Upcoming news

For February 23:

We will have a normal meeting.  Our meeting plan is to work on some Thank You cards, and some prep for next week's activities.

Please bring all the cookie money you have collected so far to the meeting.  We need to deposit as much as we can before the first withdrawal by the council.  Please count your money and mark the total on an envelope - Martha will be writing receipts.

For March 2:

We will pick up the girls after school as we normally do.  We will proceed to the Wallingford QFC where we will set up the cookie booth.  The booth runs from 4-6pm, so we ask parents to pick up their girls at 6pm.

We plan to split the girls into three groups, and at any give time, one group will be selling cookies, one group will be working on homework, and one group will be working on a badge activity.

We need an additional parent volunteer.  Please let us know if you can come help with this event.

General:

A reminder that booths are starting up soon.  Please keep track of your schedule so your girl can do her best at any booths.  Also, track down your uniform; your girl should be wearing at least a sash and brownie pin to sell at a booth.  If your girl is still looking for a booth time we might still be able to add a time, so let us know.

Let us know if you have questions or if we can help you make this a positive experience for your girl.

Also remember - if your girl has sold more cookies since pre-sale, you can let Martha know and we will add them to our first Cookie Cupboard order.  You girl can take more orders (but should not be setting up any booths on her own) to do this.

Long term:

Encamporee Mother's Day Weekend.
Keep an eye out for upcoming information about a hiking trip, the encamporee, and an end-of-year activity.

Booth Information

Cookie booths must be done at council approved locations, and with space reserved through the council.  At booths girls sell boxes directly to the customer, collecting money at the time of the sale.

Booths are Girl Led:  Eg., the girls should take the lead in approaching and attracting customers, selling and making change, and thanking the customers.  The girls are great; let them do their job.
(As Ainsley says:  If someone needs change for a twenty, you can always suggest they buy five boxes to 'make it even'. )

Parent volunteers are for support:  Parent volunteers ensure the safety of the girls, hold the money (this is for safety), and facilitate smooth running of cookie distribution and money collection.  Parent volunteers will also need to ensure that all the accounting is correct, and that supplies are passed on to the next booth or returned.

Booth supplies:

(per booth - we are working towards getting together 'kits' with these materials for the girls to use)

1 folding table     

2 posters            

1 multi pocket cash envelope   

Pen and/or Pencils

sales worksheet

first aid kit

cookies; must be checked out

petty cash for change; must be receipted and noted

In case of inclement weather

Umbrella? 

waterproof tarp?

(per girl)

water bottle

snack

comfortable shoes

appropriate clothes

as much of a uniform as they can muster

Other miscellaneous rules:

Stores usually have a preferred location, and possibly other guide lines.  Please adhere to these.  If it is not clear what the rules are, you can speak with the store manager to find out.  Every booth location has been pre-approved through the council, so the store should be aware of their participation.

Girls should be wearing as much of their uniform as they can.  Girls are representing GSUSA, and looking the part shows respect, and also usually helps sales.

Direct donations are not allowed, but purchases of Operation Cookie Drop cookies are (and this looks like a donation).

Booth worksheet from the council:
https://www.girlscoutsww.org/cookies-and-more/Information-for-Girls-Volunteers-And-Families/Girls%20and%20Families/C15-Forms-Booth%20Sale%20Worksheet.pdf

C IS FOR COOKIES!

Its a lot of work to deal with the cookies.  Thanks to Eric, Laural, Martha, Jonathan, Agnes, Alexa, Camden, Kathleen, and Eleanor!!!

March 2nd Cookie Booth

We are pretty excited to announce that we have reserved a cookie booth at the Wallingford QFC for March 2nd, 4-6pm.  We're hoping this allows the Lincoln girls to sell to their friends, teachers, staff, etc, at school, in a fair manner.

Who:  All the Lincoln girls for troop #44401
What:  Selling cookies at the Wallingford QFC booth
When:  March 2, 4-6pm*  (We WILL pick up the girls from school this day as we do for a normal meeting.)
Where:  Wallingford QFC on 45th
Why: So the girls can sell cookies to our friends at Lincoln Elementary school.

Details:

Who - the girls, AND, we need some additional parent volunteers to ensure that we have great supervision and support for the girls.

When - this is during a normal meeting time, on Monday after school.  We will pick up the girls  and supervise them for the time period.  The booth ends at 6pm, instead of 5pm, and we hope that most girls will be able to stay for the additional hour.

What - we have reserved the cookie booth space.  However, we plan to divide the girls into three groups.  At any given time one group will be selling cookies, another group will be doing homework, and the third group will be working on a badge-related activity.

We plan to allow the girls to advertise this to their teachers and other staff members at school, and to announce it in the Thursday note, so hopefully we'll get a good turn out.  All sales from this time will be split evenly among the participating girls.

Please let us know if you have any questions or requests.  Also, please let us know if you are able to help supervise for part of the time.

First Aid Badge

For the last two weeks our troop has been working on the First Aid badge.  We were lucky enough to have a guest speaker, Nurse Jaime.  The girls really enjoyed talking with Nurse Jaime about her experience as a Girl Scout, about working on Tall Ships, and about First Aid.  

The first week of this badge we talked about what constitutes an emergency, how to avoid accidents and emergencies, calling 911, when to ask for help, and how to ask for help, we talked to Nurse Jaime about her experience working as a nurse practitioner.  

