January & February with the Pathfinders

January and February were busy months for the Pathfinders with Thinking Day, Winter Camp and Pathfinder-led Modules.

Our first meeting after the holidays had very low attendance so the girls watched a movie.

Our next meeting had nearly everyone present and the evening was spent planning camp activities and the all-important menu. The Pathfinders planned to spend part of their weekend outside and part inside, with all of the cooking being done inside.

The next meeting was split into two parts, with the first part spent planning the activities for Thinking Day and the other have spent working on the Broaden Your Horizons Module (needed for the Canada Cord by our one 3rd-year Pathfinder). For Thinking Day, the girls decided on a foam teddy bear craft, colouring sheets, Mosquito Tag, Active Living, Making a Water Filter and a campfire. For the Broaden Your Horizons Module, we compared the Promises and Laws of Canada, Venezuela, Finland, Poland, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Brunei and New Zealand, and also talked about things that all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts have in common. We had a discussion about Girl Guides being an all-girl organization and attempted to debate the pros and cons of this, unfortunately, this didn't go very well, so we ended the debate portion. We will learn how to debate properly later on and try again with a different topic.


Our final meeting of January was the Secret Agent 007 Module run by two of the Pathfinders. The led the group through fingerprinting and a challenge to figure out which prints belonged to which Pathfinder; the education and job requirements to be a forensic scientist; creating codes and solving coded messages; creating mazes; and a scavenger hunt around the meeting place using clues to get from one spot to the next.

February started off with a two-part meeting. The first half of the meeting was spent preparing craft supplies for Thinking Day and reviewing plans, and the second half was based on the Active Living Module and led by the two Pathfinders who had chosen this module. The first active living activity included an exercise session covering flexibility, stretching, pushups, situps, endurance activities, skipping, and jumping jacks. After they were "warmed up" each girl was asked to lead an exercise or game. The second activity was a discussion about what active living is and brainstorming a list of non-sporting activities that they could do to keep active.

Our next meeting was also a two-part meeting. For the first half of the meeting, we shopped for the groceries for winter camp and then came back to the hall for more on Active Living. Tonight's activities were a discussion about the barriers to being active and ways to over come them, and having each girl create a plan to be more active over the next month. We will check in each week to see how everyone is doing with their plans.

Our annual winter camp was held on Family Day weekend - see the Winter Camp post for details.

February 19th was our town-wide Thinking Day event run by the Pathfinders. Unfortunately only 4 Pathfinders were able to attend, but they were still able to run a successful event with a bit of help from the Rangers and Guiders. See the Thinking Day post to read about the activities we did.

The last meeting in February was a bridging meeting with the 3rd year Guides. The theme for the evening was Time Travel and the activities were planned to complete the It's About Time Module. Each girl was asked to dress up as a character from history or as a person living in a different time period. We had cowgirls from the Old West, girls from the 1980s, pioneer girls, a Greek goddess, a 1920s flapper, and a scientist. Our first activity was a brief overview of clocks,  timepieces and calendars through history including sun clocks, water clocks, hourglasses, mechanical clocks, Stonehenge, and the Sumarian, Egyptian and Mayan calendars. Next we explored archaeology with a Powerpoint presentation about the Colony of Avalon in Newfoundland, a game about the importance of context in archaeology (the girls had to identify each other's bedrooms from a list of 5 items), and a mini-archaeological dig where the girls had to find beads in a basin of soil. After cleaning up each girl shared about their costume and we made hot chocolate. Our last activity was an accordion book with decorated covers and ribbon to tie it shut, which was then filled out as a personal timeline. The Guides learned a bit about how Pathfinder meetings are run and everyone had a fun!

January & February with the Rangers

With only two meetings in January and two in February, we still managed to get lots done!

January started off with a meeting about finding a summer job.. We were able to cover a number of different challenges by talking about resumes, cover letters, job searching, and how their Guiding experience can be applied to job applications.

Our second meeting was spent planning activities and the menu for winter camp, to be held in February. The girls decided that they definitely wanted to sleep outside in a tent and cook outdoors over a fire. We started talking about what they would need in order to sleep outside comfortably and how to keep a fire going in the snow.

We cancelled our next meeting due to exams.

Our first meeting in February was a celebration of the completion of exams with a trip to the Mandarin for dinner. The Rangers love Chinese food so this was the perfect outing!

We had to cancel our pre-camp meeting the next week due to the weather, but managed to discuss what needed to be done before camp, packing and sleeping warm via email.

