Daisy Scout Meeting Twelve

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 2013


Goal 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."

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.

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

Snack and Story time

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:

2.  Construction paper- a different color for each girl.
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

Vi was a easy and straightforward flower to make.  I added the dipped petals and felt leaves to mix it up a little.

My Vi

Supplies:

1.  Pictures of real violets. (I also had a real African Violet plant)

2.  Purple cardstock.
3.  Dixie cups.

4.  Washable white tempera paint.
5.  Small paper plates.

6.   Petal templates.

7.  Dark green felt.

8.  Leaf template.

9.  Red and/or pink sharpie.
10.  Glue.
11.  Stapler.
12.  Googly eyes.
13.  Green pipe-cleaners.

Pre-meeting Prep:
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

4.  Lay out at each girl's spot a paper plate with their name on it and five petals.  In the center of the table lay out 2 dixie cups filled half way with equal parts white paint and water.

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:

1.  After splitting girls into two groups, have them get their garden poster and begin gluing down the longest pipe-cleaner for the stem and the two smaller for the leaves.

Another Scouts' Vi

2. Place real violet plant in the center if you have one.  Have leader go around and staple down the stems as the girls pass around pictures of real violets.
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.

Daisy Scout Meeting Eleven

Third week in March  2013

Goal and Badges:        

            Work on the Magenta Petal, "Respect Authority" and continue to work on the Daisy Garden Journey.

* * * * * * *

Daisy Scout Meeting March 15

Arrival:                Gathering- 1.  Geranium leaves

                                  2.  Draw team garden in book
                                            3.  Safety Test

4:05                      Daisy Circle- Daisy Promise
                     Hello in Spanish

                                                   Daisy song
                                    Garden Song
                                    Explain Day
                                               Tea Party Invite

4:10                      Garden craft 

4:25                      Garden Scamper

4:35                       Snack and read Gerri’s story

                              Discuss authority

                             What happens if no rules

                             What are meeting rules

4:50                        Make Gerri or

                             Thank you cards (Bank and Police)

5:00                       (Switch)  Make Gerri or

                      Thank you cards (Tae Kwon Do and Fire department)

5:10                       Mother May I

5:25                      Closing Circle

* * * * * * *

Gathering Activities

Geranium Leaves

Geraniums have those beautiful bi-color leaves, so the first thing the girls did was paint those (details in Geri section)

Draw Team Garden

Now that everyone had a chance t take home the team garden and it was growing well, we had the girls turn to pages 44 and 45 of the Daisy Flower Garden Book and draw how the garden looked now and how they think it will look in a few months.

Drawing in Journey book.  If you can read it you may notice my daughter reversed the now and future garden pictures.

Safety Test
We built in time for any of the girls who hadn't done the safety test to do it.  We only had one girl who had froze  during the phone number part.  I pulled her aside during the gathering activities and she was able to earn her pin fairly easily.

Daisy Circle:

The Promise Leader led the Promise and then we went around the circle saying what they enjoyed most about the Field Trip we went on last time we met.  We sang the "Planting Song" we had learned the meeting before and the "Amazing Daisy" song.

We also started something from Garden Journey Handbook, saying hello in a different language each week.  This week everyone said hello in Spanish like Cora, one of the Garden Girls from the Journey Book.  First we asked if anyone knew how to say hello in Spanish, quite a few did (they all grew up with Dora and Diego).  After those girls demonstrated, we went around the circle and everyone said "Hola!".

From Journey Handbook

Tea Party Invitation

For our upcoming work on the Violet "Sister to Every Girl Scout" Petal we decided to host a Mother-Daughter Tea Party and invite another troop to join us in the interest of "Sisterhood."  We decided to invite one of our girls' older sister's Brownie troop.  The party was a month away, but we wanted to give the other troop plenty of time to plan so we worked on the invitation this week.

At this point in the meeting, we explained to the girls about the party and what we were going to do.  Then I had a card with a flier type invitation glued on the inside (the email version of the invite), then I had tea party stickers and cutouts for them to glue on the front of the card.  They all took turns signing the inside.  At the end of the meeting the girl whose sister's troop it was brought home the invitation so that  her sister could present it to her troop.

