Elizabeth's Guiding Corner

This week was a bit of a catch-up week. We started with the Advocacy Adventure activity from the Girls First platform. We had planned to do it last week, but we ran out of time. This activity illustrates nicely how making a difference in your community isn't always a huge task. Sometimes it's something small like writing a letter to the principle of your school to ask what is being done about bullying, or making posters to raise awareness about the lack of sports opportunities for girls. And if it does feel like it's too big to do on your own, you can always reach out to friends, teachers, Guiders, and other community members to share the load. Our second activity was making origami whales. We've given our second-year Brownies a chance to teach a skill, and one of them chose origami. She did a great job showing us the steps and answering questions.  We're taking a week off next week for Canada day, and then we are going to meet every other week going forward.

Our virtual meetings have been fun, but I feel like we've been missing some of the Girl Driven planning. A lot of our go-to brainstorming methods require being able to move around, like dot-mocracy or picking sides, but you know what doesn't? A survey! The easiest way that I know how to make a survey is Google Forms, You can send a link to your families, and they don't need a Google account to fill it out. I know some other people who prefer Survey Monkey, since you don't need a Google account to make the survey. Most of the questions were around our summer meetings. We wanted to know from our Brownies and their families how often they want to meet over the summer, and what they want to do.  I also included a list of basic craft supplies and asked them to check off the ones that they have at home. That way we can pick crafts that everyone will have the supplies for.  Most of them picked every-other week, and we've had a lot of requests for more crafts.

This weekend we had our virtual camp! We decided to keep it to one night, since it was our first time, but it was a success and I would definitely be open to planning a two-night virtual camp in the future if our Brownies are interested.  A week before we sent out the activity book for camp. The first half is activities that they could do during the week to prepare for camp (Making a bedroll, learning about Leave No Trace, etc). If they sent us pictures of these activities completed, then they earned their Camper Discovery Badge. The second part of the activity book was the schedule for the virtual camp, and what supplies they would need. Here is the activity book, you can use it as inspiration for your own virtual camp: 193rd Mississauga Brownies Virtual Camp Activity Books We opened camp on Friday at 6:30pm for our first activity: giving each other tours of our tents and blanket forts. It was a bit cooler than usual on Friday, but almost half of them slept outside. I was impresse...

An Activity book for Brownies to earn the Your Choice theme badge. Your Choice Badge Activity Book

This week we had our advancement. We pretty much did what we would normally do during a regular ceremony, except that it was all online.   Time  Activity  Materials 7 pm Welcome, opening   7:10 pm The ceremony: Year pins: we did the year pins first. A Guider read the list of names and a family member pinned the pin on their Brownie's uniform. Brownie Advancement pins: A Guider read the names of the advancing Brownies, and a family member pinned the pin on their Brownies uniform. Pins/badges dropped off in advance, or printed versions as stand-ins. 7:20 pm   Campfire Google Slides/PowerPoint presentation with the lyrics. My co-Guider had dropped off packages with craft supplies and all of their badges and pins. She also included a paper headband cover, for each girl that said "Brownie" on it, and the advancing Brownies got Guide ones as well. Once they had received their advancement pins, they switched their Brownie headband for their Guide headban...

An activity book for Brownies to earn the Global Guiding theme badge. Global Guiding Activity Book

I've been searching for a while, and I've finally found some resources and activities to teach kids about race and racism, Most of these are resources for teachers, and so they are mostly reading, writing, and discussion based. But I'm sure that with some Girl Guide ingenuity you could adapt them to be a bit more interactive. You know what they say, use your resources wisely! Sesame Street Town Hall on Racism Spark/Brownie On Saturday June 6th at 10:00 am Eastern Time, CNN and Sesame Street are doing a town hall on racism and the protests that have been happening in the United States and other countries around the world. The streaming locations are listed in the article. RacismNoWay! All Branches This website includes lesson plans for all subjects that integrate anti-racism activities into the lesson. RacismNoWay is an Australian-based organization, but most of the lessons could be tailored to a Canadian perspective. Teaching and Learning About Race and Racism All Branches ...

Step-by-step instructions on how to add an email signature in gmail. How to Add an Email Signature I know that a lot of units are having to rely on online tools a lot more than before, so I'm sharing some step-by-step instructions that I've made. If there's a Google app that you want to know how to use, feel free to let me know in the comments!

Hi everyone, In light of recent events in the United States, I've decided to put together a meeting plan on diversity and standing up for others. I have been given a great opportunity through Guiding to teach my Brownies about the world around them, and sometimes that means having honest conversations, in an age-appropriate way, of course. Our meetings usually run for about an hour, but you can make it longer or shorter as needed. Time  Activity Supplies 7 pm Welcome, opening   7:05 pm Stand With Me Theme: Your Voice PA: Take Action This activity could be modified for a virtual meeting by having the Brownies raise their hand instead or stepping forwards. To make it a bit more meaningful, I would ask them to name something that they are worried about. This can show them that other Brownies are worried about the same thing, and they know how it feels to have someone on their side.  https://experience.girlguides.ca/node/76941   7: 15 pm Plate Portraits Theme: Different ...

Step-by-step instructions on how to schedule the send time on an email. The screenshots were taken in gmail, I don't know if other programs are similar. How to Schedule the Send Time of an Email I know that a lot of units are having to rely on online tools a lot more than before, so I'm sharing some step-by-step instructions that I've made. If there's a Google app that you want to know how to use, feel free to let me know in the comments!