Brownie Meeting 17: Take Action Project Planning

Meeting at a Glance 

Goal:  The Brownie team moves forward with its Take Action Project to make an impact in the community and earn it’s third key.

Toward the Award:  Take Action Key

Supplies: 

See Brownie Supply Schedule

Pre-Meeting (15 min)

-Greet, sign-in, and put on nametags. 

Snack Time (Snacks, Step #4) (10 min)

Opening (5 min)

- Flag Ceremony

-  Gather and greet each other with the Girl Scout handshake. 

Business (10 min)

• In the Girl Scout Brownie Ring, take attendance and collect dues, review rules and assign kapers.
• “Today we are going to start taking the first steps toward our Take Action Project.”

Activity/Exploration (50 min)

• Read Chapter 5 of the Brownie Quest book . 
• Talk about the different ways to promote the event:  posters, flyers, e-blasts, announcements, talking to friends and neighbors, press release.
• Help the girls to write a letter/email to their principal telling them about our project and the ways we would like to promote it at school.  Ask for permission to hang posters and pass out flyers, etc.  We would like to have at least 2 weeks of promotion time.
• Talk about what information should go on the posters/flyers.
• Take a walk around the school building to identify good places to hang our posters.

Clean-up (10 min)

• ALL girls participate in the clean-up time! Remind the girls of kapers and work together to leave the site better than you found it. 
• The Out Scout should be rotating the names on the Kaper Chart to see who will bring the snack and beverage for the next meeting. 

Closing (5 min)

• FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE – Use the Girl Scout Sign again to get the girls’ attention. Ask girls to gather around and form a circle. 
• Let the girls know who will be bringing the snack next time and ask the girls to take the Snack Box home.  Remind girls to show their parent the note inside the snack box.
• Form a Friendship Circle, sing, “Goodbye Brownies,” and do a friendship squeeze. 

-  Collect nametags and sign-out. 

Brownie Meeting 16: Choosing a Take Action Project

Meeting at a Glance 

Goal:  Brownie team members identify a community need that matters to them and begin to create a solution - a way to Fly into Action and accomplish something on behalf of others.

Toward the Award:  Take Action Key

Supplies: 

See Brownie Supply Schedule

Pre-Meeting (15 min)

-Greet, sign-in, and put on nametags. 

Snack Time (Snacks, Step #4) (10 min)

Opening (5 min)

- Flag Ceremony

-  Gather and greet each other with the Girl Scout handshake. 

Business (10 min)

• In the Girl Scout Brownie Ring, take attendance and collect dues, review rules and assign kapers.
• Hand out the Dancer Skill Building Badges that the girls earned at the last meeting.

-“Today we are going to take the first step toward our third key, which is figuring out who needs some help from our Brownie Team.”

Activity/Exploration (50 min)

• Brownie Brainstorm Chart for our Take Action Project (idea: Organize, promote, and operate a food drive for the Food Bank.  Write a letter to the Food Bank asking what items they need and if we could sponsor a food drive for them.  Write to school principals asking to hang posters up in school advertising the food drive.  Send home flyers with students advertising the food drive.  Have a food drive at a Grocery Store on a weekend afternoon.  Take food to Food Bank and volunteer there to help stock the shelves.)

• If needed, vote on a Take Action Project.  We should probably have at least a top 3 list of possible projects in case something falls through or doesn’t work out.
• Read Chapter 4 of Brownie Quest book and fill in pages 31-33.
• Make a Brownie Plan.  IMPORTANT:  Choose a date for the project…Saturday, May 16 or Sunday, May 17.  (I can call both the Food Bank and Kroger to see if they will allow us to do it and if either of these dates will work)
• Make posters for our Home School cafeteria to encourage kids to make healthy choices for breakfast.

Clean-up (10 min)

• ALL girls participate in the clean-up time! Remind the girls of kapers and work together to leave the site better than you found it. 
• The Out Scout should be rotating the names on the Kaper Chart to see who will bring the snack and beverage for the next meeting. 

Closing (5 min)

• FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE – Use the Girl Scout Sign again to get the girls’ attention. Ask girls to gather around and form a circle. 
• Connect Key Celebration Ceremony.  Hand out the Connect Key patches.
• Let the girls know who will be bringing the snack next time and ask the girls to take the Snack Box home.  Remind girls to show their parent the note inside the snack box.
• Form a Friendship Circle, sing, “Goodbye Brownies,” and do a friendship squeeze. 

-  Collect nametags and sign-out. 

*This would be a good meeting to have a parent iron-on session.

