Announcing our 2011 Girl Scout Cookies!

It's been almost 100 years since Girl Scouts® began selling home-baked cookies to raise money. The idea was so popular that in 1936, Girl Scouts of the USA enlisted bakers to handle the growing demand. Since then, selling Girl Scout Cookies® has become a successful way to help girls develop important leadership skills and earn money for activities. (1)

With the another Girl Scout year upon us, we will have the opportunity to set new goals (troop and personal) and reach new heights as we prepare for our 2011 Cookie Season. This year we will not be taking "pre-orders", but will be participating in direct and booth sales; making it easier for the girls to sell product on hand at the time of the sale- not having to go back to all the pre-order customers a second time for delivery.

Our troop #9691 will have a PARENT COOKIE MEETING in November to share all the details and give information packets to those Girl Scouts who wish to participate in this fun experience (Time and Date of meeting TBA). Below you will see the variety of cookies our Girl Scout 2011 line will include:

New! SHOUT OUTS




New Package! THANKS-A-LOT

LEMONADES

SHORTBREAD

PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH

PEANUT BUTTER PATTIES

CARMEL deLITES

THIN MINTS

• NUTRITION FACTS


• RECIPES


• COOKIE TRIVIA


• GIRL SCOUT COOKIE FAQ

(1) taken from the ABC Cookie Home Page.

Troop Meeting Highlights

We began our troop meeting with some awesome snacks provided by Angela's mom, Pilar (our Volunteer Brownie mom). WOW!!! The girls were treated with yummy "treat bags" containing a variety of goodies; she also brought bottled of water for the girls. "Good-a, Good-a", THANK YOU, PILAR!

As snack was finishing, Leader Teri discussed the girls' newest challenge to contribute to the "Troop Giving" Food drive to help a local Food Pantry in the Westside of Corpus Christi to stock their shelves as they prepare to open their doors to help those in need. Although this is not a mandatory participation, the girls are encouraged to help make a difference in the lives of others by participating in this giving project. Teri emphasized that when we all do a "little", it adds up to "A Lot... even HUGE". We have almost 40 girls in our group and we all can come together to help others in need as the Girl Scout Promise states... "to help people at all times..." (Second Year Daisy, Allyson B., plans to go to neighbors in her neighborhood (with her mom supervising) and ask for donations of non perishable items for this good cause; What a great idea, Allyson!!! YOU GO, GIRL!)

Each Girl Scout in our troop that brings at least FIVE (5) non-perishable items will receive a "Troop Giving" Fun Patch at our next "Court of Awards" Ceremony (Nov. 16). The ONE (1) Girl Scout that brings the most items will be awarded with a special prize.

(Fun Patch)

We broke into our different levels with each working on a "Halloween Fun Patch" . (If your Girl Scout missed this troop meeting and would like to earn this "Halloween Fun Patch", have them complete a Halloween Craft of their choice and email the description and/or a photo.)

(Fun Patch)

(click each level below to view details of each levels' projects)

DAISY
BROWNIE (includes "Gooey Gunk"recipe)
JUNIOR

THE GIRLS HAVE ALL BEEN WORKING HARD AND HAVING FUN. ALL LEVELS WILL RECEIVE THEIR PATCHES EARNED AT 4:30-5PM DURING OUR "COURT OF AWARDS" CEREMONY THAT WILL BE HELD AT OUR MID-MONTH NOVEMBER MEETING. (An email will be sent prior to the Ceremony)

(Fun Patches ordered from Advantage Emblem)

DAISY Girls Crafting It Up!

The Daisy Girls worked on several Halloween Crafts this troop meeting to earn a Halloween Fun Patch. Since UIL Practices are going on, the girls' room they use was occupied, they took advantage of the nice day and did their projects out doors. Among the crafts they worked on:

• Paper Ghosts
• Mummy Candy Cups
• Black Ghost SWAPS
  
  
  Thank you, Co-Leader, Tammy for your fun ideas and to Daisy Mom, Mandy for helping out!

BROWNIES.... BOOOO-tiful Creations!

Brownie Leaders, Lisa, Novia, and Kristi planned out another fun time for our Brownie Girls. This troop meeting was all about crafting for a Halloween Fun Patch. The girls did several projects:

• A Frankenstein Paper Bag to hold treats...

