"Cultivating Thoughts" With Your Scouts

My sixth grader and her classmates had to complete a special assignment modeled after Chipotle's "Cultivating Thoughts" essay contest.  In Language Arts, they read Fue Xiong's essay "Two Minutes About Sardines" and were asked to write a narrative story about a time when food created a lasting memory.  The stories and a snack donated by Chipotle will be shared by the students at school tomorrow.  A more detailed description of the assignment can be found on my website.

I love this idea, and I brainstormed ways to incorporate it with Girl Scouts.  As you continue reading this post, I encourage you to consider how these ideas could work within your individual troop, for troops at your school, and for troops in your Service Unit. 

1. Read Xiong's essay to the girls.
2. Choose an idea from the list below.
3. Girls write narratives.  Details can be found here.
4. Print the essays on brown paper bags (or use a glue stick to adhere printer paper to the bag).
5. Distribute bags to the girls.
6. Share a snack.

Thinking Day
After the Thinking Day ceremony, have girls write a narrative about the state or country they chose to represent.  They could choose to write the story from a local person's point of view or from the point of view of a visitor.

Or have them write a narrative as a Girl Scout in the chosen state or country.

Juliette Gordon Low and Girl Scout Birthday
To celebrate the founder of Girl Scouts or organization's birthday, girls could:

• listen to leaders present facts about Juliette Gordon Low's life
• read a story about her
• research the founder of Girl Scouts on their own

Write a narrative.  Consider:

• writing from Juliette's point of view
• How has her work with early scouting impacted your life?

Juniors Scribe badge--satisfy a step or two for this badge, depending on your interpretations of the steps.

Service Projects
Ask the girls to choose their favorite service project.  They may wish to consider the following when making a decision:

• A service project completed this school year
• Favorite service project completed as a Girl Scout
• The most enjoyable service project
• The service project that made the biggest impact (on her or on those served)

Write a narrative about the project.  Again, they can write from a personal point of view or from the point of view of those being served.

These thoughts are the product of a quick brainstorm.  If you have additional ideas, please comment below, and I can update the post.  Thank you for reading!

Cupcake Club: December

My older daughter moved up to the middle school for sixth grade this year.  She considered joining several clubs before deciding to begin the Cupcake Club.  For the idea to be considered by administrators, she had to draft a proposal.  She and I discussed possible questions the teachers may have about the club, and she composed a plan to present to the school's front office.  The proposal was accepted, and a teacher agreed to be the club's advisor.

The group met after school one afternoon in October to discuss how the participants would obtain cupcakes, frosting, and supplies for the meetings.  They also shared favorite flavor combinations and possible themes for future meetings.  The club did not meet in November, and I helped with the December meeting.

My daughter baked two batches of Christmas Funfetti cupcakes the evening before the meeting.  We bought two tubs of vanilla frosting, and the kids used a bag of Rolos, and a large bag of M&Ms to decorate the cupcakes as ornaments as pictured here. 

After enjoying one of their creations, club members agreed to donate the remaining treats to the police and fire stations around the corner from the school. (I wish I could post a group picture, but I don't have permission).

The next time your Girl Scout troop is preparing for holiday parties and service projects, recreate your own Cupcake Club. Girls will have fun decorating cupcakes (craft). They could enjoy one (snack) before heading out to deliver the rest (service project).  What a great way to celebrate Juliette Gordon Low's birthday or the birthday of the Girl Scouts!  In addition, your girls could satisfy a badge step for the Brownies Snack badge or the Juniors Simple Meals badge. 

The Cupcake Club meets again this week to decorate cupcakes they'll sell during a Bake Sale during basketball games at the school.  I'll let you know how it goes.  As always, thank you for reading!

Blackout Poetry

Last month, my 11-year-old daughter and I attended Books by the Banks in Cincinnati. While she was preoccupied with alcohol-inked ceramic tiles and activities that taught her how to solder and create a paper circuit with copper tape and a LED diode, my eye was drawn to the Blackout Poetry station at the end of the table. For more details about the time we spent at this event, please visit this post I've published on my website.

A few days after the event, I decided I wanted to create my own example of Blackout Poetry for this post. I pulled out the pages provided at the event and read over the text, drawing boxes around words to form a poem.  I illustrated my poem with Sharpie markers. Instead of drawing footprints on a beach, I could have chosen to sketch a pattern or design.

The words I chose to highlight read as follows:

walking
alone
There’s nothing.
dead silence
wipe the sweat
inspect the damage
I know the path
I keep walking.
I feel…tired.

