We ended April with a change of pace by earning the Guide Maoritanga Badge from Girlguiding New Zealand!
As everyone arrived, each Patrol was given a sheet with words and pronunciations in Maori, and challenged to learn greetings, numbers and the cardinal points of the compass.
We had our usual opening ceremony and then played an active game, using the points of the compass in Maori. This was just a variation on the simple game where players start in the middle of the room and the four walls are used as north, south, east and west. By using the Maori words, we added a twist that meant everyone had to think as they played!
Our next activity was to learn a bit about Maori culture. As part of this, we learned about Matariki, a star cluster that appears in the night sky in mid-June. According to the Maori lunar calendar, the reappearance of Matariki brings the old lunar year to a close and marks the beginning of the new year. The new year was traditionally marked by lighting ritual fires, making offerings and celebrations to the dead, honouring ancestors, and celebrating life.
We then learned about a Powhiri, a welcoming ceremony traditional held in the Marae (meeting house). This ceremony was traditionally performed as a process to find out whether the visitors were friends or enemies. Once they were determined to be friends, the ceremony becomes a formal welcoming. We watched a YouTube video of a Powhiri performed at the Tamaki Maori Village, Rotorua, New Zealand.
Staying with the theme of welcoming ceremonies, we used an activity sheet found online and had each girl write a Mihi, which is a formal greeting where people introduce themselves and tell a bit about where they come from. A traditional Mihi would be performed at the Marae, and include both your connections to other people and to the land and water.
After presenting our Mihis, we learned aboutKapa Haka, a performance that includes songs, poi, dance and facial expressions. We watched a video of a performance by Tuku Iho Living Legacy.
Next we learned aboutTi Ti Torea, the Maori Stick Game. The game was useful exercise for boys and young men, developing flexibility int he wrist, arm and shoulder in preparation for weaponry skills, but was also practiced by girls and young women as a form of physical activity to enhance coordination and agility. We watched a performance from the Polynesian Cultural Center before trying our hands at the game.
Ti Ti Torea is played with two or four players. Each person has a pair of wood sticks (Te Rakau). Players kneel on the floor across from each other, holding their sticks upright, ends touching the floor to begin. In unison, they perform a series of movements with their sticks, tapping the sticks together or against their partner's, progressing to throwing a stick to their partner while catching one being thrown to them. The aim is to keep going for as long as possible without any players dropping their sticks.
Our final activity of the evening was to create Koru Designs. A koru is a type of fern with the same basic shape as a fat comma. Designs can be as basic or as complex as the creator wishes. Traditional colours are red, black and white.
We finished off the evening with clean-up, reminders for next week, and closed with Taps. Links:
As Guides arrived for our second Space-themed meeting, they were asked to work with their Patrols to think about what a shelter for a research team on another planet might look like and what humans would need to survive.
We had our usual opening ceremony, followed by an active game.
Our main activities started off with a bit of Astronaut Training! We found out about the importance of strong muscles and bones and tried some Strength Training with squats and push-ups. We also explored reflexes and hand-eye co-ordination with a bit of Hand-Eye Reaction Training, where the Guides had to try catching dropped objects before they hit the floor. There are lots of great activities at Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut (see the link below).
We then explored food in space. Astronauts use dehydrated and freeze-dried foods in space, rehydrating their meals before eating. To get an idea of what it would be like to eat in space, we tried out some dehydrated foods - Hawaiian Rice with Chicken, Sweet Corn, and Apple Almond Crisp. Everyone agreed that the Sweet Corn was the best!
The remainder of the meeting was devoted to building space vehicles. We had a variety of space ships, rovers, rockets, and other creations that could be used for space travel!
After cleaning up, we had a bit of time to share each Patrol's space shelter and everyone's space vehicles.
We ended with reminders for next week and closed with Taps.
In April, we spent two weeks working on Space-themed activities as requested by the Guides.
As everyone arrived, each Patrol worked on creating a skit based on a constellation story. We provided the stories of Andromeda (The Princess), Cassiopeia (The Queen) and Orion (The Hunter). We had our usual opening ceremony, followed by an active game before starting our main activities for the evening.
Our first activity was an introduction to space and astronomy. We then watched the message made for Girl Guides from Jenni Sidey for World Space Week in 2017 (see link below). We spent a bit of time learning how to use a Star Wheel to find constellations at different times of the year. One of our Guiders shared a First Nations story about the Great Bear (Usra Major) and the Pole Star (Polaris). We then had an active True/False Quiz about the Solar System. Everyone started in the middle of the room, one wall was designated as True and another as False. When a statement was read out, players ran to the wall representing their answer. Everyone learned a few new facts!
