Planning Out the Year

I sat through all the training that spoke about girl driven/led, etc concepts.
Super!
One thing: These girls are 6.

I have helped out actively in my daughter's classes for the past three years and know we are taking a LOT of energy, a short attention span and still, the need to be included.

Enter the Daisy Wheel:

I found the pinwheel at the local home improvement store on summer clearance - $1.00
A sharpie let me label the petals with the simple tasks from each meeting:

• Snack (Healthy Choice)
• Beverage
• Clean up (twice)
• Law Leader
• Leader Assistant
• Craft Helper
• Squeeze Starter

The girls names are on clothes pins and simply get rotated around.
Delegating a bit helps me keep things straight.
:)

Encourage Scientific Minds This is the goal of the new Journey book we are using: Between Earth and Sky. I picked it because girls are SOOOO discouraged in science and fostering that love for it now is so precious!  It is broken down into 10 sessions and is important, as so few girls are encouraged in science. It takes an observational approach in nature. We will also be talking about feelings, and being aware of what other people are feeling...both things that their school does fantastically in the sense of community that they create.

Now, let's talk snacks.

Last year, the girls really got sugared up after their meetings -- so close to bed time. This year, we are talking HEALTHY treats - just like the new guidelines for the schools.

As we will be talking a lot about plants, etc – it might be fun to keep the snacks on the same concept for the first five meetings:

·         Flowers = Broccoli, cauliflower, etc

·         Stems = Celery, asparagus, etc

·         Leaves = Lettuce, spinach, Kale, Cabbage (our turn for this and we were planning on making Kale Chips)

·         Roots = Carrots, radishes, etc

·         Seeds = Sunflower, Pumpkin, etc

They can get as creative as they want and it’s OK to bring dip/ranch or whatever for their snack.

OK ... we are getting off to a great start!

Some things I wanted for every meeting, as consistancy is AWESOME:

·         Early birds activity (something for them to do until the meeting really starts)

·         Circle Time : Lesson/story time from their books

·         Craft

·         Girl Scout Law

·         Girls Scout Friendship Squeeze

·         Snack

·         Looking ahead to the next meeting

Great basic check list - right? And easy to do in one hour!

Now, what else did we want to add for the year?

Field Trips!

• Library - learn about great uses of our resources
• Police Department - learn about safety and our community
• Grocery Store - learn about local foods
• Bank - learn about money

Service Projects!

• Clover project - part of our Journey book
• Fire Station Open House - part of the safety award, we help out for a bit and then play!
• Caroling at the Senior Center - we are going to pass out small boxes of GS cookies too!

My next post will show you how I put this ALL TOGETHER for the year's rough agenda.