daisy flower garden
Transcription
daisy flower garden
daisy flower garden it’s your world - change it! A meeting-by-meeting curriculum for first-year Girl Scout Daisy troop leaders. Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys 800-845-0787 www.girlscoutsrv.org Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Program Essentials for First Year Girl Scout Daisies Table of Contents Welcome to Girl Scout Daisies ..................................................................................................................................3 The Girl Scout Leadership Experience: Program Essentials......................................................................................5 Girl Scout Daisy Meeting Outline............................................................................................................................11 Girl Scouting = Girl Planning...................................................................................................................................13 Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden .....................................................................................................................15 Ready, Set, Go: Getting Started ...............................................................................................................................17 Closing Ceremonies..................................................................................................................................................19 Leadership Development Leadership Journey 1: It’s Your World: Change It! Meeting 1………………………. 1 Meeting 2………………………. 5 Meeting 3………………………. 7 Meeting 4………………………. 11 Meeting 5………………………. 13 Meeting 6………………………. 17 Templates………………………. 19 Girl Scout Promise and Girl Scout Law ......................................................................................................23 Coloring Pages ...........................................................................................................................................29 Taking Action Take Action Project Life Skills Outdoor Awareness STEM STEM Activities Healthy Living Healthy Living Activities Cultural Literacy Girl Scout Connections Celebrating Accomplishments Resources Council Sponsored Program Events-Program Essentials Troop Records Troop Finance Adult Learning Troop Field Trip Packet © 2009 Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 2 Welcome to Girl Scout Daisies! You are about to embark on an exciting and enjoyable adventure with kindergarten and first grade girls. Like all Girl Scout experiences, it all begins by focusing on the Girl Scout Leadership Experience where girls discover (themselves and their values), connect (by caring and teaming with others), and take action (to improve themselves, their families, their communities, and their world). When caring volunteers team together with curious and compassionate Girl Scout Daisies, both, begin to gain a deeper knowledge of themselves, develop healthy relationships, connect with others, and have tons of fun. Creating a Quality Experience: It is not just about what girls do, but how they participate in activities which create a quality Girl Scout experience. All Girl Scout activities are built on three processes –Girl-Led, Cooperative Learning, and Learning by Doing. These processes ensure quality and promote the fun and friendship so important in Girl Scouting. Take some time to understand these processes and how to use them with Girl Scout Daisies. Girl Led: Girl-led simply means that girls are playing an active part in figuring out the “what, where, when, how and why” of their activities. Girls are more engaged and playing a critical role as decision-makers in the planning and implementation of their activities. As part of a girl-adult partnership, volunteers can use the girl-led process to strengthen girls’ empowerment and decision making roles in activities. Adults provide age appropriate facilitation, ensuring that planning, organization, set-up and evaluation of all activities are done jointly with girls. The girl-led approach to ideas and activities ensures that girls learn and experience leadership and decisionmaking opportunities as they prepare to become active participants in their local and global communities. With Girl Scout Daisies girl-led means: _ Repeat activities that girls say they really enjoyed _ Listen to girls’ ideas on how to make activities even more fun _ Encourage girls to ask questions or predict what is going to happen next _ Allow girls to take on responsibilities that are short tasks and easy enough to accomplish Learning by Doing: Learning by doing is a “hands-on” learning process that engages girls in continuous cycles of action and reflection resulting in deeper understanding of concepts and mastery of practical skills. As they actively participate in meaningful activities (e.g., trying new skills, solving real-life problems or role-playing) and reflect on them to evaluate what they have learned (e.g., by keeping a journal), girls get to explore their own questions, discover answers, gain new skills, and share ideas and observations with others. Throughout the Learning by Doing process, it is important for girls to be able to connect experiences to their lives and apply what they have learned to their future experiences. With Girl Scout Daisies learning-by-doing means: _ Focus on one action at a time and keep directions and expectations short and simple _ Alternate quiet and physical activities to keep girls focused _ Hands on activities should be girl directed as much as possible _ Allow girls to be creative and express their individuality _ Ask yourself “Am I doing something the girls could be doing?” If so, take a deep breath, and step back. _ Nurture their curiosity and answer their “Whys ?” _ Practice progression by ensuring that each girl is ready for an activity and she can build her skills and confidence Cooperative Learning: Cooperative learning takes place when all members of a group are working together towards a common goal. Cooperative learning is designed to promote sharing of knowledge, skills and learning in an atmosphere of respect and cooperation as girls work together on goals that can only be accomplished with the help of others. Additionally, working together in all-girl environments encourages girls to feel powerful, and emotionally and physically safe, as well as to experience a sense of belonging even in the most diverse groups. With Girl Scout Daisies cooperative learning means: _ Girls are just learning what it is like to be a member of a group _ Direct girls to help others and teach others and not just focus on their own needs _ Engage girls in cooperative play, which requires taking turns and sharing Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 3 The Girl Scout Leadership Experience: Program Essentials Program Essentials is the core plan that girls and leaders use to implement the Girl Scout Leadership Experience in River Valleys. The national Girl Scout Leadership Journeys curriculum is the foundation of Program Essentials, which is complemented by additional skill-building activities. Program Essentials contains 18 grade-appropriate activity sessions (with options at the troop, service unit, and council levels) across specific focus areas, designed to be completed over a 12-month period. River Valleys provides Program Essentials because it is important for girls to have a well-rounded and consistent Girl Scout Leadership Experience, yet you as a troop leader don’t need to be an “expert” in all program areas. Program Essentials increases your ability to make an impact on girls because it provides focus and takes a simple approach to all the programming available. Think of Program Essentials as the girls’ “core classes,” and anything beyond Program Essentials that the troop would like to do as “electives.” It is your “map to success!” Program Essentials ties directly to the 15 outcomes of The Girl Scout Leadership Experience, and troop leaders are asked to help measure those outcomes through an easy-to-use, built-in, evaluation tool. A copy of the Program Essentials core plan specific to your program grade level is included in your binder. Review the opportunities with your troop and start planning for an amazing first year. Throughout the year, take some time to record which option your troop completes in each of the Areas of Focus. At the end of the year look back at what the troop has achieved. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 4 Program Essentials for first-time Girl Scout Daisies Focus area Leadership Development Activity Number of sessions Complete Leadership Journeys 1: It’s Your World - Change It! (use River Valleys’ Meeting-by-Meeting Curriculum for First-Year Girl Scout Daisies) 6 We completed Leadership Journeys 1 on (date): Taking Action (Community Service Learning Projects) Participate in the annual council-wide Take Action project (information available in January at www.girlscoutsrv.org) AND Do the Take Action project in Leadership Journeys 1: It’s Your World - Change It! 2 OR Plan and do a troop Take Action project (resources: “Go Green! Girl” council program kit; “Community Service Guide for Girl Scout Daisy Leaders” council program packet) We did the following for the annual council-wide Take Action project (describe): AND We did the following for our other Take Action project (describe): Building Practical Life Skills (Career & Financial Literacy) Do activities in the annual Cookie Program Activity curriculum from Little Brownie Bakers (in your New Troop Welcome Kit) OR Earn the annual GSUSA Girl Scout Cookie Sale Activity Pin (requirements at www.girlscoutsrv.org) AND 2 Attend a service unit or council Cookie Rally; if you cannot, plan and do a troop Cookie Rally (use Little Brownie Bakers’ “Rallies to Go” at www.littlebrownie.com) AND Participate in the annual Cookie Program Activity (outside of troop meetings)—focus on selling to friends and family We did the following activities/earned the following award to learn about the Cookie Program Activity: AND We attended the following Cookie Rally (title, date, location): AND Our troop sold _____________________________ packages of cookies; our per-girl-average was _________________________. Building Outdoor Awareness & Skills Attend a resident camp session (outside of troop meetings, but there are session options for the entire troop and for girl/adult pairs in addition to girls attending sessions individually or with a “buddy”) OR Attend a day camp session (outside of troop meetings) OR 1+ Attend a council-sponsored program event (on www.girlscoutsrv.org, search Program Area: Outdoor Awareness) OR Attend a service unit “encampment” (weekend camp) OR Do one of the following council program kits: “OTTER: Introduction to Nature,” “OTTER: Nature Awareness,” “OTTER: Wildlife Wonders” We attended the following camp session/event/encampment (title, date, location): OR We did the _________________________________________ “OTTER” council program kit on (date): Building STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Skills