Advancement & Awards Ceremony

Our year-end Advancement and Awards Ceremony was held on Tuesday, May 28th. 7 Guides received the Guide Challenge Pin, 3 Guides received the Lady Baden-Powell Challenge Pin, and 1 Pathfinder received the Canada Cord.

We started the ceremony by forming a horseshoe and then some of the Guides shared their favourite activities from the past year. All of the Guides were then called up individually to receive year-end badges, crests and Cookie All-Star Certificates.

We then welcomed 3 2nd Year Brownies to Guides by presenting them with a certificate.

Next, the Guides just receiving the Guide Challenge Pin were called up and presented with their Pin and Certificate.

A brief overview of the Lady Baden-Powell Challenge was shared with the parents: "The Lady Baden-Powell challenge is the highest award girls earn in the Guide program. Completion of this challenge usually takes at least two years. To earn this award, girls complete the Guide program, learn more about Lady Baden-Powell, share their Guiding experiences with others, and participate in small service activities and larger service projects, both inside and outside of Guiding." Then we called up the Guides receiving the Lady Baden-Powell Challenge Pin in addition to the Guide Challenge Pin and presented them with their Pins and Certificates.

Our final award of the evening was the Canada Cord.

A brief overview of the award was shared: "The Canada Cord is the highest award girls can earn in the Pathfinder program. Completion of the Canada Cord usually takes three years. To earn this award, girls complete specific modules to learn more about Canadian and World Guiding, event planning, the outdoors, relationships, safety, health and fitness, and the arts. They learn and demonstrate leadership skills, plan and carry out small service activities and larger service projects, participate in bridging activities with older and younger girls, learn about first aid and earn the Citizenship Certificate."

We then presented the Canada Cord and Certificate.

The Guides then did a short Candle Ceremony:

Guide comes up and lights Pink Candle

In Sparks you learned to share and be a friend and work as part of a team.

Guide comes up and lights Orange Candle

In Brownies you learned to lend a hand and take part in your community.

Guide comes up and lights Blue Candle

            In Guides you learned to be prepared and try new things.

Guide comes up and lights Green Candle

In Pathfinders you learned to plan your own activities and to lead others.

Guide comes up and lights Red Candle

In Rangers you will look wider as you continue to work as part of a team, participate in community projects, have new experiences, plan your own activities and develop your leadership skills.

The evening ended with juice and cake for everyone.

Camping & Outdoor Skills

At our May 21st meeting we used the Ranger meeting plan for the cancelled May 14th meeting.

We started out with an arrival activity where each patrol made a list of suggestions for food and activities at camp. After Opening, one patrol led an active game.

Our first activity was to work on the Be Prepared sections of the Camp Out, Basic Camper and Experienced Camper Badges. The advancing Brownies and 1st and 2nd Year Guides were split up into pairs and each pair was given a "What to do if..." scenario to act out for the rest of the group.
Scenarios:

· You become lost while hiking – you should hug a tree and shout for help
· You are leaving the campsite – you should always have a buddy with you!
· It is a hot, sunny day – you should put on sunscreen, a t-shirt and a hat
· Someone in your patrol gets hurt while playing a game – you should get an adult to help her
· It is wet and raining outside – you should put on rubber boots and a raincoat to stay dry
· You wake up in the morning at camp and it is raining – before you leave your tent, you should make sure nothing is touching the walls and make sure that the door is closed properly.
· There are lots of mosquitos at your campsite – make sure your tent is always zipped up tightly and put on bug spray to help keep them away.

The 3rd Year Guides discussed the emergency and safety situations listed as part of the Experienced Camper Badge:
·  A plan to search for a missing person. Why is it important for searchers to communicate with a home base. Where would you look for someone who is missing at camp?
·  A system to keep in touch when groups are in different parts of your camping area. What are some ways you can stay in touch?
·  A place to meet in case of emergency. What sort of emergencies would you use this location for?
·  The safety precautions you should take in severe weather (thunderstorm, high winds, etc.) that may occur where you live or where you are camping.

Our next activity was Kim's Game using items that might be taken to or used at camp. The items were laid out on a tarp and everyone had one minute to study them. When the minute was up, the items were covered an each patrol had to write down as many items as they could remember.

We then played a game called Cat’s Tails:
Supplies: Yarn, Scissors
Cut 30 pieces of string of the same length. Hide all but three or four pieces.
Divide the girls into three or four teams of equal size. Each team chooses a "cat" who is given one of the extra pieces of string. At a given signal, all players except the "cats" scatter to hunt for the hidden strings. As a girl finds one, she takes it back to her "cat", and uses a reef knot (or a knot of your choice) to tie it to the string tail the "cat" is holding. The team with the longest cat's tail wins.

The last activity of the evening was Camp Scenario Skits - What Would You Do? We divided the girls into 5 small groups and each group was given a scenario that they had to act out their response to.
Scenarios:
·  You turned your back from the campfire and it spreads, what do you do?
·  You were on a hike and a thunder/ lightning storm hits, what do you do?  
·  The camp warned you about raccoons, what do you do to protect your food?
·  There are 4 people in your tent and 1 person takes up to much room, what do you do?
·  Your tent mate snuck food into the tent what do you do?

We ended the evening with a sing-song campfire.

The Arts and Active Living

During the month of May, both Guide Guiders were out of the country for two weeks. The meeting on May 7th was run by the Pathfinders and the meeting on May 14th was cancelled due to a double-booking at the church.

The May 7th meeting was on the theme of "The Arts & Active Living".

The Pathfinders planned a Craft - Mother's Day, Friendship or Birthday Cards; Games - Colour Tag, Hide and Go Seek, Octopus; Dancing - Line Dancing, Cha Cha Slide, Skits and a Campfire.