Girl Guide Day 2017!

Friday, April 28th was a PA day for area schools, so we held a Girl Guide Day! 6 Guides took part in the program day, and later on 5 3rd Year Guides and 1 Ranger had a bridging sleepover.

Our morning started off with sanding and painting wooden plaques for making string art later, and then moved on to perler bead creations.


We then had a snack (popcorn) and talked about some of the items in the Hiking and Outdoor Adventures Badges:

• How to behave on public and private property
• What information should be left with someone when you set out on an outdoor adventure
• What you should take with your on an outdoor adventure (and why)
• Minimum impact/leave no trace hiking and outdoor adventures

After drawing templates for our string art, we headed outside. We decided to have lunch right away, and ate on the front steps of the church, watching the people arriving at the fairgrounds for the dog show on the weekend. Once we had all eaten and cleaned up, we played a massive game of hide and seek, followed by Crows and Cranes. In Crows and Cranes, there are two teams - one is crows, the other cranes. The game leader calls out one team, dragging out the crrrr... part. The team that is called, chases the other team to the end of the playing area. Anyone tagged joins the other team.

We had a bit of a STEM experiment afterwards, seeing if plastic eggs can really be used in place of film canisters for rockets. While the rocket part was unsuccessful, we had lots of fun making the chemical reactions with baking soda and vinegar!


Going back inside, we finished up our string art projects by hammering in nails using the templates made earlier, and using embroidery floss to create the designs.


Clean-up followed, and then we headed into the kitchen to make a fruit salad for snack - apples, oranges, plums, grapes, pears, pineapple and berries. We then headed back outside. While we ate, we learned a bit about Guide History and looked at some artefacts from Guiding history, including Michelle's youth awards and camp blanket, a 1970s uniform, program books, brochures, cookie cutters and pins. As we were already sitting in a circle, we also learned how to make a braided blanket and completed a blanket to be donated to a women's shelter as part of the Action on Poverty National Service Project. The day ended with final perler bead projects and a game of Everybody's It tag.

Summer Camp at Camp Woolsey

Some call it fun and some may call it madness

 So come on along with us and forget your sadness

Happy campers are we, having fun 'neath the trees

And when we are gone, we'll be singing the song of ...

Camp, Camp Woolsey

Camp, Camp Woolsey
Camp, Camp Woolsey

Camp, Camp Woolsey, Camp.

Yes, I have just come home from my 6th year of volunteering with the Ontario Girl Guide Summer Camps Program at Camp Woolsey and am still humming the Camp Woolsey Song!

Ontario Girl Guides runs summer camp programs for girls of all ages at different sites throughout the province. The 2016 summer camp programs are running at:

• Camp Adelaide (Haliburton) - Overnight Camp
• Camp Carruthers (Kingston) - Day Camp
• Doe Lake Camp (Huntsville) - Overnight Camp
• Camp Ma-Kee-Wa (Orangeville) - Overnight Camp
• Mississauga Girl Guide Centre (Mississauga) - Day Camp
• Camp Woolsey (Dunrobin) - Day & Overnight Camp
• Camp Wyoka (Clifford) - Day & Overnight Camp

Each week at camp has a different theme - this past week was "Looking Back in Time". I will be heading back to camp for another week in August, and am looking forward to "Nature Nutz"!

Girl Guides of Canada - Try Now, Join Later!

If your daughter (or you!) has wanted to try out Guiding (in Ontario) but you were afraid to make a commitment without knowing how you and your daughter would like it, here’s your chance.

Try Now Join Later

Try Now, Join Later for Ontario residents is back for the 6th year! 

For the months of April, May and June, girls can try Girl Guides of Canada, the original activity-based organization for girls in Canada and receive their Membership for FREE*! *Weekly activity dues and special event fees may apply.
Your daughter is invited to take part in the remaining unit meetings this Spring. As an added bonus, she will be included in our Spring Renewal process for the upcoming Guiding year that starts in the fall, giving her priority renewal before open registration begins in June.

ABOUT GIRL GUIDES OF CANADA-GUIDES DU CANADA: As the largest organization in the world for girls and women, Girl Guides is committed to providing girls with opportunities to build self-esteem, learn new things, have fun and make new friends. Our programs help girls to develop a sense of responsibility and independence, develop team skills and respect for each other, offer service to their communities and most importantly, discover the best in themselves. As part of a world-wide organization in 146 countries with 10 million members, the opportunities are endless!

You’ll Be Saving $160+

While you will still have to pay dues (usually around $1 a week) and any fees for extra activities you choose to send your daughter to, the membership fee will be waived. Your daughter will get a chance to check out the branch of Guiding that she would fit under and see what it’s all about.

There are units all over Canada but only Ontario is participating in Try Now Join Later. Call the 1-800-565-8111 number to find your local unit and find out more.

From Caledonia? Use the comments section to connect with me and find out more about our local units!  (Girls born in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 are encouraged to come and visit the 2nd Caledonia Guides!)

What Branch Is My Daughter In?

*Girls who are born in a 'bridging' year may try to branch they would join in September or the branch other girls their age are in now:
Girls born in 2009, 2010 and 2011 can try Sparks
Girls born in 2007, 2008 and 2009 can try Brownies
Girls born in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 can try Guides
Girls born in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 can try Pathfinders
girls born in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 can try Rangers
Born before 1998? New adult members are always welcome!

Connect with Guiding

You can find out more about Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada on the official website.
You might also want to check out the Girl Guides CAN Blog, GGC on Facebook, and Twitter.

If It Isn’t Fun.. It Isn’t Guiding!

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.

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.

Introduction to Guiding Event

No experience necessary! All women age 18+ are invited to come and learn more about the opportunities offered by Girl Guides of Canada!

Guiding in Caledonia needs YOUR help! Without additional volunteers, we will not be able to keep all of our units open and continue to offer the same great programming for girls.