Do the STEM activities in River Valleys’ Meeting-by-Meeting Curriculum for First-Year Girl Scout Daisies OR Attend a council-sponsored program event (on www.girlscoutsrv.org, search Program Area: STEM) 1 We did the STEM activities on (date): OR We attended the following event (title, date, location): Building Healthy Living Skills Do the Healthy Living activities in River Valleys’ Meeting-by-Meeting Curriculum for First-Year Girl Scout Daisies OR 1 Attend a council-sponsored program event (on www.girlscoutsrv.org, search Program Area: Healthy Living) We did the Healthy Living activities on (date): OR We attended the following event (title, date, location): Building Cultural Literacy Skills Do the “Zink the Zebra” council program kit OR Attend your service unit’s Thinking Day Event 1 OR Attend a council-sponsored program event (on www.girlscoutsrv.org, search Program Area: Cultural Literacy) We did the “Zink the Zebra” council program kit on (date): OR We attended the following event (title, date, location): ©2009 Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys Page 5 Program Essentials for first-time Girl Scout Daisies Focus area Number of sessions Activity Building Girl Scout Connections Attend a council-sponsored program event (girls’ choice) OR Attend your service unit’s family event OR 1 Attend a service unit event (girls’ choice) OR Plan and do an activity with another troop in your service unit We attended the following event (title, date, location): OR We planned and did the following activity with another troop (describe): Attend your service unit’s Court of Awards—involve parents/guardians; spring register the troop for the next membership year Celebrating Girls’ Accomplishments, Reflection, and Recommitment OR 1 Plan and do a troop Court of Awards—involve parents/guardians; spring register the troop for the next membership year We participated in a service unit / troop (circle one) Court of Awards on (date): Troop’s choice Utilize GSUSA, River Valleys, service unit, and/or community program resources 2 We did the following activity (describe): AND We did the following activity (describe): The Girl Scout Leadership Experience Program Essentials for first-time Girl Scout Daisies Welcome to Girl Scouts! Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys 800-845-0787 www.girlscoutsrv.org Program Essentials is the core plan that girls and leaders use to implement the Girl Scout Leadership Experience in River Valleys. The national Girl Scout Leadership Journeys curriculum is the foundation of Program Essentials, which is complemented by additional skill-building activities. Program Essentials ensures girls have a well-rounded and consistent Girl Scout Leadership Experience with measureable outcomes. Important notes about Program Essentials: • It is designed to be completed during a 9- to12-month period. • Both the order and pace in which your troop does the activities are flexible. (For resources on creating a schedule, refer to Leadership Essentials training.) • The number of sessions is estimated. “Session” has a broad definition; it can happen in the form of a troop meeting, event, retreat or lock-in, field trip, ceremony, camp, overnight, outing, etc. • The resources referenced can be found in the following locations: Resource Location River Valleys’ Meeting-by-Meeting Curriculum for First-Year Girl Scout Daisies In the binder in your New Troop Welcome Kit Council-sponsored program events Listed on www.girlscoutsrv.org (look for the purple “Program Events Search/Registration” icon at the bottom of the homepage) Council program kits Can be checked out from any River Valleys service center; reservations required Council program packets Can be downloaded from www.girlscoutsrv.org Camp sessions Listed on www.girlscoutsrv.org Community program resources Listed on www.girlscoutsrv.org Instructions: As your troop completes an activity, record what you did in the shaded area. At the end of the program year, fill out the Troop Information section below and submit all pages to: Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys, 5601 Brooklyn Boulevard, Brooklyn Center, MN 55429 or fax to: 763-535-7524. Troops that complete Program Essentials will receive a special recognition. Please submit all pages even if you did not complete Program Essentials in its entirety—all data helps River Valleys report to its funders and make future service enhancements for girls and volunteers. Troop Information (please print clearly) Service unit:___________________________________________________________ Troop #:____________________ Grade(s) of girls:__________ # Girls completed Program Essentials:______________ Troop adult contact name:______________________________________________________ Address:___________________________________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip:______________________________________________________________________________ Day phone:___________________________________________________________________ E-mail:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ©2009 Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys Page 6 The Girl Scout Daisy Meeting Outline Kindergarten and first grade girls like the familiarity of a routine because it makes them feel secure. Consistency in the format of a meeting will help girls feel comfortable and engaged. Using the six parts of meeting will allow girls to be comfortable knowing what comes next. Offering a variety of activities and including girls in making decisions within the structured meeting format is essential to keeping girls interested and having fun. They will look forward to coming to meetings when they are included in troop planning and responsibilities. It is best to schedule Daisy meetings weekly, two weeks can seem a long time for a Girl Scout Daisy. The meeting should be scheduled to run for one hour unless a field trip or special event is planned. Remember to focus on one action at a time and keep directions, expectations, and activities short and simple. Welcoming Girls Girl Scout Daisies are just beginning to learn how to feel comfortable with adults other than family members. It is important that as girls arrive at the meeting a caring volunteer greets them individually by name and evaluates how each girl is feeling that day. Is she excited and easily leaves her adult’s side or is she apprehensive and clinging to her adult? By greeting each girl with a warm, friendly and positive attitude each girl will transition into the troop meeting smoothly. It is important she feels she will be in a welcoming and safe space. Six Suggested parts of a Girl Scout Daisy Troop Meeting 1. Pre-meeting Activity 2. Opening 3. Daisy Circle-Business 4. Activity 5. Clean-Up 6. Closing Snack (optional) Pre-Meeting Activity (10-15 minutes) Have something for the girls to do when they first arrive that does not require too much volunteer direction. Girls seldom arrive at meetings all at the same time. This activity gives them something to do with their energy (rather than run around). Some troops like to have a snack as a pre-meeting activity, especially troops that meet right after school. Other examples are; jump rope, puzzles, word games, coloring or making scrapbook pages. Pre-Meeting Activity Ideas: - Work on creating individual scrapbooks based on troop meetings and activities. Girls can decorate individual pages each week. - Do an on going service project. Make greeting cards each week, for nursing homes , thank you cards after a field trip, get well cards for a children's hospital etc Opening (5-10 minutes) The opening to the Girl Scout Daisy meeting should gather the girls from the loose pre-meeting activities into a group. Give the girls a basic format to start with such as standing in a circle. The opening can be a flag ceremony and/or Girl Scout song that makes them feel they are now focusing on their group and starting something structured. One or two girls can carry a small, hand-held flag into the circle and the Girl Scout Promise can be recited by the troop. As the girls grow and learn they may want to add their own special touches, such as a patriotic song, a Girl Scout song, saying hello in other languages, or other special expressions. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 7 Daisy Circle Business (10-15 Minutes) The Daisy Circle is a forum to allow girls to have sharing time and participate in making troop decisions. It gives the girls a chance to feel comfortable and confident to talk about their interests, feelings, recent troop experiences, and get to know each other. Sitting in a circle also allows everyone to feel equally involved. Volunteers should introduce the idea of a talking object (it can be a stone, stick, or even a stuffed animal). After trying the method out, let the girls choose what they want the troop talking object to be. Only the person who has the talking object may talk, everyone else is silent. After 30 seconds or so, the object is passed to the next person. Activity ( 20-25 minutes) During this section of the Girl Scout meeting, girls get a chance to build skills, try new things, explore their interests, and work cooperatively with others. As the girls progress, you will begin to get insight into their interests. Make sure that you are always asking for their ideas and input. Meeting activities should be Learning-By-Doing _ Using their hands making or fixing _ Supervised, but offer help only when needed _ Ask girls to talk about what happened during the activity and predict what might happen next _ Promote observation, exploration and experimentation Clean-up (5 minutes) Girl Scouts leave a place better than they found it. It is the responsibility of the girls, not the troop volunteer team, to clean up after themselves. Tiding up helps girls take pride in their meeting place and instills a sense of selfdiscipline, respect, and responsibility. A Kaper chart for clean-up ensures that everything is done by the girls as much as possible. Closing (10 minutes) The closing ceremony is part of every Girl Scout meeting, from Daisies through Ambassador. For Daisies, it brings closure to each meeting. A closing can be a favorite troop song and a Friendship Circle. It is also a great time to check in with the girls and reflect on their Girl Scout experience. You can ask them questions like, “What did you like best about the meeting? Or, “What would you like to do again?” After they answer, thank the girls for sharing and then explain the Friendship Circle which is a simple Girl Scout Ceremony to say goodbye for today. After the friendship circle is done have the girls sit in a circle and have the girls ask the adult picking them up to stand behind their girl. This gives the troop volunteer team a chance to distribute any papers or make announcements, allowing both the girls and adults receive troop information. Thank the girls for coming and let them know you cannot wait to see them again at the next meeting. