Advancement & Awards Ceremony

Our Advancement and Awards Ceremony for the 2016-2017 Guiding Year was held on May 30th. Girls received badges, awards, challenges, and we had 6 Guides move up to Pathfinders.

We started out by having the girls form a horseshoe, then laid out stepping stones across the centre. Family and friends were welcomed, and we then asked the advancing Guides to go to the beginning of the path. As each piece of the ceremony was read out (by a Guide, Pathfinder or Ranger), the group moved forward to the next stone.

Our stepping stones were: Promise & Law, Talents & Abilities, Left Handshake, Respect, Service, and Be Prepared. When the girls reached the end of the path, they were presented with their Guide Challenge Pin, Advancement Certificate and a gift.

Ceremony
Tonight 6 girls are moving along the Pathway from Guides to Pathfinders. We hope that they have picked up a few things along the way that will help them in the future. (Advancing Guides move to start of pathway)

Reader #1 - One of the first things you learned as a Guide was the Promise and Law. Your promise to do you best, to be true to yourself, your beliefs and Canada, to take action for a better world and to respect the Guiding Law will stay with you through Pathfinders and beyond.

Reader #2 - As a Guide you have helped others, shared your talents and taken on responsibilities. As a Pathfinder, you will have new experiences, develop your leadership skills, take on greater challenges, and explore your own abilities, beliefs and values. 

Reader #3 - Remember the left handshake? Our special greeting, shared with our Guiding sisters around the world. Pathfinders explore our global movement, learn more about our 10 million sister Guides and Girl Scouts, and deepen their awareness of the wider world.

Reader #4 - In Guiding, we learn to respect ourselves and others. In Pathfinders, you will continue to grow in awareness and confidence, while learning to be a global citizen and a community leader.

Reader #5 - As a Guide, you took part in community, environmental and global service activities. In Pathfinders, you will choose and create your own projects to take action for a better world. 

Reader #6 - The Guide Motto is Be Prepared, but it's not just something we say. You have learned how to prepare for an outing, bring the right things to meetings, and started to plan and run your own activities. In Pathfinders, being prepared becomes a way of life. Not just knowing what to do and how to do things, but also being able and ready to put your ideas and plans into action.

[Names of advancing Guides] are finishing this stage of their Guiding journey and are receiving the Guide Challenge Pin to remind them of their adventures in Guides. Whichever path they choose next, they will find new experiences and new adventures, with the same fun and friendship they have enjoyed so far.

Following the Advancement portion of the evening, the advancing Guides rejoined the horseshoe and we moved on to the Making A Difference Award. This is a certificate and the Girls Making A Difference crest that we present to any Guides who take part in all the GGC Making a Difference Days for the year. The special days this year were the International Day of Peace, the International Day of the Girl, International Human Rights Day, World Hunger Day, and Canada 150. This year, 6 girls received the award.


The final portion of the ceremony involved the presentation of badges, challenges crests and Cookie All-Stars certificates to all of the Guides. Our Pathfinder received the modules she has completed and a collection of Challenge crests, and we presented our Ranger with the Chief Commissioner's Bronze Award and the Girl Assistant Certificate of Appreciation. The final item was to present one of our Guiders with a 'care package' as she is heading off to college in September.

We finished with lemonade, shortbread cookies, and ice cream sundaes!

Amazing Photo Scavenger Hunt

On Sunday, May 28th, 1 Guide, 1 Pathfinder, 1 Ranger and 2 Guiders set out for an adventure in Toronto!

We met at the GO Station in Hamilton and took the express bus to Union Station in Toronto where we started the scavenger hunt.  Our first stop was the corner of Lower Simcoe Street and Bremner Blvd, where we took photos of the CN Tower and a long line of taxi cabs!

Continuing on down to Queens Quay, we explored the trembling aspen trees in Ontario Square and showed our Canadian pride in Canada Square. As we walked along the waterfront trail, we listened to performers doing a sound check for the Barbados on the Water Festival and watched the ducks in the Natrel pond.


