Note about this blog: So it it turns out blogging at an insanely detailed level kinda takes a lot of time. It also turns out I've got a crazy-full life. Did I mention I work full time, have two kids, friends and a husband. My poor husband. Anyway, the point being these blogs are probably going to be further apart for awhile since I'm spending my "free to indulge my OCD time" planning for this current years Girl Scouts. I'm stealing a little free time now since the last weekend of the month is generally Girl Scout free (Or at least we have a week off from planning).
The first week of April marks the end of cookie season so I was going to make my next blog a cookie blog. Unfortunately I don't feel particularly cookie inspired so that blog will have to wait until I am and I'm just moving on the next meeting for now.
Daisy Scout Meeting Twelve
First week in April 2013Goal and Badges:
Finish Magenta "Respect Authority" Petal and start working on Violet "Sister to Every Girl Scout" Petal. (Yes, at this point we stopped doing the petals in order. This was actually the last petal we did on our own. We did Field Trip Programs for "Using Resources Wisely" and "Making the World a Better Place."
 |
* * * * * * *
Arrival: Gathering- 1- Violet petals
2- Draw a picture of favorite person in charge
4:10 Daisy Circle- Promise/hello in Greek
Authority Web
Water team garden
Talk reward system and rules
4:20 Read Vi’s Story
Snack
Discuss being a sister to every Girl Scout
4:35 Daisy Friend Project
5:00 Vi craft/ practice manners and Daisy Handshake
5:15 Switch
5:25 Closing Circle
* * * * * * *
Gathering Activities
Violet Petals
The first thing we had the girls do when they arrived is dip their violet petals in watered down white paint so they could dry before the Vi project. (See project details later in blog).
Draw a Person in Authority
After the girls finished with their petals and we put them aside we had each girl draw their "favorite person in authority."
Violet Petals
The first thing we had the girls do when they arrived is dip their violet petals in watered down white paint so they could dry before the Vi project. (See project details later in blog).
Draw a Person in Authority
After the girls finished with their petals and we put them aside we had each girl draw their "favorite person in authority."
Daisy Circle:
The Promise Leader led the Promise and we sang our Amazing Daisy and Planting songs. After that, I told the girls that we would be finishing up Gerri the Geranium and starting Vi the Violet who both had origins in Greece. I played them a recording I had downloaded of how to say "hello" in Greek and well took turns repeating this. It was fun because it was so foreign to everyone. (The Journey Book has a different language for this week, but Greek made more sense to me because of the flowers we were doing. Also, I'm a control freak and need to do it my way).
Audio for "hello" in Greek
Authority Web
After going around with the hellos we decided to try something called the "Authority Web". I got a ball of yarn, held one end and threw it to one of the girls. That girl needed to say who she drew as her "favorite person in charge." Then she held a piece of string and threw it across the circle to someone else who said her person and so on and so worth until everyone had had a turn and we'd created a giant yarn web. At the end, we pointed out that everyone in the community was connected like a giant web, coming together to work to protect us all.
This was certainly more fun then just going around the circle again. I'm not sure if the girls got the profound meaning of it all, but that may have been because their "favorite person" was generally their mom or teacher (or us), which didn't quite give the community feel, like a fireman or police officer might. It might work better if it was phrased differently. Or maybe they got it as well as any group of 5/6 year-olds was going to get it. Who knows.
Respect Bucket
If you read my last blog you'll probably remember that we had some issues with our girls being chatty and disrespectful during story time (it doesn't help that the Girl Scout stories aren't the most engaging stories. Amazing artwork. Blah story). Well, after the last meeting we racked our brain to find ways to help them behave. What we came up with was The Bucket of Respect.
I found an old Easter bucket and the plastic coins we had left over from the "Brave Olympics" and the Red Petal. We told the girls that every time they were respectful to themselves, each other, or us they would get a coin to put in the bucket. When the bucket was full they would get a special surprise. This was not a competition, but a team sport. Only by working together as a team would they get enough coins to fill the bucket.
This time, when my Co-Leader read the story I went around and handed each girl that was behaving a coin. Worked like a charm. We kept it going through the end of the year and they earned a "Water Party" with an enormous 50 foot slip and slide in my backyard in July. Definitely a success.
After going around with the hellos we decided to try something called the "Authority Web". I got a ball of yarn, held one end and threw it to one of the girls. That girl needed to say who she drew as her "favorite person in charge." Then she held a piece of string and threw it across the circle to someone else who said her person and so on and so worth until everyone had had a turn and we'd created a giant yarn web. At the end, we pointed out that everyone in the community was connected like a giant web, coming together to work to protect us all.
This was certainly more fun then just going around the circle again. I'm not sure if the girls got the profound meaning of it all, but that may have been because their "favorite person" was generally their mom or teacher (or us), which didn't quite give the community feel, like a fireman or police officer might. It might work better if it was phrased differently. Or maybe they got it as well as any group of 5/6 year-olds was going to get it. Who knows.
 |
| Example of web from on-line |
Respect Bucket
If you read my last blog you'll probably remember that we had some issues with our girls being chatty and disrespectful during story time (it doesn't help that the Girl Scout stories aren't the most engaging stories. Amazing artwork. Blah story). Well, after the last meeting we racked our brain to find ways to help them behave. What we came up with was The Bucket of Respect.
