Juniors and Brownies: A Blended Troop, Part One

During the 2013-2014 school year, I was a leader for two different troops.  There were eight Brownies in one troop and five Daisies in another troop.  The older troop generally met on the first and third Wednesdays of the month while the younger girls usually met on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month.  We combined the troops for service projects and special events.  Unfortunately, due to various circumstances, we decided to disband the Daisy troop at the end of the year.  

Three of the girls in that Daisy troop are the younger sisters of girls in the older troop.  After being apart for one school year, these three girls have gotten back together and joined the older girls' troop.  We now have a blended troop of five Juniors and three Brownies.  

The Juniors started this year by meeting every Wednesday in September to work on the aMUSE Journey.  We invited the younger girls to the first meeting in October.  This was the official start to our year. 

Though the girls are all familiar with each other, we began the meeting with a variation of this M&M icebreaker.  I gave each girl about a dozen M&Ms.  They were allowed to eat all but one.  They each answered a question that corresponded to the color of the M&M they had left in their hand.  Here are the questions that were asked:

• Red:  If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  Why?
• Orange:  If you were going to eat one last meal, what would it be?
• Yellow:  If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?  Why?
• Green:  What do you want to be when you grow up?
• Blue:  What is your favorite subject in school?  Why?
• Brown:  What is the best gift you've ever given someone?

We then asked the older girls to take turns reading The Brownie Story to the younger girls.  I provided the version 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.  Then the girls lined up in two lines facing each other, and the younger girls walked through the tunnel.  They each had the opportunity to "twist and turn" and "look in the water."  

We spent the next several minutes watching the Girl Scout Law Song on YouTube.  After running through the video two or three times, the girls knew the song...and the Girl Scout Law!  

At this point in the meeting, the Juniors were given time to finish painting the scenery for the puppet show they had written during the aMUSE Journey.  The younger girls made a new kaper chart for the troop, making sure to include kapers the troop decided upon together.  This concluded our first meeting together as a blended troop.  Thanks for reading!

Additional Kaper Chart Ideas

In a previous post, I provided a detailed description of the kaper chart we used when our girls were Daisies.  Our kaper chart needed to be changed to better meet the needs of our smaller Brownie troop. 

To make this kaper chart, I used a glue stick to adhere an 8.5x11" piece of cardstock to a thin piece of cardboard.  The white tags originally came in a package from a craft store, but they could easily be made from cardstock by cutting a rectangle and snipping the two corners off one end.  The kaper titles were cut using the Cricut Simply Sweet cartridge.  I purchased some Brownie Girl Scout stickers from Michaels.  We used the stickers to decorate the pill bottle first aid kits at camp.  There were plenty of stickers remaining, so I used them to decorate this kaper chart.  The clothespins are the same ones we have used for the past two years.  (I did write the names of the girls on the flip side of each clothespin so their names would be facing the right direction when clipped to the left side of the chart.  Unfortunately I thought to do this after I had taken this photo). 

We will recite the Pledge of Allegiance, the Girl Scout Promise, and the Girl Scout Law at every meeting.  We will have someone perform the closing before we dismiss each meeting.  We may not have a craft, sing a song, or play a game each time we are together.  We decided that the girls who do not happen to have an assigned kaper are helpers for that particular meeting. The kapers are recorded along with attendance to ensure everyone has an opportunity to do each job.

In late September of this year, we had our first camping overnight trip.  I wanted to create a kaper chart specifically for use at mealtime while we were at camp.  I looked at different images of kaper charts online for inspiration.  This was the final product:

I used a glue stick to adhere a 12x12" piece of cardstock to a thin piece of cardboard.  I realize this chart is rather busy.  Looking back, I should have probably used a larger piece of posterboard and cut it to down to 15x15" or even 18x18".  The title was cut using the Simply Sweet Cricut cartridge.  The critters were created using the Give a Hoot Cricut cartridge.

