Meeting Updates

March 29, 2010

We had a wonderful trip to the Westcott Fire Station. Our Daisies were so interested and well-behaved - they made us proud. They learned all about the fire house and respecting authority. Ask them about their trip!

Sneak Peak to 4/5: We'll be working on our Make The World A Better Place petal. We'll discuss recycling, planting trees, and volunteering among other things.

March 8, 2010

The girls worked hard on ways to respect themselves. We talked about healthy diet, healthy mind, exercise, and positive thinking as well as how all the petals they are earning are ways of respecting themselves. They each made an I Respect Me mirror, which they really enjoyed working on. We also went off the petal board and worked on learning some sign language! We went through the Pledge of Allegiance and taught the girls the signs for each part, explaining why the signs are what they are. They were surprised by how easy sign language is when you figure out how many of the signs are made. We'll continue signing the pledge during our opening flag ceremony in hopes that they will each be able to sign the entire pledge confidently by the end of the school year.

Sneak Peak to 3/15: It's party time! March 12th is the Birthday of Girl Scouts. To reward the girls for all of their hard work on their petals and with cookie sales, we're going to have a fun birthday party day.

March 1, 2010

With the help of one Grouchy Ladybug who flies all the way around the world being mean to everyone she sees, we learned how to be respectful to those around us. The girls each did an activity sheet about respecting others and got to color the Scout Law color sheet.

Sneap Peak to 3/8: We'll finish our purple petal for Respecting Myself and Others by talking about the Respect Myself part of the equation. We'll discuss nutrition, saying No to friends, and having a positive attitude. We mistakenly handed out the purple petals for Be A Sister To Every Scout, so we'll hand out the violet ones this time around to even it up.

February 22, 2010

We used World Thinking Day to earn our Be A Sister To Every Girl Scout petal. We talked about different girl scouts around the world, wondered if we could be friends with those girl scouts, and discussed what they may do differently in their girl scout meetings. Addy, who completed her Daisy Scout requirements in England, shared her Girl Scout stuff with us so we could see first hand some of the things that were different. The girls each go to make Daisy Scouts from around the world. Be sure to ask about their scouts.

Sneap Peak to 3/1: We'll start our purple petal, Respect Myself and Others. We'll use the story the Grouchy Ladybug along with an activity sheet to help the girls learn about respecting others.

February 8, 2010

We talked more about courageous and strong, with each girl sharing something they did over the weekend that was courageous or strong. We also talked about our trip to the horse farm and what we each learned about horses that we didn't know before. Thank Yous are always a must after someone does something nice for us, so we colored horse pictures and made thank you notes for Mrs. Costa, which she LOVED! Next up, we finished another chapter of our journey Between Earth and Sky. It was a pretty laid back meeting, but we used every minute of time we had. Be sure your girls are doing their burpees!

Sneap Peak to 2/22: February 22nd is World Thinking Day! The girls will work hard on earning their Be a Sister To Every Girl Scout petal as we talk about Girl Scouts around the world.

February 1, 2010

The girls have been doing very well running the meetings! We write the Kaper chart on the board and let them do their thing. We sometimes have to remind the promise leader to start (they're always very excited about the snacks!), but after that the flag carriers, color guard, announcer, and pledge leader get things going.

We started working on earning our Courageous and Strong petal by reading a short story about Juliette Gordon Low. Did you know she was nicknamed Daisy, and that's how the Daisy Scouts got their name? The girls had to say "Daisy!" every time they heard something in the story that they thought was courageous - they did very well! Daisy also loved horses, which is an excellent tie-in to our field trip to the horse farm this weekend.

We had to make the most of the awesome weather, so we headed outside to work on the "strong" part of the petal. We talked about different ways you can be strong, in both body and mind. Outside, we went through exercises and had the girls tell us what part of their body was getting strong with each one. We ended up with an exercise called a Burpee . . . that in theory works all of your muscles in a fun way :-) Each Daisy is asked to do the number of burpees to match their age each night for the next week. Then we will talk about their experience and whether they felt like the burpees got easier as the week went along.

Sneak Peak to 2/8: We got a lot further on the Courageous and Strong petal on the 1st than I anticipated, so we'll finish that unit, talk about the horse farm, make thank yous, and hopefully get to work a little more on our Journey Between Earth and Sky.

