Cookie Carnival!

To help get the scouts excited about cookie selling time they put together four different "carnivals" in our area. They filled up quickly - there were almost 450 girls at the one we went too!

Here is the promo info that they out out:

Your group will rotate through 10 Cookie College stations and 10 Cookie Carnival stations.  Girls will earn and receive their Cookie Activity Pin for doing all of the Cookie College stations then will enjoy 10 cookie themed carnival games.  We will also have prize drawings at the end of the night and lots of fun.  We will serve pizza for the whole group at 12 PM. 

Event Schedule

11:45-12:15   Check-in and Pizza
12:15-2:45      Activities
2:45-3:00       Prize Drawings and Closing

Please come with the following items:

·         Your group should attend with proper girl to adult ratios, see Volunteer Essentials for these ratios.
·         A blanket to sit on while eating pizza.  We will be eating picnic style!
·         Sturdy, comfortable shoes to run and play in – no sandals please!
·         We will be doing activities both outside on the grass and inside the building.  Please dress for the weather.

All 9 of my girls were signed up - and all but one made it. The poor kiddo was crying in the back ground when her mother called me - she was simply too sick.
:(
We had excellent ratios for our troop -every Mom stayed!

I brought a few blankets so the girls had somewhere to sit when they ate their pizza - and also brought a few supplemental yummies like veggies and graham crackers.

There were 10 "college" courses where the girls learned everything from

safety to what they can earn from selling cookies.

 Then, there were the big games outside - simple fun things like throwing "darts" or jumping in a ball pit to find pictures of cookies.

Every girl got a passport where they checked off all 20 stations.

Then they got 10 tickets for the Chinese Auction and their Cookie Activity Pin.

Here was the hard part...over 400 girls and only 20 prizes.

We explained to the girls that there weren't enough prizes for everyone

and that we would be delighted if ONE person won from our troop.

 

They seemed to understand so we ended up OK when none of them won a prize.

They DID have fun though -- just look at their faces-

Meeting Number Two: Cookie Kick Off!

We had a girl as a guest tonight - she decided to join our troop!

We are up to 9 girls now - yippee!

Early Bird Activity: Still working on the Boxes                 

To burn off a little energy: NEW Song – I’m A Little Daisy!
(sing to the tune of Little TeaPot)

We are Daisy Girl Scouts, short and sweet (they frame their faces and smile)
Here are our hands and here are our feet (wiggle hands and stomp feet)
If you need a helper just give a call (hold up fake phone)
And we’ll come running one and all. (run in place)

Circle Time

·       Review Daisy Wheel. Leader Helper sits on my right

·       How do we feel today? Go around the circle and ask - as we are working on feelings

·       Theme of the day: Getting Ready For The Road

o   Have A Nice Trip! (Work with Journey book) I bet they didn't read the 6 pages, so I might read it to them...

o   Leader helper pass out trip  base patch for their vests.

o   How do we resolve conflict? (Caring Bridge)

·       Girl Scout Law or Promise

Craft time

·    Craft helper pass out craft bags. We are making book marks for our Journey books. I have large orange paint chip strips from the local hardware store and they are challenged to draw leaves on them. Green ribbon added to the punched hole on the end.

Cookie Kick Off

Why are we selling? What is the troop going to do with the money? (Part of Finance award)

What can we earn? Review the gift chart - and tell them they will actually SEE some of the awards at the cookie carnival on Sunday.     

What are we selling? Flavors and info on the 8 different kinds        

Coins! They need to know MONEY as part of the Finance Awards so I have a bag of coins for each of them with the money poem inside. I will teach it to them and send them home with it. The next meeting, we will talk about dollar bills.

Penny, penny, easy spent,

Copper brown and worth one cent.

 

Nickel, nickel, thick and fat,

You’re worth 5. I know that.

 

Dime, dime, little and thin,

I remember—you’re worth 10.

 

Quarter, quarter, big and bold,

You’re worth 25, I am told.

Sample one! They gave us a box of the new flavor to sample: Mango Creams! (They LOVED it)

Snack Time

·       Snack and beverage helpers pass out treats. It was Stem week - check out what she did!

Circle time
      ·       Christmas Song: Jingle Bells (practice for the Senior Center in December)

·       What is next: Cookie Carnival on Sunday!!! Pumped them up a bit!