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 8 Girl Scouting = Girl Planning You can have a good program without girl planning, but you can’t have good Girl Scouting without girl planning! DAISY BROWNIE JUNIOR CADETTE SENIOR AMBASSADOR ADULTS’ RESPONSIBILITY GIRLS’ RESPONSIBILITY WHAT IS GIRL PLANNING? Girl Planning means that the troop’s adults help girls choose and organize their own activities, solve problems as a group, and the girls take charge of the results. Don’t do anything for Girl Scout Daisies that they can do for themselves. Keep encouraging them to do more. Your job as a troop leader is to plan how to help the girls make decisions. For more information on the Leaders’ Role in Planning with Girls, refer to pg. 24-25 of Safety-Wise. STEPS 1. Do advance planning. FOR DAISY TROOPS If needed, it’s okay to modify activities a bit in relation to season, meeting place, and resources, as well as what you know of the girls’ previous experiences. Dream a little about the possibilities, and add to the Meeting Plans (if you have time)! Be sure to give each girl a chance before calling on those girls who are bursting with more ideas. 2. 3. Ask the girls. Sift ideas. Refine plans and implement. Create future plans. Provide opportunities for girls to connect the activities in these Meeting Plans back to their Journey book. When seeking girls’ input, take the most obviously popular ideas. Combine some of the simpler ones. Complete the refining process and gauge the girls’ reactions for “approval” (i.e., consensus). Implement what you can start immediately or at the next meeting. Put the other ideas in a Girl Scout Daisy “dream box” for future use. 4. Alert other adults. Communicate with parents/guardians about what the troop is doing, enlist their support, and let them know what help you need. Listen to their reactions and make adjustments, if necessary. 5. Use the plans. Let girls know the activities they are enjoying are the result of their involvement in the planning and decision-making. Use the plans as a basis of learning to give input, to make choices, to test ideas, and to deal with consequences, as well as to learn about consensus-building. Before going to a new phase, remind the girls what they have decided and review it with them. 6. Review the plans. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year Be ready with a quick change of activity for Girl Scout Daisies – their attention span is short. They do not always follow through on extended projects. www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 9 Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden The Daisy Flower Garden focuses on helping Girl Scout Daisies learn the Girl Scout Promise and Law and the three keys of leadership: Discover, Connect, and Take Action. The Daisy Flower Garden has 12 storybook characters, including ten flowers that represent and relate directly to each part of the Girl Scout Law. The main character, Amazing Daisy, represents the entire Girl Scout Law, while Honey Bee leads the three Girl Scout Daisies to Amazing Daisy and her flower friends. The Story: Amazing Daisy and the Daisy Flower Garden tell the adventures of three Girl Scout Daisies in the Daisy Flower Garden. Each of the meeting plans includes time to read a chapter of the story aloud to the troop. Because each meeting plan is packed with ideas, you may run short on time. Familiarize yourself with the story ahead of time so that you can give a brief summary if meeting time or the attention of the girls runs out. The Mini-Garden: A gardening theme runs through the sessions, and time is built-in for the troop to tend a mini-garden. Gardening through fall and winter in the Midwest may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Consider recycling a container with a clear lid, such as a salad-bar or take-out container, so that the garden is self-watering. Ask at your meeting space if the troop can leave the mini-garden in an out-of-theway spot, preferably one with lots of sunshine. Use your resources wisely. Don’t forget to use the Daisy Friends and Family Checklist on pages 16-17 of the How-to guide. If you aren’t comfortable with gardening, ask for help, you may already have some garden experts close at hand. No matter the result the mini-garden is an opportunity for the girls to learn. If seeds don’t sprout or wilt, ask girls to brainstorm what might have happened. Don’t give-up. Try planting again or help girls to think of gardening projects they would like to try. The Take Action Project: Girl Scouts make the world a better place. Everyone can improve the world, especially Girl Scout Daisies. Daisies will likely enjoy the portions of the Take Action project that are activity based (planting, weeding, working with their hands, etc), more than those that focus on talking or reflecting (brainstorming, planning, writing letters, etc). The Daisy Friends and Family Checklist should provide the troop with several options for local projects. Consider the interests and needs of your troop; help the girls to choose between a one-time project (planting, or garden clean-up) and an ongoing project (worm compost or caring for a garden through a season). The Awards: Girl Scout Daisies earn three awards that tie directly to the garden theme; they are awarded after completing various activities during their Daisy Flower Garden journey: The Watering Can represents being responsible for what they say and do. The Golden Honey Bee Award is given for taking action to make the world a better place. The Amazing Daisy is awarded to the girls at the end of their journey for knowing and living the Girl Scout Law. Cookie Program Activity No mere fund-raiser can replace the unique leadership program that is the Cookie Program Activity. Thousands of successful women trace their earliest success to selling Girl Scout Cookies. By fully implementing the potential of this program activity — including goal-setting, team-building, marketing, and early financial literacy— you are helping pass on these valuable skills to today’s generation of girls. Best of all, girls have lots of fun along the way! Each Girl Scout troop will receive a “Cookie Activity Kit” from Little Brownie Bakers. The kit is packed with fun ideas that make it easy for girls at every grade level to fully benefit from the Cookie Program Activity, plus each kit focuses on Earth- friendly endeavors. The activities can be followed exactly or modified to fit the needs and interests of the girls. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 10 Ready, Set, Go Things to know as you get started The Meeting-by-Meeting Curriculum: The curriculum for First-Year Girl Scout Daisies supports Program Essentials and is designed to be structured, fun, and easy to use. With the exception of the six sessions relating to Leadership Journeys 1: It’s Your World: Change It! the sessions can be used in any order. This is a great opportunity for the girls to choose what they’d like to do. Earned Awards: Girl Scout Daisies can earn the Promise Center & Learning Petals, as well as the awards described in the Leadership Journeys by completing specific activities. Earned awards are placed on the front of the Girl Scout uniform. In addition to earned awards, girls may receive or purchase fun patches for participating in program events, the Cookie Program Activity, etc. Kaper Chart: A Kaper chart is one way to divide responsibility and provide a visual reminder of the tasks that need to be done during a meeting. Refer to page18 of your Girl Scout Fast Start leader booklet for detailed explanations and examples of Kaper charts. Family Involvement: Many hands make light work, and the troop’s Friends & Family network is a built-in group of helpers. A troop committee is composed of adults who help the troop run smoothly. For a list of troop leadership positions and a sample family meeting agenda, refer to pages 9-11 of your Girl Scout Fast Start leader booklet. Adapting the meetings to fit your troop: Each troop is unique. Girls may speed through an activity, take longer than you expected to complete an activity, or be too shy to speak up when you ask questions. If things don’t seem to be going smoothly, stick with it for a minute or two, but don’t force it. At the end of the day what’s most important is that girls have had a new experience or learned something and want to come back again. Remember that the meetings should be girl-led as much as possible. If the girls love singing songs, but there isn’t one in the meeting plan, feel free to add one in. Energetic groups may need a couple of quick active games throughout the meeting in order to keep their attention focused on the activity at hand. Adult Reflection: Remember to take a moment for yourself. Try and take a couple minutes to reflect at the end of each session. Jot down a few notes on how the day went, what the girls enjoyed, and any changes you’d like to make in the future. After a few meetings look back and you’ll be surprised by how both the girls and you have grown. Cookie Program Activity No mere fund-raiser can replace the unique leadership program that is the Cookie Program Activity. Thousands of successful women trace their earliest success to selling Girl Scout Cookies. By fully implementing the potential of this program activity — including goal-setting, team-building, marketing, and early financial literacy— you are helping pass on these valuable skills to today’s generation of girls. Best of all, girls have lots of fun along the way! Each Girl Scout troop will receive a “Cookie Activity Kit” from Little Brownie Bakers. The kit is packed with fun ideas that make it easy for girls at every grade level to fully benefit from the Cookie Program Activity, plus each kit focuses on Earth- friendly endeavors. The activities can be followed exactly or modified to fit the needs and interests of the girls. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 11 Meeting Closing Ceremonies for Girl Scout Daisies 1. Clean-Up (Good for young girls) o The children skip about the room arranging everything neatly, singing to the tune of "London Bridge." Weave the magic in and out, in and out, in and out, Weave the magic in and out, we are Girl Scouts. We have tidied everything, everything, everything, We have tidied everything, we are Girl Scouts. Finally, the girls line up before the leader who asks, "Is everything finished?" The girls answer: "Everything." The leader asks: "Is nothing left?" The girls answer: "Nothing!" The leader says: "Then be gone!" (Leader can wave a special "good-bye wand" as girls silently tiptoe out.) Magic Tunnel - When hats and coats are on, the Girl Scouts stand in two lines facing each other, raising their arms and holding hands to make an arch. The two farthest from the door go under the arch, then the next two, etc. The tunnel diminishes until the last two go. Girl Scout Out - Stand in circle with a girl in the center. Spell G-I-R-L-S-C-O-U-T. Girl in center touches the top of a head as each letter is said. The three girls that get the letters O, U, T leave the circle and line up by the door or are given permission to leave with their designated adult. The remaining girls close up the space and the spelling begins again. Keep repeating until all are eliminated. Spread Arm Good-bye Circle - Extend arms sideways at shoulder level, drop halfway to sides, step one pace in and hold hands not with the people on either side of you but with the person next to them. Every other person will be holding hands and the arms will make an interesting zig zag pattern. Sing a good-bye song. Girl Scout Good-Bye Song o Tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" o o o o o o 2. 