Meeting #7: Volunteering at the Food Bank

We couldn't have the school for our meeting tonight so it was a perfect night to go to the food bank. Every day they get more leftover bread from the grocery stores than they can use so our job was to dump the old stuff. And the girls had a blast! We dumped 115 bread flats in about an hour.

We ran out of dumpster space and we had some time before the parents came so I taught them a game I learned at conference. 

What Are You Doing?--the girls line up in two single file lines, with the girls at the head of each line facing each other. One girl starts doing an action, say tying her shoe the other girl asks, "What are you doing?"  The first girl names an action she isn't doing, say eating an ice cream cone. The second girl starts doing that action while the first girl goes to the end of her line. Then they just keep doing this. 

I thought they'd ask to stop, but they seemed to really like it and played for about 20 minutes. It was a great leaving (or coming) game because the number of girls didn't affect game play. They could pop in and out line easily!

Nova Scotia Guider Conference

This past weekend, I attended the biannual Nova Scotia Guider Conference. Every two years, Province puts on a learning weekend for all provincial Guiders (and Rangers this year). It's a great time with lots of learning and laughing.

On Friday, once we found the hotel (Truro is not that big!), it started with the Opening Ceremonies. Our Chief Commissioner Sharon Callahan was a surprise guest and said some words, along with our Provincial Commissioner Holly Thompson. The MC and Conference Chair Debbie Mellish was hilarious the whole weekend and did a great job keep things moving. Then we sang Make New Friends in a round and it sounded great.

Make new friends and keep the old
One is silver and the other gold.

A circle is round and has no end
That's how long I want to be your friend.

Then we invited all of District Guiders who were there (6, plus our Area Commissioner) back to our room to hang out and we had lots of fun.

Climbing Jacob's ladder

In the morning after breakfast, we had a joint session on Social Media, let by @talya_talks, who moderates GGC's social media sites like @girlguidesofcan and the GGC Facebook page. Nova Scotia has just started their Twitter feed @GGCNovaScotia and Facebook page and Talya talked about how we can help build that up and why it's important. I don't tweet often--I use my Twitter for reading mostly--but I then spent the day tweeting all about conference #nsguiderconference.

My morning was a double session, which was a hike and geocaching. Victoria Park is a 400-acre woodland park and trail system right in Truro--we could walk there from the hotel. We stopped to try to find a geocache at a small park on the way, but it was hidden too well! We were all around it but just couldn't figure out where it was.

At the falls

There are two main features at Victoria Park. The first is Jacob's Ladder, a 175-step climb! There is a break about halfway up, which most people took advantage of. The picture is from the halfway point, so we still had a ways to go!

The second are the falls--Waddell Falls and Joseph Howe Falls. We'd had a wet week leading up to the weekend, so the falls were flowing beautifully. We were hiking for 3 hours and it was great to get out of the hotel and in the fresh air. Brenda Harvey was our facilitator and since she is local to the area, had lots of great information and tidbits about the park and Truro.

Girl Guide tree carving

The streets of Truro have tree carvings that were commissioned when a lot of the old elm trees had to be cut down due to Dutch Elm disease. On the way back from Victoria Park, we went down the street that had the one that the Colchester Area Girl Guides commissioned.

My first session after lunch was called Trendy Crafts for Guides and Pathfinders. Jennifer Trott-Zisserson is a Guider who is also a Grade 5 teacher and she loves to craft purposeful crafts--more than just colouring and fun foam, which is good for the younger levels but the older girls do want more. She explained Pinterest to those who didn't know what it was and talked about some great craft ideas, like screen printing. Then we got to do some crafts of our own. She had three quick crafts for us to try.

Glitter balls--these are really easy and really pretty. You take a clear plastic or glass ornament ball that you can find at Michael's. You pour clear Pledge cleaner into the ball and swish it around to coat the inside and then pour the excess back into the bottle. Then you pour glitter into the ball and it sticks to the Pledge. It takes more glitter than you expect! And that's it!

Morse Code necklaces/bracelets: This was tedious, though smaller finger might do better with it, and I do like how it turned out. You think up a message in Morse code and write it out (mine says "4th HP Guides"). You add the clasp with crimping beads, then add your message, using long beads for dashes and round beads for dots. You can put crimping beads at each end of your message if you want to keep the message from sliding on the necklace.

Duct Tape Roses: I really liked these and they were quite easy to make too. Cut strips of colourful duct tape into 1" or 1.5" inch strips. You need about 20 (mine had about 10 on it). You fold one corner down not all the way to edge and then fold the other corner down to make a point in the middle. You can either roll it up on itself or around a pencil (like I did). Repeat this for all the other pieces, wrapping them around the first one and staggering the points.