      ·       Leader Helper passed out Fly Up patches earned for everyone registering early!
      ·       Squeeze helper

Clean Up helpers help pack up cart! A LOT of girls helped clean up - it was super!

Take home: cookie coloring sheet, 2 patches, bookmark, coins and reminder for the Cookie Carnival!

Cookie Training - Oiy!

My head is still spinning...

I have finished the official
Girl Scout Cookie Training.

New to our area, is the direct sale concept.
This means, I have to GUESS the amount of cookies we will sell, pre-order them, and pray that we actually sell them all, LOL!

There are TONS of great gifts the girls can earn and this is the way we will take our almost
non-existing troop bank account and have some serious working capital!

I am ALL OVER this!!!

I have all our "booth" locations and dates/times in for approval, I roughly calculated our first cookie order and placed it, I have planned how to get the girls excited at our next meeting and have made sure all girls are attending the "Cookie Carnival" that the council puts together.

 

What IS A Cookie Carnival?

Here it is, right from our program listing:
Enjoy a Cookie Carnival while earning your 2012-2013 Cookie Activity Pin.

This event will be filled with cookie-focused games. “What Can a Girl Do?”

is this year’s cookie theme and you’ll get plenty of chances to answer that question

at the carnival by “doing” all the games and activities there.

You’ll meet the new cookie mascot (a dolphin) and enjoy fun crafts.

Prepare for the Cookie Program by attending “Cookie College” to learn how to be a

better and safer cookie seller.

Some of Council’s highest sellers will be at the Carnival to help

you set goals to earn your way to great adventures this year!

This event will be full of games, pizza, cookies and information to help kick off

your cookie-selling season with confidence.
Grades: K-12 ($5 girl / $0 adult)

 

This should help get the girls excited about their goal of 156 boxes.

They will earn a lot of gifts like:

A dolphin patch, a booth sale patch, a "set a goal online" patch, a "send out 12 e-cards online" patch, a "100" patch, a logo bracelet, a collapsible water bottle, a mood pencil set with sharpener, a dolphin necklace and ring set! Our troop is also using some of this cookie money to pay for their dues next year, new uniforms (they will be Brownies) and a "school is out" pool party!

 

Of course, they can choose to sell MORE than 156 boxes.

150 is roughly what each parent said they were going to shoot for...

and that includes sales from when they work a shift at one of our cookie booths! 

My daughter wants to sell 600 boxes!

That would also get her a Wisconsin Dells Pass, a logo Messenger Bag,
a logo Beach Towel, a set of logo Ear Buds in case AND the biggie:
 2 tickets to Mary Poppins at the local upscale theater in the spring.
We will see how this actually goes, but I envision my hubby and the red wagon,

taking her all over the neighborhood, LOL!

 

I can always order MORE boxes and pick them up,
and swap out if their magic formula was wrong for our area.

 

After all that cookie talk... I think I need a glass of milk.

Ha

Field Trip: the Library

Today was a field trip instead of our normal meeting: A quick tour of our local public library and then, they got to sit in on the normal story time.

Two of my Daisies had never been to the library before! I am SOOO glad we went because they now know what an AMAZING resource the FREE public library is! That, and our children's librarian is simply incredible.

I have "fun patches" on order for participating in this event... 6 of my 8 were in attendance.

Reminder slips were sent home for our next meeting - the first week in October, along with cookie selling permission slips - that I have to have back, before they can start selling cookies. I figured, if they have the slips ready for the next meeting (Cookie Kick Off), then the girls can go home with the pre-order sheets! I already have half of the slips back ... here is to hoping that the re3st come back!

What Is In My Reminders?

 After each Daisy meeting or field trip, I send home a "reminder" with the girls. What it simply states is the date of the next meeting, who has what "job" and what kind of preparation is needed. We only meet twice a month so, sometimes, I have them read a few pages at home. (I am living in the world that this is going to work...)Here is an example:    Our next meeting is October 3rd, 6-7PM

Getting Ready for the Road – learn about our own feelings, learn what you say to people when they take a trip, get their road trip journey base patches, make bookmarks, role play resolving conflict (easy with their school's Caring Bridge example), sing a Christmas Carol. And, Stem snack. We are also going to kick off COOKIE time and prep them for Sunday's Cookie Carnival.