3. 4. 5. Now our Girl Scout meeting ends, Say good-bye to all our friends To our homes we Girl Scouts go Singing songs to let you know, We are happy as can be, Working, playing, merrily. 6. Friendship Circle with Friendship Squeeze - Girls stand in circle with arms crossed right over left and grasping the hands of the person on either side. A designated person starts the passing of the friendship wish by thinking a silent wish and then symbolically passing the wish to the person on her right by squeezing her hand. That girl then thinks her own silent wish and continues the "squeeze". This is repeated until the "squeeze" has gone around the entire circle. When the person who began the squeeze receives it, she says “Goodbye Girl Scouts.” The girls drop their hands and leave in silence. Hint: So that the location of the "squeeze" can be identified, have each girl extend her right foot as she passes on her wish. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 12 It’s Your World: Change It! Meeting-by-Meeting Curriculum for First-Year Girl Scout Daisies Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 13 Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Meeting 1- The Promise Center Materials: - Nametags (Use index cards or the nametag template provided in your binder) & yarn - Kaper Chart - Crayons, glue, pencils, any other craft supplies for decorating nametags and creating pictures of what girls want to do in Girl Scouts. - Construction or drawing paper - Hip Pocket Activity Guide - Mini-garden materials: basil or leaf lettuce seeds, light-weight container for gardening (containers with clear lids such as salad/lettuce containers, or small pots), potting soil, small watering can (or a plastic/paper cup with small holes punched in the side). Meeting: Pre-Meeting Activity: Greet the girls individually as they arrive, giving each a nametag necklace (name card attached with yarn). Have her name pre-printed on the nametag, she will feel special that you were expecting her. Having personal attention at the hand-off from family adult to troop volunteer is important at this age. Girls can decorate their name tag using stickers, crayons, wrapping paper scraps and other reusable materials. When it is time to start, raise your hand in the Quiet Sign. Explain when your hand goes up, everyone’s hand goes up, and everyone is quiet. Let the girls know the Quiet Sign will be used throughout the meeting. You can make it fun to see how fast everyone can be quiet. Gather into a circle to start the meeting. Opening: The opening to the Girl Scout Daisy meeting should gather the girls from loose pre-meeting activities into a group. Give the girls a basic format to start with such as standing in a circle. No formal opening ceremony is needed for the first meeting An adult should start and model the game/activity o Name Game: Sit or stand in a circle. Ask each girl to say her name and do an action. (the action will help girls to remember the names, and can be used as a clue if someone forgets a name along the way) the action could be related to the person’s name. The group then repeats the person’s name and their action. Have a volunteer demonstrate: “I’m Miss Jen, <dances>” Group repeats “She’s Miss Jen” and repeats action. The game continues around the circle. For a challenge see if anyone can remember the names and actions of everyone in the circle. OR o Play a game from the BLUE “Name Game” section of the Hip Pocket Activity Guide. Daisy Circle: o Learn Girl Scout Promise: (Copy of Girl Scout Promise is included in binder, and on page 37 of the adult How-To guide.) Read the Girl Scout Promise aloud to the girls. Now read the lines one at a time, asking the girls to repeat each line back to you. Then say all four lines together. Say something like: “The Girl Scout Promise explains how Girl Scouts will treat one another and all people.” The last line of the Promise refers to the Girl Scout Law. Remind girls that they will be learning and living the Girl Scout Law through all of the troop meetings and activities. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 1 Page 14 Activity: During this section of the Girl Scout meeting, girls get a chance to build skills, try new things, explore their interests, and work cooperatively with others. As the girls progress, you will get insight into their interests. Make sure that you take time to ask the girls for their ideas and input. Ask the girls to choose the order of activities. It may be helpful to provide two options (i.e. Let’s vote: we can either sing a song, or read a story next, which would you like to do?) o Story of Juliette Gordon Low Read the action story that follows about Juliette Gordon Low After reading Juliette’s story, explain in Girl Scouts girls can do many different things. Give age appropriate examples of things you would like to do or did yourself in Girl Scouts like sing songs and meet new friends. Ask the girls, “What did Juliette like to do?” Finish off the Juliette story by creating pictures of what girls would like to do in Girl Scouts. • Have the girls go to a table and draw or cut out magazine pictures to make a drawing or collage of things they would like to do in Girl Scouts. Collect the pictures to share at the end of the meeting. o o o Read Chapter 1 “One Little Daisy Shining in the Sun” in the girl Journey book. Familiarize yourself with the story so you can summarize if you run short on time to read the entire chapter aloud. When reading with the girls, remember that younger girls may have difficulty sitting still for long periods of time. Engage the girls with questions such as “What do you think will happen next?” Or “How do you think (name of character) feels?” If you have an active group, consider having girls act out each of the roles as you tell the story. Garden Time review pages 42-43 of the How-to guide for tips on getting your mini-garden started. If your troop chose to plant a mini-garden take a few minutes for the girls to water it and check on the progress of the seeds. Maybe your troop would like to make a scrapbook documenting the progress of your garden. Each week a different girl could be responsible for drawing or writing about the garden and its changes. Song learn the song “Goodbye Daisies” song which the girls will sing for a closing. (Sung to the tune of Good Night Ladies.) Goodbye Daisies- First time through substitute “Daisies” for “Name of Girl” then sing using each girl’s name. If you’re feeling silly, or several girls leave at the same time, see how many names you can fit into the line (i.e. Goodbye Tula, Mari, Lupe, & Cora) Good-bye _ (Name of Girl) _____, Good-bye__ (Name of Girl) _____, Good-bye ___ (Name of Girl) _____, it’s time to say good-bye. Clean-up: Girl Scouts leave a place better than they found it. It is the responsibility of the girls, not the troop volunteer team, to clean up after themselves. Use the Kaper chart to select one or two girls responsible for cleanup and to ensure that the girls are responsible for as much as possible. Closing: A closing ceremony is part of every Girl Scout meeting, from Daisies through Ambassadors. Closing ceremonies are very important for Girl Scout Daisies it ends the meeting in a meaningful way and brings everyone together before they have to leave. Ask each girl to share one thing she would like to do in Girl Scouts. One troop volunteer can write down what the girls say. Let the girls know that their interests will help decide what the Daisy troop will do throughout the year and that you will post their pictures at another meeting during a special ceremony. Remind them that many of things they like are the same things Juliette liked to do. Time to leave: Sing a verse of Good Bye Daisies to remind girls of the tune and words. Begin by singing “Goodbye Daisies” then sing the song with each girl’s name. One at a time, each girl removes her nametag and gives it to one of the leaders. The others sing to her as she leaves. Continue until all are done. 2 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 15 JULIETTE LOW ACTION STORY As the story is read, ask the girls to do the following actions when certain words are said. Practice the motion first so everyone understands. This is easier to play standing up. Word/phrase – actions “LITTLE GIRLS” – Stand and giggle “GEORGIA” – Wave and say, "Hi, y'all!" “HORSES” – Stamp your feet and say, "Neighhhhhhh" “LORD/LADY BADEN-POWELL” – Bow formally and say, "How d'ya do?" “LONDON” – Sing, "London Bridge is Falling Down" “BOY SCOUTS” – Make Girl Scout Sign and say "Be prepared" “JULIETTE LOW” – Join hands with the person to your right and sing or say "Make new friends" (just that one phrase) “GIRL SCOUTS/SCOUTING” – Make Girl Scout Sign and say "On My Honor" “WORLD” – Stand up, spin around once and sit down Once upon a time there was a little girl named Juliette Low who lived in Georgia and loved to ride horses. In 1912, Juliette Low became interested in Scouting while visiting her friends, Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, who lived in London, England and who started the Boy Scouts. She was fascinated by the work he was doing which he began in London. She studied with him for while and decided to begin a troop of Girl Scouts for the little girls who liked to ride horses in Georgia. So Juliette Low said good-bye to the Boy Scouts in London and came home to Georgia with the ideas that Lord Baden-Powell gave her. She formed a group of little girls in Savannah, Georgia, who liked to ride horses and be together, into a troop of Girl Scouts. She did this on March 12th, 1912, and this first troop of eight little girls was the first Girl Scout troop in this part of the world. This first Girl Scout troop was so successful that Juliette Low wanted to see Girl Scout troops all over the world because she knew that Girl Scouting would help little girls and big girls all over the world to become friends and to help build world peace and good will. Girl Scouting grew and grew until now you are not only a member of your own Girl Scout troop but also a member of the larger Girl Scouts of the United States of America and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. 