Getting Ready for a New Guiding Year!

It's time for a new Guiding year! Come join us! Remember to register at https://register.girlguides.ca. Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers all start on Tuesday, September 10th!

Advancement & Awards

The end of May means it is time for Advancement as we send our 3rd-Year Guides up to Pathfinders. This year's theme was Red Carpet to go along with showing the movies the Guides made earlier in the month. We also had a photo booth that was very popular and 3 of our 3rd-Year Guides finished up their Mixology Badge by making punch for everyone to enjoy with cupcakes. 

Guiding is a journey. Some start as Sparks, while others join later as Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders, Rangers or Guiders. Some will travel along the Guiding path from beginning to end, while others will take breaks along the way. Each person’s journey will be different, but each will be the star of her personal Guiding journey. 

This year, we embraced the new Girls First Program. We now work on Theme Badges and Program Areas rather than checking off boxes for specific activities. This puts our Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers in charge of their Guiding experiences.

In the Guide Together Program Area we find out about Guiding in Canada and around the world, as well experiencing the sisterhood of Guiding. This year we voted on options for the new uniform, explored Guiding history, took part in a community campfire, bridged with Sparks and Brownies for World Thinking Day, and held our annual messy night.

The Build Skills Program Area helps us to build important life skills. We’ve practiced teamwork and leadership skills, learned how to be prepared for emergencies at home, spent time in the kitchen, and made first aid kits.

The Explore Identities Program Area is all about us! We explore what makes us special and learn to appreciate differences in others. This year we shared our dream careers with Girl Guides of Canada and earned the Team Girl badge for the International Day of the Girl.

Our favourite Program Area is <>Experiment and Create because we get to try hands-on science activities, build our own creations, and explore the arts. This year we learned about caterpillars, explored space and astronomy, built with LEGO, wrote and created our own movies, and tried our hand at clay modelling and different types of painting.

Be Well is the Program Area about being healthy – mentally and physically. We’ve learned how to recognized and manage stress, stayed active with lots of games, and built relationships with each other through board games.

Activities in the wider community fall under the Connect and Question Program Area, where we explore our local community, Canada as a whole, and the wider world.  We’ve visited the Caledonia and District Food Bank, celebrated Pancake Tuesday, and explored Maori culture by earning the New Zealand Guide Maoritanga badge.

Service is a big part of Guiding, so the Take Action Program Area is the place for us to explore issues we care about, learn about advocacy and make a difference. We found out how the Food Bank works, packaged items for Christmas hampers, explored issues that impact girls around the world, filled a three shoeboxes for teens living in transitional housing, and took part in the Students Rebuild Ocean Challenge.

Next year a new Program Area will be added called Into the Outdoors, with three theme badges all about camping and outdoor fun! We still went into the outdoors this year with outdoor games, fire lighting, winter camp, emergency preparedness in the outdoors, and cooking on buddy burners.

Tonight we have 5 Guides who are getting ready to star in the next stage of their journey. Sierra, Jaime, Anna, Kennedi and Marika are all receiving the Guide Challenge Pin to remember their time in Guides and a gift to help them keep track of their adventures, use their creativity, explore the world around them, and always be prepared.

Sierra, Jaime and Anna have also earned the Lady Baden-Powell Challenge, the highest award for Guides. To earn this award, they had to complete the Guide program, take part in service and leadership activities, share their Guiding experiences, find out about Pathfinders and learn about Lady Baden-Powell.

Congratulations Guides!

Messy Night

Our final regular meeting of the year was our annual Messy Night! This is a night where everyone gets wet and messy with paint, shaving cream, water and anything else we happen to include!


The way Messy Night works is we provide a variety of activities, and the Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers choose which ones they want to try. The main rule of the evening is that you cannot get someone else wet/messy without their consent - meaning those who want to stay dry are able to do so. 

As it was somewhat cooler this May than in past years, we were unable to do some of our favourite activities, such as Paint Twister and the Paint-Water-Shaving Cream Slip 'n' Slide. This year's activities included:

• Shaving Cream Marbling
• Face Painting
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Hair Chalk
• Shave the Balloon
• Bubbles  
• "Pie" Eating (Whipped Cream)
• Finger Painting

Links:

• Marbled Paper From Shaving Cream

We Can Do It!

On March 9th, one Pathfinder and one Guider joined other Pathfinders and Rangers at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope for an event called "We Can Do It!". Throughout the day, we explored life and the roles and experiences of women during World War II.