Pluto is a planet. False - Pluto was considered a planet until 2006. Now it is a dwarf planet.
Jupiter is the smallest planet in the solar system. False - The smallest is Mercury, Jupiter is the largest.
It would take two days to get to Mars by rocket. False - It would take 6-8 months.
The Earth is the only planet with a moon. False - There are many other moons. Almost all the planets have at least one, and Jupiter has at least 63!
It rains diamonds on Neptune. True - It has been suggested by many scientists that the methane in the air causes diamonds to rain down on Neptune.
Only two astronauts have every visited Mercury. False - No human has ever set foot on a planet other than Earth.
Saturn is the only planet with rings. False - Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings.
The first animal in space was a dog. True - Her name was Laika, but unfortunately she didn't survive.
Sally Ride was the first woman in space. False - She was the first American woman in space, but the Russians got there first with Valentina Tereshkova.
There is a Chinese space station. True - It's name is Tiangong.
Russian astronauts are called cosmonauts. True - and Chinese astronauts are called Taikonauts.
There are robots on Mars. True - Among them are Curiosity, Phoenix, Spirit and Opportunity.
There is a mountain on Mars that is 3 times as tall as Mount Everest. True - Olympus Mons, or Mount Olympus, is 24km tall!
Our galaxy is called Andromeda. False - Our galaxy is the Milky Way. Andromeda is another galaxy about 2.5 million light years from Earth.
Meteors and shooting stars are the same thing. True - They are both streaks of light produced when a meteoroid burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.
Comets are made mostly of ice. True - Comets are balls of frozen gasses, dust and rocks. When they get close to the sun, they start to melt and that's what creates their tail.
Our main project for the evening was Night Sky themed wooden plaques. We provided wooden plaques in different shapes and a variety of different wooden pieces that could be glued on, glue guns, paint, and brushes. The results were very good - and unique!
After cleaning up, the Patrols performed the skits they had prepared at the beginning of the meeting. We ended with reminders for next week and closed with Taps.
Taking advantage of a Friday PA Day for all schools in our area, we planned a Day Camp for Guides! We wound up with our 3 3rd Year Guides who had slept over, a 2nd Year Guide, 2 1st Year Guides, and our Ranger Helper. Everyone arrived bright and early at 7.30am to cook breakfast. We headed outside with buddy burners to cook bacon, while the tater tots went in the oven and pancakes were cooked on the stove. We also sliced up fruit and had left over juices from the sleepover. This fulfilled a common request to do more cooking, as opportunities are sometimes limited at camp due to the number of girls.
For the rest of the morning, we took part in the Students Rebuild 2019 Ocean Challenge. We attempted to watch the videos, but only parts of each were able to be played on my tablet, so we discussed the information that was contained in each video and shared how we felt about the oceans. Then it was time to get right into the heart of the challenge - creating sea creatures from paper products! We have a supply box of random crafting items so were able to provide white and coloured paper, newsprint, paper plates, tubes, streamers and masking tape, along with markers, scissors and glue. This was a highly successful project and we created and submitted a total of 27 pieces of artwork, raising $84 for ocean protection and recovery initiatives! Check out our ocean creatures on our team page - https://www.studentsrebuild.org/teams/8Y8Z7VTFHXL5.
Lunchtime meant it was time for more cooking! We made taco salad using Doritoes, including ground chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa and sour cream. After eating and cleaning up, we moved onto our afternoon activities. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating, so we were unable to go outside and had to have fun indoors. We started by making popcorn over tealights. We set up each pair with two tealights on a metal or foil tray, two tart pans, clothespins, popcorn, oil and matches. The first task was to put about a tablespoon of oil in one of the tart pans along with the popcorn kernels, then make a container by inverting the other tart pan on top of the first and using the clothes pins to clip the two tins together. They then had to light the tealights. This took a while for some groups, but we also managed to help some Guides get over their fears. The tart pan popper was then held over the tealights, about 1-2" above the flames by holding onto the clothes pins. Patience is required as this does take a few minutes, but once the kernels started popping, everyone got very excited and into counting how many 'pops' they had! We are told the popcorn was very tasty as well!
Our next activity was board games, including King of Tokyo and Dungeons & Dragons.
Once we'd finished gaming, the weather had cleared up a bit, so we headed outside for a scavenger hunt and active games. With the return of the rain, we went back inside and worked on an Advocacy Activity. The group was asked to work together and imagine they were planning an event in support of Saving the Oceans. They had to create a playlist for the event, come up with a slogan and chant for their campaign, and make a poster to share facts and information.
