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.