My last session was Drama Queens--Using Drama with Guides and Pathfinders. I signed up for this because I'm not always imaginative and I don't enjoy drama so I wanted some new ideas. As a result, I was dreading it because I knew I'd be out of my comfort zone, but it ended up being my favourite session! There were 15 of us in the session and it was led by Charlotee Dornadic and Darlene Duggan. Charlotte is a drama teacher and has been a Girl Guide member for over 55 years. We learned lots of games and there were a number of outgoing, drama-types in the session, so we laughed a lot too.

We had a bit of time after our last session before supper so we worked on the Scavenger Hunt. With our registration package, we got a list of about 40 questions, and the answers were posted around the hotel. We were proudest of the fact that the largest Pathfinder unit in the province is found in our District!

Dinner was a sit-down turkey dinner. Though we did mix and mingle throughout the day, we had a lovely meal with all of the Guiders from our District. We were joined by some Guiders who had just come for the day, as well as some who we hadn't connected with the night before.

After dinner we had a short group session on the changes to Safe Guide, including the importance of everyone reading the SG4 and knowing what to do in case of an emergency. After that we had campfire, which is always fun. We learned some new songs and sang some old favourites. I finally liked the song "Three Sharp-Toothed Buzzards"! I never understood it before. And Ain't No Flies on Us brought out the competitive side in everyone involved!

We had another evening of fun and good times in our hotel room. We were all very thankful that the clocks went back an hour and we got an extra hour of sleep!

Sunday started after breakfast with an Ideas Market. People bring hat crafts and crafts and crests to sell to raise money for various things like CWFF or international trips. There were camps promoting their facilities and an Area promoting their challenge. 

And we ended the weekend with a closing, giving out door prizes and Scavenger Hunt winners. We ended with Go Well and Safely, one of my favourites, and Daytime Taps.

Conference is always a fun weekend. There are lots of sessions available. Commissioners did COGS, there were the Program Stream sessions, people skills, crafts, drama, outdoor skills. The Conference Team did an amazing job putting everything together and I can't wait until it's time to do it again in two years time!

Meeting #6: Halloween Party

You and Others: Learn How to Plan (YaO3)

The Guides planned the party, so we didn't have to do anything! I love these kinds of nights!

6:30-7:00: They arrived and had fun looking at each other's costumes. When they got to rowdy, we corralled them into their patrol tables and told them to go over the activity they were leading that night.

7:00-7:10: We went down to the lobby and paraded around with the Sparks and Brownies units to see everyone costumes.

7:10-7:30: The Red Roses read the ghost story that they wrote the week before and then the Scarlet Tanagers led everyone in some Halloween songs.

7:30-7:50: Let the games begin! The Forget-Me-Nots brought in a drawing of a witch and made paper wands for everyone to play Pin the Wand on the Witch. Then they split the unit into two teams and they gave them five minutes to wrap the tallest girl in toilet paper to make a mummy. The girls had a lot of fun with both games.

7:50-8:20: Snacks! They brought in lots of good food and it was all delicious. There were cupcakes, brownies, cookies, fruit, and chips.

8:20-8:30: Cleanup and closing

They all did a great job with their assigned activities and they had lots of fun at the party that they created! (YaO3#1)

Meeting #5: Party Planning and Enrollment

You and Others: Learn How to Plan

You in Guiding: Understand the Promise and Law and Motto

The Guides requested that they could plan their Halloween party so we spent the first part of the meeting letting them do that.

6:30-7:15: Since we would be doing Horseshoe for Enrollment, we just got started with the planning right away. Each patrol drew an activity to plan: Games, Food, Ghost Story, Campfire Songs.

7:15-7:45: After planning, we rehearsed Enrollment. We used the Enrollment Ceremony from Hollah Guiding. We practiced putting together the puzzle pieces the Guides had made last week. We set it up on the floor in the middle of the Horseshoe and just went in order from #1 to #24. (We have 22 girls, so as Leaders, we just cut two pieces in half to get four pieces for us.)

7:45-8:15: We only have 4 first years this year, and 2 of them weren't there, so it was a small ceremony! We handed out everyone's Patrol Emblems and Year pins, and the first years earned their first little square. We did the Law with our actions and I'm impressed at how quickly they've learned the Law when before they always stumbled over it.

Then we served cake and juice. I made the cake into a puzzle piece, using a jelly roll sized cake pan and then cutting out jigsaw pieces and attaching them to the sides.

8:15-8:30: We started to learn Swinging Along in parts, and then repeated Magalina Hagalina and Tony Chestnut, then did closing.

Meeting #4: Understand the Promise and Law and Motto

Understand the Promise and Law and Motto (YiG1)

Discovering You: Discover What's Important to You (DY1)

Patrol Time: Another idea stolen from Hollah Guiding! We printed off pages with a picture of a bag and had the girls "fill them" with things they'd need to Be Prepared for that activity. Each Patrol had Guide Meeting, Choose a Sport, and Camp. (Be Prepared Template, Word Doc) (YiG1#3)

Horseshoe: With only 4 new Guides out of 23, we didn't need to teach horseshoe this year! We just did it and they followed along. Then we did the Promise and the Law with our new actions, which definitely helped us remember them without looking!

