We got a lot done last night

We’ve decided to have a quilting day in May to finish up our quilt so we can donate it to Eggleston, and we got our paperwork done, check written, and mailed to secure our CPR course on April 14.  We did not get everyone registered and Family Partnership checks written.  Laura has her form and will get it to Mrs. Lott on Sunday.  We need to get forms to Crystal and Callie so that they can get their forms back to Mrs. Lott.  Candra, Brittany, and Maria have taken home information about Lifetime Memberships (there’s a link on our website, too).  Senior Girl Scouts can purchase Lifetime Memberships for $130 and never pay registration again their whole lives.  If you wait and do it later, it costs $250.  When you become Girl Scout leaders for your daughters, you’ll be all fixed!

Emergency Preparedness IPP

We did not actually get any work done on the current IPP except to choose the Service Project.  We will help Maria with her Brownie Try-It Day and do the Safety Sense Try-It.  That will satisfy the requirement to facilitate a workshop on safety for younger girls.

Troop Spring Break Possibilities

For anyone who is not going out of town, there are several possibilities.  Pat’s spring break is the same first week of April, so we can have Pysanki making, Gold Award paperwork days, and/or Brownie Try-It Day work days.  We’ll let Maria decide on a possible work day.

Pat has discovered that Maria, Laura, Crystal, and Callie do best when they do Gold Award paperwork solo.  If you want to reserve an afternoon, you have the following choices:  April 2, 3, 4, or 5. 

Pysanki making will probably happen on Saturday, March 31 or Friday, April 6.  If you want to decorate Ukrainian style Easter eggs, call to say so.  We can only do four people at a time. 

Maria’s Fund Raising

Things are going well with the fund raising.  The Council came through with $1500, and Pat’s fund raising letters to St. Bede’s folks has brought in another $700.  We still need to get some gear and pay the last $100 of the trip fee, so we hope that the Brownie Try-It Day will be able to do that part.  Pat and Maria are writing the thank you notes.

Brownie Try-It Day

Here’s the plan.  On April 21 we will meet at St. Bede’s at about 11:00 a.m. to get set up.  We have chosen 3 Try-It’s and decided to set up a station for each activity.  The Brownies should arrive at 1:00, and we plan to be finished around 4:00.  Of course we’ll have to clean up afterwards, so no one should plan to leave until we’re all done. 

 We will divide the Brownies into four groups and rotate them through the stations.  We’ll do one Try-It at a time and allow troops to sign up for the Try-Its they want to do.  Each Try-It will cost $5 per girl, and we will supply the patch at the end of the time.  Troops will pay in advance, and we will not do refunds for girls that don’t show up, although we will give the leader all the patches that she signed up for, so that she can complete the activity with missing girls.  Maybe we can offer a discount if troops sign up for all three.

 We will have an opening activity: bags to decorate in which girls will be able to carry home the things they make.  We will have a mini-Court of Awards at the end of each session.  We went through all the troop materials that Pat has in many, many boxes and found that we already have a lot of the materials we will need.

We decided not to make troop t-shirts but to buy one that is current at the Badge and Sash so that we will be readily identifiable on Try-It Day, and we decided to get Girl Scout nametags.  We listed the materials we still need to get for each Try-It.  The Try-It’s that we chose are Movers, Safety Sense, and Making Music.

 To Do List

• Decide who will shop for the materials
• Work out logistics and messy weather alternatives
• Work out who will do what
• Check Safety Wise and plan first aid station – designate a first aider
• Create an on-line flyer and send it out through the 3 Leaves Yahoo Group
• Create a registration form and decide how to get it to the leaders
• Get the registration forms to the leaders
• Make a second announcement at the April Service Unit meeting (April 10)
• Decide if we want to supply nametags or ask leaders to bring them
• Make a plan for all we have to do at our April 20 meeting
• Choose songs for Making Music.
• Invite the firemen for Safety Sense
• Decide if we should invite bridging Daisy troops to participate.
• Figure out how we will set up for sessions 2 and 3 while 1 and 2 are going on.
• Count out Try-It patches into zipper bags for each troop and label with leader’s name and Troop number

 Evaluation and Partying

It is possible that we might like doing Brownie Try-It Days, and we may want to do them next year as fund raising projects for our Big Trip in 2008.  In order to reward ourselves and have a calm time to do our evaluation, we need to plan a get-together.  It may be that we want to wait until Maria gets back in June – or maybe we need two parties.

 March, April, May, and into June

Other June and July Events 

Maria will need to finish her Gold Award by October 1, 2007.  She only has to finish the Career Exploration Pin before she can write her project application and do her project.  There should be ample time to finish, especially if she can get her project approved in June.

