22/05/14
Every year we have to relocate a meeting because of local elections (and, this year the Europeans too) using our usual meeting hall as a polling station. Some years we go to the local campsite and go grass sledging, some years we've gone rock climbing and other years we've been on a walk up a local hill. This year, because the weather was forecast to be really nice, we decided to do the latter. The plan was that all the girls would meet us up the hill, we would go for a walk that would last about an hour with a couple of stops for a rest/look down on the town and then we would meet the parents back at the car park. However, when we woke up on the Thursday morning, it was raining. We had told the parents that we would let them know by 4pm by email if there was any change to the plan so we crossed our fingers and hoped it would stop soon. At 3:45 we took the decision that, as it was still raining, it wouldn't be particularly enjoyable for the girls so we called it off. As it turns out, we would probably have been fine because it was only slightly spitting between 6 and 8 but it would have been really muddy and we would probably just have had complaints all the way which would have made it tiresome for both the girls and the leaders so I think we made the right decision.
Next week is half term so we have a week off but I'll be back the week after (unless of course I hear from the Team Digital people, in which case I'll let you know what happened).
Monday 26 May 2014
Monday 19 May 2014
Promise activity, games and songs
15/05/14
This week we started by doing an activity from the new adventure badges. We split the girls up into the three badges (based on which badge they were on previously) and gave them a different activity to complete. The younger group were doing a page from the handbook on keeping the promise and doing good turns and the two other groups were doing a quiz on how they would act in different situations to find out how well they keep their promise. I was helping the middle group which basically just consisted of explaining a few things and then discussing with the afterwards their answers to some of the questions. The vast majority of the girls had put mostly 'b's (which was the 'keeps promise well' section) and there were one or two 'a's and 'c's. The most common 'c' was the one which said "you watched too much TV last night and didn't do your homework, what do you do?" and almost all the girls selected 'c': "get my friend to help me with it quickly in the morning"! I found that quite amusing.
We then thought we would let them run off some steam and, as it's been really nice weather, we decided to make use of the grass outside the hall. The girls played stuck in the mud for quite a while, with a few stops to change over who was 'it' (including, at one point, our Guide running in yelling "I'm 'it' too now" and tagging several girls in quick succession!).
Finally we came back inside and sang two songs, "Cecil is my Caterpillar" and "Oh, You'll Never Get To Heaven" (lyrics here) before sending the girls home.
It was a nice relaxed evening tonight, as quite a few evenings have been recently.
This week we started by doing an activity from the new adventure badges. We split the girls up into the three badges (based on which badge they were on previously) and gave them a different activity to complete. The younger group were doing a page from the handbook on keeping the promise and doing good turns and the two other groups were doing a quiz on how they would act in different situations to find out how well they keep their promise. I was helping the middle group which basically just consisted of explaining a few things and then discussing with the afterwards their answers to some of the questions. The vast majority of the girls had put mostly 'b's (which was the 'keeps promise well' section) and there were one or two 'a's and 'c's. The most common 'c' was the one which said "you watched too much TV last night and didn't do your homework, what do you do?" and almost all the girls selected 'c': "get my friend to help me with it quickly in the morning"! I found that quite amusing.
We then thought we would let them run off some steam and, as it's been really nice weather, we decided to make use of the grass outside the hall. The girls played stuck in the mud for quite a while, with a few stops to change over who was 'it' (including, at one point, our Guide running in yelling "I'm 'it' too now" and tagging several girls in quick succession!).
Finally we came back inside and sang two songs, "Cecil is my Caterpillar" and "Oh, You'll Never Get To Heaven" (lyrics here) before sending the girls home.
It was a nice relaxed evening tonight, as quite a few evenings have been recently.
Monday 12 May 2014
Dragon Boats and my ALQ badge
08/05/14
This evening we finished the dragon boats the girls had started last week. Our first challenge was getting the boats back to Brownies as we couldn't store them there and there was only just enough room in the car for them as us! We managed it, with a little help from a parent at the other end to get them into the hall.
We did show-and-tell and then told the girls that they had until 7 (about 45 minutes at that point) to finish their boats before we raced them. They had just spread themselves around the hall in their sixes and were getting stuck in when the District Commissioner came in. She asked if she could have a few minutes of the units' time as she couldn't come at the end of the meeting so we got the girls into a circle. That took some time as they didn't want to stop so soon but they did all eventually get into the circle. She then presented me with my Adult Leader Qualification! I was quite surprised that it all went through so quickly, but I'm not complaining!
We then let the girls go back to their boats. It was absolute chaos with glitter, paper and pens absolutely everywhere but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. We floated around and helped by cutting sticky tape and settling minor disagreements but we left them to their own devices when it came to the actual making of the boats.
I had one girl come up and ask me what my badge actually meant. Our conversation went something along the liines of:
Her: Does your badge mean you can be Brown Owl if you want?
Me: Yes, it does.
Her: So you could be Brown Owl and Brown Owl could be your helper? (Brown Owl was within earshot and smiled at me)
Me: Yes but I don't want to just yet.