• A Halloween stick book mark / puppet...

and the funnest project the girls enjoyed~

• Home made "Gooey Gunk"! (recipe below)

GOOEY GUNK~ (half the recipe if you do not want too much)

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
Solution A:
1 cup water
1 cup white glue
2 Tbs. liquid tempera paint or 7-10 drops food coloring

Solution B:
1 1/3 cups warm water
4 tsp. borax laundry booster

HOW TO CONCOCT IT:
1. Mix ingredients in solution A together in a medium bowl.
2. In a second medium bowl. Mix the ingredients in solution B together until the borax is completely dissolved.
3. Slowly pour solution A into solution B. (Do not mix!)
4. Roll solution A around in solution b 4-5 times.
5. Lift solution A out of solution B and knead for 2-3 minutes.
6. Store gunk in a an airtight container or a plastic zip bag.

CONCOCTION TIPS AND IDEAS:Use read liquid tempera paint/food coloring to create Lava Gunk, green to create Slimy Gunk, or black to create Tar Gunk.

Recipe from "The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions"

Thank you, Pilar, for all your help with the Leaders! You are awesome!

Girl Scout, Kara missed school the day of our GS troop meeting, so she did her own Halloween Craft project on her own to earn her fun patch. Kara is quite an artist and brought her Halloween Art to the next meeting to show the troop. Great job, Kara!

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!

Daisies... Brownies... Juniors... OH MY!Troop Meeting Overview~

We started our meeting by learning a new song "BOOM CHICKA BOOM" (Click here for lyrics)... co-leader, Teri, had a rough time remembering the start (mixing up her chicka' with her boom's), but quickly recovered, and the kids got the hang of the song and seemed to enjoy it once we got on a roll. After the song, we had PIZZA for Snack!...

Thank you Ms. Holly for bringing snack and drink this week! & thank you volunteer parents and leaders (Tammy, Mandy, Noemi, Lisa, Novia, Kristi, Pilar, Stephanie, Holly & Teri) for all your help during the snack and helping with the meeting.

After opening with the Girl Scout Promise, the girls broke into their separate levels to work on their different projects:

Daisy Girls: "Light Blue Petal" -Honest and fair

Brownie Girls: "Science in Action" Try-It

Junior Girls: "Prints and Graphics" Badge

We came back together to finish our troop meeting with our friendship circles.

Announcements:
The Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas is having our annual "Design a Holiday Card" Contest. All of our troop #9691 were given instructions and entry forms. The Daisy and Junior levels were able to work the project into their troop meeting. The Brownie girls will need to work on their submissions of their own if they choose to participate. Be sure to follow the guidelines outlined and have your entry in by the deadline date of OCT. 22! Please contact Teri if you have any further questions. (CLICK HERE for details)

Looking ahead~ we'll be doing a service project through "Operation Christmas Child" next month. Last year the girls' hearts were big and generous as they donated age ppropriate gifts and wrapped 10 different boxes for children less fortunate. Many of our returning girls communicated they wanted to do it again this year, so in mid November, we'll dedicate time for this project and "MAKE A DIFFERENCE" in the lives of others.

Christmas is approaching and we're still collecting small (square sized) cardboard cartons for a craft project. Our Girl Scouts may save their lunch cartons that their milk comes in; since these are smaller, we'll need two per Girl Scout for the project.

DAISY Girls~ Honest and Fair

The girls worked toward their "Light Blue Petal" learning about the meaning of "Honest and fair". Co-leader, Tammy,

• read the book, Berenstain Bears and the Truth; they discussed situations where it was hard to tell the truth.


• A Game of musical squares was played with exercise squares to reinforce being fair. (Same rules for everyone ).


• The talking string was introduced to the girls. "Being fair" was reinforced by giving everyone their turn to talk while holding the talking string while the others were quiet and listened.


• The girls got a treat to learn a new song:

I'M A LITTLE DAISY (Tune- I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little Daisy, dressed in blue

I am a Girl Scout, you are too

When I go to meetings, I sing and shout

I love being a Daisy Girl Scout!

Motions-I'm a little... hands together, at side of face, head tilted.

dressed... hands pick up hem of uniform smock

I am a Girl Scout...make GS sign

you are too... point to neighbor

When I go...hands out, palms up

I sing and shout...hands cup around mouth

I love... point to heart

Daisy Girl Scout...clap once on each word

The girls discussed having a Kaper chart; and decided at the next meeting they will work on making one. To end the meeting, the girls worked on their "Holiday Card Design" for the contest... so many budding artists! (not all Daisy girls have their pictures below)

Allie G.

Kylee B.

Allyson B.

Kara H.

Sarah A.


Brooke B.

Second level Daisy Girls, two Allyson's, separated toward the end of our meeting time to work on their Garden Journey patch. We completed the Introduction and will be working on Chapter One for next troop meeting!