Promise & Law

Our final meeting of September was devoted to a challenge to learn more about the Promise and Law - and also help our new Guides get ready for enrolment.

As the girls arrived, they worked on the Unit Banner and were asked to think about who they would like to be in a Patrol with. We attempted to form a Horseshoe and then recited the Promise one line at a time to help everyone remember or learn it! Next we had an active game before starting our program.

Our evening's program consisted of 10 Challenges, based on a set of activities printed in the Ontario Newsletter for the Promise & Law Focus Years 1991-1993. We formed 3 temporary Patrols with a mixture of ages and each Patrol had to work together to complete the challenges. Patrols were allowed about 6 minutes for each activity, but could go back to activities they didn't finish if they completed an activity early. Everyone started with the same activity (Challenge #6) and afterwards were rotated through the challenges so each Patrol was doing something different.

Challenge #1 - Puzzle
Supplies: Wooden Puzzle
This challenge is all about teamwork and communication.
1. Dump out the puzzle pieces and divide them between your patrol members.
2. Each person may only touch their own puzzle pieces.
3. Work as a team to put the puzzle back together.

Challenge #2 - I (Heart) Guides
Supplies: Red or Pink Paper, Pens or Pencils
1. Each person in your patrol will need a piece of red paper and a pen or pencil.
2. Fold or tear your paper into the shape of a heart. (no scissors)
3. Write your name on one side and something you would like to do in Guides this year on the other.

Challenge #3 - Keeping the Promise & Law
Supplies: Paper, Markers, Sheet with Promise and Law written out
With your patrol make a list of at least 2 ways you can keep each part of the Promise and Law.

Challenge #4 - Promise Stick Craft
Supplies: Glue, Markers, Fat Popsicle Sticks, Supplies as listed below
Put pieces in order on the popsicle stick to represent the different parts of the Guide Promise.
I (large googly eye)
promise (Guide Sign)
to do my best. To be true (heart)
to myself (face with eyes and a smile)
my beliefs (piece of glitter foam or glitter glue)
and Canada (Canadian Flag)
I will take action for a better world (globe - blue form circle with green 'land')
And respect the Guiding Law (star sticker)

Challenge #5 - Law Tree
Supplies: Large drawing of a bare tree with 7 branches, each labelled with a Guide Law; 1 sheet of value/activity leaves for each patrol (different colours), Tape, Scissors
1. Cut out each of the value/activity leaves.
2. As a patrol decide which Guide Law each leaf is related to.
3. Stick the leaves onto the branches of the Guide Law Tree.

Challenge #6 - Your Own Artwork
Supplies: Paper, Pencils, Markers
Create your own piece of artwork (for example: a short story, poem, song, illustration) to finish one or more of the following sentences:
(a) SPARKS in pink are more than fluff...
(b) A BROWNIE smiles and sings and plays...
(c) A GUIDE is a girl who's always ready...
(d) PATHFINDERS serve and camp and hike...
(e) RANGERS know a lot...
(f) Helping in Guiding is the task of...

Challenge #7 - Trefoil Pictures
Supplies: Outline of a trefoil on paper for each girl, Pencils, Markers
Draw a picture inside the trefoil to finish each of the following sentences:
(a) A friend is someone who...
(b) Kindness is...
(c) Loyalty is...
(d) Trust is...
(e) Leadership is...

Challenge #8 - Engineering
Supplies: Newspaper, Tape
Using only newspaper and tape, build a bridge between two chairs placed two feet apart. See how much weight your bridge can support.

Challenge #9 - Knots
Supplies: Knotting Cord, Knot Instructions
1. Practice tying a reef knot.
2. When all the members of your patrol have learned the reef knot, try tying a piece of cord for each member of your patrol together into a circle using reef knots.
3. Too easy? Try learning one of the other knots pictured on the instruction sheet.

Challenge #10 - Leadership
Supplies: Qualities of a Good PL Poster, Sticky Notes
1. Think about the qualities and skills a good Patrol Leader has. Should she be organized? A good speaker? Have lots of badges? Be bossy? Be good at math?
2. Write the qualities and skills you think make a great Patrol Leader on the sticky notes and put them on the Qualities of a Good Patrol Leader Poster.

We gave Challenge #10 Leadership to each patrol early on in the meeting and stopped half way though to talk about patrols and the duties of Patrol leaders and to hold elections for our new Patrol Leaders. We also asked our new Guides to form into 3 groups and would later assign each group to a 2nd/3rd year pair of Guides as the Patrol Leader and Second.

At the end of the meeting the new patrols were announced and each patrol was allowed to choose their own emblem. Our new patrols are Pansy, Red Rose, and Trillium.

The meeting ended with reminders about Fall Frolic on Saturday and next week, and we closed with Taps.

Geocaching Hike & Night Games

Our third meeting of September was devoted to our annual hike and night games.

We met at Seneca Park and while waiting for everyone to arrive, the Pathfinders led a game of Camouflage (see bottom for game instructions). Once we had everyone together, we reviewed what everyone had in their bag and why each item was important (water bottle, sit-upon, snack, flashlight, etc.). We had a quick overview of what GPS is and how it works and then set out on our hike.

This year, we hiked the portion of the Rotary Trail between Seneca Park and Sims Locks and hunted for geocaches that are part of the Rotary Trail Series. Unfortunately, we were not successful in finding any caches. :(  The girls did learn how to use a GPS-enabled device, what geocaching is, and about carrying their own equipment on a hike.

Upon returning to the park, we had a snack and then the Pathfinders led two night games - Camouflage and Sardines, and some songs before we closed with Taps.

Pathfinders
The Pathfinders had their own geocaching adventure and were more successful than the Guides, finding one cache. The girls led a game of Camouflage for the Guides at the beginning of the meeting while we waited for everyone to arrive. After the hike, they led games of Camouflage and Sardines in the dark and finished the meeting by leading two songs, Funky Chicken and Baby Bumblebee.

Camouflage
One player is the Predator and the rest are Prey. The Predator stands in the centre of the playing area and closes her eyes while counting to 10. The Prey scatter around the playing area to find hiding spaces or spots to freeze on the spot. Anyone moving and seen by the Predator is considered to be “eaten” and is out of the game. Pray that has frozen on the spot in an open area are considered hidden until they move.
Once the predator has looked around and caught anyone moving, she closes her eyes and holds out her hands and shouts “Food and Water, 10 seconds” and begins slowly counting to 10. All of the Prey must run up to the Predator and touch her hand and then return to their hiding spot before she finishes counting.  
Another option is to call out “Fingers” while holding up a chosen number of fingers. The Prey must peek out of their hiding spots to see how many fingers are being held up and shout out the number. Anyone seen moving to peek is out.

Sardines 
One pair of girls goes out into the playing area and hides (the spot chosen must have room for lots of people). Other girls go out in pairs to search for those who are hidden. When they find them. they join them in the hiding spot. The game continues until all the players are hidden in the same spot.

Outdoor Skills

Our second meeting of September was spent outside working on outdoor skills, including compass work, trail signs, map reading, knots and observation.

As the girls arrived, they played tag and worked on the Unit Banner. Following a brief opening, the girls chose an active game to play while the Guiders finished gathering the materials for the evening's activities.

Once we were outside, the girls split up into 4 groups. Each group choose the activity they would start with by picking a number between 1 and 8. As they finished an activity, they returned the card and supplies and received a new one. Some groups spent considerable time on one or two activities, while others moved quickly through all of the options.

Card #1 - What Lives Here?
Choose a tree and with your group look for as many signs of life as you can find. Do you know what kind of tree it is? What plant life is growing around it? Are there signs of bird of animal life? Which birds and animals do you think live here? Is there any moss or lichen? Are there signs of insect activity? Which insects do you think live here?

Card #2 - Compass Directions
Use the compasses provided to follow these directions. Give the compass to one person. She should use the compass to find North and leads the group 5 paces in that direction. The next person finds West and goes 5 paces that way, repeat for South and then East. Where do you end up?

Card #3 - I'm Lost!
With your group make up a short skit showing what you should do if you get lost while hiking or camping.

Card #4 - Maps
Do you know what these symbols mean? (pictures of symbols for Fire Station, Information, Library, Pool, Elementary School, High School, Arena) Find out and then see if you can find them on the map. Find your house and the church on the map. Give directions to another member of your group from your house to the church.

Card #5 - Trail Signs
Look at the trail signs on the card. What do you think they would be made of outdoors? What do they mean? Find materials around the church to make trail signs. Split into two groups and lay short trails for each other to follow.

Card #6 - Triangles
Find 9 sticks on the ground. Lay them all down and see how many triangles you can make at once.

Card #7 - Scavenger Hunt
Can you find everything on the list? Remember not to move natural items. You just need to see the items, not bring them back.

Card #8 - Knots
Using the rope provided, or your scarf, tie a reef knot. If you already know how to tie a reef knot, help other members of your group to learn to tie one.

At the end of the evening we went back inside where each group presented their skit on what to do if they became lost, talked about what they needed to bring for the hike next week, how to stay safe while hiking, and how to behave on public and private property. We ended by learning the song "Pizzaman" and closed with Taps. 

Welcome to Guides & Pathfinders!

GUIDES
Our first Guide meeting of the year was held on Tuesday, September 8th. Girls were invitedto bring a friend and we had 16 girls join us for the evening, despite it being the first day of school. We try to cover a variety of different program areas and activities at our first meeting to give everyone an idea of what we do at Guides. The weather did not cooperate and we had to forgo some of our active games due to the heat and humidity.

As girls arrived they made a name tag and started working on the Unit Banner, which we are making as part of the One by One by One Challenge from BC (Arts). We had a brief opening, where everyone introduced themselves, followed by a Ball Toss game to help the girls learn each others names (Ice Breaker).

Next up was an active game, Blog Tag, which we knew to be a favourite from last year (Active Living). (Basically, one player is It and chases the others around the playing area. When she tags someone they join hands with her and become part of the 'blob'. Play continues until only one player is left. The blob can be left as one big group - having to stop anytime it breaks - or can be split each time it becomes larger than say 6 or 8 players.)

As it was a very hot and humid evening, after the game we stopped for a breather and talked about some of the girls' favourite activities from last year and what they would like to do this year.

We then moved on to a Math game called Nim from Germany (STEM). To play, the girls split up into pairs and each pair was given 9 beads. The beads are arranged in three rows like this:       x x
            x x x
           x x x x
Players take turns removing beads. They may take as many as they like, but they can only be from one row. So during a turn, they can take one or two from the first row OR one, two, or three from the second row OR one, two, three or four from the third row. The person who is left with the last bead loses. This game requires strategy and creative thinking in order to avoid being left with the last bead.

After cleaning up, we played Kim's Game (Outdoor Skills) with objects found around the hall. Some groups were more successful than others, but everyone did well as it was the first time playing for many girls.

Our final planned activities was to make the Fortune Tellers that are found in the Free Being Me activity packet (Personal Growth). Girls fold and decorate the fortune tellers, and under each flap finish the statement "I like my...". By playing the game with others, they learn more about each other.

We had planned to play a game from Ireland as this is the country we are linked with as part of the Badges for Thinking Day program, however we omitted the game due to the heat and humidity in the hall. We did talk briefly about how we will be learning more about Ireland and earning a badge from there later in the year.

We ended the meeting by talking about the activities that are planned for the next few weeks and by singing some favourite songs.

PATHFINDERS
The Pathfinders & Rangers had a 'welcome back' pizza and planning night on Friday, September 11th. Time was spent socializing and catching up as well as starting to make plans for the year.