"it's COOKIE TIME!"

It was great seeing everyone back from our holiday break. We began our meeting with snack and drink graciously provided by mom's Jessica R. and Lisa S. THANK YOU! for your "snack time" contribution.

After snack, we briefly recapped the challenge the girls were given at the end of our last troop meeting in December. The challenge?...

Try to "give away" the gifts of kindness and love at least once a day (to family, friends, and strangers) over the holiday season. These gifts could be a simple smile, happily helping with chores, a kind compliment, etc.

The girls shared different ways they accomplished this challenge over the Christmas break. The girls were reminded that gifts of kindness and love throughout the entire year are actually part of the Girl Scout Promise.

We all stood together and recited the Girl Scout Promise to officially open our troop meeting.

OUR TROOP MEETING~

Our meeting was about learning the 8 types of cookies we will be selling this cookie season (from ABC Smart Cookies). We discussed goal setting, being prepared for selling, *the order form, and the incentive program (which is "cumulative" this year- meaning if a Girl Scout sold 200 boxes of cookies, they would receive the Friendship Bracelet Kit in addition to all the incentives before it: Digital Calculator, Mini FM Radio, Set of 5 Appliques, & Theme Patch.) *Please review your order form for a detailed list and pictures of incentives, for the cookie information, and safety guidelines.

We learned a new cookie song "Yum, Yum, Yum" and the girls were given a song sheet with this song and two others on it and challenged to try to learn the songs by next troop meeting. The challenge is on!!! Let's see how the girls will do...

"Yum Yum Yum"
[Tune: Are you sleeping?]

Girl Scout Cookies,
Girl Scout Cookies,

Yum, Yum, Yum,
Yum, Yum, Yum

Eat 'em by the dozen,
Eat 'em by the dozen

They're all gone,

They're all gone.[Source: Unknown]

"Girl Scout Cookies"
[Tune: Macarena -- complete with dance motions! ]

Buy some Girl Scout cookies

They are sooooo yummy

You can eat 'em all day

Ooooohhhh, Girl Scout cookies!!

Girl Scout cookies

Three fifty a box

They're so yummy

Buuuuyyyy lots!!

[Source: Dreamt up by (literally!) Rachel in Troop 343 from Scottsdale, AZ]

"Cookie Sale Song"
[Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic: 1861]

We're selling Girl Scout cookies,

Yes, it's Girl Scout Cookie time!

"Would you like to buy some?"

Is our cookie selling line.

We've got lots to choose from,

Don't you see your favorite kind?

We thank you very much!

Glory, glory we are Girl Scouts!

Smiling, cookie selling Girl Scouts!

Please buy cookies, you can help us.

We can't eat them all ourselves!

[Source: words: Pam Gibson, Citrus Council (FL); music: W. Steffe ]

As a simple craft to celebrate "Cookie Time", we made buttons the girls are encouraged to wear during cookie selling season:

Kit bought at Hobby Lobby for $4.99
(12 buttons in a kit)

Logos were printed off the ABC Smart Cookie website cut to fit the button and then snapped in place to complete the project.
Check out the website for MANY other neat clip art designs to make your own variety of buttons! (go to "Art Gallery" then click "Illustrations" - we got this one in "Logos")

This is Jessie's creation on her Brownie vest.

LAST~ We encourage all our Girl Scouts to explore the ABC Smart Cookie web site for fun games, motivation, ideas, and information. There area areas for each level and like mentioned earlier in this post, a great place to record and monitor their goals!

http://www.abcsmartcookies.com

REMINDER: Cookie selling begins Sunday, Jan. 16. (please do not start before this date) Booth sales begin Friday, Jan. 21. The last day of Cookie Sales is Sunday, Feb. 27.

Watch your email for upcoming information on troop cookie pick up and booth sale dates/times.

THANK YOU, parents, for supporting your Girl Scout in this wonderful opportunity and experience.

JUNIORS ready to begin a "Journey"

That's right!... we'll start earning our first Journey Patch through the "Agent of Change" Journey. Over the next several months, the Junior Girl Scouts in Troop 9691 will learn about

• The Power of One
• The Power of Team
• The Power of Community

The girls are encouraged to work through their workbooks at home as directed by their leader each troop meeting. When we meet we'll dedicate some time going over the material. We will also have special projects at troop meetings that we will complete for this Journey in the three different areas of Awards.

In addition to "Agent of Change", the girls will begin working toward their next Badge, "World Neighbors"; to be completed mid November.

AT HOME PROJECTS for "World Neighbors":

Choose one language other than your own. Learn to say "hello," "goodbye," "thank you," "you're welcome," and learn to count to ten in your chosen language. Be prepared to share what you learned at the next couple meetings. To help you learn, you may use http://translate.google.com/.

Research and share how other countries/cultures celebrate Christmas.

AT TROOP MEETING:

We'll discuss 5 problems that might occur when people who are different live or work together and talk about the solutions.

Participate in "Operation Christmas Child" with our entire Troop #9691; Junior Girls will wrap all the shoe boxes at our next troop meeting to have them ready for filling with gift at our mid-month troop meeting. "Operation Christmas Child" is a great way to selflessly give to other children across the world and help make their Christmas more special. We will track the gift boxes to see what country each will go.

