Father Daughter Day

The girls and the fathers got the first glimpse of Camp Kauffman. The girls loved exploring the grounds, rowing in the boats, eating s'mores (no surprise!) and exploring the overnight cabins.

Here are some photos from the day.

Connections!

In our May meeting, we talked about how we can feel connected to many different places in the world. We can feel connected to a place because of a friend or family member, a favorite food, a vacation we took, or a vacation we want to take.

We were able to show that we are all part of a world that is greater than Brooklyn. (Although Brooklyn is pretty great!)

We thought that parents would want to see the places their daughters felt connections to.

The format went like this: I feel connected to ____ because___.

We got the ball rolling by reading our connections. So here they are, in no particular order...


Michelle
Mexico- I love mole sauce and that was where we went on our first family trip with Stella.
Argentina- I would like to learn the tango!
Hawaii- I love the beaches there and spend my summers there.

Martha
New Mexico, USA - I went on my honeymoon there.
India- I love Indian food!
China- My grandmother was born there and I love pandas.

Mariele
Peru- My grandma was born there.
Argentina- My grandpa was born there.
India- My cat's name is India.

Margot F.
Mariele/Brooklyn- We go to school together, we like the same everything.
Connecticut- I have 4 14-year-old cousins there.
India- I like the food there.

Alyssia
Egypt- I'm interested in the pyramids.
Canada- Because it's my family's culture.
St. Martin- I went there for summer once.

Nadia
London- I lived there.
America- I made new friends here.
Italy- I want to learn stuff about it.

Margot F.
Connecticut- I have a summer house there.
Italy- I like the food.
New York- I live here.

Riley
Arizona- I know someone there.
Block Island- I go with my cousins.
Mexico- I like the food.

Isabella
Bagnara, Italy- My family is from there.
Australia- I have cousins who live there.
Florida- I celebrate my birthday there.

Ruby Weingartner
China- I like pandas!
India- I love their food.
Mexico- I went there 3 times with my cousins and grandparents for their 50th Anniversary.

Lily
Mexico- I like quesadillas.
Austria- Because my mom was born there and my grandma and step-grandpa live there.
Cape Cod- I go there almost every year.

Stella
Paris, France- I always wanted to go there.
Hawaii, USA- I go there on vacation.
Florida (Disney World)- Because I love to go every year.

Bea
California- My uncle and aunt, and because there's Disney Land.
Brazil- I've always wanted to go there.
Hawaii- There are dolphins there.

Tess
California- My aunt and my cousins live there.
New York- My sweet mom and dad live there.
Canada- My grandpa and grandma live there.

Lindsay
New York- I lived there all my life.
Japan- I love sushi.
France- My grandpa lived there.

Zélie
Italy- My dad was born there and I used to live there.
France- My grandma lives there and I used to live there.
Japan- My mom's friend was born there and I love sushi.
New York- Because I live here.

Magali
Michigan- My grama lives there.
Carroll Gardens- I live here.
Florida- My nonna and nonno live there.

Ruby Winters
Greenwich, CT- I was born there and lived there.
Grand Cayman- I go there every year.
Germany- I am German!!!

Sara
India- My dad was born in India.
Tuscan, Arizona- My grandma lives there.
Pittsburgh- My cousins live there.

Aemilia
Korea- My family is Korean and I have Korean food all the time.
Upstate New York- I go there all the time.
Ireland- I am Irish.

Ella
Nantucket- Because my family meets up there for the summer.
Barcelona, Spain- Because I lived there for a year.
Disney World, Florida- Because it's fabulous!

May Meeting Recap

Hi Parents…

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend and a good start to this short week! Yesterday’s meeting was all about CONNECTIONS with our World of Girls! Here is our monthly summary…

We started with the Girl Scout Promise and read the Girl Scout Law, both of which you can find on the inside cover of the binder and book. It would be nice for the girls to read this a few times between meetings, so they become more familiar with it. NOTE: When in written form the Girl Scout Promise will always read ‘God’ but please remember to feel free to talk to your daughter about using whatever word makes sense for your family!