Brownie Outing: Dancer Skill Building Badge

Since our Brownie Quest Journey is all about healthy eating and lifestyles I thought that this would be the perfect time to work in the Dancer Skill Building Badge and talk to the girls about dancing as exercise.

Since one of our Leaders takes ballet and her older daughter is an Irish Step dancer we figured they could run a little workshop for the girls to complete the steps for the Dancer badge.  I reserved a large room at our branch of the public library and we had the workshop there.

Step 1:  Warm up and get moving

Step 2:  Try a new dance
The girls learned a little bit about the history of Irish Step dance and learned some steps.

learning about the Irish Step dancer's dress

Step 3:  Take to the floor like a dancer
The girls learned the 5 positions of ballet as well as the ballet carriage and bow.

Step 4:  Make up your own dance
Step 5:  Show your move

We played some different styles of music (ie.  country, folk, rock-n-roll and modern favorites) and the girls did their own little dances and then had a dance party.

Brownie Meeting 15: Connecting and Taking Action

Meeting at a Glance 

Goal:  Brownies earn the Connect Key by first exploring the “circles” of their lives and then expanding their caring to their community by writing a letter to a school or town official to seek a healthy-living improvement.

Toward the Award:  Connect Key

Supplies: 

See Brownie Supply Schedule

Pre-Meeting (15 min)

-Greet, sign-in, and put on nametags. 

-Color one of the pictures in the back of the GGGS Book.

Snack Time (Snacks, Step #4) (10 min)

Opening (5 min)

- Flag Ceremony

-Gather and greet each other with the Girl Scout handshake. 

Business (10 min)

-In the Girl Scout Brownie Ring, take attendance and collect dues, review rules and assign kapers.

Activity/Exploration (50 min)

• Gather the girls around for the Creating Circles of Caring activity
• Have the girls talk about what they did with their families for the Healthy-Living Family Activity.  Tape each family commitment card to the “Family Circle”

• Read “The Case of the Broken Sidewalk” on page 64 of the Girls Journey book.  Discuss.
• Talk to the girls about the sugar content in the school breakfasts.

Daily recommended about 26grams or 6 sugar cubes

• Brainstorm some ideas of what may need fixing in their neighborhoods or school.  (idea:  write a letter to the School Superintendent asking for healthier school breakfasts and copy all three school principals)
• Write the letter.
• If time, read Chapter 3 of the Brownie Quest book.

Clean-up (10 min)

• ALL girls participate in the clean-up time! Remind the girls of kapers and work together to leave the site better than you found it. 
• The Out Scout should be rotating the names on the Kaper Chart to see who will bring the snack and beverage for the next meeting. 

Closing (5 min)

• FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE – Use the Girl Scout Sign again to get the girls’ attention. Ask girls to gather around and form a circle. 
• Connect Key Celebration Ceremony.  Hand out the Connect Key patches.
• Their will be an outing on March 29, 2015 from 1:15pm-2:45pm at Library for complete our Dancer Skill Building badge.
• Let the girls know who will be bringing the snack next time and ask the girls to take the Snack Box home.  Remind girls to show their parent the note inside the snack box.
• Form a Friendship Circle, sing, “Goodbye Brownies,” and do a friendship squeeze. 
• Collect nametags and sign-out. 

Brownie Outing: Healthy Cooking Class (Brownie Quest)

Since our Brownie Quest Journey is all about healthy eating and lifestyles I thought having the girls take a healthy cooking class would be fun.  We participated in a Hands on Cooking Experience at Whole Foods Market. The class is $5 per student. 

Learn basic sanitation, measuring and cooking skills in a professional kitchen. Tour of the Produce Dept. & talk about the color of foods and the nutrients they provide 

We will be making Healthy Muffins made with shredded – choose one: carrots( Sunrise Muffins) zucchini ( Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins) apple(Apple Crunch Muffins) additional ingredient such as dates or raisins are included in these recipes- no nuts!  

Tour of Produce Department while they are baking. Juice and water will be served as your group sits to eat their creation.  

This activity is to reinforce the Journey the girls are starting and is for a fun badge.

squeezing oranges for juice

Brownie Meeting 14: My Family Story Skill Building Badge

Meeting at a Glance 

Goal:  To learn about my family and be able to share their stories

Toward the Award:  My Family Story Skill Badge

Supplies: 

See Brownie Supply Schedule

Pre-Meeting (15 min)

-Greet, sign-in, and put on nametags. 

-Draw and color a picture or your family.

