Streetwise & Girls for Safer Communities

The last week of November was devoted to learning about safety as we worked on the Streetwise Badge and Girls for Safer Communities Challenge.

As the girls arrived, each Patrol was challenged to come up with a list of ways they could stay safe in the community. After our opening and an active game (Everybody's It Tag), we discussed the lists and came up with a 'top 10' list of safety tips. In sharing the lists, everyone learned new ways to increase their personal safety.

We then looked at the Safety Audit forms we completed on our Safety Hike in September. We discussed what we had observed, and then each group made posters and skits related to the issues and promoting safety.

 

Next we split up into patrols and each was given a street map of the town. We took turns finding different locations on the map and giving directions to each other. The discussion included finding the safest routes to different places, areas where there are hazards, and places the girls could get help.

Our final activity, after exploring the maps of the community, was to create personal maps. Each girl or pair created a map showing local places of importance to them (i.e. home, school, church).

Inventing Badge

The third week of November was one of those weeks when my meeting plan was replaced by the girl's own enthusiasm for becoming true inventors.

As the girls arrived, each Patrol was challenged to brainstorm a list of 10 inventions that they would like to see in the future. After our usual opening and an active game, the Patrols shared their lists - which had a wide variety of ideas.

We then moved into a Patrol Challenge to build a vehicle that would travel across the floor. This activity was based on the 4-Wheel Balloon Car activity from PBS Kids Design Squad Nation. Each Patrol was provided with a sponge, straws, a balloon, cardboard, an elastic band, duct tape, scissors, a ruler, and a pencil. The result? The girls learned the importance of working as a team and how the actions of each person can impact others - and they also made some very cool vehicles!

After we had cleaned up, to keep the girls thinking creatively, each girl was given a slip of paper with an everyday object written on it. They were then told to find a partner and think of a new invention that included both of their objects.

Our final activity, was an inventing challenge. The girls worked along, with a partner, or in a small group to make an invention and then create a commercial for it. We put out an array of supplies including styrofoam cups, newspaper, fun foam, paper clips, beads, plastic spoons and forks, cardboard, string, duct tape, feathers, elastic bands, construction paper and pipecleaners. The girls could use any of the supplies and the only limit was their imagination.

With the Rangers in Toronto

The weekend of November 14th to 16th saw 3 Rangers and 1 Guider setting off for three packed days in Toronto. We met at the Hamilton GO Station and were on the 9am bus headed to Union Station.

Friday
We arrived in Toronto about 10am and set out by subway and bus to check into our hotel. We stayed at the Super 8 Downtown on Spadina Avenue, so had easy access to everything we wanted to do. After checking in, we planned our day and headed out along Spadina to Queen Street in search of Graffiti Alley. What we saw was amazing - truly works of art.

Our next task was to find somewhere to eat lunch. There were a few different places, but we eventually decided to be adventurous and went to Nora's Shawarma. None of the Rangers had tried shawarma before, but everyone loved it! The eatery is nothing to look at from the outside and was very cramped and noisy inside - it is definitely where the locals eat and was excellent (as evidenced by the line up that was to the door the entire time we were there).

We spent the afternoon searching for Geocaches - with mixed success. Our searching took us to the Toronto Chinese Baptist Church ("Escape from Chinatown") and Butterfield Park, part of the Ontario School of Art and Design ("Coloured Pencils"). After this we explored Chinatown and visited the Ugly Christmas Sweater Store on Queen Street. We then took the streetcar along Queen's Quay to Union Station where we spent a little time people watching before heading to the CN Tower.

Our goal was to be able to look out over Toronto from the CN Tower in both daylight and at night. Luckily, the sun came out briefly after we got up to the observation level, so we were able to get our daylight photos. As the light faded, we went down to the glass floor (which we all stood, sat and/or lay on) and went out on the outside terrace - which was very windy. We then went up to the Skypod at the top and looked out on the whole city in the dark - which we repeated when we got back down to the observation level.

 

We had a dinner reservation at The Old Spaghetti Factory, so that was our next stop. For those who haven't been there, the eclectic decor starts in the lobby with stained glass, comfy chairs, and a chandelier. The food was amazing - the Rangers all had chicken parmagiana and I (their Guider) had fettuccine alfredo with chicken. All entrees come with soup or salad, fresh bread with garlic butter, ice cream and tea or coffee. This restaurant is definitely on our list to visit again.

Saturday
Our morning started out with an alarm of some sort that made sure we were all up and ready to make an early start. After breakfast, we decided to go geocaching. We visited Osgoode Hall ("Osgood as it gets"), the Canadian Opera Company ("OS 6 Seen from the Shangri La") and the Hospital for Sick Children ("A Place to feel better"), all with no success. Then our luck changed and we found two caches at the University of Toronto, one at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy building ("The Pill Box") and one on College Street ("Zen on College").


