Reading and Book Signing at Bookcourt

On Saturday, May 5th at 11am, Bookcourt (163 Court Street) is hosting a reading and book signing for Here Come The Girl Scouts!

The amazing, all-true story of the first Girl Scouts and their visionary founder. Juliette Gordon Low--Daisy to her friends and family--was not like most girls of the Victorian era. Prim and proper? BOSH! Dainty and delicate? HOW BORING! She loved the outdoors, and she yearned for adventure! Born into a family of pathfinders and pioneers, she too wanted to make a difference in the world--and nothing would stop her. Combining her ancestors’ passion for service with her own adventurous spirit and her belief that girls could do anything, she founded the Girl Scouts. One hundred years later, they continue to have adventures, do good deeds, and make a difference!

Author Bio: 

Shana Corey has the unique ability to make history accessible and fun, a talent that has been praised in all of her celebrated picture books, including MERMAID QUEEN, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham and YOU FORGOT YOUR SKIRT, AMELIA BLOOMER!, illustrated by Chesley McLaren, which was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and an Orbis Pictus Recommended Title. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

April Meeting

Hello Parents,
We wanted to send you a note to summarize yesterday's meeting.  Hope your girls came home and filled you in on all the fun we had at our meeting!

The meeting went as follows:

Again dismissal was very smooth and we think it is very helpful to remind teachers before each meeting!

First we had our investiture ceremony, which is based on ‘The Brownie Story’ page 18 in the binder. This is when your girl officially became a Brownie. It was very exciting! They all took turns looking into a mirror (which symbolized a pond) and recited the poem…”Twist me, turn me, show me the elf, I look in the water and see MYSELF!“ and then they were pinned. The bottom pin is the Brownie pin. If you look closely you can see the little elf dancing. The top pin is the symbol of WAGGGS (World association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts). Our girls are now  a part of 10 million girls in 145 countries! 

Then we recited the Girl Scout Promise and Girl Scout Law located inside the cover of book and binder. It would be great if the girls become very comfortable with these, as we will start every meeting with this promise!

We recapped our last meeting with a summary of “The World of Girls” journey book and talked about the award badges that follow this journey. (Book page 7, Girls side) Our first award will be ‘Hear A Story’, which focuses on the girls finding clues within a story that will tell them important things/lessons about life and girls! Please encourage your daughter to find clues about girls in any story she is reading that will teach her something about her own life or a new experience! (Would also be helpful for the “what did you work on” section in their school reading logs!)

Also gave a reminder about our ‘troop passport’, which is being passed around. When you get it, have your Brownie fill in her page and pass it on as soon as possible, we would love for at least 4 or 5 girls to see it this month! This passport entry should be done by the girls and can be anything they want it to be! They do not need to follow a format, just go for it, share a story… about themselves, girls they know, dreams they have, international connections, family, etc.

Snack time was a big hit… we followed Shali’s story (book page 6, world side) and had fig newtons, hummus, pita, carrots and sweet mint tea! We were very proud of all the girls and their adventurous sides trying new things!

During snack time we asked the girls questions about Shali’s story and they had great responses. We have a very smart group of girls! We asked them about the characters, places and activities! There was also a discussion about Jordon, Shali’s home and we even found it on the globe!

Next we paired the girls with other Brownie’s they didn’t know very well, to fill out each other’s passport page (girls side, page 5), please check it, the girls were so cute! Then they all shared one thing they learned about their new Brownie sister! We noticed a big difference in all the girls from last month, they are already becoming so comfortable with each other. We‘re so pleased!

The girls then played a quick round of an Italian game, Cencio Mollo. We promised we’ll play it again at the picnic! It a game where one girl is “it” and she has a handkerchief and tries to get another girl to laugh! It was so much fun but we did run out of time, so all the girls will have a turn at the picnic!

We then ended out meeting with the friendship circle, page 23 in the binder, we will end all our meetings with this ceremony!

Before we dismissed the girls we gave them their troop crest and troop numbers for their sashes. Please refer to the uniform handout, also on page 27 of the binder, to see where to place these patches! (troop crest and then troop numbers to follow (2440). We also collected money, envelopes and forms from the girls, please check and make sure your daughter handed in all the necessary paper work!

We would also like to a moment to talk about working towards badges. Your enthusiasm towards this makes us so happy but we are still trying to figure things out and will have a game plan for this very soon! We were thinking the girls could vote on what badges to work towards and hopefully do most of the work as a team!
Next meeting is May 29^th and we will need one parent volunteer and help with snacks. We will contact all of you the week before to coordinate this, just a heads up! We also started a blog, which you can find at: http://troop2440.blogspot.com/ Right now it mainly just has our meeting re-caps. There is a calendar as well that lists our different events.

 We think overall we are off to a great start and look forward to hearing your feedback, thoughts or suggestions! Also can’t wait for some of the great family events coming up, will be a great opportunity to talk in person and tell you all how much we love doing this!

 Best,

Michelle and Martha

First Meeting

Hello Parents,
Just wanted to send you a note to summarize our first meeting. Hope your girls came home just as excited as we are, so much to look forward to!

The meeting went as follows:

•  We collected the girls from their class lines at dismissal and that procedure worked out really well! Thanks for sending notes to the teachers, that really helped! 
•  First Kate Nichols, from Girl Scouts Greater New York, talked to the girls about what it means to be a girl scout and taught them the Girl Scout Promise and Law. (You can find both on the inside cover of the binder.) 
•  She also did a craft with them, the adorable dolls they made which symbolize the girl scouts. Each bead on the doll means something, ask the girls to explain it to you! 
•  Kate also told an interactive story about Juliette Gordon Low, every girl had a part in the story. It was so cute and we were really proud of how well they all did with their parts! (Her story is on page 10-11 of the binder.) 
•  Then we had our mini-cupcakes, apples and water. 
•  We read the Brownie Story to our new Brownie Troop. If you have a chance please read it with your daughter, it is so cute! (Binder pages 18-21) 
•  Then we had our vote on the troop crest, the girls acted maturely while casting their votes. Vote went as follows: 8-Lei, 2-Bluebird, 8-Unicorn, 1-Waterfall, 1-Crane. Because it was a tie we then had a vote between Lei and Unicorn and Lei won! So our Troop Crest is Lei: The Hawaiian lei is a symbol for friendship, love and peace. 
•  We handed out the materials. (Girl Scout Bag, Binder, Book, Sash, two patches and hand-out on uniform.) Please be sure to mark your daughter’s supplies with her name as they all will have the same stuff. 

 We also gave them a brief description of their “journey book”, A World of Girls. “On this journey, we’ll learn about the lives of girls all over the world. You’ll also explore your own world and the girls in it-your families, your friends, and girls from all parts of your life.”

 We will be creating a team passport, which is “meant to be a highly imaginative take on a passport, so there’s no one, right way to create it.” A notebook will be passed around to each girl and she can keep the book for a few days and then pass it to one of her girl scout sisters. During this time we would like our Brownies to add their thoughts, feelings, creativity, dreams and ideas about girls/women around the world, in her own family or community. (Telling these stories might even earn them a badge! YAY!) 

Every meeting will end with a Friendship Circle, which Kate taught us today. It was so touching! (Binder page 23) We think this first introduction into the girl scouts was a big success and please let us know if the girls have any feedback that would be helpful to us! They were very insightful, thoughtful and sweet, we really look forward to getting to know all of them better! We will be contacting you shortly with some more information regarding our troop crest badge, passport book and next meeting’s volunteer requirements. Thanks so much for sharing your daughters with us today! 

All the Best, Michelle and Martha