Winter Camp was held on Family Day weekend at Camp Teka in Paris. The weather was cold but clear and everyone had a great time! See the Winter Camp post for more details of our adventures.

Our town-wide Thinking Day event was held on February 19th, and two Rangers attended to help with the younger girls. See the post on Thinking Day for how we celebrated.

Our last meeting for February was spent working on the National Service Project - Operation: Earth Action. We talked about the importance of using reusable bags and water bottles and took the pledge. We also planned out a meal and mapped it, then re-planned it using local foods. We will be having a dinner party in April to cook and eat our local meal.

First Aid Night

Our Safety badge this year was First Aid. This badge is very theory/discussion based and it can be a challenge to get the girls involved.

The First Aid Badge requirements are:

1. Explain why it is important to check the accident area for your own safety before offering help.
2. Explain how to get help, what to do until help arrives and what to do after it arrives.
3. Describe the limitations of a first aider.
4. Describe what to look for when finding an accident victim.
5. Explain the danger of moving a person who has been injured.
6. Demonstrate how to keep a patient comfortable.
7. Tell about the danger of infection.
8. Put together a simple first aid kit and tell why each item was chosen.
9. Demonstrate rescue breathing and how to help someone who is choking.
10. Explain how to treat a nosebleed.

When we talked about what to do if someone is choking we let the Guides practice on a large stuffed animal. We also had the girls form pairs and act out what they would do in different situations (i.e. finding someone who has been injured, keeping someone comfortable, putting someone into the recovery position, helping someone with a nosebleed). We also had each patrol make up a skits showing how to treat a simple injury, based on the list in the Learn About Safety section of the program.

For our first aid kits, we used film cannisters, plastic lacing and beads to make first aid kit lanyards. First, we poked a hole in the lid of the cannister then threaded the ends of the plastic lacing through the hole, then through a pony bead, tying a knot in the ends. Before doing this, if the girls wanted to thread some beads onto the lacing that would show they were able to do that. In the cannisters we put:

• 1 gauze square
• 1 alcohol swab
• 1 large bandaid
• 1 small bandaid
• 6" paper tape
• 1" tube of polysporin
• 1" tube of baking soda

Happy World Thinking Day!

World Thinking Day is celebrated on February 22nd each year, the joint birthday of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell. It is a day when we think about Guides and Girl Scouts all over the world and also learn about important issues that affect girls and women worldwide.

Each year, all of the units in Caledonia get together for a Thinking Day celebration on the Tuesday night of Guide-Scout Week (the week in which Thinking Day falls). The program is planned and run by the Pathfinders for the Sparks, Brownies and Guides. The Rangers and Guiders help out where needed.

The Theme for World Thinking Day this year is protecting the health of mothers and children. In some parts of the world, mothers and children do not have access to health care, nutrition and basic medicines. This means that they can get very sick from things that we do not think about in Canada. At our event we learned about the spread of disease, being active, and clean water.

As the girls arrived, they were asked to write down 3 things they could do to help their mother (or other female adult) and to draw a picture to go along with this. The challenge is to see if they can do these things before their next meeting!

After the unit openings, we made a teddy bear craft out of fun foam in branch groups. They were very cute when finished.

For the main part of the evening, the girls were split into three groups of mixed ages (so, each group had Sparks, Brownies and Guides), and they rotated through three stations.

Station 1 looked at the spread of disease, and the girls played Mosquito Tag and then had an activity/colouring sheet about malaria.

Mosquito Tag

Two players are the mosquitoes and they ‘bite’ the other players by touching them. Some of the players are secretly given a bead or token which represents a mosquito net. If a player is bitten, she must leave the game, only the players with the nets, they can stay in the game. The ‘net’ should be secretly passed on to another player. The game ends when only those with nets are in the game.

Station 2 focused on physical activity, and the girls did an activity called Let's Get Active, followed by Simon Says and a Number game.

Let's Get Active

Stand in a circle with your group. One member will say “let’s…” along with a way to be active (for example, “let’s go for a swim!”), and will make a movement related to that activity.

Everyone will respond by saying, “yes, let’s…” and copying the movement. Each person will share a different physical activity until your group runs out of ideas.

Station 3 looked at safe water and included a demonstration of a Water Filter, tasting Oral Rehydration Solution, and a Water activity/colouring sheet.

Make a Water Filter

• Cut an empty pop bottle in half, remove the cap, and invert the top half inside the bottom half.
• Arrange your filter materials in the top half of the bottle in order:
• Paper towel
• Cotton Balls
• Charcoal
• Soil
• Gravel
• Make ‘dirty’ water by mixing some cookie oil, soil and small pieces of paper into a glass of water.

