"I Want To Be... (Career Awareness for Guides)

For our first meeting after March Break, we learned about careers and explored the skills needed for different types of jobs.

The first 30 minutes of the meeting were Patrol Time, and each patrol started working on the activities they had planned out before March Break.

• Trillium Patrol - "Rap Around the Clock" - made up raps and songs about safety
• Rose Patrol - "Running" - did timed sprints and blocks of running
• Pansy Patrol - "Time Travel" - looked at photographs from camps in the 1930s-60s and designed their own futuristic campsites
• Daffodil Patrol - "Scrunchies" - measured and cut out fabric to make scrunchies and started sewing

We then had our usual opening and moved into our program. Each girl was given a worksheet and had to complete 3 activities:

• I Could Be... - Girls explored 11 posters about different careers and choose two that interested them to learn more about. They also had the option of adding a different career, and had to explain why they were interested in that particular path. (Posters were created based on interests expressed by the Guides!)
• My Resume - Girls filled out a simplified resume to highlight their talents and abilities. 
• Getting the Job - Girls worked in pairs to answer sample interview questions.

They were then able to choose from a variety of different skill activities, grouped into 4 categories: Law, Arts, Animals and Working With People.

• Exploring ... the Law - Here the girls could choose to test their knowledge of the Law or create a short exercise routine.
• Exploring ... the Arts - This station offered a wide variety of activities grouped as Design, Drama & Dance, and Writing & Composing.
• Exploring ... Animals - At this station, the girls had a chose of three different activities - making field notes, creating an activity to teach others about animals, or testing their knowledge with the "Creature Quiz"
• Exploring ... Working With People - We had two options here, getting to know another Guide and learning some basic signs and finger spelling.

After cleaning up, girls were able to present their skits, posters and research. We then played an active game and closed with reminders for next week and Taps.

DOWNLOADS

• Career Awareness Worksheet
• Career Posters
• Exploring ... the Law
• Exploring ... the Arts
• Exploring ... Animals (The "Creature Quiz" can be found in GFI: Animal Active as "Know Your Animals")
• Exploring ... Working With People 

While the Guides were learning about Careers, our Pathfinders & Rangers cleaned out the supply cupboard - that hasn't been emptied in many years...

Be a Reporter!

For our second meeting meeting of April, we visited the Grand River Sachem Office to work on the Reporting Badge.

The Grand River Sachem is one of Canada's oldest newspapers, having been in existence since 1856. The Sachem has operated out of the same office since 1865, making it Canada's longest-operating-in-the-same-building newspaper!

Senior Reporter Tamara Botting talked to the girls about the newspaper and the jobs involved in producing a weekly paper (reporter, editor, publisher). They learned that a reporter's day can change suddenly with the need to cover breaking news stories and how sometimes stories have to be held over until a future issue in order to make space for more time-sensitive stories. We also discussed censorship, libel, and editorials vs. news stories.

The girls were shown how a page layout is put together and a mock-up of the front page was done with a photo of the group. They also learned how a story is uploaded on to the website.

We then split the girls up into their Patrols and had each one write their own news story about anything they wished. When they read out their stories, the other girls had to identify the five W's - who, what, when, where, and why. As we had some time left, we had each Patrol make up their own "breaking news" report and act it out for the rest of us.

Fall Fun With the Rangers

Our Ranger Unit has an irregular schedule and makes full use of Facebook to plan meetings and events. We may not meet often, but when we do, we always have fun!

We started the year off in September by ordering Chinese food and watching the movie "Brave". After the movie was over, we started making plans for our weekend in Toronto in November.

In October, we had a baking night to make shortbread and complete the requirements for the
"Ready, Steady, Glasgow!" Challenge. Baking is always fun - especially when there are such tasty results!


Recipe for Brown Sugar Shortbread (Scottish)
1 cup (250 mL) Butter (no substitutions)
1/2 cup (125 mL) Light Brown Sugar, packed
2 cups (500 mL) All-Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp (1 mL) Salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) Baking Powder

Cream the butter thoroughly. While beating, gradually add the sugar.
Set aside 1/4 cup (60 mL) flour for rolling the dough. Sift the rest of the flour with the salt and baking powder. Add the butter mixture, mixing well. The dough should feel like putty.
Flour the rolling out surface lightly. Roll the dough out to an even 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) thickness. Cut into fingers, squares, or rounds. Prick each with a fork several times.
Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in a 350 F (180 C) oven until lightly browned, about 20-25 minutes (thinner pieces may take as little as 15 minutes). Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Store in a tightly covered tin. Makes approximately 24 pieces.
(Source: This recipe was published in the Hamilton Spectator a few years ago, unfortunately the date and any author information has been cut off the copy I have.)

The remainder of this meeting and our other meeting in October were spent planning our weekend in Toronto. We also spent time talking about College/University preparations and choosing a career. This was a spontaneous conversation as 3 out of 4 Rangers are in Grade 12 and will be heading onto their next adventure come September.

November saw us traveling to Toronto for 3 packed days - see post here.

December was a short month with the holidays. We spent our meeting time brainstorming and making plans for the Ranger Service Project - the last piece needed to complete the Chief Commissioner's Gold Award, and also to earn the Commonwealth Award. The service project list has been narrowed down and a final project will be chosen in the new year. For the Commonwealth Award we will be learning more about Fiji, and are looking forward to finding recipes and enjoying a Fijian meal.