Meeting & Badge work

For this week's meeting we worked on some of our Journey badge work. 

Our activities this week were working on our letterboxing stamp so each girl could have her own unique stamp when we make our trek to Cylburn Arboretum for letterboxing. 

We used Jenga tiles and bottle caps and the girls cut their own foam shapes out. These stamps will be used to mark the journals in the lettebox caches that we find. 

We also had our Snack & Story with the first story in the World of Girls book where we followed Brownie the Elf to Jordon and heard the story of Shari. In the story we heard about a book on Queen Rania of Jordon. Here is more info on the Queen. 

We played a game from Italy called Cencio Mollo (pronounced CHEN‐cho‐Mol‐lo) 

which is Italian for wet handkerchief. 

Our Juniors girls received home assignments for their work on their Digital Photography badge. Their have five fun activities and skills to learn to earn the badge. Some of their photos will document our meetings so you'll see them on this blog too. 

Badge Work

This week our girls received two badges. 

One was our fun badge: "Right to Vote".  This one goes on the back of the vest. 
The girls earned this when we voted on the Girl Scout Journeys we would take together. The girls had a ballot, they listened to the descriptions of the Journeys, talked about them amongst themselves and then cast a private vote in our ballot box. Our Juniors helped tally the votes and announced the results. We also discussed the Presidential election and how our right to vote in exercised. 

Our second badge was a Legacy badge called Girl Scout Ways. This one goes on the front bottom of your vest on the side with your troop crest. 

The girls earned this badge by learning about the history of the Girl Scouts and Juliette Low (celebrating her birthday).

We practiced the Girl Scout Law via this song on YouTube (video below). We learned about Girl Scouts all over the world. We leaned the Girl Scout handshake, the Girl Scout sign and the Friendship Squeeze (video here). We decided how we would work them into each of our meetings.

We also learned some fun songs, made s'mores, played some Girl Scout games and made a bracelet to help us remember the Girl Scout Law. We also used the Girl Scout motto "Be Prepared" and since we met right after Hurricane Sandy, we talked about ways we got prepared for the storm. We also talked about all the ways the girls work at "being prepared". 

Girl Scout Handshake: This requires shaking with your LEFT hand while the right hand is raised with the Girl Scout Sign.

Girl Scout Sign: This is holding up your right hand with an open palm facing out. It is used when saying the Promise and the Law as the 3 fingers stand for the 3 parts of the Promise.

Girl Scout Quiet Sign: When we need the room to quiet down we hold it up and as girls see your hand up, they will hold up theirs and be quiet. 

What is a Journey?

On every Leadership Journey, everything girls do—whether it's performing science experiments, creating art projects, cooking simple meals, or learning to protect the planet's water supply—is aimed at giving them the benefits of the Girl Scout "Keys to Leadership": Discover, Connect, Take Action.

Here's how they work:

A girl Discovers her special skills and talents, finds the confidence to set challenging goals for herself and strives to live by her values. This includes being proud of where she came from as well as where she's going.

A girl Connects with others, which means she learns how to team up, solve conflicts, and have healthy relationships. These skills help her in school right now and prepare her for any career she chooses in the future.

A girl Takes Action and makes the world a better place, learning a lot about her community and the world along the way.

Juniors Journey

Click to Enlarge. 

It's Your World—Change It!
Introducing the First Series of Journeys

Agent of ChangePower. In this journey, there’s a whole spiral of it waiting for Girl Scout Juniors. The journey is filled with ceremonies and circles, real-life heroines, and special new characters, including the fashion-savvy spider named Dez. Along the way, girls learn how their own power combines into team power and then moves out to become community power (kind of like how Dez weaves her web from the inside out). The journey’s centerpiece is a comic story of girl heroines who will inspire the Juniors as they take action to improve their own community.

Journey AwardsThis Junior journey is filled with fun and friendship. From its start to its closing celebration, the girls will move from a deeper understanding of themselves to exploring how powerful they are as a team, to realizing the added strength they gain by reaching out in the wider community to take action with its members. Agent of Change offers girls a chance to earn three awards and record progress throughout the journey in their own ''Award Tracker.''

• To earn The Power of One Award, girls will discover and share the powerful story of a forgotten woman or girl from around the world who mobilized others and made a difference, discover all the ways their own strengths and powers help them create change in the world, and discover what the Girl Scout Law and true ''heroines'' have in common
• To earn The Power of Team Award, girls connect with their Girl Scout crew to create a ''super girl'' story in which the characters take one small situation they care about and strive for long-lasting community change. Girls will also make a team decision and write their team hopes for a Take Action Project that reaches into a community network to solve a problem together with community members
• To earn The Power of Community Award, girls take action on their plan, reach out, join others and get them involved, and start something that snowballs into a change in their world. Girls join in their Girl Scout Junior circle to reflect on what they accomplished and celebrate it.

About Brownie Journeys

Click to Enlarge Image of Badges

Introducing the Third Series of Journeys

A World of Girls

Stories are all around us – in movies, in books, in television shows, advertisements, on the news and even on cereal boxes. Stories inspire. Stories motivate. Stories spark imagination and help girls learn about themselves and the world.

A World of Girls helps engage Brownies in this wider world or stories in a way that gets them looking for clues to help make the world a better place.

With some help from Brownie Elf along the way, girls see how they can create positive change in the world—change that affects girls.

Leadership Awards

• Hear a Story Award - Brownies see that stories hold clues for how to better the world
• Change a Story Award - Brownies realize they have the power to change things for the better for girls in the world
• Tell a Story Award - Brownies have the confidence and knowledge to educate and inspire others
• Better World for Girls! Award - Brownies understand they belong to a large and far-reaching world of girls