Next up was a visit to the Purina Animal Hall of Fame - and to find out that in our group we have 4 dog lovers to 1 cat lover! It was also Doors Open Toronto this weekend, so we visited the Police Marine Unit and found out about what they do to keep the waterways safe.


We decided to stop for lunch in the HTO Park overlooking the somewhat flooded beach area.


Before going on any further, we visited the Marine Fire Station, where we took lots of pictures - and took a group picture with the 'Caledonia'!

Heading west, we found the Spadina Quay Wetlands - who would have thought you could find a wetland environment in the heart of Toronto! We spent some time wandering through the different plants and two girls waited patiently to get a picture of the fish in the pond.


Further along the waterfront, we explored the Toronto Music Garden, which is designed to reflect Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for the 'cello. We performed air concerts and danced through the gardens!


Next it was time to head inland and start our journey back east towards Union Station. In Canoe Landing Park we visited the red canoe, "hugged our polar bear", walked through the giant fishing bobbers and the Terry Fox Miracle Mile (but didn't do any running).

On our walk east, we passed Approaching Red (a piece of art by Maha Mustafa), the Puente de Luz (a 100m long pedestrian bridge over the train tracks), an orange sculpture and the Chinese Railroad Worker Memorial.


At this point, we ended our hunt and walked along Front Street back to Union Station - with a stop at Starbucks along the way! We had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (yum!), and coming home we were lucky and were first onto a double-decker GO bus, so we were able to sit right at the front!

Messy Night!

Our final regular meeting of the year was Messy Night, with paint, shaving cream, water, and bubbles all playing a part!
I think I'll let the photos speak for themselves this time, see the attachment below for more information on what we got up to, as well as some extra activities we didn't have time for!

Downloads:

• Messy Night Activities 

Provincial Hertiage Badge at Edinburgh Square

This week we visited Edinburgh Square Heritage & Cultural Centre to finish up the Provincial Heritage badge. Earning this badge also forms part of our Canada 150 activities. A big THANK YOU to the staff and volunteers who created and put on the program for us!

The girls were divided into three groups and took part in a variety of activities to learn about our local history and also what goes on behind the scenes at a museum.

Activity #1 - Exhibit Gallery
Here the girls visited the current exhibit - "Grand Design: Architectural Treasures Along the Grand" and learned a bit about different landmarks and buildings that existed in Haldimand County in the past - and those that are still present today! They then worked on a wordsearch and explored terminology that is used by curators and museum staff.

Activity #2 - Artifacts
Back upstairs, the girls learned about what happens when an item is donated to a museum. They were able to see and touch artifacts while filling out Condition Reports for an Army Beret (1945) and a Clothing Booklet (1853). In order to fill out the report, the girls examined artifacts to determine their general condition, identify the materials used to make the item, and make detailed notes on the condition and any flaws or damage.


Activity #3 - Tour
In addition to the exhibits and gallery, we also toured the lower level of the museum and learned more about how the building was used in the past. The building was erected as a Town Hall in 1856, and Council meetings were held on the main floor. We went down to the basement and saw where different types or artifacts are stored and looked at different items, including a butter press and ledgers containing hand-written deeds (the girls were amazed at how neat the writing was - and that it was all in cursive!). This part of the building was originally a Meat Market - 6 butchers would set up stalls and sell their wares from January 1st to December 30th. On December 30th, they had to pack up everything and move out. On December 31st, 6 names would be pulled out of a hat, and those 6 butchers would then set up for the following year. Further along in the basement, we visited the restored jail cell. The Town Constable and his family would life on the upper level of the building, and his wife would be responsible for feeding anyone unlucky enough to be arrested. Before heading back upstairs, we got to see and handle keys and a pair of handcuffs, and look at a display of different artifacts, including a Bible, gum machine and telephone switchboard!