Snack Time (Snacks, Step #4) (10 min)

Opening (5 min)

• Flag Ceremony
• Gather and greet each other with the Girl Scout handshake. 

Business (10 min)

• In the Girl Scout Brownie Ring, take attendance and collect dues, review rules and assign kapers.
• Using the talking stick, share your pictures that you drew.

Activity/Exploration (50 min)

• Read a story about families (MFS, Step #1)  The Great Big Book of Familiies by Mary Hoffman

• Have the girls share where their family is from and have them put the flag sticker on the large world map.  Have them share a family recipe with the other girls and tell what the recipe is and when they normally have it. (MFS, Step #2)

• Using the talking stick have the girls share the object they brought that is special to their family. (MFS, Step #4)
• Have the girls make a family tree, use page 5 of their packet or this handout.  (MFS, Step #3) 

• Pass out the family crest worksheet and have the girls create their family crests with the pictures they brought. (MFS, Step #5)

Clean-up (10 min)

• ALL girls participate in the clean-up time! Remind the girls of kapers and work together to leave the site better than you found it. 
• The Out Scout should be rotating the names on the Kaper Chart to see who will bring the snack and beverage for the next meeting. 

Closing (5 min)

• FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE – Use the Girl Scout Sign again to get the girls’ attention. Ask girls to gather around and form a circle. 
• Talk to the girls about the Connect at Home project.
• Pass out the Healthy-Living Family Activity sheet and tell them that they will need to go home and ask their families for help filling it in.  Remind them to bring it to the next meeting.

• Let the girls know who will be bringing the snack next time and ask the girls to take the Snack Box home.  Remind girls to show their parent the note inside the snack box.

-  Form a Friendship Circle, sing, “Brownie Smile Song,” and do a friendship squeeze. 

Brownie Meeting 13: Discovering and Connecting

Meeting at a Glance 

Goal:  The girls engage in a team-building game and reflect on the experience, which guides them to create a Brownie Team Agreement - the first step to the second key.

Toward the Award:  Connect Key, World Thinking Day

Supplies: 

See Brownie Supply Schedule

Pre-Meeting (15 min)

-Greet, sign-in, and put on nametags. 

-Color one of the pictures in the back of the GGGS Book.

Snack Time (Snacks, Step #4) (10 min)

Opening (5 min)

- Flag Ceremony

-Gather and greet each other with the Girl Scout handshake. 

Business (10 min)

-In the Girl Scout Brownie Ring, take attendance and collect dues, review rules and assign kapers.

-“Today we are going to share our Family Stars.”  Using the talking stick each girl will get to share something from their family star.

Activity/Exploration (50 min)

• Discover Key Celebration Ceremony.  Hand out the Discover Key patches.* 
• Play Pass the Ball, Please game to demonstrate working together as a team.  See page 61 of Brownie Quest Guide. 

• Create the Brownie Team Agreement. See page 53 of the girls Brownie Quest book.
• Read Chapter 2 of the girls Brownie Quest book
• For World Thinking Day show the girls the Fair Trade video on YouTube and have them try some fair trade chocolate from Whole Foods.

• Talk to the girls about the My Family Story Skill Building Badge.  Tell them they will need to come prepared with the following:
• Knowing where their family came from (ie.  England, Poland, Italy, China).
• A family recipe to share
• An object that means something to your family to share (ie.  photograph, book, or other object)
• Think about 4 things that are important to your family (could be things that you included on your Family Star) or things that your family really likes (ie. a favorite meal, like pizza; your family pet; a favorite activity, etc.) that you could include on a family crest.  Cut pictures out of magazines or bring pictures or be prepared to draw pictures that represent those things.  Show them my example.

Clean-up (10 min)

• ALL girls participate in the clean-up time! Remind the girls of kapers and work together to leave the site better than you found it. 
• The Out Scout should be rotating the names on the Kaper Chart to see who will bring the snack and beverage for the next meeting. 

Closing (5 min)

• FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE – Use the Girl Scout Sign again to get the girls’ attention. Ask girls to gather around and form a circle. 
• Let the girls know who will be bringing the snack next time and ask the girls to take the Snack Box home.  Remind girls to show their parent the note inside the snack box.

-  Form a Friendship Circle, sing, “Goodbye Brownies,” and do a friendship squeeze. 

-  Collect nametags and sign-out. 

*This would be a good meeting to have a parent iron-on session.

Brownie Outing: Yoga Workshop (Brownie Quest)

Since our Brownie Quest is all about healthy eating and healthy lifestyles we planned to attend a Kids Yoga class at a local studio.  The class was so much fun and the girls loved it.