3 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 16 Reading with the troop As adults, we may like the idea of reading a story through all in one go and having children listen silently to the story through to the conclusion. Please note, this is an unrealistic expectation for kindergarten and first grade children, who have shorter attention spans than older children. Keep the girls involved and listening by asking questions during the story. The following questions are intended to engage girls in the story, and connect to the Girl Scout Law. During the story ask questions like: How do you think (NAME OF CHARACTER) feels right now? I wonder what will happen next? How does that person feel? Could this happen in real life? What would you do if that happened to you? Does anyone remember what part of the Girl Scout Law are we talking about today? What things in the story are like (the line of the Girl Scout Law) we are talking about today? What could (NAME OF CHARACTER) do differently to make things (better/happier/safer/etc)? At the end of the story ask questions like: What did you learn from this part of the book? Has anything like what happened in the story ever happened to you? What does this remind you of? How did you feel when we read about _________ (a particular event or piece of information in the book)? What do you think about this character? Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 4 Page 17 Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Meeting 2 Honest and Fair, Friendly and Helpful, “Hola” Materials: - Nametags – decorated by girls at previous meeting - Copy of the Girl Scout Promise (in your binder) - Construction paper, scissors, glue or tape, crayons, any other craft supplies the troop provides. - Cut out large petals (ovals) ahead of time (girls will decorate these in pre-meeting activity) these will be attached to the troop agreement during the business section of the meeting. - Apples, granola bars, or other individually wrapped snack item. Bring more snack items than you have girls, the girls will practice being honest and fair while dividing the snack. Meeting: Pre-Meeting Activity: Have girls write their name on the petal and then decorate them. (The petals will be added to the troop agreement during the Daisy Circle portion of the meeting.) Opening: Use the Quiet Sign to get the group’s attention. Review the meaning of the Quiet Sign. Have the girls gather in a circle and explain you are going to do an Opening Ceremony and the troop will do this every week to show that we are officially starting the meeting. - Teach the girls the Girl Scout Sign (Girl Scout Sign: Right hand held up, palm forward. Thumb holds little finger. Three middle fingers point straight up, together) and review the Girl Scout Promise. Post the Promise so all girls can see it. For details on teaching the Girl Scout Sign, refer to page 50 in the “Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden” How-to Guide. Explain to the girls that all over the world Girl Scouts and Girl Guides say a similar Promise in their meetings. Say something like: “Did you know that there are Girl Scouts and Girl Guides all over the world? Today we are going to learn how to say “Hello” in Spanish. Does anyone already know how to say “Hello” in Spanish?” If not, teach the girls to say “Hola” which sounds like Ola. Encourage the girls to practice greeting one another in Spanish. Let the girls know that in future meetings they will learn to say “Hello” in other languages too. - Say something like: “Today we are going to talk about two parts of the Girl Scout Law: Honest and Fair, and Friendly and Helpful.” Keep these two things in mind as we go through out meeting today. Keep your eye out for girls in our troop who are doing these two things during the meeting today. At the end of the meeting we’ll all share who we saw following the lines of the Girl Scout Law: “Friendly and Helpful, and Honest and Fair.” Daisy Circle-Business: Group Agreement By having girls participate in creating troop guidelines and rules, and agree to them, they are more likely to follow rules and less behavior problems will occur. Tell girls that they are going to make a troop Daisy Flower. Explain that everyone here is very special and together we make-up a Daisy Troop that will work together. Ask the girls if any one remembers the Quiet Sign from last week’s meeting. Ask if they agree this is a good way to get everyone's attention. (They should say yes.) Let them know that together as a Daisy troop they are going to create a Group Agreement that will help us to respect each other and the meeting space. Use piece of construction paper to write down more group agreements, like bathroom rules, staying in the meeting space, and using the talking object. Introduce what the talking object is and how the troop will use it. Practice using it by asking the girls if they can think of anything else they can add to the group agreement. Use the talking object when girls are speaking. Let them know they did a great job creating the troop agreement and that it will help their meetings run smoothly and that the troop will add more agreements throughout the year when needed. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 5 Page 18 Use the Group Agreement as the center of the Daisy Flower. Ask each girl to attach the petal she made during the pre-meeting activity to the daisy center that has the group agreement. Remind girls that by adding their petals to the daisy flower they are promising to follow the group agreement. Activity: o o o o Song: “Who is wearing red?” (tune: The Farmer in the Dell) Oh who is wearing red? / Oh who is wearing red? / Please tell me if you can, / Oh who is wearing red? Oh [name] is wearing red/ Oh [name] is wearing red/ That’s the color of her [item of clothing “shirt”, “shoes”]/ Oh [name] is wearing red. (Continue singing changing the color and the names) Honest and Fair: Snack time- The goal is for girls to practice being Honest and Fair in deciding how to distribute an uneven amount of snack. Set out the snack item you chose (there should be more snacks than girls). Say something like: “It looks like we have (too much/not enough) snack for everyone. Can you use today’s part of the Girl Scout Law, “Honest and Fair,” to divide snack evenly?” It may be tempting to give the girls suggestions, but try to be patient and remember that cooperative learning is a new skill for Girl Scout Daisies. You may need to ask questions to get the group going: “How many/much snack do we have?” (Count the number of snack items aloud) “How many people are in our group?” (Count the number of people who would like snack) “How would everyone feel if I ate the entire snack myself?” “What would be a fair way to divide the snack? How would you feel if we divided snack unfairly?” Once the girls have come up with a solution for dividing snack, have the girl(s) who has “snack” as her Kaper to pass out the items. Congratulate the girls on being Honest and Fair in solving the issue. Enjoy your snack! Remember: with Girl Scout Daisies cooperative learning means: _ Girls are just learning what it is like to be a member of a group _ Direct girls to help others and teach others and not just focus on their own needs _ Engage girls in taking turns and sharing _ Teach girls to be active listeners _ Encourage girls to share ideas and thoughts. Game-Popcorn: Have the girls gather in a group. Explain that they have been magically transformed into popcorn kernels and each time you say “Hotter” they will move a little more. Have the girls start crouched down or lying on the ground. The first time you play the game, you may need to tell or suggest to the girls what to do each time you say “Hotter.” For example: 1st timegirls wiggle around. 2nd time- jump up then crouch back down again. 3rd time- jump up and stay standing bouncing on their toes. 4th time- jump up and hop up and down. 5th time- Girls jump up and say/yell “POPCORN!” Play at least two rounds so girls can get the hang of the game and use up some energy. Read aloud Chapter 2 in the Amazing Daisy story. Keep the girls engaged by asking questions about the story. Clean-up: Girl Scouts leave a place better than they found it. It is the responsibility of the girls, not the troop volunteer team, to clean up after themselves. Use a Kaper chart for clean-up to ensure that everything is done by the girls as much as possible. Closing: While standing in a circle, ask girls if they recall today’s lines of the Girl Scout Law. After they answer, thank the girls for sharing and then explain the Friendship Circle which is a simple Girl Scout Ceremony. After the squeeze has traveled around the circle, its time to say goodbye! -Friendship Circle: Form a circle (volunteers too) and crisscross arms, right over left, then hold hands. One person starts the friendship squeeze with the hand of the person to her left. The squeeze then goes around the circle ending up where it started. When it is your turn to squeeze you may make a silent wish. (It may help for the girl beginning the friendship squeeze to stand at the left of a leader so that you know when the squeeze has made it around the circle.) Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 6 Page 19 Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Meeting 3 Considerate & Caring, Responsible for What I Say and Do, “Bonjour” Materials: - Copies of Considerate and Caring coloring page (1 per girl) - Crayons, construction paper, and craft items for Thank You card(s) - Any additional craft items your troop supplies to make Thank You cards Meeting: Pre-Meeting Activity: Provide coloring pages “Considerate and Caring” and allow girls to color. Opening: Greet the girls with “Bonjour.” Explain that “Bonjour” is French for “Hello” and that French is spoken in France and several countries in Africa including: Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania. Ask: “Does anyone remember how to say “hello” in Spanish?” (Hola) Encourage girls to greet one another using “Hola” and “Bonjour.” Recite the Girl Scout Promise and practice The Girl Scout Law. Daisy Circle: Discuss “Responsible for What I say and do and Considerate and Caring” Ask girls for examples of nice things to say to people and how that makes the person feel. Talk about some things that hurt to hear (name calling, mean talk, teasing, etc.) Remind the girls that once you say something mean you can try to fix it by saying that you are sorry and saying nice things but you can never make it like it was before the hurtful words were used. Say something like: We need to be responsible for what we do and say. If we do make a mistake, we need to think about how to fix it the best we can. That can mean apologizing for something we said or it can mean telling the truth about something we’ve done instead of lying about it. Everyone makes mistakes but we need to be honest about what we’ve done so that we can have help in figuring out how to make the situation better, rather than make another mistake by lying about what we have done. Also we can be responsible for our moods. If you are having a tough day, tell someone you need a hug, or spend some time in your room until you feel better instead of being grumpy to others. Try to be polite and cheerful and help others! Learn Girl Scout handshake. “Girl Scouts greet one another by shaking their left hands while making the Girl Scout sign with their right hand. The left-handed handshake represents friendship because the left-hand is closer to the heart.” Have girls practice the Girl Scout handshake with one another. Activities: o Game: Telephone: ask the girls to get into a line. The first player whispers a phrase or sentence [Girl Scout Daisies are Amazing!] to the next player. Each player successively whispers what that player believes she heard to the next. The last player announces the statement to the entire group. o Read aloud Chapter 3 in the Amazing Daisy story. Keep the girls engaged by asking questions about the story or having girls act out the story as you read aloud. o Learn the song “Daisy was her Name-o” (To the tune of B-I-N-G-O: There was a girl who joined Girl Scouts and Daisy was her name-o, D-A-I-S-Y). o Craft- Thank You cards. Individual girls may choose to make a thank you card for someone who they think is considerate and caring or the troop could make one large thank you card for someone who has helped the group (i.e. staff of the building where meetings are held or a special visitor). o Garden Time if your troop chose to plant a mini-garden take a few minutes for the girls to water it and check on the progress of the seeds. Ask the girls to name some of the responsibilities of having a garden (watering, weeding, making sure it gets sunlight). If your troop is keeping a garden scrapbook documenting the progress of your garden, take a few moments to jot down the changes since the last meeting. 