Operation Christmas Child

We had our first service project tonight!

The girls each brought 8 items to put in a box to send in a shoe box to Operation Christmas Child.  The boxes are due the second week in November for time to deliver across the world. The girls put the boxes together and then gathered for a group photo to put in each box. I delivered them to our council who was paying for shipping. The girls each received a patch from Operation Christmas Child, though the patches came in January. 

Afterwards we gathered in our circle and I read from the journey book. The girls had a hard time paying attention, and when we were done they had an even harder time answering the questions since you had to write them down. I'm not sure about the writing part (they're kindergartners!) but I did find now (a year later!) that it's best for the girls to read the chapter at home and come to girl scouts to fill in the blanks and do an activity related to the page. 

Lupe the Lupine

Gathering Activity: Coloring the Lupe sheet

We gathered on the carpet and I read the Lupe booklet from the Daisy's Guide to Girl Scouting. We talked about what it means to be fair and what it means to be honest. We acted out the story and then we played duck duck goose.

During our Snack I read the Wolf Who Cried Boy! It was a cute book!

The girls tore up bits of yellow tissue paper and glued them to a cut out of a daisy flower, then they did the same to the stem only with green tissue paper and afterwards we taped their faces in the middle. I WISH I had a picture because they were SO cute!! I got the flowers from Joanne's in the teacher area.

We gathered in our Daisy Circle at the carpet again and handed out awards. The girls received their light blue petal.

I also handed out their first journey, "Welcome to the Daisy Garden", which they put in their bags to take home.

We held hands, said our favorite part about the meeting and spun out.

Investiture Ceremony

Upon arrival girls colored the first picture in a series. I found the picture at Makingfriends.com, which has a lot of great resources. 

When everyone arrived we went to the carpet area where I had set up a small table. I had set 3 candles up and told the girls when we have a ceremony it is to be completely silent. We dimmed the lights, and began our ceremony.

I read the story of Juliette Low. After the story, I called each girl by name and they came forward and received their smocks. I had taken the time to sew on all the troop numbers, council patch, american flag, and pinned on their insignia tab then shook their hands. After everyone had their smocks on we lit the candles and recited the girl scout promise while holding up the girl scout sign. 

Next we went to the table and we made bracelets. Each girl took one color of beads, there were 8 girls so each girl had 8 beads. We then went in a circle and said something about ourselves and handed a bead to each girl and then put it on a string. After everyone had a turn, we tied the two ends together and voila! Bracelets! 

We had snack while I read the Promise Center booklet from the Daisy Guide to Girl Scouting.

Our second craft was making bags to bring for girl scouts. I purchased canvas bags from Hobby Lobby. The girls got to use oil pastels and create a scene and write their name on their bag then my co-leader used wax paper, waxy side down, and ironed the top over. This transfers the wax onto the bag, essentially "sealing" it. 

At the end of the meeting we went back to the carpet, talked about our outing, which was scheduled for the next week, handed out books, and then each girl received their award card with the Blue Daisy Center patch and the Investiture patch.

I found this award card on Girlscoutdaisymom.blogspot.com. They also have some great ideas! I simply printed this on card stock and cut it out then stapled the promise center on and wrote their names, signed it, and added the date. 

Our First Meeting

Our meetings are every other Tuesday for an hour and a half. An hour is just a bit too short, and 2 hours is too long.

I prepared packets for the parents to fill out right when they walked in. 

Membership
Financial Aid Form 
(You need to turn in a paper copy of membership form if you're applying for financial aid)
Health History
Permission slips

A Uniform guide
Calendar

Copies of the girl scout law and Promise

I also had a sign up sheet for snacks and asked that whichever Mom brought snack would also stay to help out. This would provide three adults (myself, my co-leader, and a mom)

When the girls arrived we sat in the Daisy Circle, Criss Cross Apple Sauce. We
had name tags for the girls to fill out, cut out, use a hole punch for the corners, and use a yellow yarn to string around their necks. I printed these on green construction paper.
(I had to cut the construction paper to fit in my printer)

The girls got to try on a smock to find their size which my co-leader wrote down so we could order them before our next meeting. 

We took "My First Day as a Girl Scout " pictures for their journals and for a future project.



We went to the table at this point and had the girls trace their hands on construction paper and cut out the girl scout promise and paste both onto a separate sheet of paper to take home, so they could learn the promise.

I printed the promise on green construction paper
 (I had to trim the construction paper before it would fit into my printer)



The girls traced their hands on peach construction paper, cut it out, pasted it on and then taped their thumb and pinky down to show the Girl Scout sign.

I explained the Girl Scout sign stands for the three parts of the law; Serving God, Our Country, and to help people at all times. I also told the girls if they ever see the sign held in the air, they are to respond the same way, and we would use that as our "attention" or "quiet" sign.

I provided snack and we watched the video of a troop singing the Girl Scout Law. I decided it would be cute, and fun if we learned the song instead of another monotone recitation.



After our snack was finished we went back to the carpet and stood in a circle, crossed our arms right over left, said what we were thankful for and "spun out". You do this by lifting your right arm and ducking under while turning. If each person has their arms crossed correctly this works well! 

My co-leader collected membership fees and paper work.

I was really nervous and that's ok. I forgot a bunch of what I was going to do, and it wasn't as smooth as it could have been, but it was our first meeting and I think it went well. I decided in the future to have everything written down so I could look to see what we were doing next.