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