As we will be talking a lot about plants for this Journey– it might be fun to keep the snacks on the same concept for the first five meetings: This week is Stems = Celery, asparagus, etc

Get as creative as you want and it’s OK to bring dip/ranch or whatever for them! For the rest of the year, as long as we stick with healthy options, we are following along with what they are learning. I have the grocery store field trip planned for when we are talking about “local foods”.  J

For this meeting:
Squeeze starter - M, Leader helper - S, Craft helper - A, Clean up x 2 – L and T, Snack - K, Beverage - A, Law Leader - L.

Homework:
Read pages 6-12 in the Journey Book before the next meeting

I hope that helps you -- I have a similar note each time, about the next event.

The First Daisy Meeting: Getting Started

My Early Bird project was simple: decorate white boxes with markers and colored pencils. I scored a BUNCH of them for FREE and thought it would be a great thing to use for the day we are caroling at the local senior center. Each box will have 2 Thin Mints in it and we shall pass them out to the residents after we are done singing. We need 50 boxes ready. We will have this project until they are all decorated. We stop this at 6:00 PM sharp, when it is time to start our meeting.

Circle time!!

·      We sang the make new friends Song – then talked about our new friends to the troop and the old friends we met last year - the Flowers. We reviewed the flowers and what part of the Girl Scout law they represent.

·      We talked about new things: Daisy Wheel. Our Journey Book this year, What awards were were going to earn this year and what field trips we were going to go on. We are working on a LOT of awards: Blue Bucket,  Firefly, Clover, Cookie seller, Finance, Safety, Bridging and they will get patches for each of our field trips/outings.

·      Theme of the day: Getting Ready For Our Road Trip! We read the introductory page of our Journey Book (Between Earth and Sky)

·      Girl Scout Law

·      Leader Helper: Pass Out Journey Books to all girls - they were SUPER excited to get them!

Craft time !!

·      Craft helper pass out craft bags. Each project was all ready individually bagged, in a one gallon baggie. I used the Girl Scout Promise, inside a basic Trefoil shape and had already cut them into circles. The girls could color them and then popped them into plastic "buttons" that I scored on clearance at JoAnn's craft store - 2 in a pack for $.50. They wore them proudly on their vests!
Here is my sheet - 5 to a page:

Snack Time !!

·      Snack and beverage helpers passed out treats - we are doing healthy stuff this year! Just look at the creative interpretation of the "FLOWER" snack - I LOVE it!!

Just in case you can't tell - it's cauliflower and dip, with a sliced pear stem. Uber Cuteness!

Circle time to close

·      What is next? I have a hand out that "reminds" parents about the next meeting but think the girls like knowing what kind of fun we will have at the next meeting.

·      Squeeze helper - the perfect way to end the meeting - with the friendship squeeze.

Clean Up helpers help pick up things and load up my cart so we leave the space as we found it.

How did our first meeting go?
Pretty awesome, I thought - with one exception: My Child.
The whole "my mom is the leader" thing grew old very fast. We had a little chat after the other girls left and made it clear that ALL girls are EQUAL in the world of Girl Scouts. I explained that they were all going to look to HER for an example on how to behave and that I really needed her on her best behavior.

She "got it".
(I hope)

Only time will tell - and a few more meetings...

The Big Outline

As a troop, we have already gotten through the summer and our first meeting is coming up next week! Here is my rough agenda for the school year - including the field trips and service projects. Keep in mind that we are trying to encompass a few different areas of the Scouting mission: work with a journey book to build their minds and guide the lessons, give back to the community, doing things for other people AND keep it all fun!

September

·         Intro meeting – talk about our Journey this year as we go on a “Road Trip” with our Daisy friends. They will get their journey books, talk about awards to earn and our field trips to take review the flower friends, explain the Daisy Meeting Wheel, make a Christmas Carol List that we all know, make a button with the Girl Scout law on it (they can wear on their vests), and the Flower Snack.

·         Field Trip!-à 6PM at the Public Library to be followed by 6:30 story time

October

·         Getting Ready for the Road – learn about our own feelings, learn what you say to people when they take a trip, get their road trip journey base patches, make bookmarks, role play resolving conflict (easy with their school's Caring Bridge example), sing a Christmas Carol. And, Stem snack.