Girl Guiding and the War Effort

Activity #1 Upon arrival, each person had to assemble a box (which would have held a gas mask) and a name tag to wear throughout the day. We also picked up a National Identity Card and Ration Booklet.

We started the day learning a bit about what Guides and Rangers did for the War Effort, including Guide Gift Week in 1940. For Guide Gift Week, Guiding members throughout the British Empire (including Canada) were asked to contribute half a day's salary or income, or raise money doing odd jobs. The goal was to raise enough to purchase two air ambulances. Not only was this goal reached, but enough funds were raised to also buy a lifeboat (later named the Guide of Dunkirk for its roll in rescuing troops from Dunkirk), two mobile canteens for the YMCA, equipment for rest huts for the British Army, furnishing and equipment for the Trefoil Hut in Iceland for use of the Merchant Navy, and 20 motor ambulances for the Royal Navy. Guiding training allowed girls to be seen as very important and capable as they took on roles as nurses, munition workers, aircraft workers, pilots, ambulance drivers and mechanics.

Activity #2 We learned how to tie a 1940s-style Guide tie and then how to use the tie as a sling.

Life on the Home Front

Life changed drastically during the war, especially in Britain. Once war was declared, everyone carried a gas mask and National ID card. 

Food Rationing

In 1939, Britain imported 60% of their food, which meant rationing quickly came into effect to make the most of what food they had. Booklets were produced and demonstrations held to help people use rations healthily and effectively. Families had to register with their suppliers (butcher, grocer, market, etc.) for each item and could then only shop at that location as each supplier received sufficient amounts for those registered with them. Rations had to be collected each week as uncollected amounts did not carry over. 

Examples of typical rations:

• Bacon or Ham - 4 oz per week for adults, 2 oz for children
• Butter - 2 oz per week for adults, 1 oz for children
• Cheese - 2 oz per week for adults, 1 oz for children
• Eggs - 1 per week for adults, 1 every other week for children
• Powdered Eggs - 2 per week for adults, 1 per week for children
• Milk - 3 1/2 pints per child under 18 (later replaced by powdered milk)
• Sugar - 2 oz per week for adults, 1 oz for children
• Tea - 1 1/2 oz per week for adults (loose leaf) 
• Meat - 1s 2d worth, if available [about $5 worth today]

Food Production
The "Dig For Victory" campaign turned empty land over to vegetable production. Vegetables that grow well and can be stored, such as brussel sprouts, potatoes, turnips, cabbage and carrots, were planted across the country. Families also took to raising hens, rabbits and pigs, picking and canning fruits and vegetables, and boiling rose-hips to make a syrup to supplement their Vitamin C intake. Bread became denser as flour is less refined.

Clothing
Clothing styles changed to use less fabric - rising hemlines, narrow lapels, no pockets or cuffs, narrow pant legs. Items such as nylons were simply no longer available. Communities would get together to swap items such as coats that were not being made any more. Everyone was encouraged to "Make Do and Mend", by cutting down adult clothing for children, unraveling sweaters and knitting new garments from the wool, and re-purposing everything they could. 

Daily Life
Gasoline is also rationed, so people walk or cycle to get where they need to go, and forego unnecessary travel. Guiding members worked on the War Service Badge, awarded for 96 hours of war-related service. Guides and Rangers helped in many ways, including running creches, entertaining children, collecting sphagnum moss, planting gardens, manning first aid posts and assisting officials. 

Evacuation!
With the threat of attack looming, families wanted to get their children to safety. Children from cities were evacuated to the countryside or even by ship to Canada. Some children went on their own, while others went with their entire school, relocating to a different location for the duration of the war. When they reached their destination, evacuees were often met by Guides and Scouts who welcomed them and helped them reach their new home. Each evacuee carried a suitcase or brown paper package of their clothing, ID tags, National Registration Card, and Ration Book. 

Activity #3: We split up into smaller groups, each with a set of cards with the names of items that children might bring with them. Our challenge was to choose 20 items, including 6 mandatory items, for a child evacuee to pack. 

Activity #4 We all worked together to prepare our lunch, consisting of foods that would have been available with rations - home-made bread, cheese (grated to make it go further), butter, jam, SPAM, canned corned beef, apples, tea (loose leaf), powdered milk, and home-made war cake.