January 25, 2010

After some playtime outside, the girls were wound up for the meeting! We're going to try having outside time at the end of the meetings from here on out to make the girls earn their recess time. Even with the girls being very talkative, we accomplished a lot. The girls went around the table telling what they had done to be Friendly and Helpful with their "A Daisy Was Here" cards. We wanted it to be clear that they had to earn their petals every day, not just by coming to the meetings. We heard some wonderful stories of how they were friendly and helpful. They even mentioned that they would be extra friendly and helpful at school when the new student arrived. We definitely have a special group of girls! They each earned their Yellow Friendly and Helpful petal. Please ask them for it and make sure it is ironed on their smock.

We tallied the cookie sales and were very excited! To see the results, view the Cookie Information page. What a wonderful turnout for our first time! Thank you, parents, for supporting our cookie selling efforts and helping the girls earn some money for the troop.

Sneak Peak to 2/1: We'll begin working on our Courageous and Strong petal and talk about our upcoming field trip to the horse farm.

January 11, 2010

Everyone was very excited to get back to Daisy meetings! We had a busy day with talk about selling cookies, reviews of Honest and Caring, introducing our kaper chart, and starting our next petal - Friendly and Helpful.

Cookies - the girls were all so excited about selling cookies! They got to sample the new Thank U Berry Munch cookie - it was very well-received. Each Daisy set a goal for the number of packages of cookies she wanted to sell. Goals ranged from 36-200. When all was said and done, the troop goal was to sell 1545 packages of cookies! Our troop will get 50 cents for each package of cookies sold. They gave out quite a few ideas of what they'd like to use the money for (other than saving it in our troop account). The most popular vote was Disney World or a Cruise, but we explained that they might have to bring it down a notch. They came up with the aquarium, the zoo, a museum, bowling, and a movie. We also decided to have our hometown hero be Tri-Lakes Cares because the girls had been there and understand where the cookies would go. We are very proud of their eagerness to sell cookies, earn money, and help others!

Kaper Chart - one main principal of Girl Scouts is that the meetings are Girl-led - the troop leaders are there only to help out when needed. Daisy Scouts require a little more hand-holding, but we did introduce a kaper chart with the following "jobs" on it:

The girls are responsible for these tasks, which get the meetings started. They did a WONDERFUL job this past week!

Petals - the girls reviewed for the Honest and Fair petal they earned and got their petal. Be sure to iron it on their smock before cookie selling! Becky began the unit on Friendly and Helpful by reading the story of the Brownie. We all learned a little history about Brownies! Your Daisy should have come home with 3 note cards that she'd decorated with flowers and the words "A Daisy Was Here." Each Daisy is required to do an anonymous good deed and leave the card. We will ask each of them about their deeds at the next meeting on the 25th.

Sneak Peak to 1/25: We'll finish our Friendly and Helpful unit and hopefully get to hand out petals if they earn them!

December 14, 2009

We took our field trip to Tri-Lakes Cares. The girls got to learn about what happens at Tri-Lakes Cares, donate their toys, and get a tour of the facility. They even got to see how much 15 Daisy Scouts weigh (712 lbs. if you were curious)! They were all VERY well-behaved and had lots of questions to ask. We were very proud of all the Daisy Scouts and look forward to our next field trip.

December 7, 2009

We were all quite disappointed when the after school activities were cancelled this week. We want to stay on track with our petals, so please talk to your Daisy about being Honest and Fair. We will ask them questions about it on the 14th and award the Light Blue Honest and Fair petals.

Sneak Peak to 12/14: We'll take our field trip to Tri-Lakes Cares to donate our toys and learn about what Tri-Lakes Cares does. We are very excited for this opportunity to take our wonderful troop out on a field trip so they can learn first hand about what it means to be considerate and caring. Girls will hopefully earn their Honest and Fair petal.

November 30, 2009

The Daisies were ready to go on Monday after a break for Thanksgiving. We've been going outside for a little bit each week to let the girls get the wiggles out before we start our meetings. It was so nice out, that we were out a little longer than normal, but we just couldn't resist the beautiful weather.

We started working on the Honest and Fair petal. While the girls made a stained glass window, we discussed what it meant to be honest, what happened when you weren't honest, and how it's sometimes easier to not be honest but we still need to tell the truth. The girls were all very animated and ready to participate in the discussion.

Sneak Peak to 12/7: We'll finish our unit on Honest and Fair. The girls will earn their 2nd petal! You should be proud of your Daisies - they are working very hard at earning their petals. If you want to come see your Daisy recieve her petal, please come to room 106 at 4:15 on Monday, December 7. We're also looking for ways to make the meetings more Girl Led - one of the main goals of Girl Scouts. It's a bit more difficult with girls this age and so many of them, but we got some great ideas at a training session. We've been using a Kaper chart that includes regular "jobs" like line leader, cleanup, and promise, but we're also going to add a flag ceremony to our meetings, which will introduce more jobs like flag bearer, 2 color guard, flag announcer, and pledge leader. Ask your girls what job they've had after each meeting!

