Merry Christmas Troop 1414

Thank you so much to Julie and Shelda for hosting and preparing the activities for our first Troop 1414 Christmas Party. The treats everyone brought were delicious and I know everyone had a wonderful time. I've posted all the photos from the evening on the Sam's Club account (don't forget to check it out) but had to share the photo of the gingerbread cookies here. It makes me wish that I got to make one. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Everyone!

Nursing Home Carolling

Last night was the nursing home carolling with our sister Brownie Troop 1966. It was a fun evening for all - the residents and the girls. The girls did some wonderful singing and I think were able to visit a large portion of the residents rooms. I'm sure it was a wonderful treat for all those at the nursing home.

Great job ladies!

Solidiers Care Package Bronze Award Updates

November 14, 2008 GS MEETING: Here's an update on the soldier care project group:

The girls will need to report on all the items and their status at our next meeting on Jan 9, 2009. Taylor and Holly spent 1/2 hour planning at our meeting on 11/14/08. Please be sure to keep track of all time spent on this project! I am proud of each and every one of you, as you develop your leadership skills and take action to help some of the soldiers serving our country. You are becoming model citizens yourselves!

Ms. Gin
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Fliers - Holly made fliers and distributed 75 in her neighborhood. She picked up the items and has them at her house. (Holly - how much time did all of that work take? - please keep track). Holly will email her flier to Jenn and Taylor. Jenn and Taylor need to create their own unique flier, using the list of needed items from Holly's flier. Jenn and Taylor need to pick one group of people to solicit donations from (could be neighbors, church friends, parents' co-workers, etc). They need to hand out fliers and collect items, hopefully before our next meeting (Jan 9 2009).

Badge - Taylor and Holly completed requirement #4 of "Model Citizen" at our meeting. The only remaining requirement for this badge, that we haven't worked on during a meeting, is to visit a website to meet requirement #5. Holly has found such a website. The girls will meet at Taylor's to play the game on the website, in which they create an imaginary government. (Ms Gin is sending a copy of Model Citizen to Taylor on 11/25/08 so she can complete items on her own). Jenn needs to complete one more requirement of Model Citizen on her own. We will not work on this badge anymore during meetings.

Booths - Jen asked at Kroger and they said no for now. Holly asked at Ingles and they said YES. Holly will set up 2 dates at Ingles for Taylor, Jenn and Holly to work at, along with their parent(s) and Ms. Gin if needed. I don't believe Taylor asked anyplace if we could set up a booth. We can do these booths anytime between now and March. We will spend time at January meeting planning exactly how the booths will be set up.

Action points:

TAYLOR
Invite Jenn and Holly to come to your house to play the game on the website that Holly found (Badge requirement #5).
create fliers & distribute, collect items.
Be sure you have completed 4 requirements from Model Citizen on your own. You have done #4 with Holly, and #5 you will do with Jenn and Holly.
work booth at Ingles with Jenn and Holly.
JENN
complete requirement #4 from Model Citizen on your own.
create fliers & distribute, collect items
#5 you will do with Taylor and Holly at Taylor's house.
work booth at Ingles with Taylor and Holly.
HOLLY
find 2 or 3 dates that Ingles will let you set up a booth. Then make sure Jenn and Taylor are available those days.
work booth at Ingles with Jenn and Taylor.
This should be all for now! Girls please let me know if I've missed anything.

Ms. Gin

Rock Climbing Fun

These are some of the photos from rock climbing.

Animal Service Project Updates

Here's an update on to do lists for planning purposes for the animal service project group:


Claudia - to contact Ms. Dodds and get some possible dates for the girls to come do some service at her farm and send them to Ms. Stephanie so we can narrow the dates down.


Kayla/Maddog/Sara - finish up the fliers for the booths and neighborhoods.


Kayla - contact Walmart about doing a donation booth - most likely in the new year.


Franki - contact Ingles about doing a donation booth - most likely in the new year.

Whitney - will contact Pet Smart to see about doing a donation booth. She will also talk to the vet that attends their church.

Everyone - Spend some time planning when you might distribute banners throughout your neighborhood to collect donations or who you'll ask for donations if you don't want to go around you neighborhood.

We'll all be working on an additional requirement from the Horse Fan badge to satisfy our badge requirement for the Bronze Award.

Bronze Award - Sign of The Sun Requirements

At our meeting we worked towards finishing up the Sign of the Sun badge which is a requirement for the Bronze Award. If you weren't at the meeting this is what you need to do and get to Stephanie.

Requirement #5 - Read the section on values in the "Its Great to Be a Girl" chapter in the Junior Handbook then answere the "Test Yourself" questions on that page.

Requirement #3 - We worked on "The Choice is Yours" Badge. We completed requirements 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8.

1. Share the ExperienceIn a small group, share a difficult decision you made. What things influenced your decision? What helped you decide? what was the result of your decision? What would you have done differently if you had had a second chance?

2. Looking AheadMake a list of the important decisions you may have to make within the next ten years. talk with at least 3 friends to find out about the kind of decisions they think they will have to make. Compare their lists to your own.

4. Deciding to ActWith your troop or group, decide on a service project. Make a list of everyone's ideas. Discuss each idea. Come to an agreement about what you will do and put your plan into action. Once your project is complete, evaluate how it went. What changes might you make the next time? - This one is considered complete even if you didn't attend the meeting because everyone has participated in lots of service activities with the troop.

7. Try It On for SizeDiscuss the following situations and role-play what you would do if:- A classmate offered you a cigarette on the way home from school- A group of friends stopped by to visit you when no adults were home (your parents don't permit you to have anyone over when you're home alone)- Your family planned an outing on the same day as your best friend's birthday party- A bigger kid tried to bully you in the park- Some of your friends started teasing a classmateMake up your own situations and play them out.

8. Role ModelsThink of the things and people that influence your decisions - for example, friends, school, family, or the media. Star (*) the people on this list whom you can approach when you need help in making a personal decision. What makes these people special?

Last Requirement for the Choice is Yours Badge is to complete number 10 of the badge for those at the meeting.

10. There Once Was a Girl...Create a story about a girl who has trouble making an important decision and share it with others.

It was agreed that the girls could write the story and send it to all the girls via email or send it to Ms. Stephanie to read and/or if they wanted to post on the blog to share.

The girls that weren't there don't need to do the exact same requirements as we did at the meeting they just need to complete six total activities and let me know that they've done that.

Spring Trip Updates

Upon some research we discovered that in order to do the group overnight at the aquarium we needed a minimum of 30 people total. When we discovered that we opened it up to our service unit to see if there were some other junior troops that would like to join us. We found two troops (actually received emails from others) that have indicated that they'd like to join us. These are troops with some great leaders and girls in our girls age group.

The other change we had to make was the date. April 25th was not available for a sleep over so we had to change the date to May 2-3, 2009. That being said we've made reservations and are sending in a deposit in the next week or so. We'll also be receiving money from the other troops as well. If possible we'd like a committment by our troop Christmas party as to whether or not your daughter will be attending along with a deposit to hold the spot.

This would be the time table for the deposits to be paid:

DUE BY Dec 5 (our troop Christmas party) - Commitment to attend Chattanooga trip May 2-3, 2009 or not, and $25/each to hold spot for reservation
DUE BY Feb 6 (Feb meeting) - $25 more due
DUE BY Mar 27 (Mar meeting) - Balance due, if cookie money doesn't cover cost

The itinerary will remain the same only the date has changed.