Promise & Law

Our last meeting in September was spent learning about the Promise and Law. As the girls arrived, they collected dues and were then given slips of paper with different values and actions (both positive and negative) and asked to put them on the sheet of paper labeled with the Guide Law they thought it was related to. After our opening and an active game, we reviewed the choices and discussed how some values could relate to more than one Law.

We then had the girls divide up into patrols and told them that each patrol was stranded on a desert island and needed to come up with 3 rules or laws that they thought were needed. After calling the patrols back together, we used the rules they had come up with and the values discussion to create a Unit Contract, which will be written out and signed by every member of the unit.

For the rest of the evening, we divided the group up and the 3rd year Guides worked to plan the Hallowe'en party while the 1st and 2nd year Guides did Promise & Law activities. The first activity was a Promise & Law Relay Race, where cards with pieces of the promise and laws were placed at one end of the room and the teams had to send one person at a time up to get a piece, and then put the pieces together make the promise and law. The second activity was called Keeping the Law and challenged each group to write down ways they could keep each of the Guide Laws. We then used these to play charades - guessing both what the action was and which Law it related to.

We ended the evening with a sing-song and Taps.

Safety Hike & Night Games

The third week of September was devoted to our annual hike and night games. We met in at Kinsman Park, behind the old Library and started the evening be having each patrol solve a list of clues to create a scavenger hunt list.

We then did our opening in the park and talked about parts of the Hiking Badge - how to behave on public in private property, why we don't go swimming without a lifeguard, what to do if someone gets logs, and why it is important to to leave the details of where you are going and when you will return with someone at home.

Each patrol then looked at the Spot the Hazards sheet from the Girls for Safer Communities Challenge and identified the various hazards in the picture. We reviewed what they had spotted and handed out copies of the GFSC Report Card. (Visit the GGC Website for more information on Girls for Safer Communities.)

During our Safety Hike, the girls noted the different hazards and also positive aspects of our community. The report cards were collected and will be used later in the year.

Back in the park, we held our scavenger hunt by flashlight, played Torch Tag, and Hide and Go Beep. In Torch Tag, the person who is 'it' uses her flashlight beam to tag other players. In Hide and Go Beep, all of the players except the one who is 'it' hide, but they must make a sound ("beep") every 30 seconds. The player who is it locates the other players by their sounds.

(Answers are: Acorns, Car, Dirt, Door, Feathers, Fence, Flowers, Garden, Grass, Nest, Pine Cone, Plant, Rock, Rocks, Spiderweb, Stairs, Tree, Weed, Window)

Outdoor Explorers

Our second meeting of September was spent largely outside to take advantage of the light evenings. We had two additional girls join us, one advancing Brownie and one who was a Spark and Brownie in the past.

As the girls arrived, they were asked to add their ideas to sheets of paper placed around the room. They were asked for ideas for games, activities, badges and outings for the year. The girls also made Warm Fuzzy Envelopes out of cookie envelopes. The idea of Warm Fuzzy envelopes is something I brought back from Camp Woolsey. The envelopes will be put out each week along with a pad of paper and the girls are encouraged to leave positive, friendly notes for each other.

After our opening we went outside. Our first game was Blob Tag (which seems to be a favourite of the girls).

We then taught the girls how to hold a compass, find north, and set and follow a bearing. Each patrol practiced by making shapes using compass directions.

Next we played Shipwreck, which is great for demonstrating the importance of listening to instructions. All of the girls start in the middle of the playing area with one player as the 'Captain'. The Captain calls out different instructions and the last player to follow the command is out. The different instructions are:

• Port - everyone runs to the port, or left, side of the playing area
• Starboard - everyone runs to the starboard, or right, side of the playing area
• Bow - everyone runs to the front of the playing area
• Stern - everyone runs to the back of the playing area
• Galley - everyone runs to the middle of the playing area
• Hit the Deck - everyone lies down on the floor
• Dead Cockroach - everyone lies down on their back withe their hands and feet in the air
• Salute the Captain - everyone salutes the Captain
• Lifeboat - two players join hands with a third player in the middle
• Man Overboard - one player kneels on the ground and a second player stands behind with one hand on their shoulder and looks for the person who has fallen overboard

We ended our time outside with Freeze Tag, as requested by the Guides.

Inside, we made Armpit Fudge and talked about what you should do if you get lost while on a hike and reviewed what they need to bring for our hike next week. The girls also shared stories of different hikes they have been on.

Recipe for Armpit Fudge
1/2 cup Icing Sugar
1 tbsp Butter
2 tsp Cream Cheese
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 tsp Cocoa Powder
Put all of the ingredients into a Ziplock Bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible and seal. Smoosh all of the ingredients together until they are blended and the mixture is coming away from the bag (it will be more like thick frosting than fudge). Use the heat from your hands, or armpit, to help mix the ingredients.

Guide Open House

We held our first meeting of the 2014-2015 Guiding Year on Tuesday, September 9th. After the success of last year, we decided to hold an open house to encourage new members to join us. We had 4 returning Guides, 2 transferring Guides, 4 advancing Brownies, and 2 girls who were new to Guiding join us for the evening.

We were also fortunate to have our Administrative Community Leaders join us to speak to parents about the need for Guiders. Unfortunately, we did not recruit any new leaders for Brownies, Guides or Pathfinders, but we did find a new Spark leader.

As the girls arrived, they made name tags with index cards, markers and stickers. They were then given a Human Bingo Card and went around the room asking other people to sign squares on the card.

Next up were a series of Find Your Place activities, where the girls had to get into a line according to first name, height; date of birth, month of birth, age, shoe size, etc. After this, we played Blob Tag to get everyone moving and to use up some extra energy.

We then divided the girl up into small groups and gave them the challenge of building a bridge between two chairs one metre apart. The only supplies were newspaper, scissors, tape, and a ruler. We tested the bridges to see which could hold the most weight. We were able to place 100 markers on one bridge before it was jarred - so it may have held more!

Our final activity was a compass story, The Wedding, where the girls had to go to points in the room whenever a compass point was named in the story.

With everyone worn out from this last game, we ended the meeting with a snack and showed a slideshow of activities from last year and talked about plans for Guides this year.

1st Caledonia Pathfinders - 2014-2015

For the 2014-2015 Guiding year, the Pathfinder unit will be dormant due to lack of leaders. We have one Pathfinder registered who will be working with the Brownie Unit and participating in some activities with the Guides and Rangers.
We hope to be able to reopen the unit in September 2015, however, additional leadership will be required.