Any sheet of paper with printed words will work for this activity–consider pages from a book, newspaper, or magazine. Try different mediums to achieve the desired effect–crayons, markers, colored pencils, or paint. With Blackout Poetry, the possibilities are endless.


How can you incorporate this activity with your Girl Scout troop?

• Provide supplies at the next troop holiday party. The printed pages can be related to the party theme.
• Print pages about Juliette Gordon Low for a JGL or Girl Scout Birthday celebration.
• Copy a page from The Brownie Story (The Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting or a related website).
• Before or after your troop bridges, find a page from a ceremony script or a related story.
• For Juniors working on the Scribe badge, this activity satisfies Step 1 (Start with a Poem).
• For Juniors working on the Drawing badge, this activity satisfies Step 1 (Experiment with Different Shading Materials). In fact, depending on what is drawn, girls could satisfy all the steps with this activity.
• Plan some time for Blackout Poetry during a Self-Esteem Workshop. This activity offers girls a different avenue for expression, and it's another way to emphasize how special and unique each individual is.

I've presented several ways to introduce Blackout Poetry to the girls in your troop. I'm sure readers will come up with other applications. Please feel free to post your art in the comments section below. I'd love to see it!  Thank you for reading.

Girl Scout Week and Founder's Day Fun

My daughter's fifth grade reading class was assigned a historical fiction quilt project this quarter.  Impressed with this assignment, I immediately started brainstorming how this project could be modified for Girl Scouts and even for younger children not involved in Scouts.  Since my daughter was the one completing the work, I asked for her feedback.  After sharing ideas with each other, we thought it could be fun for troops to incorporate this project into a Founder's Day or Girl Scout Week celebration.  Girl Scout Week always includes the organization's birthday, March 12.  After modifying the assignment with Girl Scouts in mind, we came up with the following variations to the original project.

 
1.  Girls of all ages can learn about Juliette Gordon Low, the Founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. 

• Borrow a book about Juliette Gordon Low from the library or your Girl Scout Council.
• Leaders prepare in advance or allow time for the girls to find facts about our Founder on different websites to share with the troop.
• Girls in the troop can perform the Juliette Gordon Low Interactive Story like we did here.  

2.   Specifically for Daisy Girl Scouts:

• Girls in the troop can perform a the Juliette Gordon Low Interactive Story like we did here.  
• Share the story of Juliette Gordon Low and her magnificent strand of pearls as we did during this meeting.
• Before the meeting, divide the paper into nine equal sections. 
• Instruct the girls to draw the following pictures:  Juliette Gordon Low as a young woman, Georgia (known as the Peach State), horses, London (British flag or Big Ben?), Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, a strand of pearls, and the world.  The ninth square could be reserved for each girl to draw what Girl Scouts means to her.  
• The girls can write on their squares, but it's unnecessary if they can remember the story based on the pictures they have drawn.

3.  Specifically for Brownies:

• See #1 and #2 above.
• Have the girls take turns reading The Brownie Story.  A version of the story is included in the Brownie Girl's Guide to Girl Scouts, but there are several creative skits and ceremonies that revolve around this story that can be found online. They could make their quilt squares by following the writing and coloring instructions in the photo posted above. 

4.  Older Girl Scouts may wish to learn about influential women who were once Girl Scouts.  

• A quick online search reveals comprehensive lists of names from which to choose.  
• Each girl selects eight or nine women to learn more about.
• Collect a couple facts about each person.
• Divide the paper into nine equal sections.  Write about and color one section for each of the women.
• That ninth square could be reserved for her to draw and write about what Girl Scouts means to her.

5.  For large troops or when there's not enough time to complete this entire project during a meeting:

• Have the girls work in groups.  
• Each group selects nine influential women who were once Girl Scouts.  
• The girls choose facts about those women for the quilt squares.  
• Give each girl squares that were cut to the desired size prior to the meeting.
• Each girl completes the square(s), depending on the number of girls in the group.  
• Tape the squares together.
• Share the quilts with the rest of the troop.

6.  Not in Scouts?  My daughters love to read.  They often like to write stories and draw pictures.  If you know kids like mine, this could be a great way to entertain them on a day when they claim there's nothing to do. 

• The Who Was series of books by various authors are geared toward readers ages 8 to 12 (grades 3 to 7).  Who Was Anne Frank? is a great example.  These books are around 100 pages long, so it may not take them too long to finish reading before they can get to work on the quilt.

