September started off with a planning meeting and discussion about what Pathfinders is all about. 6 out of 7 Pathfinders are first years, so we will be spending more time teaching the girls how to do things this year. Our second meet was split between outdoor games and activities from "The Arts From A to Z" module.
One of the things we have the girls do is plan and run a meeting based on a module. They can choose to work alone, withe a partner, or with a small group. The first of this year's "Pathfinder Planned" meetings was done by three girls and covered the Media & Image module. This group included our only 3rd-year Pathfinders and the program was well planned and gave the other girls a good example to follow. At our next meeting we celebrated the International Day of the Girl with activities about girls lives around the world. Cookie Selling at Sears came next where we sold 11 cases of chocolatey mint cookies. A leader-led meeting came next to cover the Choosing Your Own Direction module and the annual Cookies Rising badge. At this meeting we reviewed the Promise and Law, talked about the Canada cord and started planning our first service project - making birthday boxes for Martha House (a women's shelter). Our Hallowe'en party was held a week early as most of the girls still wanted to go out trick or treating!
The first two weeks of November were Pathfinder-led meetings, the first on the Be A Star module and the second on the Rembrandt & Co module. The following week was our annual Scavenger Hunt/Birthday Party. This year we had a photo scavenger hunt where the girls split into two teams and had to go around town taking pictures of places and things on their list. The birthday party piece came about as both Guiders have their birthday's a week apart and it has become a tradition that we have cake on the meeting that falls between them. The final meeting of the month was a requested 'Survivor' night. Teams had to design flags, build shelters, lay a fire, learn to tie knots, and practice teamwork by feeding each other pudding ... blindfolded!
December was a short month that started off with our annual service project sleepover. The girls baked 19 dozen cookies to send to the Out of the Cold program and filled 20 birthday boxes with donated items for the women's shelter. Of course, we also had pizza and lots of time for chatting and listening to music. At our first meeting of the month we talked about responsibility and started planning our Thinking Day Event. Our final meeting of the year was our annual Christmas movie night where the girls came to my house and watched Christmas Vacation (their choice).
