WE Day Toronto 2017

Imagine spending a day with nearly 20,000 young people committed to making change in their schools, communities, country and the world. Add a slate of inspiring speakers, musical performances, a surprise appearance by Prince Harry and you have WE Day Toronto 2017!

Unfortunately, none of the Pathfinders were able to join us for the day, but our small group of 2 Guiders and 1 Ranger still had a great time! We caught the 6.50am GO Train from Aldershot Station and made it to Toronto by 8am, ready for the short walk to the Air Canada Centre, once inside we made our way upstairs to our section and settled in. There were so many speakers and performances, that I know I've missed a few, but here are my memories of the day:

The first performance of the day was by Vanessa Hudgens and Shawn Hook, with "Reminding Me", followed by a welcome from Craig and Marc Kielburger. The first speaker was Gaten Matarazzo from "Stranger Things", spreading awareness for cleidocranial dysplasia, a congenital disorder that affects one in a million people. Jacob Tremblay and Millie Davis, co-stars in the upcoming movie "Wonder", urged us to "Choose kind. On the playground, in your classrooms, in your neighbourhoods".


Bailee Madison ("The Good Witch") introduced us two students who are working for change, something she would repeat thoughout the day. Sofia Carson ("Descendents") encouraged girls to be bold and fearless, saying "Books and pens are our greatest weapons, and girls, we are our own knights in shining armour."

Shawn Hook performed again, then Lisa Charleyboy spoke about reconnecting with her indigenous heritage and finding her passion in an unexpected way. Beginning in the world of runway fashion, moving to print media, and eventually creating a magazine showcasing indigenous design.

Spencer West interviewed Olympians Penny Oleksiak and Andre De Grasse about their role as Ambasasdors, not only for sport but for youth engagement and making a positive difference in the world. Watch Three Stools With Spencer West at WE Day.

George Takei ("Star Trek") spoke about his time in a Japanese Internment Camp as a child during World War II and the hope that youth represent for the future. He ended with "Today I see our future built by all of you. Boldly go where no one has gone before!" Watch George Takei at WE Day.

Lilly Singh spoke on the need to end girl-on-girl hate, challenging girls to build each other up instead of tearing each other down #GirlLove. She also launched her new #GirlLove Rafiki project to provide education to girls in Kenya! Watch Lilly Singh at WE Day.

Kelly Clarkson performed "Stronger" (with full crowd accompaniment!) and her new single "Love So Soft".

Hedley performed as well, then Mike Downie spoke about reconciliation and updated everyone on the work of the Downie-Wenjack Fund since its launch a year ago. Watch Mike Downie at WE Day. Rick Hanson spoke about perseverance and believing in yourself, and then there was a surprise speaker...

... who was no less than HRH Prince Harry, who is in Toronto for the 3rd Invictus Games! I think he received the loudest response of the day. Prince Harry spoke about the Invictus Games and the spirit of hope, challenging all of us to "say yes to optimism, yes to hope and yes to belief". He also spoke to our social media-obsessed culture saying "You all know that it's great to 'like' things on social media, but that it's more important to look up from our phones, to get out into our communities, and to take real action; to stand up for what you believe in!"

Ban Ki-Moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations spoke on climate change, the Paris Climiate Agreement, and the need for people from around the world to work together - "We are truly all in this together." Watch Ban Ki-Moon at WE Day.

Alexandre Trudeau spoke about his world travels, his adventures, and the need for kindness and understanding. Watch Alexandre Trudeau at WE Day. Then Theland Kicknosway spoke about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and performed a Hoop Dance

Sabrina Carpenter performed, followed by the final speaker of the day, Mia Farrow, who spoke about finding happiness by helping others and focusing on an issue that matters to you to start making change. Watch Mia Farrow at WE Day.  The closing performance was also by Sabrina Carpenter, with her song "Thumbs", and then it was time to head home, inspired to make change at home and around the world!

For those of you who couldn't be there, watch the WE Day Toronto broadcast on CTV on November 25, 2017

Outdoors Night (in 30+ degree weather...)

Each year we try to spend at least one meeting outside in September while it is still light out during out meetings. This
year, we ran into extremely hot weather and had to improvise a bit!

Once everyone had arrived, we headed out for a leisurely walk to a local park close to our meeting place. The Guides made a beeline for the play structure and spent some time playing Grounders - although they did pause long enough for me to get our first group photo of the year!

We strolled over to the creek that borders the park and took a short walk across the bridge and along a trail through some wild raspberry bushes. Coming back, we had another game of Grounders before starting our walk back to our meeting place.

In total, we spent about an hour outside and everyone was happy to head inside where it was cooler and have a drink of water.

We had everyone sit down and had each 2nd/3rd Year Guide who was interested in being a Patrol Leader introduce themselves and tell the others why they wanted to be a Patrol Leader and why they would be good at the job. We then handed out ballots and each girl was able to vote for the 3 Guides they thought would be the best Patrol Leaders. Our Guides also have an opportunity at this point to let us know who they would like to be in a Patrol with, and also if there is anyone they would rather not be with. We tell them at the beginning that while we will take their preferences into consideration, there are no promises.