7 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 20 o If you have extra time: Read a story that relates to “Responsible for What I Say and Do”, here are some suggestions: Hurty Feelings- Helen Lester, When Sophie Gets Angry, Really Really AngryMolly Bang, Me First-Helen Lester, My Mouth is a Volcano- Julia Cook, Howard B Wigglebottom Learns to Listen- Howard Binkow, The Recess Queen-Julia Cook, or if none of the books listed above are available use the story “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” which is provided. Use the questions that follow to help keep the girls engages and to guide the group discussion after the story. Clean-up: Closing: Watering Can Award- If your troop chooses to receive the awards as they are earned, follow the ceremony on page 60 of the Adult How-to guide. If your troop chooses to receive all awards at your Garden Party, do a simple closing ceremony to end the meeting. 8 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 21 Story: The Boy Who Cried Wolf There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, "Wolf! Wolf! The Wolf is chasing the sheep!" The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no wolf. The boy laughed at the sight of their angry faces. "Don't cry 'wolf', shepherd boy," said the villagers, "when there's no wolf!" They went grumbling back down the hill. Later, the boy sang out again, "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!" To his naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf away. When the villagers saw no wolf they sternly said, "Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don't cry 'wolf' when there is NO wolf!" But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more. Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, "Wolf! Wolf!" But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn't come. At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn't returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping. "There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, "Wolf!" Why didn't you come?" An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village. "We'll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the youth, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!" 9 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 22 Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Meeting 4- Respect Authority, Take Action Project Part 1,“Salam & Hallo” NOTE: The Take Action Project will take at least two sessions; meeting #4 provides the foundation for planning a Take Action Project. The Take Action Project has a garden theme. Depending upon when your troop does meeting #4, you may choose to plan the project and carry it out at a later date when weather is appropriate for gardening. Materials: - Copies of coloring page - Crayons - Copies of Girl Scout Daisies Respect Authority cards (template provided) - Items for flower bookmark craft: Construction paper, scissors, glue Meeting: Pre-Meeting Activity: Allow girls to color the Girl Scout Daisies Respect Authority cards Opening: Say the Girl Scout Promise together as a group. Gather the girls into a circle. Say something like: “Do you remember how to say “Hello” in Spanish? (Hola) Who can remember how to say “hello” in French? (Bonjour). Explain that today girls will learn to say “hello” in two languages! Tula the tulip is from the Netherlands but her family came from Iran. People in the Netherlands greet one another by saying “hallo” and Iran use the word “Salam” to say hello. Ask the girls to greet one another with “Salam” and “Hallo” and to practice “Hola” and “Bonjour.” Introduce today’s line of the Girl Scout Law: Respect Authority. Daisy Circle-Business: Respect Authority: Discuss today’s line of the Girl Scout Law: Respect Authority. Ask girls to give examples of who she takes directions from on a regular basis. Have her explain why it is important to follow the directions of each person. Activities: o Garden Time if your troop chose to plant a mini-garden take a few minutes for the girls to water it and check on the progress. o Play Game: Simon Says. Talk about how in the game we do what “Simon Says” because that is one of the rules of the game, and that we have to do what ever Simon Says even if it is silly. Connect back to people who are authority figures in our lives and that because we trust these people we follow their instructions, even if we don’t understand why they are asking us to do something. o Craft: Create a flower bookmark, girls may choose to cut out a flower and paste it to their bookmark, color a flower, or cut out pictures of flowers from magazines and glue them onto the bookmark. o Garden Story Time: Read aloud Chapter 4 in the story of Amazing Daisy. Remember to ask questions that keep the girls involved and listening. If you’re running short on time; emphasize the section beginning on page 54 that focuses on making the world a better place by starting with the garden. o Remind girls that part of the Girl Scout Law is to “Make the world a better place.” Ask if they remember how each flower wanted to make the world a better place. Say something like: “What could you do to make the world a better place?” o Take Action Project Brainstorm: Follow the suggestions on page 67 of the Adult How-to guide and help the girls come up with one or more possibilities for a garden-themed Take Action Project. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 11 Page 23 Clean-up: Closing: Over the next week ask the girls to recognize people of authority in their lives. Give each girl a card that says: "Girl Scout Daisies Respect Authority" and ask them to give the card to an authority figure and tell them “thank you” for doing what they do. Sing “Goodnight Daisies” or allow the girls to choose a closing for the meeting. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 12 Page 24 Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Meeting 5 –Preparing for Garden Party, and “Konnichiwa” Materials: For the Japanese Garden craft you can check out library books with pictures of Japanese Gardens for girls to look at, and use for ideas, or make an example garden ahead of time. o Blue, brown, orange, and green construction paper o Paper egg cartons o Glue o Scissors o Markers or crayons o Invitations to the Garden Party. Meeting: Pre-Meeting Activities: Ask girls to choose a game to play. Maybe one they’ve played at previous meetings. Opening: Gather the girls into a circle. Ask the girls to remember the different ways they’ve learned to say hello. Say something like: “We’ve learned how to say hello in many languages, here’s one more; “Konnichiwa” is how you say hello in Japanese. Can you practice saying “Konnichiwa?” Review the Girl Scout Handshake (Make the Girl Scout Sign with right hand and shake hands with the left.) Ask girls to greet one another with the Girl Scout Handshake and say hello using one of the greetings they’ve learned so far; “Hola”, “Bonjour”, “Hallo”, & “Salam.” Recite the Girl Scout Promise and Law. Daisy Circle-Business: Ask girls to share who they gave a “Girl Scout Daisies Respect Authority” card. Activities: o Garden Time if your troop planted a mini-garden take a few minutes for the girls to water it and check on the progress of the plants. o Garden Story Time: Read aloud Chapter 5 in the story of Amazing Daisy o Game: Jan-Ken-Pon (Rock, Paper, Scissors) This traditional Japanese game has been used as a way to break ties and to make decisions for allotting privileges. In unison, two players shout "Jen-Ken-Pon," and on "Pon" both thrust out one hand with either an open hand (representing paper), a closed fist (representing a stone) or two extended fingers (representing scissors). Determining the winner is as follows: stone wins by breaking scissors; scissors win by cutting paper; and paper wins by covering the stone. If both players have the same hand motion, the game is quickly repeated until a decision is reached. o Craft: Japanese garden Description follows. o All about honey bees: Ask the girls: “Does anyone remember the name of the bee in our garden story?”(Honey) Why are bees important to the garden? (They pollinate the flowers, help fruits and vegetables grow, etc.) Does anyone know how bees talk to each other? (Dance) Bees dance to tell each other where to find flowers. If girls seem interested in the idea of bees dancing, share a little more about how bees communicate. Details of the honey bee “waggle dance” and an example dance are on the following page. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 13 Page 25 o Planning for Garden Party: The Garden Party is a chance for girls to celebrate and share their accomplishments with the Daisy Friends and Family Network. Encourage girls to help plan and decorate for the Garden Party. The celebration may have the same parts as a regular meeting (opening, business, activities, closing) or may be a social gathering with time for sharing and distributing the awards girls have earned. Practice reciting the Girl Scout Law. To earn the Amazing Daisy Award girls should know the Girl Scout Law (its okay if they need some encouragement). o Opening: Ask girls to choose what type of opening they would like. o Song: Encourage girls to choose a song they’ve learned and practice it. o Garden story: Encourage the girls to choose a favorite part of the story to read aloud or act out for their guests. o Decorations and Games: Do the girls want to decorate for the party, will they play games? Suggestions for games and simple decorations are provided in Meeting 6. Clean-up: Closing: Have the girls to choose what type of closing they would like: a song, Friendship Circle, or another closing. If your troop has completed the Take Action project, girls may receive the Golden Honey Bee Award. 