Then we sat in a friendship circle and talked about things we like to do with other girls, a friend, family or group of girls. After each Brownie had a turn, we asked them to think about what their friends said and share the ones they had in common! (Making connections with one another!) Some of the highlights were, baking cookies with their Moms, going to 16 Handles with their girlfriends and holding hands with their Moms!

Snack Time! Today we had goldfish, grapes and water! The grapes were very refreshing after being in the hot schoolyard at pickup!

“Our Globe of GIRLS” was our next activity! We showed them a globe and talked about how we have connections to other places. Could be that our family is from a far away place or as simple as we like a certain type of food or music but we are certainly all connected to the world in many different ways! We had the girls fill out a questionnaire to help them explain where they are connected to and why. “I feel connected to _____ because _____.” 

 Then they wrote the places and their name on a post it and we helped them place it on the globe. It was so fun to see how excited they were about finding their special places on the globe and teaching a little (very little) geography was fun for us! Later we tied all the posted together to visually show the connection!

We shared with the girls that we will be working towards awards (which are patches) while moving through this Journey of A World of Girls! (Girl Side Pg. 7) We announced that Troop 2440 will have the opportunity to earn the “Hear A Story” Award at our next meeting! This award helps Brownies see that stories hold CLUES for how to better the world. They will need to complete the exercise on Page 38 (Girls Side) to earn this award, so please help your daughter accomplish this before our next meeting! (It’s not too much and may even help with reading responses. Way to keep it connected!) The girls will need to find a clue in a story that represents a change they can make in their world. There is a Clue example on Page 9, girls side. NOTE: Please only do the exercise on Page 38 for the “Hear a Story” award. We will be doing the others at a later date!

By now you may have heard of SWAPS! (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere) This is a Girl Scout tradition of exchanging keepsakes, which really took off in the 1950’s and 60’s. Swaps are still the perfect way for Girl Scouts to meet each other and promote friendship. Each one is a memory of a special event or Girl Scout Sister. In getting ready for our upcoming field trips, where they will have an opportunity to exchange with other troops, we made a SWAP craft! Even if aren't going on the trip, they all made one pin for themselves to keep. If they are going on the Father/Daughter trip this Sunday, they were given a bag to make more of these! Please see that they assemble all of their swap pins and bring them on the trip. As we are new to Girl Scouts too, we are excited to hear about how this works after this weekend! Have fun with the crafting!

Of course we ended with the Friendship Circle! Such a great opportunity for the girls to think of something nice that they or a friend did that day and give their Brownie sister a squeeze!

As a reminder, we have two field trips coming up, Father/Daughter Camp Day on Sunday, June 3^rd and Brooklyn Cyclone Game/Sleepover on Saturday June 30^th. We’re so excited! Our next meeting and last for this school year is June 19^th. 

We are already looking forward to next year and a have a few things for you to start thinking about. We would like to meet twice a month and change the timing to 3-5! There are so many great activities and materials to cover, it all becomes a little too rushed. We think adding a meeting and extending the time will help us to better do this whole thing justice! As always we look forward to hearing your feedback, thoughts and/or suggestions, so please let us know what you think! As we talk to the girls about becoming Girl Scout Sisters, we hope that we are doing a good job growing this Girl Scout Family! 

And don't forget to help your daughter with the assignment so they can receive their award on June 19^th!

That’s all for now!

Best,

Michelle & Martha

Family Picnic in Prospect Park

Saturday was a lot of fun! After weeks of rain, we lucked out with a perfect, sunny day. The girls played Cencio Mollo (the Italian game they learned at their last meeting).

 They played many rounds of limbo.

 And then decided to try jumping over the rope when it got too low.

 They ran several 3-legged races.

 

 And a few wheelbarrow races.

Thanks for coming and making the day so special!