Our next stop was Tim Hortons for a hot drink and a snack, then we headed for BMV Books on Bloor Street. This is an amazing store with three floors of books and a lower level with records, DVDs and magazines. It is a mixture of new and used material and everything is 50% of more off the cover/sticker price. This was a hugely successful stop and everyone came away with more than one book.

After a brief stop at the hotel to drop off our books, we headed down to the Distillery District to make sure we knew where we would be going at night. The area is lovely with the original signage and cobbled streets.


We then headed for Dundas Square where we had an early dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Staying in Dundas Square, we attended Illuminite, the amazing tree-lighting celebration put on by the Downtown Young Business Improvement Area. The celebration included performances by musicians, dancers, and even vertical dance - dancers dancing on the walls of a building using harnesses.

Our final stop of the night was a Haunted Walk in the Distillery District. The walk we went on wound throughout the Distillery District and was called "Ghosts and Spirits of Old Town". We all enjoyed the walk and the tales of the various buildings. As a history lover, I really enjoyed the historical information and context that was provided, bringing each tale from its origins to the present day.

 

Sunday
After breakfast we finished packing and took all of our cases downstairs, where one of the girls' families had generously offered to pick up everything so we didn't have to find a place to store things for the day.

We spent the morning working on the Photo Scavenger Hunt and geocaching. Our stops included the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (stone snowmen?), Roundhouse Park (a train accident?), CN Tower, Rogers Centre (stopped to find a geocache - "Let's Go, Blue Jays"), CBC Building, John Street, Metro Hall, PATH System, Canada's Walk of Fame, Roy Thompson Hall (stopped to find a geocache - "Car On A Hill"), British Phone Booth on Simcoe Street,

Next up was the highlight of the weekend - attending the Toronto Santa Clause Parade! we were able to a spot on University Avenue, sitting on the road so had a front-row view of everything. There were some really neat floats

We also the Parade as an opportunity to present Chief Commissioner's Silver Awards to all 3 Rangers.

We ended our day with lunch at Union Station and completing the remainder of the Photo Scavenger Hunt in the Path System. We returned to Hamilton on Sunday evening very tired, but happy at an excellent weekend.

Enrolment

November 11th was our enrolment ceremony, where we added 8 new members to the Guide family. We were also able to present our Junior Leader, Ocean Lee, with her 12 year pin and our only Pathfinder, Lynsey, with her 10 year pin.

We had a very simple ceremony where girls held up signs about different parts of the Guide program, followed by the normal enrolment ceremony, badge presentations and cake and juice. Ocean-Lee and Lynsey led a sing-song at the end of the evening.

Our Ceremony


Welcome

All of us here play a part in the Guiding days of each new Guide, who will make her Promise tonight. We do many different things in Guides and each of us represents one of the many aspects of the Program.

Girl 1 - I bring friends to work and grow together. "Friends"

Girl 2 - I bring fun to keep each Guide enthusiastic. "Fun"

Girl 3 - I bring the learning of new skills through challenges and badges. "Challenges"

Girl 4 - I bring service in helping others. "Service"

Girl 5 - I bring crafts for fun and achievement. "Crafts"

Girl 6 - I bring outings to broaden our horizons. "Outings"

Girl 7 – I bring games that keep us active and teach us to work as a team. “Games”

Girl 8 - I bring camping for fellowship, enjoyment and appreciation of our great outdoors. "Camping"

Girl 9 - I bring experiments and inventions to help explore the scientific world. "STEM"

Guiding includes all of these things – and so much more. Tonight we are excited to welcome 8 new members into the Guide family.

Enroll Guides

Odds & Ends

We started November off with an 'Odds & Ends' meeting. This is a meeting where we finish up different activities and make plans for future meetings.

As the girls arrived they were asked to check the new Patrol Job Chart to find out what their patrol was responsible for and then each patrol was asked to make a list of campfire songs that they know. As we have four patrols, the jobs are: Set Up/Clean Up (help get out and put away supplies from the cupboard), Promise/Taps (one girl from the patrol leads the Promise at the beginning of the meeting and another girl leads Taps at the end), Game (patrol chooses and leads an active game), Campfire (patrol chooses 2-3 songs to sing at the end of the meeting ~ this will eventually evolve into running a short campfire program).

We then held our usual opening ceremony, followed by an active game.

Our first activity of the evening was to talk about plans for Enrolment and how the ceremony works. After this, we divided up into three groups. The New Guides made invitations for Enrolment and practiced the Promise; the 2nd Year Guides started working on the Campfire Leading Badge by making up new lyrics to camp songs and thinking up ideas for skits, mimes and campfire games; and the 3rd Year Guides discussed the Lady Baden-Powell Challenge, brainstormed ideas for service projects and started working on a presentation about Lady B-P.

Partway through the evening we stopped for another active game, and towards the end of the meeting we all practiced the basic enrolment ceremony. Our meeting ended with singing and Taps.