I found an old Easter bucket and the plastic coins we had left over from the "Brave Olympics" and the Red Petal. We told the girls that every time they were respectful to themselves, each other, or us they would get a coin to put in the bucket. When the bucket was full they would get a special surprise. This was not a competition, but a team sport. Only by working together as a team would they get enough coins to fill the bucket.
This time, when my Co-Leader read the story I went around and handed each girl that was behaving a coin. Worked like a charm. We kept it going through the end of the year and they earned a "Water Party" with an enormous 50 foot slip and slide in my backyard in July. Definitely a success.
 |
| Our Bucket of Respect, almost full |
When my co-leader read the Story "Friends Around the World" the girls sat up straight with their hands folded as they watched me and my coins out of the corner of their eyes. They ate their snack and waited until the story was over to ask for more. After we discussed the story and what is meant to be "sisters" to each other.
 |
Daisy Sister Project
This is one of my favorite projects we did. I was quite proud of it. It took more time than I had anticipated (and we skipped a game that I planned for after) but it was worth it! In this project we had each girl write one nice thing on a petal about for every girl in the troop. Later I collected all the petals and glued them around a picture of each girl to create a Daisies Garden with all the things the girls like about one another.
 |
| Finished Project, purposely blurry to protect the innocent ;) |
Supplies:
1. Petal Template:
 |
3. ~3" circle photo of each girl.
4. At least two copies of a list of positive attributes for the girls to use as a "word bank."
 |
| Notice none of these have anything to do with appearance. |
5. Markers or pens (I, of course, love my sharpies), 1 per girl.
6. Poster-board (I used two glued together) or mural paper.
7. White envelopes.
8. Glue.
9. Anything else you want to use to fancy up your garden. (I used cricut shapes, green sharpie, and glitter glue.)
Pre-meeting Prep:
1. Cut out petals. Each girl needs to have one petal per girl and one for each leader. (We had eight girls and two leaders so I cut out 10 petals per color).
2. Place each set of petals in a separate (unmarked) white envelope.
3. Cut out Photographs of each girl.
Steps
1. Each girl picks a plain white envelope and writes their name on the back. That way they don't fight about the color petals. They get what they get. Then recollect the envelopes.
2. Leader picks an envelope at random and gives each girl and each leader a petal. The girl whose envelope it is goes into the other room with one of the leaders to chose a word for themselves and so they will be surprised later.
3. Have each girl pick a positive attribute to put on the petal. (My girls started to get over-excited and by the end they were putting down 2-3 words. I didn't discourage this. )
4. Collect all the petals and put them back in the labeled envelope.
5. Repeat with each girl.
6. After meeting, assemble garden to display later.
The girls really loved this activity. They loved that they got to go into another room and make one for themselves and they loved making the petals for their friends. I didn't have one incidence of meanness or of a girl having trouble finding a positive word.
 |
| Close Up |
 |
 |
I wanted to have the whole project ready to display for our Tea Party the next week, but one of our girls was absent. I sent home for her a petal for each girl, but it wasn't back in time, so, instead, I had the poster ready for the final celebration. The downside of that is that the excitement about the poster had waned a lot. I wish I could have had it ready for the next time they met and maybe left space to add the absent girls' later.
Vi the Violet Project
 |
| My Vi |
 |
 |
 |
1. Use leaf template to cut out two leaves per girl from green felt. (Like with Gerri, I made the template from printing out a picture of a leaf, gluing it onto an old manila folder, and cutting it out.)
2. Cut out five purple petals per girl from cardstock (and maybe a few extras just in case).
3. Cut pipe-cleaners into 1/2 ( one per girl) and 1/4 (two per girl) lengths.
 |
| A Scout's Vi |
Gathering
1. As the girls come in and take their seats, show them how to dip the pointy, middle part of the petals into the paint.
2. Place the dipped petals on the paper plate to set aside for later.
Later in meeting:
 |
| Another Scouts' Vi |
3. Have the girls assemble the petals into a flower and glue down.
4. Girls glue leaves at end of branches.
5. Girls glue on googly eyes and draw on mouth.
Practice being a Hostess
While my half of the girls were making Vi the Violet with me, my Co-leader was working with the other group on how to greet people when they came to the upcoming Tea Party the next week. They practiced the Girl Scout Handshake and welcoming their Brownie guest.
Closing Circle:
We did the Friendship squeeze and we reminded the girls about the Mother-Daughter Tea Party coming up and how we had guest Girl Scouts coming who we needed to welcome and treat as sisters.
Homework/Handouts:
The girls had the usual handout for "Being a Sister to Every Girl Scout" and were asked to read chapter 4 in the Daisy Flower Garden Journey book before the next meeting. They were also given paper flowers to decorate so we could put them up at the party. |
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment