I've spent probably 24 hours customizing worksheets and letters to our program's use. I found an old dart board in our house that with the help of some yarn and a staple gun became a green spider's web. Perhaps while the Brownies and Daisies do a Values Treasure Hunt, the Juniors will make bead spiders that my Junior found in her Highlights magazine today (talk about coincidence)... maybe they can label each spider they make with a different value.
The hours of preparation have been worth it so far. I seriously hope they remain useful and the program doesn't tank. I've adapted a number of worksheets that would be nice if we didn't have to use (I loathe worksheet-based activities)... hopefully they can be sent home to use as a home-session connector or to use at the beginning while everyone is showing up.
I also figured out a "fun" way to give out most of the Brownie Quest Keys. The first one will be attached to a star that has the appropriate chant typed on it (these will be printed on cardstock). These will be stapled to the triangle-shaped key award and then hidden around the park where we will be meeting. The girls will be set loose to find them, and when they find one, they read the chant loudly and keep the one they find... it'll be up to the girls whether they look individually or as a group (definite pros to each way). For presentation of the second key award, I took a picture of the new Brownie Elf and set it up so on the reverse side the appropriate chant is typed. These will be printed on cardstock and laminated; then they'll have a hole punched in them and a ring put through... making a key chain/holder... then we'll attach the award to the ring using a safety pin. I haven't figured out a "fun" way for the third key award yet... I have a graphic of a heart with wings and the appropriate chant typed over it, but I don't know what we're doing with it yet.
As for the Daisy Flower Garden awards, we're going to put the background pieces in individual plastic bags and bury them in the potting soil the girls will use for planting their garden/flower. I can envision putting the watering can in a plastic baggy with a marble to weight it, and then submerging them in the watering cans the girls will use to water their garden/flower. Golden Bee and Amazing Daisy awards... don't know yet. Any ideas?
The Junior Power awards are lagging sorely behind. I think the Power of One could easily be made into a spider for presentation. The Power of Team and Power of Community?? No clues yet.
Hopefully the people working with the GS Daisy and Junior groups can come up with something creative and "fun."
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Huh, who'da thunk??
I admit, I'm a grown-up. I am not the market for which the Journey books are being written. Having said that, my first impression of the program is that it's quite do-able... hence organizing the program for the entire Service Unit. However, that does not mean I don't find fault... well, didn't find fault in some cases... with the girls' books.
Originally I thought the Brownie Quest book had too complicated a story to keep the girls' attention. I also think the first half and the second half are too disjointed. The way it is presented, the first half of the book is for the Brownie to do on her own or with her family while the second half is the Journey that is meant to be done with her troop/group/team.
Similarly, I thought the Junior Agent of Change book's graphic-novel presentation was too out of sync with what the girls would actually like. I also think the story sets up an example for the girls that raises the bar awfully high out of their reach... to expect a few 4th and 5th graders to be able to pull of a pet adoption day and shelter clean-up as a first project is a bit unreasonable (IMO). Expect them to aim high? Absolutely! However, as GS taught previously, a "Smart" goal is attainable with some stretching... not with pulling a miracle out of a hat. ...I digress.
Earlier this week, my daughters (a GS Brownie and a GS Junior) were begging for something "new" to read. They noticed the books lying around since I have been working on the organizing the first session, neither the Daisy nor Brownie group leader can attend, and asked if they could look at them. They both liked the books when they first came out and the girls first looked at them... but after the first half-hour to forty-five minutes, the books were set aside like Christmas/birthday presents. The Brownie realized her book contained a story first... causing a slight tinge of jealousy in the Junior until I pointed out the graphic novel in her own book. I didn't see the books again for two days!
I've been chatting with the girls over the past day and a half, and it turns out that both girls really liked the stories. The Brownie told me excitedly that she wanted to read the second part of the book with me to find out what happens next to Campbell, Alejandra ("Al" as my daughter calls her), and Jamila. She was so disappointed when I explained that the second half wasn't a story... she brightened a little when I explained that the Join the Journey program was going to go through the second half of the book. She is completely intrigued by the map, and after she summarized the first half chapter-by-chapter for me, we picture walked through the rest of the book and figured out how the activities matched up with the map. It is her not-so-humble opinion that the Brownies and Daisies should start out tomorrow with scavenger hunt, looking for "vlalues... whatever they are." So, it's clear that she's intrigued... and she's willing to figure out what this "vlalues" word means (yes, she does actually say it that way, it's not a typo).
The Junior has decided that she wants to read more graphic novels (Yay, for literacy!). After reading it, she said it gave her a "better" idea for her Bronze Award project. She had been talking about holding an event for GS Brownies and Daisies where they would make Happy Socks for cats and Spread the Bread dog biscuits for dogs in a local animal shelter. Now she's thinking she can organize a shelter clean-up and adoption day. She's so used to being the outsider in a troop - for the 3 years we've been in this school district, she has been a member of 3 different troops because her grade level's troop was full, and the one that took her mid-year Flew Up to Juniors a year before her, leaving her to join a troop that didn't bridge until a year after her; this year she had another Junior in the troop, but that one didn't come all that often, so she was often the only Junior with a bunch of Brownies. Because of her experiences, she automatically thinks of project management as an individual thing rather than as a group effort... she often bites off more than she can chew, so the Journey Take Action Project should help her take on something more manageable with the help of her peers. Last night she asked if she could do the word search in the book... for a kid that finds word searches extremely difficult, this request was definite progress.
Color me amazed that the girls have taken to the books as they have... hopefully the other participating girls will, too.
Originally I thought the Brownie Quest book had too complicated a story to keep the girls' attention. I also think the first half and the second half are too disjointed. The way it is presented, the first half of the book is for the Brownie to do on her own or with her family while the second half is the Journey that is meant to be done with her troop/group/team.
Similarly, I thought the Junior Agent of Change book's graphic-novel presentation was too out of sync with what the girls would actually like. I also think the story sets up an example for the girls that raises the bar awfully high out of their reach... to expect a few 4th and 5th graders to be able to pull of a pet adoption day and shelter clean-up as a first project is a bit unreasonable (IMO). Expect them to aim high? Absolutely! However, as GS taught previously, a "Smart" goal is attainable with some stretching... not with pulling a miracle out of a hat. ...I digress.
Earlier this week, my daughters (a GS Brownie and a GS Junior) were begging for something "new" to read. They noticed the books lying around since I have been working on the organizing the first session, neither the Daisy nor Brownie group leader can attend, and asked if they could look at them. They both liked the books when they first came out and the girls first looked at them... but after the first half-hour to forty-five minutes, the books were set aside like Christmas/birthday presents. The Brownie realized her book contained a story first... causing a slight tinge of jealousy in the Junior until I pointed out the graphic novel in her own book. I didn't see the books again for two days!
I've been chatting with the girls over the past day and a half, and it turns out that both girls really liked the stories. The Brownie told me excitedly that she wanted to read the second part of the book with me to find out what happens next to Campbell, Alejandra ("Al" as my daughter calls her), and Jamila. She was so disappointed when I explained that the second half wasn't a story... she brightened a little when I explained that the Join the Journey program was going to go through the second half of the book. She is completely intrigued by the map, and after she summarized the first half chapter-by-chapter for me, we picture walked through the rest of the book and figured out how the activities matched up with the map. It is her not-so-humble opinion that the Brownies and Daisies should start out tomorrow with scavenger hunt, looking for "vlalues... whatever they are." So, it's clear that she's intrigued... and she's willing to figure out what this "vlalues" word means (yes, she does actually say it that way, it's not a typo).
The Junior has decided that she wants to read more graphic novels (Yay, for literacy!). After reading it, she said it gave her a "better" idea for her Bronze Award project. She had been talking about holding an event for GS Brownies and Daisies where they would make Happy Socks for cats and Spread the Bread dog biscuits for dogs in a local animal shelter. Now she's thinking she can organize a shelter clean-up and adoption day. She's so used to being the outsider in a troop - for the 3 years we've been in this school district, she has been a member of 3 different troops because her grade level's troop was full, and the one that took her mid-year Flew Up to Juniors a year before her, leaving her to join a troop that didn't bridge until a year after her; this year she had another Junior in the troop, but that one didn't come all that often, so she was often the only Junior with a bunch of Brownies. Because of her experiences, she automatically thinks of project management as an individual thing rather than as a group effort... she often bites off more than she can chew, so the Journey Take Action Project should help her take on something more manageable with the help of her peers. Last night she asked if she could do the word search in the book... for a kid that finds word searches extremely difficult, this request was definite progress.
Color me amazed that the girls have taken to the books as they have... hopefully the other participating girls will, too.
Friday, August 7, 2009
It's Your World - Change It! in a small-town Service Unit
Setting the physical stage:
In the world of Girl Scouting, the national organization (GSUSA) is broken up into councils... my state has five or six of them after the Great Realignment. My Council covers 9 counties, including 3 major cities, 2 minor cities, and an abundance of towns and villages (one county has more dairy cattle than people - in an almost 3-to-1 ratio). The counties are then broken up into smaller Service Units - mine is one of 4 (I think) in my county. Service Units are broken into troops... my Service Unit covers two villages and the towns immediately surrounding them - it's easier to say that the Service Unit covers the school district. This past year we had 1 GS Daisy troop, 4 GS Brownie troops, 4 GS Junior troops, 2 GS Cadette/Senior troops and 1 GS Ambassador troop. We live in a pretty rural community near a relatively large city.
Got all that?
Setting the Program stage:
In my Service Unit, I have voluntarily taken on co-leading a GS Brownie/Junior troop, Adult Recognition Chair, Facilitator, and Leader Development Coordinator (sounds much nicer than "Training and Records Nazi," right?). I also organize a number of events for all of the girls in the Service Unit, including our annual World Thinking Day event, our SU Kick-off event, J-Low Birthday Party With A Twist (co-organizer), Brownie Weekend (co-organizer), and Junior Jamboree (co-organizer)... yes, in my perfect GS world, I would give up leading a troop and become SU Event Wrangler, but that's not happening anytime soon as far as I can tell.
Over the past couple of years, GSUSA has developed a new core program for Girl Scouts called "Journeys." As far as my council has said, and I pointedly asked the Director of Training, these Journeys are meant to be the core of the program, and Daisy Petals, Brownie Try-Its, Junior Badges, and Older Girl Interest Projects are the side courses on the Program buffet. The first Journey that was released is called It's Your World - Change It! The second Journey that is now being released is It's Your Planet - Love It!
Action:
SO, one of my co-leaders signed on to help oversee a program offering for the Service Unit where we focus on the first Journey for a number of weeks over the summer. It's win-win: she is in charge of an event but not on her own, and I'm able to teach someone else event planning and then hope to hand it off in the future. We got together a couple of weeks ago and looked over the adult and girl books for the GS Daisy, Brownie, and Junior levels. We figured out that within a session or two, they all paralleled each other - enough to make our idea feasible.
We have opted for the following set-up
1. A 5-week program meeting on the same night each week - excepting the first day of school - for an hour and a half in the local park.
2. A "Parent Zone" where parents can hang out and socialize without being "helicopter parents."
3. We'll open and do a small activity together, and then break into the three GS-level groups to complete Journey-specific activities.
4. Ideally, a GS Parent will lead each of the three groups with a current GS Leader as direct support - creating the potential for a small-theatre success for parents who are on the fence about becoming a GS Leader.
5. We're going to strongly encourage the girls to think of outdoor projects for their Take Action Projects.
6. The girls can participate regardless of their leader's level of participation or the rest of their troop's level of participation. The "Teams" as the Journeys call for will be created with the other girls in their GS level at the program.
Step one, planning... done!
Step two, recruiting...
I called a number of parents and leaders, and when all was said and done, we had a GS Daisy Parent, a GS Daisy Leader, and a GS Brownie Leader... I'm not giving up hope, but that is at least adequate for now. Within the last 12 hours... all heck has broken loose, it seems language became too muddled, and the short end of it is that we have a GS Daisy Parent-looking-to-lead-next-year and a GS Brownie Leader. Still, we're okay.
Step two, recruiting... done... well, maybe or maybe not.
Step three, advertising to girls and parents...
When we had at least a minimal number of adults to lead the program, I put together a flyer and sent it out through e-mail as a PDF file to all of the leaders, specifically asking them to forward the information to the girls in their troops and clearly stating that the girls were welcome to attend even if the leader did not want to attend. Within the last 24 hours, I found out the leaders of two troops haven't even told their girls about this offering. cue vocalized growling
Step three, advertising... done... at least as well as I can personally manage.
The first night of the program is on August 12th, so the next update will probably be posted near then.
In the world of Girl Scouting, the national organization (GSUSA) is broken up into councils... my state has five or six of them after the Great Realignment. My Council covers 9 counties, including 3 major cities, 2 minor cities, and an abundance of towns and villages (one county has more dairy cattle than people - in an almost 3-to-1 ratio). The counties are then broken up into smaller Service Units - mine is one of 4 (I think) in my county. Service Units are broken into troops... my Service Unit covers two villages and the towns immediately surrounding them - it's easier to say that the Service Unit covers the school district. This past year we had 1 GS Daisy troop, 4 GS Brownie troops, 4 GS Junior troops, 2 GS Cadette/Senior troops and 1 GS Ambassador troop. We live in a pretty rural community near a relatively large city.
Got all that?
Setting the Program stage:
In my Service Unit, I have voluntarily taken on co-leading a GS Brownie/Junior troop, Adult Recognition Chair, Facilitator, and Leader Development Coordinator (sounds much nicer than "Training and Records Nazi," right?). I also organize a number of events for all of the girls in the Service Unit, including our annual World Thinking Day event, our SU Kick-off event, J-Low Birthday Party With A Twist (co-organizer), Brownie Weekend (co-organizer), and Junior Jamboree (co-organizer)... yes, in my perfect GS world, I would give up leading a troop and become SU Event Wrangler, but that's not happening anytime soon as far as I can tell.
Over the past couple of years, GSUSA has developed a new core program for Girl Scouts called "Journeys." As far as my council has said, and I pointedly asked the Director of Training, these Journeys are meant to be the core of the program, and Daisy Petals, Brownie Try-Its, Junior Badges, and Older Girl Interest Projects are the side courses on the Program buffet. The first Journey that was released is called It's Your World - Change It! The second Journey that is now being released is It's Your Planet - Love It!
Action:
SO, one of my co-leaders signed on to help oversee a program offering for the Service Unit where we focus on the first Journey for a number of weeks over the summer. It's win-win: she is in charge of an event but not on her own, and I'm able to teach someone else event planning and then hope to hand it off in the future. We got together a couple of weeks ago and looked over the adult and girl books for the GS Daisy, Brownie, and Junior levels. We figured out that within a session or two, they all paralleled each other - enough to make our idea feasible.
We have opted for the following set-up
1. A 5-week program meeting on the same night each week - excepting the first day of school - for an hour and a half in the local park.
2. A "Parent Zone" where parents can hang out and socialize without being "helicopter parents."
3. We'll open and do a small activity together, and then break into the three GS-level groups to complete Journey-specific activities.
4. Ideally, a GS Parent will lead each of the three groups with a current GS Leader as direct support - creating the potential for a small-theatre success for parents who are on the fence about becoming a GS Leader.
5. We're going to strongly encourage the girls to think of outdoor projects for their Take Action Projects.
6. The girls can participate regardless of their leader's level of participation or the rest of their troop's level of participation. The "Teams" as the Journeys call for will be created with the other girls in their GS level at the program.
Step one, planning... done!
Step two, recruiting...
I called a number of parents and leaders, and when all was said and done, we had a GS Daisy Parent, a GS Daisy Leader, and a GS Brownie Leader... I'm not giving up hope, but that is at least adequate for now. Within the last 12 hours... all heck has broken loose, it seems language became too muddled, and the short end of it is that we have a GS Daisy Parent-looking-to-lead-next-year and a GS Brownie Leader. Still, we're okay.
Step two, recruiting... done... well, maybe or maybe not.
Step three, advertising to girls and parents...
When we had at least a minimal number of adults to lead the program, I put together a flyer and sent it out through e-mail as a PDF file to all of the leaders, specifically asking them to forward the information to the girls in their troops and clearly stating that the girls were welcome to attend even if the leader did not want to attend. Within the last 24 hours, I found out the leaders of two troops haven't even told their girls about this offering. cue vocalized growling
Step three, advertising... done... at least as well as I can personally manage.
The first night of the program is on August 12th, so the next update will probably be posted near then.
Why Blog? Why Now?
So some who read this might wonder why I'm embarking on such a "Journey" at this time. Easy answer: I've done Web page designing and updating... now it's time for blogging. More complex answer: I saw another Girl Scout Leader who is setting up her blog to focus on her troop's experience with the "new" Girl Scout Journey program, and I thought it was a good idea.
SO, this blog is meant to focus on my girls' (my own, my troop's, and my area's [Service Unit]) experiences with the Journeys. The next post will start the process with some background on how my Service Unit is offering the Journey experience to girls for the first time.
SO, this blog is meant to focus on my girls' (my own, my troop's, and my area's [Service Unit]) experiences with the Journeys. The next post will start the process with some background on how my Service Unit is offering the Journey experience to girls for the first time.
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