Her: Don't you want to be a Brown Owl?
Me: I do, but I want to get university out of the way first.
Her: Oh... *runs off again and Brown Owl laughs*
Around 5 past 7 we stopped them and did a quick sweep of the hall with a broom to get most of the mess out of the way. We lined the girls up at one end of the hall in their dragons (and did a fair amount of rapid repairs where they were falling apart!). We invited in a few parents who were waiting outside to watch and then we started the race. The race itself went well with no major problems but then we said they could run back to the other side of the hall. Most of them took this as the cue to run pell-mell back across, ripping the dragons to shreds as they went! It was all done in good humour and all the girls got involved so it was a good way of quickly breaking it down into pieces we could put in a bin bag and in the large bins outside. They all helped fish the pens and glue out of the piles of rubbish that had been swept to one side and then put all the rubbish into yet more bin bags.
All in all I was very impressed by our girls this week. They worked well together and there were no major disagreements (and only one or two minor ones about what colour it should be). There were no objections to being asked to tidy up either and everyone chipped in and made the job far easier and quicker. It's times like these when I really enjoy being involved in Brownies.
This evening we finished the dragon boats the girls had started last week. Our first challenge was getting the boats back to Brownies as we couldn't store them there and there was only just enough room in the car for them as us! We managed it, with a little help from a parent at the other end to get them into the hall.
We did show-and-tell and then told the girls that they had until 7 (about 45 minutes at that point) to finish their boats before we raced them. They had just spread themselves around the hall in their sixes and were getting stuck in when the District Commissioner came in. She asked if she could have a few minutes of the units' time as she couldn't come at the end of the meeting so we got the girls into a circle. That took some time as they didn't want to stop so soon but they did all eventually get into the circle. She then presented me with my Adult Leader Qualification! I was quite surprised that it all went through so quickly, but I'm not complaining!
We then let the girls go back to their boats. It was absolute chaos with glitter, paper and pens absolutely everywhere but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. We floated around and helped by cutting sticky tape and settling minor disagreements but we left them to their own devices when it came to the actual making of the boats.
I had one girl come up and ask me what my badge actually meant. Our conversation went something along the liines of:
Her: Does your badge mean you can be Brown Owl if you want?
Me: Yes, it does.
Her: So you could be Brown Owl and Brown Owl could be your helper? (Brown Owl was within earshot and smiled at me)
Me: Yes but I don't want to just yet.
Her: Don't you want to be a Brown Owl?
Me: I do, but I want to get university out of the way first.
Her: Oh... *runs off again and Brown Owl laughs*
Around 5 past 7 we stopped them and did a quick sweep of the hall with a broom to get most of the mess out of the way. We lined the girls up at one end of the hall in their dragons (and did a fair amount of rapid repairs where they were falling apart!). We invited in a few parents who were waiting outside to watch and then we started the race. The race itself went well with no major problems but then we said they could run back to the other side of the hall. Most of them took this as the cue to run pell-mell back across, ripping the dragons to shreds as they went! It was all done in good humour and all the girls got involved so it was a good way of quickly breaking it down into pieces we could put in a bin bag and in the large bins outside. They all helped fish the pens and glue out of the piles of rubbish that had been swept to one side and then put all the rubbish into yet more bin bags.
All in all I was very impressed by our girls this week. They worked well together and there were no major disagreements (and only one or two minor ones about what colour it should be). There were no objections to being asked to tidy up either and everyone chipped in and made the job far easier and quicker. It's times like these when I really enjoy being involved in Brownies.
Monday 5 May 2014
Dragon Boats
01/05/14
Unfortunately I couldn't attend Brownies this week as we had an unexpected open evening at school (last one I ever have to go to though!), but here is what I have been told by Brown Owl.
This week they made dragon boats. I believe it was another part of the Big Brownie Birthday badge. From what I have been told, they got really into making their boats in small groups - so much so that they ran out of time to race them and Brown Owl had to take them home and store them for next week! They were making them in small groups and were given full use of all the spare craft items, including glitter, foam and coloured paper. They made more of a mess this week than they did last week with the cereals! Apparently though, they were very good when Brown Owl asked them to tidy up and the hall was spotless when they were finished.
In other news, I have applied for the Team Digital panel I mentioned a few weeks ago. Fingers crossed all goes well and I get onto it! I'll keep you updated anyway.
Unfortunately I couldn't attend Brownies this week as we had an unexpected open evening at school (last one I ever have to go to though!), but here is what I have been told by Brown Owl.
This week they made dragon boats. I believe it was another part of the Big Brownie Birthday badge. From what I have been told, they got really into making their boats in small groups - so much so that they ran out of time to race them and Brown Owl had to take them home and store them for next week! They were making them in small groups and were given full use of all the spare craft items, including glitter, foam and coloured paper. They made more of a mess this week than they did last week with the cereals! Apparently though, they were very good when Brown Owl asked them to tidy up and the hall was spotless when they were finished.
In other news, I have applied for the Team Digital panel I mentioned a few weeks ago. Fingers crossed all goes well and I get onto it! I'll keep you updated anyway.
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