Activity #4 - Scavenger Hunt 
For the final activity, everyone gathered back together to head out on a scavenger hunt through the upper and main levels. Some of the questions they had to answer were:

• How much money did Eva Marlene Heddle win as Canada's Loveliest Child? ($250)
• Who is the founder of Caledonia? (Ranald McKinnon)
• When was Haldimand County founded? (1850)
• The 114th Haldimand Rifles are also known as ...? (Brock's Rangers)
• What year was the Plank Road finished? (1843
• What is the brand name on the peanut butter can in the upstairs gallery? (Jack & Jill)

We finished by sharing the answers to the scavenger hunt questions, thanking our hosts, and reminders for next week.

Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

This week, the Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers took part in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. We cleaned up about10kg of garbage from a 1km stretch along the Grand River by the Caledonia Dam. Our biggest find? Cigarette butts (228 with many more uncounted). Oddest finds? 7 Cigarette Lighters and a dead fish (with no obvious signs of trauma - likely left behind after the river receded).


After we finished our cleanup, we had a scavenger hunt, followed by a game of Squirt and an active campfire!


We closed with reminders for next week and Taps.

Hunger Awareness

As our schedule for May is pretty full, we recognized the 4th Girl Guides of Canada Make A Difference Day a bit early. May
28th is World Hunger Day, so we had an evening about hunger awareness.

What is hunger? Hunger is a condition that results from not getting enough food and nutrients to live a healthy, active life. When we think of hunger, we often thing of the feeling we get when we haven't eaten for a while. We all know this feeling, but people who suffer from chronic hunger cannot satisfy this feeling by just having a meal or snack. People in this situation may not know when they will be able to eat again.

According to the World  Food Programme, chronic hunger affects more than 795 million people - that's 1 in 9 people - around the world. Although we might think of developing countries when we think of hunger, according to Food Banks Canada, about 13 percent - or slightly more than 1 in 10 people - in Canada struggle with food insecurity and lack access to enough safe, good-quality and nutritious food. Hunger and poverty also affect children more than adults. In 2015, 1 in 5 children in Canada were living in poverty.

As usual we started with 30 minutes of Patrol Time, working on the Canada 150 Challenge.

• Daffodil - Worked on Canadian-themed puzzles and games (wordsearches, fill-ins, mazes, sudoku)
• Trillium - Planned to start off by learning about Inuit Culture and making a quiliq, but ran out of time so learned about the Arms of Canada and began design their own Coats of Arms
• Pansy -Worked on Canadian-themed puzzles and games (wordsearches, fill-ins, mazes, sudoku)
• Rose - Started off with a game of hockey, followed by other games using newspaper

After cleaning up, we had our usual opening, followed by an active game. 

 

Our first activity was to create a Hunger Tree to explore our thoughts about hunger. We drew a large tree on paper and stuck it up on the back of a door, then added our thoughts in different colours. We used blue marker to add thoughts about why we need food, red marker to add thoughts about how else food is important in our lives, and green marker to add thoughts on what it feels like to be hungry. 

 

We then did an activity to learn about Buying Power and how it relates to hunger. Each Patrol was asked to come up with a menu to feed 4 people for one day. They were then given a budget and a variety of grocery store flyers to create a shopping list for the week, including everything needed to prepare their planned meals.One group was given a budget of $24, another $75, and a third an unlimited amount. The fourth group was given a budget of $100, but had to shop from the list of food prices in Northern/Remote communities. Two of the groups completed the activities successfully (albeit over-budget), while the other two stayed under-budget but hadn't taken quantities into consideration in their planning.

The final activity was a game called Obstacles to Access  One player is It (Hunger) and she tries to tag other players. When she tags someone, they become an obstacle to accessing food, for example:

• Not having enough money to buy food
• Lack of transportation to get food
• Not being able to grow food
• Not having a place to keep or store food
• Homelessness
• Unemployment
• Illness

When the game ends, discuss how it is not always just one thing that causes a person or family to experience hunger, but often the build up of several different factors.

 

We ended the meeting with reminders for next week (Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-Up) and Taps.

 

Links:

• World Hunger Day Instant Meeting (GGC) 
• National Service Project: Action on Poverty (GGC)
• Northern Food Prices Sheet