some superb contributions from Addie at home:

November 17th

This past week we worked on our Making Friends badge, by being good friends to people we don't know.  We were inspired to do something for the kids at Children's Hospital, so we made greeting cards to give to sick kids, and also finger puppets (which are given to kids who have had blood tests or other reasons to have band-aids on their fingers).  I hope the girls had fun- they worked hard on their two crafts, and should be proud of their contributions.

I plan to deliver the donations in December.  I also plan to upload some pictures so you can admire their efforts!

November 10th

I am a bit behind on this blog, but rest assured that Martha and I have been working on planning some good meetings for your kids coming up.  I will be updating the calendar with some of those planned activities, and also some planned snacks.  Please bear with me while I get up to speed.

In the mean time; this week we will be working on activities 1 & 2 for the snack badge.  We're planning a snack for the kids consisting of mostly fresh fruits and vegetables.  We'll also be talking about what makes a snack/food healthy, and how to balance your meals.

Other quick notes - you can subscribe to receive these blog posts via email by using the widget underneath the calendar on the right (you will need to pass a captcha test and then confirm your address via a web link).  Also, please rsvp to the pet-badge evite if you haven't.

Stay tuned for more information on snacks, and our proposed weekend activities for the rest of the year.

Monday Plans

On the schedule - 

On Monday we paint!  (Wish us luck.  We will be working on painting badge activity #1.  If you think of it, you may wish to send an old t shirt with your kid for a smock.  Certainly sashes aren't requisite this week, nor are guide books.)  

Also on Monday - I'm going to send home some paperwork with your kids.  There are some forms that will help us be more legally compliant (permission slip form, and medical info form).  Its not much, but I'd appreciate it if you can send it back the following week.

We're modifying our snack approach a bit; the girls are all really hungry and have sometimes gone through all of their snack options, so we'll be providing snacks along with the drinking water.  When possible, we'll tie the snack into our badge activity.  We're still working on how to do that in an economical way, so I will have a very short poll in the paperwork as well.

Another possible weekend activity.

Slime Science!  :
https://gsusa.ebiz.uapps.net/vp/FamilyManagement/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductId=603984879

Monday - the girls worked on the snacks badge, and pressed their own apple cider.

The cider (ingredients, apples) was declared delicious!

We also worked on the Making Friends badge, by discussing introductions, and introducing ourselves to our special adult guests.

Our Charter...

Troop 44401 Charter

I want to feel ...	So I will behave ...
Accepted	Adapt to other’s restrictions
Capable	Try new things
Included	Share
Safe	No pushing or pulling
Supported	Listen to others
Energetic	Take care of myself
Comfortable	Relax
Content	No distractions
Kind	Don’t tease
Happy	Speak up
Responsible	Take care of my belongings
Liked	No name calling

Planning Post, feedback encouraged

I am working on my overall plans for the year, so we can accommodate as many of the girls' wishes as possible.

Painting:
A lot of the girls wanted to do the painting badge.  Does anyone know of anyone who paints professionally?  Or is a professional visual artist in general?  (One activity of the badge is to speak with a professional painter.  Another activity is to visit a museum, so I am looking into options for that field trip.)

Pets:
Many girls wanted the pets badge.  Here is one way to earn it that I think could be a lot of fun for the girls.

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b15e21679b27902f59c820a0f/files/Pet_Care_ExtravaganzaDec2014_2_.pdf

Is your girl interested?  This would be on Dec. 6th, and we could carpool if we had just a couple parents who could join us.  We should probably register any girls who want to go soon, as these events do fill up.

Financial Literacy:
We will do this badge; and one activity will be a field trip to the grocery store.  It would be great if all the girls could have their guidebooks before we start, since part of the badge is to use the paper doll elves in the back of this book.

Computer Expert:
Unfortunately, this badge looks difficult to do during meetings.  It would essentially require each girl to be using a computer, and I don't know how to have access to 11 computers simultaneously.  It would be a great badge for your girl to work on at home, if she wanted to earn it.

First Aid:
I'm really excited about this, because I have found a nurse-practitioner who is an adult Girl Scout, and she has agreed to come do this badge with the girls, some time in the beginning of the new year.

Calendar:
I will be modifying the details for meetings as I develop the detailed plan for each week.  You should feel free to look there if you are curious about what will be going on.

Thanks for your time!