Flier Invite

Garden Craft:

We were running late so we skipped the Garden Craft.  I had been intermittently putting this project on the schedule since the very first meeting, but it was always the first thing cut. I had 9 pouches left over from a garden magnet craft that I had gotten from Oriental Trading on clearance two years ago.   I think we finally got to it on the second to last meeting, but even then they only did half and brought the rest home to finish.  The girls never really enjoyed the prepackaged crafts much.  They preferred things that they are able to be more creative with.    

Garden Scamper

On page 53 of the Garden Journey Handbook is a game called the Garden Scamper.  After thinking long and hard about how we would make this work for our 8 girls we came up with a sort of Duck Duck Goose version of the game.

Page 53 of Adult Journey Handbook

We had the girls sit in our Daisy Circle (without the parachute underneath, too slippery) with the two leaders in the circle as well.  We told the girls to think of animals they find in the garden (frog, squirrel, deer, butterfly, bird, etc...).  Then the person who was "it" (I started) walked around the back of the circle and picked one of the girls and an animal.  The girl who was picked then had to move around the circle pretending to be that animal.  After one lap she would get to be "it" and picked a new girl with a new animal.  We repeated this until every girl got to be "it."

At first, the girls were very put out that they would have to pretend to be the animal someone else chose and not the animal they chose.  They protested (some rather loudly).  When I saw this I realized it was a better game then I thought.  It teaches flexibility, rule following, and team work.   We were very firm in that they had to be the animal chosen for them.  That was the game.  With a little firm nudging the game went smoothly after the initial few minutes.  The girls who didn't like their animal were a little less enthusiastic in their acting, but they did it.  Occasionally, I or my co-leader showed them an idea for how to act like that animal which resulted in much hilarity and ice being broken.

I think all the girls really enjoyed the game and as a sort of "reward" for following the rules at the end we let all the girls pretend to be an animal of their choice in a big mishmash of loud and happy garden creatures.

Pretending to be a butterfly

Snack and Story Time

As usual, we had the girls sit back down on the floor and the two Snack Helpers handed out snack.  My co-leader began reading Gerri's Story: Playing by the Rules, our "Respect Authority" story, while I was setting up the next two activities.

The irony of it all was that the girls were paying absolutely no attention.  I don't think I had ever seen them act more disrespectful.  They were talking to each other, whining about their snacks, and rolling around on the floor.   One of them may have been trying to stand on her head.  (To be fair it was the Friday before Spring Break).

When my co-leader got to the end of the story not a single one knew what it was about. They were being so rude that I came over and interrupted, giving them a very firm talking to (borderline yelling) about their behavior especially during a story about Respecting Authority!  I was harsher than usual and they stared at me through wide eyes.  

After asking them to tell us who was in authority here (me and my co-leader) I told them we were going to try this again and this time I would tap them on the head if they were being disrespectful.  This time the girls sat and payed attention beautifully, very proud when I passed them by without a tap.  Several girls received light taps and shaped up quickly.

At the end, they received a lot of praise for doing it right this time and we were able to have a really nice discussion about the story, meeting rules, why we have rules, and respect.

Recommended Questions from Handbook

Thinking back, I couldn't have come up with a better lesson on Respecting Authority, though I have no idea how you would recreate it.

Make Gerri the Geranium (Half the girls)

Gerri the Geranium wasn't too hard to make.  We used a bit of paint to make it two toned and a little more fun.  (Everything more fun with paint.)

My Gerri

Supplies:

1.  Pictures of real geraniums.

2.  Green construction paper.
3.  Geranium leaves template in three different sized leaves.

I used a picture of a leaf as my template

4.  Green and blank tempera washable paint.
5.  Circular sponge paint brush.

Circle sponge brush

6.  Magenta card stock .
7.  Petal templates.

8. Violet tempera washable paint.
9.  Green sharpie.
10.  Glue.
11.  Stapler.
12.  Googly eyes.
13.  Red card stock (a small scrap is enough).
14.  Small paper plates.
15. Green pipe-cleaners.

Pre-meeting Prep:
1.  Use geranium leaf template to cut out several sizes of geranium leaves from green construction paper.  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 magenta petals per girl (and maybe a few extras just in case) from card stock.
3.  Cut out tiny lips (because you can't draw on paint) of red paper.
4.  Cut pipe-cleaners into 3/4 length.
5.  Lay out at each girls spot a paper plate with their name on it and several leaves.  In the center lay out 2-3 paper plates with green and black paint mixed to make a dark green and sponge brushes (luckily I had a full set of sponge shape brushes including four 1/2 inch circle brushes)

Gathering
1.  As the girls come in and take their seats, show them how to dab the paint onto the center of the leaves.
2.  When they are finished set them aside for later.  Make sure to wash out the brushes thoroughly so you can use them later for the center of the flower.

