Fun with the Promise & Law

This week we focused on learning about the Promise and Law and worked on the Understanding the Promise, Law and Motto section of the program.

As the girls arrived, anyone we distributed uniform orders and had everyone try on their shirts so that any exchanges that are needed can be done quickly. The girls then worked on creating displays for the artwork they created at our "Arts in the Outdoors" meeting.

We had a brief opening and talked a bit about what we were going to be doing during the meeting, followed by an active game.

Our first activity was to talk about Patrols and Patrol Leaders. After a short discussion, each girl was given a ballot where she could vote for 4 girls to become Patrol Leaders, indicate who she would like to be in a patrol with, indicate if there was anyone she would rather not be in a patrol with (we don't promise to make this one happen), and also say who she would like for her Patrol Second if she was elected as a Patrol Leader. As there wasn't time to go through all the ballots at the meeting, the girls will find out about their new Patrols next week!

One of the Guides had requested a hat craft for her new camp hat, so that became our next activity. Each girl coloured and folded a mini-booklet of the Promise and Law (adapted from the 2nd Kingsbridge Guides Tiny Guide Promise Book). The booklets were then put into a craft baggie. We then had plastic lacing, which was folded in half and a knot tied to make a loop at the end. The girls then strung on beads to represent the Promise (a special bead), and each law: Be honest and trustworthy (orange), Use my resources wisely (yellow), Respect myself and others (pink), Recognize and use my talents and abilities (light blue), Protect our common environment (green), Live with courage and strength (red), and Share in the sisterhood of Guiding (dark blue). This pieces was then attached to the baggie with a safety pin.

We then had an active game to get everyone moving again. To work on remembering the Guide Sign and Handshake, we played freeze tag, where in order to be 'unfrozen', someone had to come and do the proper sign and handshake with you.

After the game, we had a bit of extra time where the girls could choose to continue working on their artwork, play another game, or just talk.

Our final activity was Law skits. To prevent arguments about who would work with who, we put numbered slips into a bowl and each girl drew a slip. They then had to find the other girl with the same number (we had 14 girls present, so there were 7 pairs). The girls with #1 did a skit on Be honest and trustworthy, those with #2 did Use my resources wisely, and so on.

After the girls had presented their skit, one girl led 'Herman the Worm' and another led 'My Aunt Hoover'. We closed with details about next week's Hallowe'en Party and Taps.

Guide Enrolment

November started off with our Enrolment ceremony to welcome 7 girls into our Guiding family.
The beginning of the meeting was spend practicing forming the horseshoe facing the opposite end of the room, going through the ceremony so everyone would know their parts, and setting up chairs, tables and the flag ready for parents to arrive.

Once everyone's guests had arrived, we opened by forming a horseshoe followed by a welcome to parents and family members.

7 returning Guides/Pathfinders had been chosen earlier in the evening to hold balloons and be part of the ceremony. One at a time they stepped into the centre of the horseshoe to read their piece and form a rainbow:

This balloon is red for all the happy campfires that Guides have.

This balloon is orange for sunset when we sing Taps.

This balloon is yellow for the sun that shines over all the Guides in the world.

This balloon is green for nature that Guides look after.

This balloon is blue for the sky that Guides see everywhere, everyday.

This balloon is violet for all the girls all over the world, who are in Guiding.

This balloon is white, for peace, which Guides around the world try to spread in their homes and communities. 

The rainbow we see in the horseshoe represents the rainbow that appears often in nature. When you make your promise as a Guide, it should become part of your life, as the rainbow is part of the natural environment.

Tonight we are excited to welcome 7 new members into our Guiding family.

(This ceremony is based on one found online from Australia - unfortunately, I have been unable to trace the source.)

Each Patrol was then called up to present their new Guides, who were enrolled using the standard ceremony. Lastly, each Guide & Pathfinder was called up individually to receive their year pin, badges and challenge crests that have been earned so far this year. 

We ended with juice and apple crumble bites, photographs and clean-up.

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.

Promise & Law

Our last meeting in September was spent learning about the Promise and Law. As the girls arrived, they collected dues and were then given slips of paper with different values and actions (both positive and negative) and asked to put them on the sheet of paper labeled with the Guide Law they thought it was related to. After our opening and an active game, we reviewed the choices and discussed how some values could relate to more than one Law.

We then had the girls divide up into patrols and told them that each patrol was stranded on a desert island and needed to come up with 3 rules or laws that they thought were needed. After calling the patrols back together, we used the rules they had come up with and the values discussion to create a Unit Contract, which will be written out and signed by every member of the unit.

For the rest of the evening, we divided the group up and the 3rd year Guides worked to plan the Hallowe'en party while the 1st and 2nd year Guides did Promise & Law activities. The first activity was a Promise & Law Relay Race, where cards with pieces of the promise and laws were placed at one end of the room and the teams had to send one person at a time up to get a piece, and then put the pieces together make the promise and law. The second activity was called Keeping the Law and challenged each group to write down ways they could keep each of the Guide Laws. We then used these to play charades - guessing both what the action was and which Law it related to.

We ended the evening with a sing-song and Taps.

Promise & Law

Our first meeting in October was devoted to Promise and Law activities to get our new members ready for enrolment and to review the promise and law with everyone. As the girls arrived, they were asked to write down ideas for the Hallowe'en party at the end of the month and then each patrol was asked to imagine that they were stuck on a desert island and to decide on rules that they thought would be needed there.
After our opening, the girls played an active game and then came together to discuss what a Promise is and to go over their 'desert island rules'. At the same time, we talked about the Code of Conduct and how the rules they had chosen for their desert island covered many of the same things.
Next, we played a game - BURRPLS Laws (BURRPLS is an acronym made using the first letter of each law). Players stand in a circle and each is given a law. A leader or player stands in the centre. The players in the circle pass a ball around the circle. When the player in the centre calls out 'BURRPLS!', the player holding the ball sits down with her legs straight out in front of her and calls out her law. Play continues until all players are sitting down. 
We then sat down to come up with unit guidelines - topping the list were "No Whining!" and "Smile!".  The girls came up with a list of 10 guidelines for behaviour at meetings.
We then did an activity in small groups where each group chose colours (using suckers) to represent each guide law. This was followed by demonstrating the sign and handshake and reading a brief story about why Guides and Scouts use the left handshake.
We ended the meeting by planning the Hallowe'en party.