 Laura, Callie, and Crystal have until October 1, 2008.  Laura needs to finish the Career Exploration Pin and the Challenge before she can write her project proposal.  Callie just has to finish the Career Exploration before writing her project application, and Crystal has finished all her IPP’s and Studio2B books.  Crystal is partway on her Leadership Award, Career Exploration, and Senior Challenge and needs to finish the paperwork for all of them.  She’s done the work, but she has to get her calendars, logs, journals, and other paperwork all finished up.

Here’s what Pat remembers about how we decided to do the Try-Its

The Movers Try-It – estimated 70 minutes

 1.         Pinwheel – a make-it, try-it, and take-it activity – 20 minutes estimated time to do it

 Logistics:  Need a table to work at.  Probably indoors is best in case of wind that blows materials away.  Probably don’t need chairs because Brownies can work standing up at a normal height table, and chairs will get in the way. 

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Cut and mark construction paper squares

·         Decide if we will use beads as in the instructions

2.         Paper Copter a make-it, try-it, and take-it activity – 15 minutes estimated

Logistics:  Same as for pinwheel

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Copy patterns and separate

·         Figure out how to make it turn faster or slower

  3.       Windsock a make-it and take-it home activity – 25 minutes estimated

Logistics:  Same as for pinwheel and paper copter.

Materials:

Preparation:

·        Precut construction paper and string

·       Arrange decorations into four sets so that the first group doesn’t use up all the good stuff – maybe trays with containers of crayons, markers, stickers, etc.

·        Decide if we will staple or glue

 4.         Balloon Rocket – 10 minutes estimated time to do it

 Logistics:  Need several strings stretched about 10’ and attached to something, maybe chairs; if we use the paper bags on the strings, there will be very little prep for the girls and we won’t have to detach the strings, but we should make extra bags in case of tearing – the girls will just blow up the balloons, put them in the bags and fire away.

Materials:

Preparation:

·         No prep until we arrive and set it up

·         Tape straws to bags, thread on strings, and tie the strings

 The Safety Sense Try-It – estimated 60 minutes – longer if the firemen come

 1.                  Pocket Knife Safety – a make-it, try-it, and take-it activity – 15 minutes est

Logistics:  Need a table to work at.  Could be outdoors, which will work well with the rest of the activity.  Outdoors will give us room for the bubble of safety activity.

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Cut out two pocket knife blades and punch a hole in one end of each

·         Practice the demo and the bubble of safety

 2.         Fire Safety – a listening activity – 20 minutes estimated time to do it

Logistics:  If the firemen can come they can do the talk and let the girls see the truck.  If they can’t come, we’ll need a comfortable space for the girls to sit and talk.  It is important, if we and not the firemen do this, to have the Brownies talk about their own ideas.

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Practice our presentation – the firemen might not be able to stay for 4 groups, so we have to be ready with a back-up plan

·         Make handouts

 3.         Smoke Alarm – a listening and try-it activity – 10 minutes estimated

 Logistics:  Show girls how to replace batteries in the smoke alarm.  Let them push the test button

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Practice our presentation

·         Make handouts

 4.         Playground Safety – a walking and talking activity – 20 minutes estimated

 Logistics:  If we can go outside into the playground, we can take the girls through and let them play.  We will need to talk about safety and let them help make a poster, we can put the posters up on the fence and/or let the troops take them home.  We need a back-up or alternate plan in case of bad weather.

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Practice our presentation

·         Make posters

 5.         Back-Up activity in case we can’t do the Playground Safety:

            First Aid – a try it activity – 20 minutes

 Logistics:  We would be indoors, and we can learn a simple first-aid skill instead of the Heimlich maneuver.  Maybe how to put an arm in a sling.

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Practice our presentation or talk Mr. Callaway into being on call in case of rain

·         Possibly create an instruction handout that we could copy at the last minute

 The Making Music Try-It – estimated 60 minutes

 1.         Singing in Rounds—a group participation activity – 15 minutes estimated time

 Logistics:  Need a space where we can sing without bothering the other groups.  Maybe this Try-It should be done all together instead of in stations.  We probably should give the leaders copies of our songs.

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Choose our songs

·         Make copies for the leaders

·         Make a word sheet on the flip chart

 2.         Action Songs—a group participation activity – 15 minutes estimated time

 Logistics:  Same as rounds, except that we need to do Lummi Sticks 16 girls at a time, and Lummi Sticks are fun on a hard floor.  The Parish Hall and Commons are carpeted.

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Make copies for the leaders

·         Make a word sheet on the flip chart

 3.         Melody Glasses a demonstration and try-it activity – 15 minutes estimated time

 Logistics:  Same as rounds, except that if the group is very large girls will not get to try the glasses

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Test the glasses

·         Make a number sheet on the flip chart with numbers for the song

 4.         Music Around the World—a group participation activity – 15 min estimated

 Logistics:  Same as rounds, and this could work in a big group

Materials:

Preparation:

·         Make copies for the leaders

·         Make a word sheet on the flip chart