• October 7th: Cookie Carnival -- from the Council. $5 per girl, and a lot of fun with TONS of other Scouts. Pizza, prizes, games and more.

·         October 14^th :  Fire Station Open House, 8-3PM. We are looking at a 30 minute “helper shift” and then, to enjoy the festivities J

·         Our Road Trip Begins - learn about other people’s feelings, learn what you say to people when they take a trip in French, Learn about different types of soil from Jung’s Garden center (maybe a guest), talk about littering and make a Frankenstein Can Craft, and role play  on how I help my friends. Sing a Different Christmas Carol, and Leaf snack. ***All girls will need a clean, empty soup can. I have a toplifter can opener if you don’t so they will have NO sharp edges on their final project. J

November

·         You, Me, How Different We Can Be  - learn about other people’s feelings, learn what you say to people when they take a trip in Spanish, Learn how plants drink, explain our “Feast of Plants” for snacks over the last few meetings and “Color-A-Carnation Craft” to take home. Talk about nature’s colors and make a Hand print Turkey Craft. Role play on how I feel and you feel, earn the Blue Bucket Award. And, Root snack.

·         Living the Law, and So Many Seeds – learn more about the Girl Scout Law, learn what you say to people when they take a trip in Chinese, talk about seeds (like those of our flower friends) and how they are just baby plants waiting to grow, Toilet Paper Butterfly Craft, role play how I feel and you feel. And, Seed snack.

 December

·         Special Skills, and Textures Too – learn the diversity of textures in nature, lean what to say to people when they take a trip in Japanese, paying attention to our special skills, learn about reflection (water and stone project), think about different shapes in nature (too cold for a nature walk!) Talk about winter and how to help nature with a milk jug bird feeder craft and a snack. **All girls will need a clean, empty milk jug for this craft. I will cut them, they will decorate and assemble.

·       Bonus meeting– Cookie Awards Ceremony **

12/20 Caroling at Senior Center and passing out mini cookie boxes! (I send them with a little gift for them all to open at Christmas/holidays – A Daisy Hair Clip/barrette!)

January

·         We Have Skills and So Do Plants! - learn more about our special skills and those of plants, learn what you say to people when they take a trip in Italian, girls earn their Firefly award, We will talk about how the snow is like water to the plants and make a Snow Measuring Stick Craft.  Also, Snack.

·         Field Trip! à To a grocery store to talk about LOCAL foods that we will talk about in the next meeting. (cheese, apples, milk, corn, etc)

February

·         In the Land of Milk and Cheese – review all ways to say “Have a Good Trip”, the Flower Friends Visit Wisconsin (yippee!) learn about how different foods affect our bodies (sleeper foods like milk/cheese/turkey and wake up foods that they share from their experiences) talk about textures and a Valentine Heart Craft. Start thinking about their Clover Project. (a play, posters for a school or library, a community planting project, litter pick up, etc) A string cheese snack would be PERFECT!

·         When the Flowers Meet the Trees – learn about different kinds of trees (Spruce, Pinion and Chestnut – then classifying them into deciduous and conifers), Making Bark Rubbings, talking more about our Clover Project, touching on recycling and making a Pop Top Friendship bracelet Craft. Hot chocolate would be PERFECT for the beverage person-- I can bring hot water. **Parent note: If anyone has a fireplace, bringing a log or two with bark on it would help us with the rubbings – it will be too cold to go outside to trees to do it. J 

March

·         Protecting a Natural Treasure – We start work on our Clover Project. Shamrock card from stamping with Bell Peppers Craft, and Snack.

·         Field Tripà(bank or police)

April

·         We work on our Clover Project! – Secret craft project – No Mom’s allowed!

·         On the Road To New Adventures – We review the blue bucket and firefly suitcase. Girls review their clover project and earn their award, craft is girls signing each other’s Journey Books and a group picture!

May

·         Field Trip! àTV station (this will be on a Saturday)

·         Bridge Ceremony – let’s make this really special for all of them! They will get their special Bridging award in a clear, ribbon tied baggie. It would be great if all Moms (and any other family members that want to) could attend. I will bring Daisy Cookies – we will have a party sign up like Brownies, etc. J

That's it - my whole year roughed out. I hope it helps someone make their own plans...I will be posting each meeting/event as they happen.