Pour the dirty water through the filter and see what happens

Oral Rehydration Solution 

Make the Oral Rehydration solution by mixing 1 teaspoon of salt and 8 teaspoons of sugar into 1 litre of water until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. This mixture is given to children who are dehydrated to replace the fluid and minerals they have lost.

The evening ended with a snack (cupcakes and juice boxes) and a campfire.

 

Pathfinder/Ranger Winter Camp

Family Day Weekend (February 15-17, 2013) was our annual winter camp at Camp Teka in Paris. This year, we had both Pathfinders and Rangers camping together, but doing their own activities and meals. This camp is always relaxing and we don't worry about completing a lot of program - as long as everyone is happy and has fun, we consider the camp a success.

The Pathfinders spent most of the weekend indoors making friendship bracelets and chatting. They also had to do the preparation for the Thinking Day event activities, and practice leading each activity so that they would be prepared to run the town-wide Thinking Day Event on Tuesday night. The Rangers were more adventurous and included a long hike (with hot chocolate), outdoor cooking, and sleeping out in a tent in their program. 

Both groups wound up going on the hike along the old railway line that runs along the side of the camp. I think the highlight of the hike was getting to take thermal mugs of hot chocolate along to drink on the way!

The Rangers had planned outdoor cooking as part of their weekend. They made tin can dinners for lunch on Saturday and raspberry tarts (using Dad's Oatmeal Cookies and raspberry jam).

 
One of the crafts for the weekend was tealight holders made from clean, empty tuna cans and clothes pins (thank you Pinterest!). The girls painted their clothes pins before putting them on the can and we used battery operated tealights inside. We used the holders as part of our enrollment ceremony on Saturday night - held in the dark with each girl holding her holder with the tealight on.

The Rangers slept outside in a tent on Saturday night. This was the first time they had done this and we had spent time learning how to layer and how to stay warm over night. One girl came inside about 5am and the other two came in at 7am. Considering this was their first time, and the temperature got down to -15C, I think that's pretty good!

Venezuelan World Friendship Badge

Every year we take part in a program called "Badges for Thinking Day" and earn a badge or a challenge from another country. This year, the partner country is Venezuela and we will be earning their World Friendship Badge.

The badge has 6 requirements:

1. Find out about the Law and Promise of Venezuela and four other overseas Guide Associations, one from each of the other four WAGGGS regions.
2. In some countries in the past, Guiding was suppressed for political reasons and Guides had to hide their uniforms and equipment. Pick six items you would hide to keep the Guiding spirit alive, and explain why you have chosen them.
3. Guides all around the world sing Taps. Learn Taps in another language and sing it at the end of a troop meeting.
4. Make and play a game based on the World Badge and/or World Flag. Know what each part of the Badge and Flag stands for.
5. Find out the signs, symbols or traditions that link Guides and Girl Scouts around the world.
6. With your troop, celebrate World Thinking Day

As we have four Patrols, each Patrol was assigned one of the World Regions other than the Western Hemisphere and had to pick a country to prepare a short presentation about (I decided that I would do the presentation on Venezuela as our 'host' country).

The countries we ended up with were:

Western Hemisphere - Venezuela

Europe - Finland

Arab - Oman

Africa - Madagascar

Asia-Pacific - Cook Islands

The patrols worked together over a 3-week period to research information and create a poster about their chosen country. They had to include the Guide uniform, badge, promise and law, as well as the age groups for their country. For country information, they had to find out about where the country is located, the flag, important locations or landmarks, a famous person, sports, food and general statistics (i.e. population, official languages, size).

At our February 5th meeting, each Patrol had the opportunity their poster and tell the other Guides what they had learned. In between presentation, we played games from around the world.

Between the country presentations we played games from different parts of the world:

Numbers Tag (Scandinavia)

The players count off, so that each one has a number that she or he will use throughout the game. One person is chosen to be It and the other players scatter, and each chooses a place to stand and draws a circle on the ground. The circle should be about 4’ across.

When the players are in place. It stands at the edge of the playing area, at any spot he wishes, and calls out two or more numbers. The players whose numbers are called must run quickly to each other’s circles. It tries to get into one of the empty circles first. If she fails, she calls out two more numbers. She may not call either of the two numbers she has just called. When she does manage to get into an empty circle, the player without a circle becomes It.