Learn to make "French Toast"; of course, we'll get to taste our creation! ...fantastique

We finished our meeting this week off with decorating some mini pumpkins to commemorate Halloween. (earning a Halloween Fun Patch)

JUNIOR GIRLS~ Have fun learning your words and numbers from your selected language! We can't wait to hear all you learned!

JUNIOR Girls~ "Prints and Graphic"

To continue the learning and fun of earning the Prints and Graphics badge, the girls explored the variety of ways to create prints and patterns on paper by "rubbings". We discussed how and why the prints happen by rubbing color over paper. At first the girls stayed at the table where they rubbed a variety of coins. Soon they discovered an abundant amount of interesting areas away from the table along the walls of the room and areas of the floor and furniture to create more patterns.

To finish the work on this badge, the girls began to design and create their own version of a "2010 Seasons Greeting from Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas" holiday card. Every year our council has a contest for the girl scouts in the area to design a holiday card. This year the timing of this contest worked perfect with the girls working on their badge. The girls did awesome! Good Luck, I hope one of your selections win~

Brett B.

Hailie H.

Lindsey M.

Bonnie E.

Casidee D.

Lacey M.

Bethany C.

Ann P.

JUNIOR GIRLS

... our group of 11 Junior Girl Scouts began working on their "PRINTS & GRAPHICS" badge during this troop meeting. Co-leader, Stephanie, with the help of mom volunteer, Holly, led the girls on card making and stamping. They had a variety of items to experiment with including raw potatos amidst the scissors , pens, rubber stamps, a variety of embelishments, etc.

Since it was Co-leader, Teri's Birthday on the day of the troop meeting, some of the girls made Birthday cards for her. Who ever the girls made their card for, all the Junior girls created beautiful graphic master pieces toward earning this badge.

Thank you, leader- STEPHANIE for all the prep work and planning that went into this badge, and to HOLLY for lending a helping hand!

During our next troop meeting, the girls will receive their first Journey Book-"Agent of Change" and we will discuss how we we begin this journey of "power" and what goals we want to accomplish.

CAMPING FUN!

For much of the year our Girl Scouts talked about wanting to have a "Camping" experience with all it's fun and Girl Scout traditions. With that in mind, the leaders got together and decided to make a special time for the girls with a Camping/Slumber Party at the school as an end of the year treat. We had a great time and will do our best to make this an annual troop event!

DAISY GIRLS

BROWNIE GIRLS

JUNIOR GIRLS

Our "Camping Fun" included:

(Click on separate links below for more details)-

• Setting up tents in the school gym for the girls to sleep in.
• Making "Sit Upons" (a Girl Scout Tradition!)
• Ordering pizza for dinner
• Making SWAPS (a Girl Scout Tradition!)
• Learning "Camp Fire Safety" (a Girl Scout Tradition!)
• Building a Campfire (a Girl Scout Tradition!)
• Singing and Sharing Campfire Songs & Stories (a Girl Scout Tradition!)
• Making S'Mores (a Girl Scout Tradition!)
• Lights Out at 10:30 PM... (Yeah, Right!)
• Rise and shine... Breakfast time!... Zipper Bag Omelets!
• Games
• A number of Girl Scout mom's and sisters helping out!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

BELOW~ 5 puffy eyed, exhausted, and beautiful leaders who would do it all over again for the sake of giving the girls a Girl Scouting Experience!

Sit Upons ~ A Girl Scout Tradition

What is a sit-upon? They are homemade, usually waterproof pads used to protect the user's backside from the cold and damp while "sitting upon" the ground! They are also great for sitting any where the sitting surface is hard... a Girl Scout tradition for camping.

We made our sit upons out of heavy duty table cloths bought at Wal mart (60x102 inches Oblong @ $5.00 each), yarn, old newspapers & plastic shopping bags. We decorated the sit upons with permanent markers and stickers. Each table cloth made 16 sit upons. ("How To" directions below). Here, the girls are decorating their sit upon covers.

"Sit upons" ready to be sat upon!

It had sprinkled rain earlier in the day and the ground was a little damp.

Thank goodness we had our "sit upons" for enjoying the camp fire fun!

HOW WE MADE OUR "SIT UPONS":

• Pre-cut the tablecloth into rectangle sections with pinking shears. We cut our pieces into 12" x 15" sections since we had large sized table cloths for our large group of 24 Girl Scouts. Discard the side edge pieces since the corners are not square and it's extra fabric anyway.
• Place two pieces together, insides facing each other.

• Hole punch around all sides of pre-cut pieces. If your hole punch has a hard time going through, you may hole punch each piece individually. OR, forget the hole punch and yarn idea, and simply use Duct Tape to secure the edges.

  
• Decorate the pre-cut pieces with permanent marker. We used a variety of colors as well as stickers. Have each Girl Scout put their name on their sit upon.
• Cut long pieces of thick colored yarn to be used to stitch the edges closed.
• Wrap scotch tape around each end to create a tight, hard end for the yarn to more easily go through the hole punches.
• Stitch the outside edges on 3 of the 4 sides. The girls can stitch with a straight stitch or a whip stitch- whichever they choose. We also used colored pony beads to embellish the yarn as the stitches were done.
• When 3 of the 4 sides are completed, stuff crunched newspaper and/or plastic shopping bags in the open end. DO NOT OVER STUFF.
• Finish stitching the 4th side and tie securely.

Your "Sit Upon" is now finished and ready to be sat upon!