November 16, 2009

The Daisies were all awesome yesterday! After a snack and nature break, we headed outside for awhile to get the wiggles out. It's tough for the little ones to be in school all day then come to Daisy Scouts for another hour and 15 minutes! The fresh air rejuvenated the girls and they were ready to go when we got back inside. Each of the girls shared a special thing about their day, then we began working on our first journey patch. The journey is the Daisy Scout Between Earth and Sky Journey. The flower friends take a trip to Maine in the powder blue petal-powered car. Along the way, lessons from each line of the Girl Scout Law are reinforced and the girls are asked to do many activities. Because the journey is about going on a trip, we will also learn how to say "Have a good trip!" in many different languages. The girls each made a luggage tag that they will write the multi-lingual phrases on.

After introducing our journey, talking about vacations the girls have taken, and having the girls make their luggage tags, we handed out their very first daisy petal that they earned . . . the spring green for Considerate and Caring. You should all be proud of your Daisies - they worked hard to earn their first petal.

Sneak Peak to 11/30: We'll begin working on the Honest and Fair petal, which the girls should earn before Christmas break.

November 9, 2009

We continued to work on our Considerate and Caring badge by making Table Tent Cards for the tables at Liberty Heights Assisted Living Center on Voyager Parkway. We were hoping to take the girls there on a field trip on the 16th so they could set the cards out themselves, but we had issues coordinating with Liberty Heights. Instead, Jodie will deliver the cards on the 17th so they can have them for their tables on Thanksgiving. The folks at Liberty Heights were very excited that we did this project for them! The girls also split up into two groups and talked about ways to be considerate and caring. They each got a card with an unfortunate event on it (my sister broke my favorite toy, I don't like what we're having for dinner, etc.) and the other girls in the group had to discuss ways to be considerate and caring to the "sad" Daisy. They did well at the role-playing!

The girls are definitely settling in and becoming more comfortable with each other, which also means they've become a bit more rambunctious! We're working on ways to alter the schedule each week to meet the needs of 15 5-7 year olds. We're going to try starting with 10-15 minutes outside right away to get some of the wiggles out, then have snack and bathroom break before we begin our actual meetings. So please make sure your Daisy has the appropriate gear for some outside free play each Monday.

We are truly enjoying working with the Daisies and are learning as we go.

Sneak Peak to 11/16: We'll finish our Considerate and Caring unit and award the spring green flower petal to start the daisy. This is very exciting for everyone! We're also going to being earning our first journey patch, which involves reading a story split into 10 units (each one corresponds to a Daisy petal) with exercises and discussions afterward.

November 2, 2009

Our Daisies had another great meeting today! We did our last "major" craft for a while - making our daisy bouquet. We started out the meeting with each girl telling us something special about themselves. Then, they each chose a foam leaf and 6 foam petals to put on their flower. They wrote their name on the leaf and their special "thing" on one of the petals. We wrapped skewers on green floral tape and skewered the petals to make a daisy for each girl. They did so well making the flowers! Nobody stabbed themself in the finger or anything :-) Near the end of our meeting, each Daisy brought their flower to the front of the room, told us what special thing they wrote on their daisy, and placed in in the Daisy vase. We finished the lesson with a discussion of how each of them is special, but as a group, they are even stronger and more special. We finished our meeting with the DaisySqueeze (have your Daisy show it to you!) and headed outside for a few minutes of playtime.

I have to say we were very impressed with how well the girls listened and worked so hard and were so considerate to their fellow Daisy Scouts while they patiently waited their turn to make their flower.

On the schedule for next week, so more work on the Considerate and Caring petal, making table tent cards. We are possibly planning an offsite to the Assisted Living complex on Voyager Parkway for the meeting November 16th to deliver the tent cards and complete our service activity for the month. More to come on that once plans are finalized.

October 26, 2009

Our 2nd Daisy meeting was a success! The girls seemed to enjoy using the hot irons to make their smocks while the other girls colored Halloween pictures and made creepy hands with candy corn and popcorn. We have a wonderful group of girls with very diverse personalities. This daisy year should be tons of fun, and we're really looking forward to it!

We were very pleased with how many girls had memorized the promise and are excited to have been able to give all the girls their Daisy Promise center.