Folding Arms (Maori)

One player holds the ball while all the other players stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder, with their arms folded across their chests. The player throws the ball to any player in line, and that player must quickly unfold his arms and catch it. If a player misses the ball, he is out. The player throwing the ball may also pretend she is about to throw the ball. If a player in line unfolds his arms, and the ball is not thrown to him, he is also out. The last player left in the line becomes the next thrower

Big Snake (African)

Players pick one person to be the snake who goes to his or her home, an area large enough to fit several people that you may want to mark off with cones. At the sound of a whistle, the snake comes out of its home and tries to tag other players. Tagged children join hands with the snake and try to catch the others. The original snake is always the leader and determines who its "body" will go after. The snake's head and tail are the only parts that may tag "free players." If the snake's body "breaks," the snake must return home, regroup, and start again. Free players may try to break the snake, forcing it to return home. The game ends once everyone is caught or completely out of breath.

 

At our February 12th meeting, we complete the other parts of the badge by talking about the meeting of the different parts of the World Flag and World Badge, making a World Flag craft, discussing the symbols of unity, planning what items they would save to keep the spirit of Guiding alive, playing bingo and learning Daylight Taps.

World Flag Craft

Pre-cut blue rectangles, yellow trefoils and small strips of yellow and white fun foam. Girls cut the strips into 3 squares each and glued the squares and trefoil onto the blue background to make a World Flag for their camp hat.

Symbols of Unity

We asked the girls to think of things that all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around the world have in common, and then went around the circle to hear everyone's ideas. After this we gave hints to get the girls to come up with the other items on the list. This is the list we used:

1.       World Trefoil, World Badge & World Flag

2.       Four World Centres

3.       Founder – Lord Baden-Powell

4.       World Thinking Day & World Thinking Day Symbol

5.       Motto – “Be Prepared”

6.       Good Turn

7.       Left Handshake

8.       Threefold Sign or Salute

9.       The World Song

10.     A Promise & Law

Keeping the Guiding Spirit Alive

We talked briefly about how Guiding was suppressed in many countries during World War II and how some Guides and Scouts hid items such as uniforms, pins and handbooks away, as well as how they held secret meetings and kept the movement alive during the war.

Each patrol was then asked to make a list of 6 things they would save to keep the spirit of Guiding alive in the same way these Guides and Scouts did, and to also explain why they chose each item. We made a list of suggestions, but the girls could choose any items they wanted to and we had each patrol share their list afterwards.

Bingo!

At the beginning of the meeting, each girl made a bingo card with the answers to questions about the World Flag and Badge, World Centres, WAGGGS, and Guiding Knowledge. To play, we called out a question and the Guides had to give the correct answer. If a girl had the answer on her card, she covered it like a bingo number. The questions we used were:

1. What colours is the World Flag? Blue, White, Gold
2. What is the name of the World Centre in Mexico? Our Cabana
3. What does the blue background on the World Flag stand for? Sky and Sea
4. What is February 22^nd called? World Thinking Day
5. What does the gold rim of the World Trefoil stand for? Sun
6. What does the 3 leaves of the World Trefoil stand for? The 3 parts of the Guide Promise
7. What is the Guide Motto? Be Prepared
8. What does the flame at the base of the World Trefoil stand for? Love of humanity
9. What is the name of the World Centre in India? Sangam
10. What does the centre vein of the World Trefoil stand for? A compass needle guiding the way
11. Who was the World Chief Guide? Lady Olave Baden-Powell
12. What do the two stars in the World Trefoil stand for? The Promise and Law
13. What are girls who work on the program on their own called? Lones
14. What do the white squares in the corner of the World Flag stand for? Peace
15. Who was the founder of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting? Lord Robert Baden-Powell
16. What hand to Girl Guides and Girl Scouts shake with? Left
17. What does every Girl Guide and Girl Scout try to do at least once every day? Good Turn
18. What is the name of the World Centre in England? Pax Lodge
19. How many fingers are used in the Guide Sign? 3
20. What is the WAGGGS Song called? The World Song
21. What shape can be found in the badge of every Girl Guide and Girl Scout? Trefoil
22. How many countries belong to WAGGGS? 145
23. What is the name of the World Centre in Switzerland? Our Chalet
24. What does WAGGGS stand for? World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts

At the end of the meeting, I taught the girls Daylight Taps as none of them knew it. Unfortunately my language skills wouldn't quite extend to learning and teaching taps in another language - we are going to try and learn Taps in French later in the year.

The last part of the badge, celebrate Thinking Day, was completed at our annual town-wide Thinking Day Celebration on February 19th.