'97 - '98 Brownie Meetings

(13th) - New girl registration. Renee was in charge of it this year with another Brownie leader in the area. Nine troops came to help out. There were unifom and handbook displays. Each troop that came also came with an activity to do with the new girls. Our troop brought friendship pins for shoes to make. Other activities included cookie decorating, key chains, name tags and friendship bracelets. The cadette troop played games and sang songs with the new girls. We also had helium balloons, pens, pencils, and bookmarks for the new girls to take home.


(23rd) - Our first meeting for the year. 21 out of 22 girls came to our first meeting. We made name tags out of cut out whales. We also held our first flag ceremony for the year. The brownies taught the new brownies the Girl Scout sign, promise, law, motto, slogan, quiet sign, and handshake. Then we decorated the shoe boxes that Renee asked us to bring. The shoe boxes are for our projects, supplies, and notes we need to bring to and from our meetings. Renee also read "The Brownie Story". Renee said that if we were very quiet and listened to the story we would play a game. Boy were we ever quiet. Renee taught us how to play Hawk and Hen. It was alot of fun. We played it twice. We then taught the new members the friendship circle and squeeze. We also taught themMake New Friends. We all had alot of fun.

(7th) - We were very busy during this meeting. We started off with tracing the girls shadows. This took up the whole meeting. The girls took turns going into the back room and getting traced. Renee read the story about Marisol and her sister. Afterwards we discussed how we could help out at home. Then we talked about how people are different. We looked at some of the traced shadows and we did our fingerprints and seen how they are different. We also had a guest speaker. Her name is Reita and she has been in Girl Scouts for a long time. She brought her old uniforms and badges and pins. The girls had a lot of fun trying them on. We also prepared a questions to ask her during her visit. The girls really enjoyed it. We are also working on the "Her Story" try-it. That's why Reita came to visit. We also decided on who will bring what for Brownie Soup for our next meeting. The girls are really excited about making soup.



(21st) - The girls received their MagNut packets to start selling. We also practiced for our Annual Investiture/Rededication Ceremony. The troops in our Service Unit gather together and held one large ceremony. Renee is in charge of it this year and she told the girls what will be happening during the ceremony and what parts they will do. Since we are working on the "Her Story" try-it the girls wrote a poem about their moms for the Ceremony for Women requirement and we are going to say what we wrote during our troop time. We also have been talking about how we are different from each other. We took different measurements and compared them with the other girls. We also made Brownie Soup for our snack. It was delicious. Except for the kidney beans. No one liked the kidney beans. We also played paper kickball. It was fun. Until Brittany got kicked in the shin. Sorry Brittany.



(29th) - This was our annual Investiture/Rededication Ceremony. Seven troops came to join the festivities. Our troop had 19 girls attend. It was a big success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and there were plenty of refreshments afterwards. We also celebrated Juliette Gordon Low's birthday. The Seniors did a ceremony entitled "Values of Life" which was dedicated to Juliette Low. And we sang Happy Birthday to her. And whoever bought the candles bought trick candles and the Senior had a very tough time

(4th) - For our start up project we made spin art. Renee brought in a record player and the girls placed a paper plate on the turntable and then the girls turned on the turntable and picked different colors to press on the plate in one spot . When they were done they turned off the turntable and looked at the art that they made. They really liked this. We finished the "Her Story" try-it by doing our time line for the past and the future. Then we made a Five Worlds of Interest Necklace . Then we had just enough time to eat and do the closing. We also welcomed a new member to the troop. Her name is Renee. Welcome Renee.



(19th) - We had to change our meeting day this week. The church where we meet had a funeral on our regular night, so we changed it to Wednesday night. For our start up activity we made Christmas paper chains. I told the girls to start taking one link off at a time starting December 1st. The girls really liked it. Then we talked about the different things we can do to stay healthy. We also made a healthy menu of the things each girl liked and they took them home to ask their parents to help them make the menu for a day. They liked that idea. After that we did 3 requirements for the Dancercize try-it. The girls had fun but were hungry and thirsty so we broke for snack. After snack I played a dance tape and told the girls to make up their own dances for the music. A limbo song came on and someone found a stick and the girls did the limbo. They had alot of fun. Ten minutes before it was time to go we had the girls stopping from being tired and sitting down ready to fall asleep. I think everyone went to sleep pretty quick that night.

(9th) - We changed our meeting place today. We had our meeting at Renee's house. We were only there for a short time while our parents filled out permission slips for the upcoming cookie sale and Christmas caroling. They also had to fill out a survey for day camp. Renee is trying to start a day camp for our service unit. We worked on our cookie try-it. We did three requirements and had to do one for homework. We have to make a poster telling people why they should buy our cookies. Renee is then going to hang them up around town in the hopes of people to buy more cookies. And today was Shannon's birthday and she brought us brownies to celebrate. Happy Birthday Shannon.



(23rd) - We went Christmas caroling on the main street in our town. Alot of parents and family came with us. We walked from Renee's house to our meeting place where Jim had hot chocolate, punch and cupcakes waiting for us. Renee also had some treats for us for Christmas. And Jerica and Zara sang "Silent Night" to us in sign language. We all had a lot of fun.