While the votes were counted and Patrols formed, the Guides were challenged to build a boat using only straws, plastic wrap and duct tape that would float and support as many pennies as possible. There were some great designs and our record was 41 pennies!

Once the Patrols were announced, we had each one try to pass a ball around without using their hands, followed by games with a beach ball. We ended with reminders for next week and closed with Taps.

Resources

• PBS Design Squad - Build A Watercraft

Mini Messy Night & SWAP Making

For our second meeting we had some messy fun outdoors and a session of SWAP making to get ready for the Campfire Event in October.

As the girls arrived they organized a game of Everybody's It Tag (I mentioned it was a favourite, didn't I?!). Once the Guiders were finished talking to parents, receiving forms, etc. we had a short opening to explain the plan for the evening.

We had forgotten the baking soda so one Guider went to get some, while everyone else headed outside. We started the evening off with Slime! It was pre-made for the Guides due to the amount of time it would have taken to do at the meeting, but the Pathfinders and Rangers went into the kitchen for their own slime making session. The recipe we used was:

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp of Metamucil (or generic version - we used Life Brand from Shopper's Drug Mart)
• 3/4 Cup of Water

Directions:

• Mix Metamucil and Water together in a large microwavable dish for about 1 minute, or until all the powder is dissolved. 
• Place the dish in the microwave and cook on high for 5 minutes. (The large bowl is needed here as the mixture will bubble up!)
• Take the mixture out of the microwave and stir. Let cool for a few minutes and pour out onto a piece of plastic wrap or into a ziplock bag.
• Let cool and enjoy! (One batch makes enough for 2 girls)

We put the slime aside for a game of Hide and Seek around the church property, and once the baking soda arrived we moved on to making film canister rockets. We had some pretty good 'bangs' from the rockets as the girls experimented with the baking soda to water to vinegar ratios. To make the rockets, place some baking soda on the inside of a film canister lid. Add a tiny bit of water, just enough to make the baking soda stick to the lid. Fill the canister with vinegar. Press the lid tightly onto the canister and quickly flip upside down on the ground or a table. When the vinegar mixes with the baking soda it creates carbon dioxide. The pressure from the carbon dioxide will 'pop' the canister off the lid, and, hopefully, up into the air!

As we had reached the mid-point of our meeting, we headed back inside for one more activity - Chocolate Unicorns! In this activity, each girl was given a Girl Guide Chocolately Mint Cookie to place on her forehead (the unicorn horn). She then had to move the cookie into her mouth without using her hands. Girls were then sent to clean up before we started crafting.

The remainder of the meeting was spent making SWAPS. We showed the girls some sample SWAPS and let them create! We provided twigs, pipecleaners, pompoms, string, beads, feathers, fun foam, googly eyes, foam cups, markers, glue, and scissors.

Clean-up took a bit of time, so we ended with a couple of songs led by the Pathfinders and Taps led by our Ranger helper.

Welcome to Guides!

Welcome to another great Guiding year!

The Caledonia Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers had their first official meeting on Tuesday, September 12th with 12 Guides, 4 Pathfinders and 1 Ranger. Since then, we have gained 2 more Pathfinders and still have lots of room for new Guides!
 
As everyone was arriving, they were given a scavenger hunt card and challenged to get the initials/signature of everyone else on their card. This gave the Guiders time to check off/add girls to our list and talk to parents.
 
The Pathfinders led an active game - Everybody's It Tag - which is a favourite. Afterwards, the Pathfinders and Rangers headed off to do some of their own planning for the year and the Guides had a brief welcome discussion and shared some important things about Guides with our new members.
 
We then played a getting-to-know-you game with toilet paper. Each girl took 3-8 squares of paper and for each square shared something about herself. We limited the squares to 8 as some girls would have take many more! Moving on, we split the girls up into small groups and gave each group a sheet of paper with a heading - Outdoors/Camping, Arts/Crafts/Drama/Music, International/World Guiding/Cultural, Anything Goes. Each group had 2-3 minutes to write down their ideas and then we switched the papers, so each group had a chance to add ideas to each page. We now have lots of great ideas to work with!
 
The Guides then played Everybody's It Tag again, followed by a teamwork activity, Pass the Can. For this activity, the girls take off their shoes and sit in a circle. A large empty coffee can is placed on the right foot of one girl. Using only her feet, she has to move the can to her left foot and then pass it to the right foot of the girl beside her. The goal is to pass the can all the way around the circle without letting it fall or touch the floor or hands.

Our final activity of the evening was Guide Law Skits. The girls had to find a partner and each pair was given a Guide Law to act out. As we had 6 pairs, we omitted 'Share in the Sisterhood of Guiding'. The evening ended with a campfire led by the Pathfinders, handing out newsletters and Goodnight.

Downloads:

• Scavenger Hunt Card

Introduction to Guiding Night

Are you ready for another great Guiding year? 

Come out and join the Caledonia Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers at our first meeting!

When: Tuesday, September 12th from 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Where: Grace United Church, Caledonia

We'll be talking about our plans for the year, trying out some fun activities, and getting to know each other!