Once in Horseshoe, we talked about what we were doing that night, and then sat down and each group shared what they put in their Be Prepared bags for each activity. They did a great job and remembered a lot of good things!

Skits: The Patrols presented their puppet skits, using the puppets and skits they created last week. After they presented their skits, we guessed which Law they had chosen. (YiG#1)

Puzzle Pieces: I took their interest lists from last week and found clipart for everything. I printed them off, and gave them stickers and they had markers and they decorated their puzzle pieces that we had prepared from two pieces of Bristol board (explained at Hollah Guiding). They all turned out really well! (DY1#2)

Handshake Dance: We played a few rounds of Handshake Dance, where you dance to music and then when the music stops, find someone and shake left hands to remember how Girl Guides around the world shake hands. (YiG1#4)

Reef Knot race: Everyone had a scarf and each patrol had to tie them together using reef knots. (YiG1#5)

Songs: I've been looking at the Sing Ontario Sing 2013 challenge and wanting to learn some new songs. I compiled all the lyrics of the songs I didn't know and researched them on either YouTube or got the mp3 from tune.e-guiding.com.  I'll put the playlist on in the car to help engrain the tunes into my head. And since we had some time, we learned Magalina Hagalina and Tony Chestnut. The Guides actually knew some of these from in school. (Sing Ontario Sing Word doc).

Closing: The Guides asked about a Halloween party and want to plan it like they did last year. So next week, before we have Enrollment, we'll let them plan the party.

Nostaglia: Guiding Gear

A rare non-programming post. :)

At my parents' house this weekend, I found my Guiding gear from the early 80s.  I'm surprised to see the number of badges that haven't changed in 30 years!

Beside my Brownie enrollment pin is a pin that has a trefoil with a trillium flower that says GGC Ontario. I think I got it when we did an exchange trip with a group of Pathfinders in Ottawa. They came to see us one summer and we went up there the next one. My billet's name was Virginia. :)

I also found a tin full of my swimming badges and Canada Fitness test badges. So I have a lot of work to do on my camp blanket now!

I also found my camp hat. The best one (most representative of PEI) was this bag of potatoes:

Meeting #3: Law and Elections

You in Guiding: Understanding the Promise and Law and Motto (YiG1)

Since we don't have Patrols (yet), we let the girls just fill up four tables, with 6 girls at each table.

We gave them two activities to do:
1. Pick activities from the sections of the Fit for Life Challenge that they'd like to do so we can help plan how to do them.
2. Tell us 5 things that interest them. This is in preparation of our enrollment ceremony, which we are borrowing from Hollah Guiding.

We started the night by asking who wanted to be Patrol Leaders and who wanted to be Seconders. We have five 3rd years who wanted to run for PL, and we had seven 2nd years at first, but then 3 decided they didn't want to give speeches. So we ended up with 9 girls running for 8 positions, which is always sad for someone. (YiG1#2)

The girls gave great speeches--the third years were all prepared with speeches written down. We did the votes--each girl voted for 4 PL and 4 S, and had to write 8 different names down. The voting was really close and came within 1 vote for the girl who didn't get in. But she'll have another chance next year. The fifth place PL automatically became a Seconder, since it's her last year.

While the votes were being counted, we did another activity from Hollah Guiding. We made up actions for the Law. I generally got 2 or 3 suggestions (weeding out the silly ones) and then voted on each law for the favourite. Here's what we came up with. (YiG1#1)

The Guiding Law Challenges me to:
Be honest and trustworthy (make a unicorn horn with your finger, since unicorns are honest and trustworthy)
Use my resources wisely (spread arms out to show all our resources)
Respect myself and others (one hand on your heart and then sweep it around the circle)
Recognize and use my talents and abilities (dance action)
Protect our common environment (hold out hands like you're holding up the earth)
Live with courage and strength (flex one arm)
Share in the sisterhood of Guiding (make a heart shape with your hands in front of your chest)

Once we finished this, we named the PLs, and then the Seconders got to choose which PL she wanted to work with. Then we drew names and girls could pick their patrols. Once a Patrol had 6 girls, it was full and the Patrol sat down. The Patrol Leaders picked their Emblems (we have Red Roses, Forget-Me-Nots, Scarlet Tanagers, and Sparrows).

Law Puppet Skits (YiG1#1)

I found this idea on GuideyDiary and thought it would be nice to focus on the Law. Each Patrol picked a Law and we gave them 10 minutes to come up with their skit ideas.

Then we gave them 30 minutes to make the Paint Stick Puppets. Basically, it's a paint stick, with material to make a dress, yarn for the hair, pipecleaner for arms and then ribbons and such to decorate. They turned out really well!

Next week, we'll have time to show the skits. So we gathered in the puppets so they'd have them next week.

Then we cleaned up and had closing and handed out cookie cases!