The kapers are listed down the left side of the chart.  Those assigned to be the HOSTESS set the table and made an announcement to everyone that it was time to wash hands and find a seat at the table.  Those assigned to be SERVERS passed out drinks and delivered individual plates to each girl at the table.  Those assigned to CLEAN UP cleared the table and tossed garbage into the trash can or recycling bin. 

We divided our girls into equal groups (we have six girls, so we had three groups of two).  Two girls were assigned to be hedgehogs. Two other girls were assigned to be owls while the remaining two girls were in the peacock group.  For example, The hedgehogs were hostesses at dinner.  They served the meal at breakfast.  They would have cleaned up at lunch if we had eaten lunch at camp.  This chart met our needs.  The girls remembered their groups, so meals went rather smoothly.

Our neighbors at the lodge happened to be a troop of seventh graders.  They were finishing their dinner while we were sitting down to eat.  We invited the older girls to teach our Brownies a grace to sing before dinner. The older girls jumped at the opportunity and immediately began singing the "Superman" grace.  I found this rendition on YouTube. 

When searching online, I found that there are many variations of this grace.  The lyrics we were introduced to went something like...
     Thank you God for giving us food.  
     Thank you God for giving us food.  
     For the beautiful day. 
     For the friends that we make.  
     We thank you, God, for giving us food.

Please feel free to share any of your variations of this grace.  I would love to hear them and share them with our girls.  Thanks for reading! 

Daisy note holders

My mom was a teacher.  My grandma was a teacher.  My mother-in-law was even a teacher.  I feel like I may have missed something when I decided to become a Certified Athletic Trainer.  Regardless, I have found my niche serving as a Girl Scout Leader.  I love preparing lessons and presenting different opportunities through which the girls are able to learn and grow.  While I strongly argue that Girl Scouts is so much more than crafts and singing, the girls in our troop certainly enjoy the crafts they have completed during our meetings.

My mom retired from teaching in 2011, and she no longer needed many of the craft supplies she had accumulated over the years.  She donated these supplies for our troop to use.  We also have an aunt who cleaned out her basement and passed along beads, foam, felt, straws, pipecleaners, pins...you name it, we now have it.  We used these donated supplies to fashion friendship pins, fingerprint flowerpots, Daisy bracelets, and beaded Christmas ornaments.  Often the crafts are tied into a lesson, and the girls earn the respective petal. By using donated supplies, our girls were using their resources wisely and were working toward earning their green petal.

In the boxes of donated craft supplies, I came across a stash of googly eyes.  I knew exactly how to use them!  A few months earlier, I happened to bookmark lion and lamb note holders from the Family Fun website.  I decided to modify the craft for our Kickoff Meeting.  The girls made this adorable Daisy note holder.  

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I love to scrapbook.  I save the scraps of cardstock that remain after I have finished a page.  I used the Cricut to cut 1.5" yellow circles and white flowers, using these scraps.  Don't have a Cricut?  No worries.  Use a circle punch or trace around the bottom of a can of tomato paste and cut the circles out by hand (though this is more time consuming, of course).  Many scrapbook stores have die-cuts that can be used for free as long as the paper is purchased from that store.  Cardstock runs around $0.70 for a 12"x12" sheet, though it can often be found on sale at craft stores.  I work on many projects at Scraps Etc and Archiver's in Cincinnati.  At the beginning of our first year together as a troop, I purchased clothespins to use on our kaper chart.  I found a package of 50 wooden clothespins for around $1.  Since we had only used 11 clothespins, we did not have to spend any additional money for this craft.  

The girls decorated their white flower after gluing the yellow center to the flower with a glue stick.  They adhered the googly eyes on before gluing the flower to the pair of clothespins.  The clasp end of the clothespin should be facing the top of the flower in order to hold the note.  Find a spot for this note holder on a bedroom dresser or a kitchen counter to hold reminders for troop meetings and outings.  For example, a note could read,  "bring Girl's Guide to next meeting," or "remember to take extra socks for roller skating."  The girls are then being responsible for what they say and do.  Hmm...that sounds familiar.  (orange petal)  Thanks for reading!