Later in meeting:

1.  After splitting girls into two groups, have them get their garden poster and begin gluing down a pip-cleaner stem. (At this point my girls were all complaining that their wasn't enough room for the new flower.  I would assure them that flower gardens were crowded).
2.  Go around and staple down the stems as the girls pass around pictures of real geraniums.

3.  Show the girls how to overlap and glue on their petals at the top of their stems.
4.  Have the girls glue on their leaves and use the green sharpie to attach the leaves to the stem.
5.  Use light purple paint (on a paper plate) and the newly cleaned circle sponge brushes to paint Gerri's face.
6.  Place eyes and lips on flower, glue most likely not necessary.  The paint seals them on.

One of the girl's Gerri's

Thank You Cards  (Half the Girls)

The other half of the girls went with my co-leader to make Thank You Cards (a sign of respect to those who helped us).  We had four cards to do:  Fire Department, Police Department, Tae Kwon Do Studio and the Bank.  We randomly divided the cards into two for each group of four girls.  Then my co-lead would ask the girls to dictate what they wanted to say on each card and write it down.  After that was done they divided the group of four into groups of two, who then used markers and stickers to decorate the front of their own card. Once all four cards were finished (and the Gerris were done) we had the girls go around and sign all four cards.

Mother, May I?

The best game to teach respectful speech and manners (in my opinion) was likely played by your parents and possibly their parents.  I certainly played "Mother, May I?" when I was little. 

Rules are simple.  Kids line up a good distance away from the person playing "Mother" (in this case me). "Mother" calls out the name of one of the kids and gives them a certain number of a certain type of steps forward.  For example:  1 giant step, 5 baby steps, 2 backwards steps, 2 hops, 3 crawls, 1 leap, 3 spinning steps, 6 itty bitty ballerina steps...etc.  Let your imagination go wild.  Before they can move forward, the kid needs to remember to say, "Mother, may I?"  To which "Mother" responds, "Yes, you may,"  and the child proceeds forward.  If the child starts to move without saying "Mother May I?" it's back to the starting line for them.

We had our girls pack up and put on their coats and shoes.  Then we played this game in the front yard until (and while) the parents arrived.  It must have still been chilly out, because I have a vivid memory of the girls leaping across the yard bundled up in their winter coats.  It was a fun way to end the meeting.  Just today my daughter was trying to persuade her brother to play Mother, May I? with her.

Closing Circle: 

Yeah ... the girls were picked up from the front yard.  We skipped this part.

Homework/Handouts:

The girls had the usual handout for "Respecting Authority." 

Safety Center Field Trip

Second week in March

A Safety Center (in case you don't have one in your area) is simply a building that houses both the local sheriff's deputies and the fire station.  Ours actually shared a conference room and since they are in the middle of an enormous residential area with a ton of kids were very used to giving kids talks there.  We did a 45 minute tour/talk with the police and about 30 minutes with the fire department.  It was pretty awesome!

Safety Center

The plan was to go to a local park after and have the girls play while we did our "safety test" individually.  But all good plans... it snowed earlier that week and we moved that part to my house.  Less fun, but it worked.

Goal and Badges:

This field trip was designed to tie into the Magenta "Respect Authority" Petal.  We also used it as an opportunity to get the Safety Pin.  The Police taught the girls about "911" and what to do if an adult is chocking or in trouble and the Fireman went over "Stop, Drop, and Roll."

Daisy Safety Pin

Sheriff's Department

We met with the Sheriff's deputies first.  They brought us into the conference room and talked to the girls about the role of deputies in our community, when and how to get their help of the girls needed it, and all about "911."  The deputies also talked for a while about when it was appropriate to call 911 and when it wasn't.  Apparently, they get quite a few calls when a sibling is being "mean" to them.

Then they showed them around the station, including dispatch, a holding cell (their favorite part), their break room and the garage with the police cars.  They let the girls look inside the car and set off the different sirens.  They even let the girls see some of their gadgets like the radar gun.  At the end, they got magnets and sheriff's badge stickers to take home.