• Brad Meltzer's Ordinary People Change the World is an adorable series geared toward readers ages 5 to 8 (grades K to 3).  Like I am Amelia Earhart, these books are around 40 pages long.  I think older kids would even enjoy Meltzer's stories and the illustrations by Christopher Eliopoulos.  I know I did!    

With help, a preschooler could work on this project to feature his or her favorite books.  Preserving a preschooler's work in a picture frame will be treasured for years to come. 

• Have the child choose his or her favorite books. 
• Using a Sharpie and a ruler, divide a 12"x12" sheet of white cardstock into nine 4"x4" squares or four 6"x6" squares.
• Read one of the books together.
• An adult records the title of the book and what the child reports as his or her favorite part of the story.
• The child draws or colors on the square on his or her own, or an adult can draw a picture for the child to color.  
• Over time, the squares will be completed. 
• Display this art in a 12"x12" frame.

While this began as a language arts project in a traditional classroom, I have shared ways to modify the project for Girl Scouts, kids who love to read, and kids who may need a little encouragement to read more frequently.  If you try this project with the children in your life, I would love to see the finished quilts!  Thank you for reading.

Girl Scouts is SO Much More than "Crafts and Singing"

I have loved my first two years as a Girl Scout leader because Girl Scouts is so much more to me than crafts, songs, petals, and patches.  In addition to spending scheduled quality time with my daughters twice a month, I get the opportunity to serve some of the young girls in our community.  I am honored that other parents allow their daughters to spend time with us.  I get excited when girls in our troop express that they value helping others and making our world a better place.  I challenge you to embrace your role as a troop leader.  Your meetings can be about so much more than "crafts and singing."  The Girl Scout Law provides guidance for lessons, activities, and projects.  As the girls learn the Law, they will be growing into strong and secure young women.  THAT is what Girl Scouts is all about.

Here is the schedule we followed our first year:

1. First Meeting
2. Founder’s Day
3. Tour Library—Apply for library card  (orange petal)
4. Investiture Ceremony (receive blue center and orange petal)
5. Make gift for the elderly  (spring green and rose petals)
6. Service Unit Christmas Party 
7. Service Unit Skating Party  (red petal)
8. Plan Thinking Day tea party and Review for Cookie Sale
9. Service Unit Bowling Party  (red petal)
10. Tour Police Dept (magenta petal)
11. Thinking Day tea party (receive spring green petal)
12. Recognize Girl Scout Birthday (March 12^th)  discuss Soles for Souls               (rose petal)
13. Tour Fire Dept (receive magenta petal) 
14. "Horseback riding"--pony rides   (receive red petal)
15. Speaker (eye glasses recycling)  (rose petal)
16. Jump Zone with Service Unit
17. shoe and eye glasses collection  (receive rose petal)  
18. End of Year Party:  Paint Pottery
19. Backyard Camping and Hike at Woodland Mound 
20. Tour of Sunrock Farm

Here is the schedule we followed our second year:

1. S’mores Fest!  Camp Butterworth
2. Kickoff Party
3. Game Day (receive light blue petal)
4. Fire Station Tour (for 3 girls who joined our troop this year) (magenta petal)
5. Shaw Farm Halloween Party   
6. Founder’s Day: Investiture Ceremony for New Daisies and Manicure Party (dark purple petal)
7. Roller Skating with SU at Beechmont Rollerarena
8. “Everybody Counts”  (receive dark purple petal)
9. Christmas Ornaments for Nursing Home Residents  (Money Counts Leaf)
10. Deliver Ornaments/Christmas Party (flower pot snowman)
11. Cookie Sale Review     (Talk it Up Leaf)   Decorate  clipboards.
12. “Everybody Counts” (speaker and sign language demonstration)    Make friendship pins.  Make Ice Cream Social invitations.  (dark purple petal)
13. Thinking Day:  GREECE--Snack, Dance, Game, Craft, Outfit, presentation
14. GS Birthday:  Ice Cream Social with Sister Troop (receive violet petal) 
15. Animal Shelter Tour (receive yellow petal)
16. Jump Zone with Service Unit 
17. ZOO  (receive green petal)
18. CocoKey Water Park               
19. “Near Sleepover:"  ZINK THE ZEBRA, ribbon flip flops, PJ collection
20. Bridge to Brownies Ceremony

I do not believe our way is the only way, but it has worked well for us.  I would love to hear what has worked for your troop.  Hopefully you have found inspiration in this post.  Thank you for reading!