14 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 26 Miniature Japanese Garden Follow these instructions to create a simple miniature Japanese garden. Start with a small square of very paper to make the base of the garden. A piece about 10 inches square works well. Cut some blue paper to make a stream through your garden and glue it to the green base. Glue on a small paper goldfish. A strip of brown paper makes a nice bridge across the water. To make a tiny pagoda, use 3 paper egg carton sections. Cut each section's wide part so that it has four legs. Glue the three sections together as shown in the picture to the right. Glue the pagoda to the garden's base. Glue some small pebbles on the garden base to make a little rock garden. Honey Bee Dance The waggle dance is used by bees to communicate the location of food sources more than 35 yards away. The forager bee turns in circles alternately to the left and to the right. The more food there is, the longer and faster the dance. The dance consists of two loops with a straight run in the middle. The direction of the straight run determines the direction of the food source. The speed of looping and length of buzzing tell how far away the food is. The direction of the straight run tells the direction of the food in relation to the sun. If food lies in the same direction as the sun, the foraging bee dances straight forward. If it is to the left, the bee dances at the appropriate angle to the left. Make up your own bee dance using the motions described above or practice this one: - Turn a circle in place once Go forward two steps “Buzz, buzz, buzz” Turn a circle in place twice Go back two steps “Buzz, buzz, buzz” Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 15 Page 27 Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden Meeting 6: Daisy Garden Party- Celebrating our accomplishments Garden Party: 1) As the girls arrive – prepare for the ceremony 2) Opening Ceremony – page 78 of the Adult How-To guide, recite Girl Scout Promise 3) Garden Party Story – read aloud or have the girls act out a favorite portion of the story. 4) Music – girls sing the song they have chosen 5) Amazing Daisy Award – present award(s) that the girls have earned so far. 6) Garden Party festivities- games, crafts or other activities. Ideas for decorations and party crafts Ladybug- Everyone has a “Spot” in our Troop: Make a large ladybug out of construction paper. Have each girl cut a “spot” out of dark paper and write her name on it. Girls stick their spots to the troop “Ladybug” Mexican Paper Flowers A favorite with kids and adults alike, these beautiful and simple handmade paper flowers are popular decorations in many Mexican celebrations including Cinco de Mayo and Dia de los Muertos! Use them as table decorations, party favors, or hang them from string. These flowers are easy to make and always sure to bring a smile. What you'll need: 4 - 6 pieces of any color tissue paper cut into squares, approximately 8 inches 1 pipe cleaner Scissors Instructions: Stack the pieces of tissue paper with edges aligned, alternating colors. Fold the stack as a fan (back and forth) in one inch folds until you have a 1x8 inch piece Use scissors to round out both edges of your "fan" Squeeze the tissue "fan" in the middle and twist a pipe cleaner tightly around it for the stem Carefully fan out the tissue, then separate the petals and shape the flower and stem by pinching in the middle to bring the petals together. Provide an assortment of colorful tissue paper and pipe cleaners. To make a flower, stack 4-6 sheets of tissue paper. They can be cut into rectangles or ovals around 5" x 7”, larger or smaller if you wish. This is not an exact science, and they'll be pretty no matter what. It works well to accordion pleat the stack of paper on the longer side, but this is tricky for smaller kids and not really necessary. Gather the stack in the middle and secure with an end of a pipe cleaner. Then, gently separate the petals to make a flower. Egg Carton Creatures Begin collecting paper egg cartons a few weeks before the party, enlisting the help of friends. Allow one carton per child. You will also need pipe cleaners for legs (6-8 per creature), and other decorative materials such as markers, construction paper, wiggly eyes, glitter, bottles of glue. You can make a caterpillar by cutting out 4-6 "cells" of the egg carton. Add pipe cleaner antennae and decorate however you see fit. A spider is formed with one "cell," poking through four pipe cleaner legs on each side. An ant can be made with three "cells," plus six pipe cleaner legs and two antennae. 17 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 28 Games Pin the bee on the flower: You can alter many common party games to have the garden theme you're looking for. For example, pin the tail on the donkey becomes pin the bee on the flower. Just create a large cardboard "bee" for blindfolded girls to pin/tape onto a larger paper "flower" on the wall. Garden scavenger hunt: A scavenger hunt is always fun and it costs you nothing to create. Give each girl a bag and a list of things to find in the garden. The list could include a pinecone, a white rock, a brown leaf, a feather or an acorn. Look around the yard and see what might be simple for the girls to find and add it to the list. Watering can race – Use two small plastic watering cans. Divide girls up into two teams. Have each team race 20 feet to an empty pail and fill with water, return empty watering can to the next one in line. They must then refill it from a bucket filled with water. The team that is able to fill the pail up first wins. You may use other types of containers found around the house. For more fun use pails or cans with holes so girls have to work quickly to get as much water as possible into the pail! Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 18 Page 29 Nametag Template Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 19 Page 30 Girl Scout Daisies Respect Authority Template Girl Scout Daisies Respect Authority Thank you for helping our community! From, Girl Scout Daisy Troop # __________ Girl Scout Daisies Respect Authority Thank you for helping our community! From, Girl Scout Daisy Troop # __________ Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 20 Page 31 Garden Party Invitation Template: You are invited to a Garden Party! Come celebrate with Girl Scout Daisy Troop #__________. Date: ________________ Time: __________________ Location: _________________ You are invited to a Garden Party! Come celebrate with Girl Scout Daisy Troop #__________. Date: ________________ Time: __________________ Location: _________________ Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 32 21 The Girl Scout Promise On my honor, I will try To serve God and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org 23 Page 33 The Girl Scout Law I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, 25 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 34 And to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, And be a sister to every Girl Scout. 27 Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 35 Marigold Responsible for what I say and do Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 36 Respect Authority Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 37 Honest and Fair Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 38 Sunflower Friendly and Helpful Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 39 Zinnia Considerate and Caring Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 40 Take Action Project The Golden Honey Bee Award represents taking action- in a big or small way- to make the world a better place. The story of Amazing Daisy is focused on a garden theme and naturally the girls may be interested in a Take Action project that relates to gardening. To earn the Golden Honey Bee Award, your troop will complete a Take Action project they choose. Steps for success: o Have girls and families complete the Daisy Friends and Family Checklist (pages 16-17 of the Adult How-to guide). The information provided may help your troop with options for garden projects in your community. o While winter in the Midwest may make a garden project seem impossible, there are many ways to ensure the girls can follow through on a project. One possibility is to have the girls brainstorm and plan their Take Action project with the intention of carrying out the project when weather is appropriate. Remember, for Girl Scout Daisies making the world a better place can result from small changes. At this age developing brainstorming and group decision-making skills will help girls to plan future Take Action projects. o When selecting a Take Action project, give the girls options to pick from. If girls are engaged in thinking of ideas go with it, otherwise guide them towards deciding between a few options. Take Action Project ideas: - Worms & Ladybugs: The story of Amazing Daisy focuses on the benefits of worm composting and ladybugs, so the girls may be interested in one of these. Pages 62-63 in the Adult How-to guide give details on how to proceed with these two options. - Garden Project Possibilities: The Daisy Friends and Family Checklists should have provided some suggestions or options for Take Action projects in the local community. - The Earth Day Groceries Project: is an easy, cost-free environmental awareness project that teams up youth and grocers to spread the message of Earth Day. To participate, adults simply borrow paper grocery bags from a local grocery store. Girls decorate the bags with environmental messages about reuse, recycling, wildlife, etc. The bags are then returned to the grocery store, and on Earth Day, April 22 of each year, customers receive their groceries— along with the message that kids care about our environment— in the decorated bags. For more information visit http://www.earthdaybags.org/ - Cleanup or Adopt a local park: Ask the girls to identify a local park or green-space that could benefit from the troop taking care of it. Choose whether the troop would like to participate in a one-time cleanup or ongoing care of the park. Groups that agree to care for a park space are generally asked to collect litter and debris one or more times a year and report any issues or necessary maintenance to park staff. Contact your city or town government for more details and information about adopting a park. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 41 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Follow your usual meeting structure and add the following during the “Activities” portion of the meeting. Choose between Outdoor and Indoor activities based upon the weather, your meeting space, and natural areas within walking distance. Outdoor Activities: Materials: - Access to an outdoor space with natural objects (i.e. grass, rocks, trees, view of the sky). -Paper, crayons, and leaves, bark, or rocks for Nature Rubbing Craft. -Hip Pocket Activity Guide Intro: Ask the girls questions about their fice senses; how many can the girls remember all five, what part(s) of your body are involved in each one, etc. Explain that each of the activities will use a different sense. Just like everything else, our senses get better the more we practice using them. Outdoor Sights: Find a space outdoors that is safe for your troop to move around in. Explain to the girls that you will give them instructions, and after a short amount of time (20 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, depending on the attention span of your group), you’ll ask the girls to report back on what they observed. 