Fire department

Next, one of the firemen came to show the girls around (wow, those firemen were young.  Made me feel old.)  First they brought the girls into their big garage and showed them their equipment and the fire truck.  (They didn't get to go on.  I'm not sure why.  My daughter was acting up at this point and I was dealing with her.)  The fireman (kid) taught the girls a little bit about fire safety and "stop, drop, and roll."  

Then he showed us around their kitchen (um... a million times nicer then the sheriff's department's which had a refrigerator, a microwave, and a soda machine), their enormous rec room with reclining chairs and beautiful murals, and their impressive work-out room.

By this time the girls' patience was wearing thin and they were taking turns being a pain in the rear.  It was time to give them a snack pack and head back to my house.


Safety Pin/ Safety Test

Some of you my have read the word "test" as I've been mentioning this and thought "Whoa now, this is Daisy Scouts not school!  Isn't a test a little much?"  I do agree that Girl Scouts should not be a pressure thing.  These kids have enough of that put on them already, but we thought the Safety Pin was important enough to do a little differently.

In general, even though we have homework sheets, for the previous badges and patches if the girl showed up they got the petal or patch.  For the Safety Pin the girls actually had to prove that they knew the material.  We tried to make it as low stress as possible and to set the girls up for success.  We sent the mothers the test weeks before to go over with their daughters.   And we made the test optional.  In other words, if you wanted the pin you could take the test.  If you didn't want to take the test, you didn't get the pin, but that was perfectly fine and no one would put pressure on them to go for the pin.  If they didn't pass the test they could retake it until they did.

This is the test we gave the girls:

Question and answer key

Safety Test 

First, we asked the girls for volunteers, then I took them upstairs in pairs (yes, there was another adult in the room per gs regulations) and asked the following the questions.  I would prompt them for the first two questions if they weren't able to answer immediately, but they needed to know their phone number (the mom's told me ahead of time which number they were memorizing) and their street address all by themselves. 

1. Q: Girls will be asked “What do you do if your clothes catch on fire?”

     A: They need to say, “Stop, Drop, and Roll” and demonstrate this.

This was something the girls had just done with the fire department, so not that hard.  We did have them actually do the "stop, drop and roll."  Some girls were faster to jump to it then others but overall I didn't have any problems with this question.

2. Q:  Girls will be asked “What do you do if you think someone is choking?”

     A:   They need to say “Ask are you ok?”  If the person choking can’t answer then the girl has to say, “Get a grown up.”

         Q:   What do you do if it is the only grown up there

         A:    Girls say "Dial 911”

So to be honest, we had trouble deciding what to do here.  'Cause really I'm not teaching a five year-old the Heimlich Maneuver.  That's just ridiculous.  This is what we came up with and I think it's pretty reasonable.  It also applies to other situations when an adult is just not OK.

This was probably the most fun for the girls because they got to take turns pretending to be the person choking and allowing their partner to try to figure out if she could talk.  Then we would go through the sequence of things they should do.  This loosened them up a bit for the hard part.

3. Q:  Know their address. 

       A:  They need to know street address, and “Home Town, Virginia.”  They don’t need to know the zip code.  

We didn't require their zip code, because, really, if they were lost no one was going to ask their zip code.  Also our street numbers are long.  With five numbers for their street address and nine for the phone numbers that's a lot to memorize.   

Many of the girls had trouble with their town, funny enough, though since they did the test in pairs, usually at least one girl would know it. Some times they needed prompts like "what do we call our pool, or what does mommy say when she says we live in ____."  I did have the explain which was the state and which was the town quite often, but, hey, they're little.  We let that slide.

4. Q:  Know their Phone number

                 A: They need to know one phone number (let me know which one it will be).  They should be able to enter it into a phone and know the number without prompting.

This was the one I was strictest about.  I wanted all the girls to be able to call their mom or dad at any time, for safety sake.  I was going to let them actually call home on my cell, but we ran out of time. 

I regretted teaching them a little when my daughter started calling me at work just to say she missed me or to ask if she could have this or that.  Oh well, at least I know she knows it and I got a few cute voicemails out of it.

In the end, all the girls got their pin.  Only one didn't get it that first day.  She froze and couldn't answer the last two questions.  She didn't seem too upset though and got her pin during the next meeting after practicing at home a little more.