The Battle of Britain

"Never before have so many owed so much to so few" (Winston Churchill)

Operation Sea Lion was launched by the Nazis in July 1940 with the goal of destroying England's airbases in preparation for invasion. Troops were massed in France, across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel, and German aircraft outnumbered Allied forces 4 to 1. Concentrated aerial attacks began in August and continued through September. Britain succeeded in repelling attacks and inflicting damage to enemy planes because they used centralized coordination to determine where each of their fighter squadrons would go, making the best use of their scant resources. Fighter Command was located at Bentley Prior and received intelligence about position of troops, incoming squadrons, and other information and then relayed it onward. Basic radar was used, but could only track planes over the sea. Once plans reached land, radar could no longer be used. 95% of the staff at Bentley Prior were female.  Staff used table-sized maps and wooden blocks with information about each allied and enemy squadron, including its identifying number, number of planes and altitude in thousands of feet, to plot the location and movements of aircraft. 

Activity #5: We gathered around a plotting map and worked in pairs to read information about aircraft movements. As part of the activity, we had to label and move our plotting blocks around the map and place coloured arrows to indicate sightings and direction of flight. We then discussed how plotters would use the information to determine which squadron to send up against incoming enemy planes.

Communications

A variety of different communication methods and codes were used to send messages and relay information during the war. The Enigma Machine was invented by the Germans and had a code that changed daily. Alan Turing designed an electromechanical machine that could break the Enigma code faster than humans. Before this device came into use, the Admiralty was losing 33 ships per day due to an internal spy who was sending fleet movements and information to the enemy. Codes were used to encrypt messages and Guides and Rangers often acted as messengers as their training including carrying a message in their head and delivering it accurately and they could be trusted to keep what they heard a secret. 

Activity #6: Semaphore was part of the Guiding program in the 1930s and 1940s, and was useful for sending messages across distances, from ship to ship, and from ship to shore. We all had a go at signalling different letters and trying to position our arms correctly.

Activity #7: Morse Code was also part of the Guiding program and widely used for telegraph communications. We were able to use buzzers and try to send words between partners.

Activity #8: Many women were employed as code breakers to decipher incoming messages. They would also encrypt outgoing messages so that they would be incomprehensible to anyone without the key! We got to try to decipher numeric codes and shifted alpha-numeric codes. 

Activity #9: Our final communications task was to dial a rotary phone - a task that was new to most if not all of the Pathfinders and Rangers! Undaunted, they were shown how to dial the phone and then competed to see who could complete a call the fastest - 16 seconds is the record to beat. 

Wartime Employment

During the war women took on non-traditional jobs in order to free men to join the forces fighting in Europe. Women worked became munitions workers, built aircraft, trained as drivers and mechanics, and made other supplies vital to the war effort. 

Activity #10: Aircraft, and other metal vehicles and machines, are held together with rivets. Women became expert riveters, with one person putting in Clecos (temporary rivets) to hold the pieces in place while another person came behind removing the Clecos ahead of the riveter. We raced to see which teams could put complete a line of temporary rivets the fastest, and then who could take them out again!

The wings of aircraft are made of several layers, making them both lightweight and durable. Starting with a wood frame, a cover of canvas is attached. The canvas is painted with a substance called ope to make it stronger and waterproof. A layer of aluminum is added, and finally a coat of paint. 

Activity #11: To see what the process to build aircraft wings would have been like, we worked in teams to assemble rib wings in the fashion they would have been during World War II.

Women Pilots
The final part of the day was spent learning a bit more about the role of women pilots. Women would ferry planes between bases in Canada and to Newfoundland. One of the Rangers was dressed in the many layers worn by pilots at this time - uniform shirt and jacket, gauntlet gloves, leather fleece-lined hood, goggles, life vest and parachute.

Links:

• Canadian Women of Valour Challenge
• Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum 

World Thinking Day 2019

This week the Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers in Caledonia got together for our annual World Thinking Day Event. The program was planned and run by the Pathfinders and Rangers, assisted by the 3rd Year Guides. 

As everyone arrived, they were directed to the appropriate part of the room for their Unit. We provided colouring sheets and wordsearches, as well as supplies for Guiders to make name tags dividing their Unit into three groups. Each Unit performed their usual opening ceremony, followed by a brief introduction to the theme of Leadership. We had four activities and each group worked through them with a Pathfinder/Ranger and 3rd Year Guide leading. 

Dance With Your Past
In this activity, each person is asked to think of their favourite song and dance while singing in their head. They are then asked to talk about how easy or hard they found the experience and if they would have done the same thing two years ago.
 