1. Ask girls to lie on their backs or sit down and look up at the sky. What do you see? 2. Ask everyone to lie on their stomachs or sit and look down. What do you see? 3. Now, ask girls to think of an animal, and try to look around the same way that animal would, how would the world look if you were that animal? (i.e. An ant might be looking at dirt and blades of grass might seem as big as houses, a bird might think that trees and people look tiny from so high up in the sky.) Outdoor Feelings: Say something like: “Now we are going to exercise our sense of touch. What words could we use to tell someone how something feels when you touch it? If we touched a rock how would that feel?” 1. Ask girls to touch several outdoor/natural objects. Have each girl tell her small groups about at least one thing she touched. 2. If the day is sunny, ask girls to take a moment to stand in the sun, and then stand in the shade. How does each of these feel? 3. If there is wind, ask girls to stand facing the wind, and then turned away from the wind. Compare these two feelings. Craft: Nature Rubbing- explore the textures of nature by doing nature rubbings. Place one or more items from nature (leaves, bark, twigs, flowers) under a sheet of paper use a crayon to rub the paper, the result should be a drawing that shows the texture of the objects below. Help girls to label their art with the names of the objects used to create the rubbing. Game: Play one or more games from the Rhythm Games (YELLOW) section of the Hip Pocket Guide. Outdoor Smells: This activity uses the sense of smell. Say something like: “Now we’ll exercise our sense of smell. What part of the body do we use to smell? (Nose)” 1. Standing up, take a deep breath. Did you breathe through your mouth or your nose, or both? Now try it just breathing through your nose. What did you smell? 2. Now sit or crouch down. Take another deep breath through your nose. Does it smell different closer to the ground? Do you notice different smells in the sun and in the shade? Encourage girls to compare their experiences with those of other girls. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 42 Indoor activities: Materials: -Natural objects for What’s in the bag? such as, small stones/pebbles, leaves, a piece of fruit, sand or soil, sticks/twigs, bark, large seeds (citrus seeds work well). -Small bag(s) for each object or one bag that you can rotate objects through. - Hip Pocket Activity Guide Intro: Ask the girls questions about their five senses; how many can the girls remember all five, what part(s) of your body are involved in each one, etc. Explain that each of the activities will use a different sense. Just like everything else, our senses get better the more we practice using them. Sound Sense, Sound Travels, and Experiencing Sounds: We’re going to learn about how sounds are made. Which of our five senses tells us that there are sounds around us? (hearing/ears). Say something like: “Where do sounds come from? (girls may have answers like TV or Radio, help guide them back to what originally made the sound; and instrument or voice) What kinds of sounds can people make? Let’s try out all the different noises we can make!” Have girls touch their throats to feel vibrations as they; laugh, hum, talk, sing. Girls can practice hearing sounds by cupping a hand around one ear, putting a hand over one or both ears, trying to listen through different objects; book, table, door, wall. Make different sounds by gently tapping on each of these objects while other girls are listening. Ask girls how the sound was different in each case. What’s in the Bag? Say something like: “Now we are going to exercise our sense of touch. What words could we use to tell someone about how something feels when you touch it? (Soft, rough, warm, dry, sharp etc.) If we touched a rock how would that feel?” 1. Ask girls to touch the object in the bag and try to figure out what the object is. Some girls may need reassurance that the object will not harm her. Have each girl describe the thing she touched to her small group, and see if they can guess what the object is. Game: Play one or more games from the Rhythm Games (YELLOW) section of the Hip Pocket Guide. Craft: Nature Rubbing- explore the textures of nature by doing nature rubbings. Place one or more items from nature (leaves, bark, twigs, flowers, etc.) under a sheet of paper, use a crayon to rub the paper, the result should be a drawing that shows the texture of the objects below. Help girls to label their art with the names of the objects used to create the rubbing. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 43 Healthy Living (Courageous & Strong) Meeting: Pre-Meeting Activities: Play an active game and get warmed up for the Obstacle course. Opening: Choose a simple opening, such as greeting one another with the Girl Scout Handshake. Daisy Circle: Introduce the concept of “Healthy Living” Talk about what it means to be Healthy. Identify daily habits for good health and growth (eating well, being active, eating breakfast, taking care of teeth and getting enough sleep). Ask questions like: What does the word “healthy” mean? How does your body feel when you are healthy? What things do all people and animals need to stay healthy? (food, water, shelter, exercise, etc) What do you do to stay healthy each day? Activities: - Get Moving! Set up an Obstacle Course (example follows) and have the girls run through it - Create and sing a “habits for health” song. Two examples that can be sung to the tune “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”: Eat, eat, eat your breakfast Each and every day Happily, happily, happily, happily Let’s go out and play! Brush, brush, brush your teeth Each and every day Flossing, flossing, flossing, flossing Keeps the cavities away! The troop may want to add to the song by developing new verses. Clean up: Closing: Have the girls choose a closing ceremony or activity to end the troop meeting. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 44 Obstacle Course Create your own obstacle course or use the one that follows. Sample obstacle course: - Crawl under or over a row of chairs. Jump into and out of a Hula-Hoop or a circle of string/rope on the floor five times. Walk in a straight line (heel to toe) for 10 steps. Throw a beanbag or soft ball into a basket. Balance a beanbag or small book on your head and sing “row, row, row your boat.” Somersault from one point to another. Crawl under a string stretched between two chair legs or across a doorway. Skip in place while reciting a rhyme. Carry an object on a spoon (water balloon outdoors, small ball indoors) Do ten jumping jacks If you’re feeling creative, combine the suggestions that follow to create your own obstacle course. Ways to Move: Step, walk, creep (on all fours), crawl (on belly), scoot (on bottom), roll, somersault, jump (two feet), hop (one foot), leap, run Where to Move: Up, upon, down, into, onto, between, beneath, beside, under, over, through, across, around Objects: Construction paper shapes, shoeboxes, paper plates, bubble wrap, masking tape, 2-liter soda bottles (can be weighted with water), chairs, bowls, balls, baskets, books, Ready, Set, Go! Now it is time to start. Pick a beginning and ending point. Also, be sure that they understand what they need to do at each spot (do they climb over or under the string) and explain if they fall or knock something over they must try it again. VARIATIONS: Other obstacle possibilities include silly rules like jumping up and down three times after completing certain "stations" or singing a song at a certain point in the course. Use a stopwatch or clock and see if girls can improve the time it takes them to complete the course. Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 45 Bridging to Girl Scout Brownies What is Bridging? • “Bridging” is when Girl Scouts move to the next program level. (Daisy to Brownie, Brownie to Junior, and so forth.) • Bridging activities are an opportunity for girls to build new Girl Scout friendships, learn about the next level and complete requirements for bridging awards. • Bridging ceremonies celebrate the actual transition to the next program grade level. Many troops hold a bridging ceremony at the end of the school year, but others wait until the new school year begins. • The only requirement for bridging to the next level is a grade level requirement: Girl Scout Daisies bridge to Brownies at the end of the first grade Please note: At the end of Grade 1, Girl Scout Daisies move up to Girl Scout Brownies. Earning the Bridging to Girl Scout Brownies Award is not required in order to become a Girl Scout Brownie. Many troops choose to earn the Bridging to Girl Scout Brownies Award so that girls get a preview of what their upcoming year as a Girl Scout Brownie may include. Girls may receive the following insignia and awards upon completion of bridging requirements: • World Trefoil Pin (if they have not received it on their first Thinking Day • Bridging to Girl Scout Brownies Award • Girl Scout Brownie Pin • A membership star with a blue disc • Activities for Girl Scout Daisies Bridging to Girl Scout Brownies Girl Scout Daisies may "bridge" to Girl Scout Brownies by learning about the next level through a series of activities listed below. Bridging Step 1: Girls learn about Girl Scout Brownies by doing one of the following: • Invite some Girl Scout Brownies to talk about Girl Scout Brownies. • Visit a Girl Scout Brownie group during a planning meeting. • Have girls look through the Girl Scout Brownie Handbook and the Try-Its for Girl Scout Brownies book or one of the Girl Scout Brownie Journey books. (Ask leaders in your area if they have a book set your troop could borrow.) Bridging Step 2: Girls complete a Girl Scout Brownie activity by doing one of the following: • Find out about three things that Girl Scout Brownies do (and do one of them) • Complete an activity in the Girl Scout Brownie Handbook • Ask a Girl Scout Brownie to tell about some of the things she does and do an activity with her. Bridging Step 3: Girls do one of the following with Girl Scout Brownies: • Plan and carry out a service project with Girl Scout Brownies. • Go on a field trip with Girl Scout Brownies. • Visit Girl Scout Brownies at one of their meetings and complete an activity with them. Bridging Step 4: Girls help plan their bridging ceremony. They can: • Work with a Girl Scout Brownie sister troop to plan the bridging ceremony. • Make up a song for the ceremony. • Prepare decorations for the ceremony. Adapted from the Guide for Girl Scout Daisy Leaders (2000), September 2004. Resources: Brownie Girl Scout Handbook Try-Its for Brownie Girl Scouts Girl Scout Daisies-First Year www.girlscoutsrv.org Page 46