The second week we made first aid kits, and talked about some basic first aid practices (like stopping bleeding, or treating a minor burn) and how to use the supplies in our kits

The emphasis on this badge work was on using proper safety equipment and procedures to avoid having use first aid, knowing how to use hand washing and gloves to avoid exposure to germs, and knowing when and who to ask for help in various situations.

At the end of the second meeting each girl was awarded their first aid badge.  If your girl missed one of the two meetings, please discuss the pertinent material with her at home.

During our next meeting (2/23 since 2/16 has no school) we will be writing Thank You cards to Nurse Jaime, Karen Woodmansee (who donated many band aids and other supplies), and the Wallingford Presbyterian Church (who donates our space).  

Outdoor Overnight Training

I recently complete two training modules for Girl Scout leaders.  The first was a two hour 'Day Trip' session, and the second was the two-day 'Outdoor Overnight' session.  I wanted to write up some of my thoughts, and this is my more meta analysis.  (There will be more information about the actual camping experience, as it pertains to what we are doing in the troop.)

Girl Scouts is an interesting  organization.  It is not just a loosely organized set of fun activities, but rather an organization that has done deep research and thought about how to make a difference in our society, and how to support girls, in particular, in becoming all the can be.  Girl Scouts is actually very serious about their mission:  Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.  It sounds cheesy, but when you get into it and see how well thought out and research the program is, and how study after study show results, its hard not to drink the cool-aid.

So, there is part of every training module that I've done that addresses these issues.  We talk about the goals, and how to help the girls achieve the goals.  Over last weekend I learned, for example, that 70% of all female US congressional representatives were/are Girl Scouts.  All female Secretaries of State are Girl Scouts.  The average Girl Scout is in the top 10% of high school graduates nation wide.  Girl Scouts is an organization that crosses divides, state divides, social divides, race divides, etc.  The organization is deliberately very inclusive (Be a Sister To Every Girl Scout!), and the goal is to help every member achieve and succeed.  Part of every training module that I have done emphasizes that it is my job, as a leader, to give the girls space to do all of these things, EVERY girl.  Its a lot of pressure.  Its also inspiring, and I'm grateful that they at least give us some tips on how to do it.

These posters look exactly like the ones on the walls of my Girl Scout Camp 30 years ago, and the material is probably as timeless.  I particularly enjoyed the 'Troop Garden'.  

Another part of the training includes talking about what things we do to help the girls achieve their goals.  For example, we say the Girl Scout Promise:
On my honor, I will try:To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

And the Law:
I will do my best to behonest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and torespect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.

And then we discuss how we enable the girls to live up to the promise, and in doing so, achieve those ideals of having Courage, Confidence, and Character.  The theory of Girl Scouts is that we do this by first creating a Safe Space.  In that space the girls Discover, Connect, and Take Action, and, if we do it right, we do it by letting the scouts be Girl Led, Learn by Doing, and engage in Cooperative Learning.

I suppose that one of the things that I am struck by is exactly how much being a Girl Scout leader encourages me to grow, and do better, and basically be a better human being.  It is interesting to me how much this resonates with everything I'm doing in my life - I can apply this theory and this skill every time I teach, or parent, or otherwise volunteer.    How can I challenge myself to reach the Girl Scout ideal?

It is only within the context of all of that theory that we engage in the specifics of the training.  Every thing we learn has the over tone of  how do we make it Girl Led, Learn by Doing, and engage in Cooperative Learning.  But, it does bring us to the next part of training.  Every training session I've been to covers basics, and details, and the mundane - what paper work do we need?  What are the safety guidelines, and where can we find them?  Where are the camps associated with our council, and how do we reserve them?  What types of supplies do we need to bring on a trip?  How do we know if our girls are ready for this?  And since, ideally, we will be stretching their comfort zone at least a little, how do we make sure that it is a Safe Space and a pleasant ushering into the next skill?

More posters, more of the applied theory this time.

Of course, as a last note, some of it is fun.  I really had a great time on my weekend training.  The camp was beautiful (I can't wait for our girls to go to camp!  They will love it!).  We we blessed with good weather, so we could enjoy it a little.  Camping is fun!  I enjoyed all of the people engaged in the training with me (not exclusively female, by the way, since Girl Scouts is inclusive), if not in terms of expecting long term friendships, at least in terms of respecting their skills and their passion for the work they do.  I got great advice from folks all over the map, and sometimes from unexpected directions.  We also participated as the 'troop', with our teachers as the 'leaders', so we got to do the things - sleep in Adirondack shelters, cook breakfast for 20, make S'Mores, learn some new songs, take a hike.

As much as Scouting may have some high falutin' ideals for goals, an awful lot of scouting should be just that; enjoyment in taking an active part in the world.  When I feel at sea about whether I can do a good job for 'our girls', I fall back on that - my goal is that every girl in my troop goes home and feels joy about her participation, is excited to come back on Monday, and is inspired for more activity.  A real measure of my success is how many girls come back, and better, come back with smiles on their faces.

Early Saturday Morning, waiting for the bus with my backpacking pack on.  (I didn't use most of the stuff, but was prepared for 40 degrees and raining all weekend.  I did use the mess kit that I carried to camp when I was 8.)  I am embarrassingly bad at selfies, but I'll pretend this was an artistic attempt to capture the trepidation I felt embarking not only on the training, but on a journey to lead our girls in something I hope they love.