We split the units up into two groups for the evening. The 3rd year Guides went with our Junior Leader to create records of the service projects they have taken part in, learn about Pathfinders, and practice a story presentation for later in the meeting. The 1st and 2nd year Guides worked together on the UN Forests Challenge Badge that we had started earlier in the year.
As the girls arrived, they were asked to write different ways that water can be used on slips of paper (i.e. by people, businesses, plants, animals).
We had a quieter version of our usual opening, followed by a quiet game led by one of the Patrols. Once we were ready to begin our program, the 3rd year Guides and our Junior Leader went off to another room. We began with Water Charades, using the ideas that the girls had written down at the beginning of the meeting.
Next, we had a drama activity based on the Canadian Forestry Association's Teaching Kit - Canada's Forests - A Fine Balance - Vol. 5: Species at Risk (2004). The activity we used was adapted from Lesson 3: Shrinking Habitat - Share the Space. Before starting, each girl was asked to take on the role of something that lives in the forest (i.e. bird, animal) and to think about how their creature would react. We used the story in the lesson plan, changing the last sentence to read "But what do the woodland creatures think?". After reading the story, each girl responded in words and/or actions how she thought her chosen creature would feel and what they would think about what was happening.
The girls then divided up into groups to play "The Green Zone" board game. This game is based on the online game available on the Canadian Forestry Association's website. As the players move around the board, they move forwards or backwards, lose or gain turns, and lose or gain tokens, depending on the scenarios written in the squares. Examples of scenarios are:
- Play outside or go for a bike ride instead of watching TV - +1
- Watch TV instead of helping plant trees - -3
- Community Park is closed to make room for a new building - -10 for everyone
The next 20 minutes or so were spent creatively describing the interactions between people and forests. Some girls wrote stories or poems, others drew pictures or made up a skit.
Our final activity of the meeting was a story reading by the 3rd year Guides. Each girl took on different parts and read out the story "Trees, Fish and Orang-utans" (Indonesia) found in The Right to Food: A Window on the World. (This book can be downloaded from the WAGGGS website at http://www.wagggs.org/en/resources/document/view/909.
We ended the meeting with Taps and had everyone ready for pick-up and downstairs in time for parents arriving.
(Resources on the Canadian Forestry Association's website can be found here - http://www.canadianforestry.com/kits/english/index.html)