We ended the day by cleaning up and putting away furniture before heading home to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Links:
Taking advantage of a Friday PA Day for all schools in our area, we planned a Bridging Sleepover for the Thursday night for our 3rd Year Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers. Unfortunately none of our Pathfinders or Rangers were able to make it, so we went ahead with three of our 3rd Year Guides and finished up some work on the Lady Baden-Powell Challenge and the UK Guide Mixology Badge!
For the UK Guide Mixology Badge, Guides need to do three things:
Run your own taste-test.
Design a mocktail menu.
Hold a mocktail party.
We provided Orange Juice, Lemonade, Cranberry Punch, Fruit Punch, Berry Punch, 7-Up and Ginger Ale and slices of lemon, lime, orange, red apple, green apple, and blackberries for experimentation and let the girls try out different flavour combinations. For our Mocktail Menu, we came up with:
Sour Cranberry Citrus (Cranberry Punch and Orange Juice with Lemon and Lime wedges)
Bubbly Lemonade (Lemonade and 7-Up with Green Apple slices)
Berry Lemonade (Berry Punch and Lemonade with Lemon wedges)
Juicy Mix (Orange Juice, Lemonade and Fruit Punch with a Lemon wedge)
Sour Citrus Fizz (7-Up, Ginger Ale, and Lemonade with Lime wedges)
The Guides will finish up this badge by preparing mocktails for our Advancement Ceremony in May.
After cleaning up the kitchen, the Guides played a game of King of Tokyo and a game with flashlights. We then headed back into the kitchen to make pizza for a snack.
Armed with pizza and drinks we settled down to do some work on the Lady-Baden Powell Challenge. We started out with a potted history of how Lord and Lady Baden-Powell met and married and how both Scouting and Guiding were started and spread around the world. Next, we talked about the different types of service projects they have taken part in as Guides, with their families, at school and through their churches (as applicable) and created a list of ways to help others (random acts of kindness). We also created a poster to encourage Brownies to join Guides by sharing their favourite Guide activities and started a list of things they are looking forward to as Pathfinders.
We cleaned up and the Guides settled down with boardgames and books until they were tired. Friday morning came bright and early with the arrival of the other Guides at 7.30am for breakfast!
This week we didn't have access to our usual meeting space and moved into the library for the evening. We used the small space to our advantage and played the Lady Baden-Powell Escape Room Challenge created by Guider Elisha Hardwick from Kingston, Ontario.
We split up into four groups, with each group solving all of the puzzles. As each group finished all four puzzles, they opened a latch on a tote box. When the final group finished and the box could be opened, it was filled with mini chocolate bars to share! The first task was a Timeline Challenge where teams had to sort out 12 cards with facts and life events for the Baden-Powells to create a timeline. Once they had the timeline, the letters from each card were entered into the spaces on the answer sheet to solve the puzzle.
The second task was called Name That Speaker and each team had to match up quotations with their speaker. Cards called "Words of Wisdom" were placed around the room with each quotation in context and its speaker. Players had to find the Words of Wisdom cards to find the answers and then enter the results onto the answer sheet to solve the puzzle.
The third task was puzzle-based and called Putting the Pieces Together. Teams had to answer true/false questions about the Baden-Powells. For every correct answer, they received a piece of a puzzle. Once they had all 6 pieces, they were able to put the puzzle together and solve the puzzle on the answer sheet.
The final task was Blankout! Vowels had been removed fro the "Letter From the World Chief Guide" and teams had to figure out which vowels were missing to complete the message and then transfer the underlined words to the answer sheet to solve the puzzle.
Using the answers from the four tasks, each group was able to solve the final key word and discover what Lord B-P was nicknamed on the Ashanti Expedition.
This was a great way to learn more about Robert and Olave Baden-Powell and the beginnings of Guiding. Most of the group were engaged, although they have asked for more tactile puzzles next time.
We spent the last part of the meeting working on sharing our Dream Careers on paper to submit to National as part of the Women Deliver 2019 Mobilization Canada.
The meeting ended with reminders about the sleepover and day camp at the end of the week and that we would be starting our Space activities next week. We then closed with Taps.
We spend the first week of April rounding our Design Space and Engineering activities with a LEGO Night!
We brought in the supply of LEGO that I have from when my brother and I were younger as we had plenty to go around! Guides could work alone or in groups and build whatever they were inspired to - as long as they shared the supplies. There was lots of creativity and the end results were all unique. This was super easy to prepare
and was very popular with the Guides - they were reluctant to put the
LEGO away at the end of the night!
We ended April with a change of pace by earning the Guide Maoritanga Badge from Girlguiding New Zealand!