Guides is for girls born in 2006, 2007 and 2008
Pathfinders is for girls born in 2003, 2004 and 2005
Rangers is for girls born in 2000, 2001 and 2002

Registration is now open at http://register.girlguides.ca!

Tekarama 10: Coast to Coast to Coast

This past weekend, 5 Guides and 1 Guider attended Tekarama 10: Coast to Coast to Coast with over 100 other Guides and Guiders, at Camp Teka in Paris. A huge THANK YOU to the organizing committee - we had a great time and will definitely go again!

On Friday night, we set up our tents and explored the camp as 4 of the girls had only been there in the winter. I also had the fun of introducing the girls to SWAPS and trading - something I love! Our first camp activity was to make Dreamcatchers, followed by a big campfire and snack. The campfire songs were suggested by the different units attending the camp and included Tall Trees, One Bottle of Pop, If I Were Not a Girl Guide, Get Loose, Mamma Don't Allow, Purple Stew and Black Socks. It was a bit of a late night as everyone was excited, but we were all eventually asleep.

Saturday started very early as the girls were up with the birds at 5.30AM - and were told by their very tired Guider to BE QUIET! The day officially started with Opening and Flag Raising, where the Patrols and Groups for the weekend were explained. All of the Guides and Guiders were divided up into 12 colour Patrols (my Patrol was light blue), and then the Patrols were grouped into 4 larger groups for the morning and afternoon activities. Patrols took part in activities together, ate together, and did camp duties together. We then all headed over to the Guide Kitchen and pavilions for breakfast (waffles with strawberries and whipped cream - yum!). After breakfast, each Patrol saw to their assigned camp duty - my Patrol were the "Lumberjacks" and had to gather wood for the campfire and lay the fire ready for Saturday night.

The four stations for the day were:
1. Central Canada
2. Atlantic Canada
3. Western Canada
4. Northern Canada

Groups did two activities, followed by lunch in the middle (tacos-in-a-bag!), and then the remaining two activities in the afternoon. It was a very hot weekend, and we all sought out spots in the shade as much as possible.

Western Canada
My group started our travels in Western Canada, where we took part in Roping, Racing, Milking, and Singing! For the first part of the session, the Guides were divided into 4 groups:

• Roping - Girls were given a lasso made from a loop of glowsticks attached to a rope and had to toss it over the head of a wooden horse
• Racing (1) - Girls rode pool noodle horses around a track of milk canisters
• Milking - Plastic gloves filled with water were attached to a pole laid across chairs, and the girls had to 'milk' them into a jar to see who could get the most liquid in 2 minutes
• Racing (2) - Girls split into two teams and used water pistols to move a plastic cup along a string - racing to see who could get their cup to the end first

We finished our time in the West by dividing the girls up into small groups and having them create songs using 6-7 words chosen from a hat.

Northern Canada
Heading North, our next stop was the Territories. Here, the girls gathered, washed and polished stones to make an Inukshuk. Once these were finished, we played a relay game on Canadian Symbols where a question was read out and girls had to run up, find the correct picture on a poster and then race back to their team.


Central Canada
After lunch, we headed south to explore Central Canada. here, the girls took part in a CN Tower trivia game (played like Four Corners) and completed to see which team could build the highest free-standing tower using only spaghetti, toothpicks and marshmallows.

Atlantic Canada 
Our final stop was Atlantic Canada, where we explored Newfie lingo, raced boats and learned new knots! For the first activity, the girls split up into smaller groups and each group had a sheet of Newfie phrases to try to match up with their meanings. Afterwards, we made boats and raced them in an inflatable pool, then moved onto tying knots to make Knot Boards to take home.

The afternoon ended with some free time, where everyone received a Canadian Atlas for Kids with activities, but were also free to nap, chat, swap, etc. Dinner was BBQ chicken with baked potatoes and Caesar salad, followed by cupcakes and ice cream to celebrate Canada's birthday.

Our evening activity was a Wide Game with nine stations where the girls learned something about a Province or Territory and did an activity. While moving between activities, we had to be careful not to get caught by a Sasquatch and sent to the penalty box! My group made it to Saskatchewan, where we played horseshoes; BC, where we learned about the Capilano Suspension Bridge and walked over a raised rope bridge; the Yukon, where we dug for gold; PEI, where we learned about Anne of Green Gables and talked in pairs about Canada and Girl Guides; and Ontario, where we peeled apples - seeing who could make the longest continuous peel!

We ended with Campfire, planned by one of the Patrols, and including Fire's Burning, One Bottle of Pop, Three Sharp-toothed Buzzards, There Was a Great Big Moose, Land of the Silver Birch, Say Why and Taps. Everyone settled down to sleep much more quickly tonight!

Sunday started at a much more reasonable hour than Saturday, but we still managed to get everyone packed and our tents down before opening and breakfast. Opening included flag raising and a short ceremony planned by one of the Patrols. Breakfast was leftovers, fruit, English muffins, cereal and oatmeal. After breakfast, each Patrol had a new duty to perform - my Patrol cleaned one side of the Lat Building, and then we all headed off to finish packing or for free time. Camp closed with a short Guides' Own Ceremony planned by two of the Patrols in the Reflection area at camp.