Hey, That's Not Right!
It's 1908 and your brother just got a new book for his birthday called Scouting for Boys. It's about learning life skills, camping and making new friends. It sounds really fun and you want to take part, but people say that camping and adventure are only for boys. You don't agree and get together with some of your friends to let people know that girls can do anything!"

Each group split up into smaller groups of mixed Sparks, Brownies and Guides to create posters about all the amazing things girls can do!
 
Spot the Leader at Kusafiri
"Kusafiri World Centre held an event in 2017 called Arts4Change in Madagascar. Participants explored ways to use creativity to build leadership skills. Leadership doesn't always have to be seen or heard, sometimes it can just be felt!"

Players stand in a circle. One person leaves the room and another is secretly chosen to be the leader. The leader makes an action, sound or movement and everyone else in the circle has to copy them. The leader can change their actions at any time. The person outside comes back into the room and stands in the centre of the circle. As the rest of the group continues following the leader, the person in the centre has three chances to guess who is the leader. 
 
In 2119, Can You Imagine?
For our fourth activity, we asked everyone to think about what it might be like to be a Girl Guide in 2119, 100 years from now by drawing a 22nd Century Guide. The twist to this activity was that each drawing would be completed by three people. The first person drew the head and neck, then folded their part over and let the next person draw the torso and arms, this part is also folded over so only the bottom third of the page is showing and the third person draws the legs and feet.

Lost in Time Activities
As each group completed the activities on their own within the time frame of the meeting, we also planned some no-equipment activities from the Lost in Time section of the Activity Pack. 

• You've encountered some Scouts from the past on their way to Brownsea Island, teach them a song for their campfire.
• Can you name the 5 World Centres? (Pax Lodge, Sangam, Our Chalet, Our Cabana, Kusafiri)
• You meet a group of Girl Guides from the future who speak a language you don't recognize. Find a way to say "Happy World Thinking Day" without using words.
• Try to say the Spark Promise backwards. (Friend A Be and Share to Promise I)
• You meet some Girl Guides from the future. What is one thing you want to know about Guiding in the future?
• Name one country you'd like to learn more about and why.
• Say a tongue twister.
• When you do something which inspires other people you're practicing leadership. Ask if anyone can share something they did in the last week which inspired someone.
• Who can come up with the most inventive upgrade for their time machine?
• If you were given one wish to change your community for the better, what would it be?

We ended with Spark Closing, Brownie Closing, and Taps, before saying goodnight to everyone.

Links:

• WAGGGS World Thinking Day 2019 Activity Pack
• Invitation and Time Machine Instructions
• Colouring Sheet/Wordsearch 

Art-tastic! Painting

From our planning session, we discovered that the group had lots of ideas for painting activities, so we devoted this week's meeting to painting! 

We started with set up and our usual opening ceremony. Once all the tables were set up and covered, we introduced the five activities for the evening:

• Painting on Canvas - We provided stretched 5" x 7" canvases, acrylic paints and brushes or all different shapes and sizes. Canvases were 2 for $1 at the dollar store and paints and brushes were from our Unit supply.
• Watercolours - We used the 3 watercolour paint sets in our paint box and provided blank card stock as a base. This is better able to handle the water than regular paper.
• Splat Painting - Girls were provided with cardstock, cotton balls and small amounts of washable paints in small tart pans. Although the suggestion had been splat painting, most of the girls used the cotton balls to dab and smear paint when creating their designs.
• Finger Painting - This was a request we hadn't expected, but were able to provide washable paints and glossy paper for this activity.
• Tile Painting - We did this activity earlier in the year and it was popular. Tiles were from the Habitat Reuse Store and we used the same acrylic paints and brushes provided for painting on canvas.

Girls were able to choose what they wanted to work on and spend as much or as little time on each piece of art as they wished. Some did only one or two activities, while others tried out everything.
There was lots of clean-up from this meeting, but we had allowed 30 minutes for clean-up and closing - and it was needed! We ended with reminders for next week and closed with Taps.

Board Game Night

For our second meeting in January we didn't have access to our usual meeting space, so we held a board game night across two smaller rooms. The first and second year Guides stayed in one room and played King of Tokyo, Labrinth, and Clue. The third year Guides went with the Pathfinders and Rangers and played Settlers of Catan and Mexican Train Dominoes. Everyone had a good time. We ended the evening with reminders for next week and closed with Taps.