October 13

The weather looks like it will be good, so, we are going to spend some time at the school before we head to the church.  We will be talking about safety rules for hiking in groups, and for navigating urban streets.
Walking to the church we will do a mini-neighborhood safari, which is part of the hiker badge.  Basically, the girls will be trying to observe their path.
At the church we will be following up with what we were establishing last week - meeting structure and responsibilities.

Notes - I will have water with me.
If you see this soon enough, please be sure to send a small snack, and your child's dues (if they are outstanding).

Pick up will be at the church at 5pm.

For meeting #2

We are planning to meet on Monday, Oct. 13.  Please do watch this space - it is clear that the girls need A LOT OF MOVEMENT after their long school days.  If the weather allows, we will head to the playground for most of our meeting next week.  We will not be able to do this consistently through the winter, but, next week we will be working on learning about kapers (troop responsibilities), and preparing to start a badge the following week.  Since we can do these things without chairs and tables, I think we should.

I will plan to bring a water jug, but sending some extra snack with your girl would be excellent.

My intention is to keep you apprised of what we are doing, and what our plans are.  I am happy to get any and all feedback.  Thanks!

Our first meeting

Hello!

I think we had a successful first meeting.  It will take some time to work out all the little details, but, we managed to get the girls together and start setting expectations for how the year will go.  (We worked on a troop charter, similar to the RULER class charters.)  I think the new space will work out, and I know it will be great to have this group of girls in our troop.

Today we also had the girls vote on some badges and activities they were interested in.  The results are as follows:

Money Manager (6), Computer Expert (5),
Pets (4), Painting (4)
First Aid (3)
Inventor (2), Snacks (2), Potter (2), Making friends (2), Home scientist (2)
Dancer (1), Game maker (1), Hiker (1), Household Elf (1)

Each journey got one vote.  I'd like the girls to do a journey, but, I think we should start with some badges while we get our feet under us.
Brownie Quest (journey) (1)
World of Girls (journey)(1)
Wonders of Water (journey) (1)

This is a random activity.  Anyone got a guess which two girls made these very detailed drawings and plans?
Dig under-ground tunnels with rooms (2)

It is clear that we should do Money Manager (it has elf paper dolls!!), but I'd like to put it off for a while so we can do it during cookie season.  (It is one of the easy cookie and business oriented badges that should be easy to tie into our cookie activities.)

I'll keep this list in mind as we move forward, but I'll need to do some work to plan specifics in earning the badges.  I know I can find a computer expert and I think I can find a First Aid expert to help with those badges.

Also - as a reminder - your girl can work on a badge by herself, too, if she is super interested in completing one that hasn't made it to the top of the list yet.

Potential Activities

Last year we got a taste of all the things scouts can do.  This year we'd like to take greater advantage of them.  One way we will get great activities is to participate in the council events.  These range from overnight camps to science workshop to special training.  There is a calendar available here:

https://www.girlscoutsww.org/Things-To-Do/Pages/Calendar.aspx

Please do let us know if there are things that your girl (or you) find attractive.  We might not be able to do everything, but we'd like to give the girls as many opportunities as possible.

What to bring to your first meeting

Our girls shouldn't need to many supplies for their meetings; after all, everyone is coming from school with bags full of books.  However, there are a few things that will be good:

1.  Your Brownie hand book.  (In subsequent meetings we may be able to leave these at home, but for the first meeting we will be looking at the badges to decide which ones we'll try to complete this year.)
2.  A snack.  (Again, in subsequent meetings, we hope that the girls will sometimes work to cook their own snacks, or we'll provide thematic snacks with the badges.  But, unless otherwise specified, the girls should bring an additional snack they can eat in the beginning of the meeting.  Nuts are OK.)
3.  Their sash, or vest, and definitely their new Brownie Pin.

My phone number is 206.661.8373, and I'll do my best to notice any incoming texts or calls during the meeting, just in case...

Welcome to 44401

This blog will provide information and communication for Brownie Troop #44401, at Lincoln.

Thank you to everyone who was able to make our kick-off meeting tonight.  We are looking forward to starting our regular meetings this coming Monday.  We will pick up the girls in front of the school, walk to the church, and plan to be done at 5pm.  There is a small parking lot in back of the church, which will be a safe pick-up zone.

For our first meeting we will be looking at Brownie guide books and journeys, and making lists of which badges the girls are most interested in earning.  We will also be going over meeting expectations and rhythms.