At each meeting we take turns assigning kapers. That's a fancy way of saying chore.

If you have spent any time with girls in Kindergarten and 1st grade, you know that "No one knows fancy like Nancy."  A kaper is a fancy word for chore.  A kaper chart "can be used to clarify which individual...is responsible for completing a specific job" (angelfire).  Such charts ensure that everyone in the troop plays a part in the meeting.  Shortly after our recruitment meeting, I searched the Internet for kaper chart ideas.  My favorite descriptions were found on scoutmom.net while my favorite images were seen on Google.  I combined several ideas and sketched three kaper charts on paper to show to our young troop.  I introduced the idea of kapers to the girls by discussing Fancy Nancy and her love for big fancy words.  During that meeting they voted for their favorite chart which is pictured here: 

I LOVE to scrapbook, so I have some tools that made crafting this kaper chart a cinch.  I used the Creative Memories Jumbo Circle Pattern to cut out an 11.5" circle from a 12x12" piece of white cardstock.  This could easily be done by tracing a large plate and cutting the paper with scissors.  I then mounted the cardstock on a piece of cardboard that was cut to the same size.  I divided the circle into ten pieces before assigning each slice a job with a black permanent marker.  The possibilities of specific kapers you could include on the chart are endless.  This Girl Scout site may also be helpful.  I used my Cricut to cut out the 3" blue scalloped circle (Mini Monograms cartridge) and the 2.5" white flower (George cartridge).  I used a .5" circle punch to cut the yellow center.  Then each piece was glued in the center of the chart.  I wrote each girl's name on a wooden clothespin.  These clothespins are clipped onto the kaper chart before the beginning of each meeting.  

We have 10 girls in our troop which explains why we have 10 different jobs on our kaper chart.  However, there may come a time when someone misses a meeting or we may not sing a song or play a game during a meeting.  Sometimes we may have an activity that requires more than one helper.  We simply adjust the chart to fit our needs for the specific occasion by skipping over a job on the chart or by clipping more than one clothespin on another job.

For our Kickoff Meeting, the first girl to arrive at the meeting (who was not my daughter) had the job of assigning kapers for that meeting.  I placed her clothespin on the "kapers" section of the chart.  The clothespins are stored in a zippie bag.  She was instructed not to look in the bag as she pulled out the next clothespin.  This pin was clipped to the "buddies" section.  She continued to clip each successive pin onto the chart in order around the circle.  I recorded who was assigned each job.  The girl responsible for assigning buddies for this meeting would then get to assign kapers at the beginning of the next meeting.  This way everyone had the chance to do both of these jobs as the year progressed.

Descriptions of the other jobs are as follows:

PROMISE--leads the troop in reciting the Girl Scout Promise

PLEDGE--holds the flag while the troop says the Pledge of Allegiance

CODE--reads the Daisy Code that was developed by the other leader of our  
     troop:
     D     Do unto others as you would have done to you.
     A     Always be respectful of others and our surroundings.
     I      I use my inside voice.
     S     Speak when it is your turn.  Listen when it is not.
     Y     You are the most important part of Daisies.  Have fun!
SHARE--is first to share her answer to a question asked to the troop.  This
      helps them get to know each other.  For example, we asked them their
      favorite ice cream flavor at the Ice Cream Social meeting. 
SONG--chooses which song to sing
GAME--chooses the game to play or goes first if game has been determined
HELPER--passes out supplies or helps clean up
CLOSING--chooses how to close the meeting.  Our girls LOVE the friendship squeeze, so she starts the squeeze. 

I hope this post serves as a springboard for you as you help your girls decide on a kaper chart that best fits the needs of your troop.  Our girls enjoy leading their meetings by being responsible for a specific job.  Please feel free to share your kaper chart ideas here.  Thanks for reading!