Another Adventure Begins~ First Troop Meeting of 2010-2011

Troop 9691 is beginning our 4th year as a troop and we had a great first meeting for this new school year! It's a blessing to have such a strong group of girls each eager to have fun as a Girl Scout and be a part of the Girl Scouting experience. Many of our girls are returning Girl Scouts, and many of them are just starting out for the first time ever. What ever the case, we all are here to focus on building our "Courage, Confidence and Character to make the world a better place this year"! We all have special gifts and ways to make a difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us; this year will hopefully encourage each girl to be inspired to be all she can be. As leaders of this awesome troop, we -Lisa, Kristi, Novia, Stephanie and Teri- would like to say it is an honor to share time with these girls and get to know them over this next year.

Our first meeting of this school year began with getting the girls situated with a pre-meeting craft... we made "Friendship Circle" SWAPS. For today, we instructed the girls to put their SWAPS on their shirt or vest, but typically their SWAPS will either be traded with other troop's Girl Scouts and/or placed on a canvas baseball cap. Our new Girl Scouts will receive their canvas baseball cap at our next troop meeting.

After our SWAP activity, we came together to prepare for snack.

Today's snack was a story about the qualities of what goes into a Girl Scout Troop. Leader, Teri read the "Recipe of a Girl Scout Troop", while the Junior Girl Scouts emptied the ingredients in a large bag. We made Girl Scout Gorp and we believe the girls had fun eating it!

Next we had the returning Girl Scouts lead the Troop in opening our meeting with the Girl Scout Promise:

On my honor, I will try (I pledge my good name and respect for others)
To Serve God (I will observe my personal spiritual beliefs)
and my country, (I will be a good citizen of the United States of America)
To help people at all times (I will be courteous and look to assist or serve others)
And to live by the Girl Scout Law (I will use the Girl Scout Law as my daily guide)

The Girl Scout Law
I will do my best to be:
Honest and fair,
Friendly and helpful,
Considerate and caring,
Courageous and strong, and
Responsible for what I say and do,
And to respect myself and others,
Respect authority,
Use resources wisely,
Make the world a better place, and
Be a sister to every Girl Scout.

We discussed the Girl Scout Promise as a group and the significance of holding the right hand up showing three fingers. (This sign stands for the three parts of the Promise as well as the "three C's" of "Courage Confidence and Character" from the Girl Scout mission statement. FYI~A Girl Scout handshake is a formal way of greeting other Girl Scouts and Girl Guides. You shake hands with the left hand and give the Girl Scout sign with your right hand.)

PROJECT for our new Girl Scouts~ To help them learn the Girl Scout Promise, we encouraged the girls to take home a printed copy of the Girl Scout Promise to color and post somewhere visible to help them memorize.

We broke into our different Girl Scout levels and played a game to learn more about each other. After the game, the leaders took the opportunity to talk with the girls to get a feel for what kind of things they would like to do and accomplish over the year. Each girl was asked to share one or two things they would really like to do this year as a troop. The girls came up with some fun ideas! ASK YOUR GIRL SCOUT WHAT SOME OF THE IDEAS SUGGESTED WERE.

As their leaders, we will try our best to organize their goals into tangible projects.

We ended our time together in the Girl Scout traditional "Friendship Circle"...

Shouting "GIRL SCOUTS ROCK!" when we were all done. These girls have strong lungs!

Thank you moms who stayed during the troop meeting and helped things run more smoothly!

Your time and help is MUCH APPRECIATED!

Recipe for a Girl Scout

What a great way to kick off our first meeting and snack time together... creating our own Girl Scout gorp mix by sharing the qualities of what it takes to make a Girl Scout...

By Patricia Harlow (Click HERE for full size copy)

The girls seemed to enjoy their Girl Scout gorp snack.

Friendship Circle... A Girl Scout Tradition

The friendship circle is often formed at the end of meetings or campfires as a sort of closing ceremony. Everyone gathers in a circle where they cross their right arm over their left in front of them and hold hands with the people on either side. Once everyone is silent, the leader starts the friendship squeeze which is passed from hand to hand. Often the girls will silently make a wish or think of something they are thankful for after their hand has been squeezed before they pass the squeeze along. Also, in some larger groups, the girls put their right foot out into the circle when they receive the friendship squeeze, so that everyone can see it travel along the circle.

Uniform Information

For our troop, we have chosen to go with the VEST as our standard uniform for the Daisy & Brownie level and your choice of Vest OR Sash for the Junior level. Any under shirt or bottoms may be worn with the vest or sash. Please encourage your Girl Scout to wear their uniform to every troop meeting and any Girl Scouting event.

Click HERE for the visual of what you will need for your uniform.

Girls are responsible to purchase the following:

VEST (or Sash for Junior)
Wavy Flag
Council ID Patch (for appropriate level)
Troop Numbers- 9691 (for appropriate level)
Insignia Tab (for appropriate level)
World Trefoil Pin (goes on tab)
Membership Pin (for appropriate level- goes on tab)

Troop is responsible for the purchase of all patches earned through the year as the girls meet goals and complete projects.

Please try to have your uniform by our first Ceremony Celebration which will be held on Tuesday, August 31. We will be "Bridging" a number of Girl Scouts as well as recognizing a number of girls in an "Investiture" and "Re-Dedication" Ceremony. Contact your troop leader with any questions regarding where or how to purchase your Girl Scout uniform. We're looking forward to a great year!

GIRL SCOUTS ROCK!