13th - For our start up activity we drew pictures of ourselves wearing clothes for the different seasons (pgs. 44-45 in Brownie Handbook). During business time Renee went over the Cookie Try-it with the girls who missed the meeting when we went over the try-it. Then Renee told us about our Father/Daughter Bowling day, which will be January 24th. We all can't wait. It's going to be fun. For our main activity we started talking about safety. Renee told us that we will be learning about tool safety, personal saftey, first aid and sports safety. Tonight we learned about tool safety. Renee showed us how to use everyday tools safely and the do's and don't's of how to use tools. Renee was pretty silly with some of the don't's. But it will help us to remember what to do and what not to do with tools. Then we split up into two groups. One group went to the other side of the room and played "Dress for the Weather Relay" while the other group worked on shadow plaques using the safety rules for the hammer and nails. When each group was done we switched activities. Afterwards we had snack and did our closing ceremony. We still had some time left so as one big group we all played the relay race until our parents came to pick us up.



(24th) - We went Father/Daughter Bowling. 12 Brownies and their dads went bowling for two hours. We had so much fun. We were to just go regular bowling but the manager turned off the lights and we had Cosmic bowling for the regular group rate. Thanks Mr. bowling Manager. It was great!!



(27th) - For our start up activity we made valentines for our upcoming trip to the Presby Nursing home visit. For our main activity we made a safety center for a requirement for the Safety try-it. We ate snack and then we played "What am I?" . . It was fun.

(10th)- For our start up activity we decorated envelopes for the Juliette Gordon Low World Friendship Fund. And signed a thank you card for Trooper Grady. While we waited for Trooper Grady to arrive we worked on the Animals Try-it. We welcomed Trooper Grady to our meeting and told us that she was there to talk to us about personal safety. Then she showed us a video tape on strangers and McGruff was the star. When the movie was over we got to ask questions and answer some of her questions. She also showed us the different things she carries on her belt. She even let us play with her handcuffs. Clorisa handcuffed Vicki. And Trooper Grady said that that was the first time in the five years she's been doing these talks that a friend handcuffed a their friend. It's usually themselves they handcuff. Trooper Grady also covered alittle about seat belts and bike helments. We thanked Trooper Grady and gave her a Thank you card signed by all of us. About 7:30 some parents came back to see their daughters receive their recognitions that they have earned so far this year. Renee had each of the try-its and patches stapled to paper flowers. The color of the flower matched the World of Interest color that it went to. The patches were on white flowers. And they were tied with a white ribbon.


(22nd) - We celebrated Thinking Day by having a Mexican Fiesta. We invited the Daisys to come too. A few girls brought Mexican Dishes and some brought pop. For our start up activity we played Soccer Guard which is a Mexican game. Then we had our opening ceremony. Then we got to pig out. The food was good. Alot of us went back for seconds. After we ate, the parents cleaned up while we had a little ceremony. The ceremony was called "Thinking Day". Then Renee pinned those girls who have not received their World Trefoil Pins. When we were done everyone got a turn to swing at the pinata three times. A few times candy fell, but Renee had to wack it a good bit to have it break in two. We ran out of time or we would of made Mexican Yarn Art. Renee said that we will do it at our next meeting.

(8th) - Happy Girl Scout Sunday. Some of the troops in our Service Unit gathered at a local church to celebrate. The Senior troop planned the whole program. Our troop made a poster entitled "The Meaning of Friendship". Renee cut out hands and wrote different words that symbolize friendship. And in the center of the poster it Spelled Friendship. As Renee read the poem she wrote and after each line of the poem the girls that attended from the troop placed a hand around the word friendship. The circle of hands represented the circle of friendship we share as Girl Scouts. The words in bold print is what was written on the different hads. After the program we gathered in the hall for refreshments. .

(10th) - We made pictures of ourselves telling why we are special and we also found the fire dangers on pg. 55 in our handbook for our start up activity. We had a guest speaker that night. Marriles' dad came with an ambulance to give a talk on first aid, what to say when you dial 911, and what to do if someone starts to choke. After his talk we got to go inside the ambulance to see what was inside. When we came back inside we had hot chocolate and cookies. We finished our Animal try-it and finished the Staying Safe Contemporary Issue also that night.



(22nd) - Marriles' dad set up a tour at our local hospital to see Med EVAC helicopter. The girls got to sit inside the helicopter and look at all of the equipment and ask all the questions that they wanted. Thank you Med EVAC and Marriles' dad.



(24th) -For our start up project we decorated bags for a Pluralism activity. We have to collect 5 things that are important to our family and bring them to our next meeting. Next we made masks and did Mexican Yarn Art. After snack and clean up Renee taught us two new games. One was Brownie to Brownie. Renee named a body part such as cheek to cheek and our partners had to touch our cheek with their cheek. Then when Renee said Brownie to Brownie we had to switch partners. Next we played Centipede. We lined up into two groups and knelt down on the floor and grabbed the person in front of us' ankles and when Renee said start we had to crawl to her without letting go of the persons ankles. We played twice and each team won once.

(4th) - Literacy Fest '98 at our local mall. We had the following games Duck Pond, Can You Guess?, Lollipop Pull, and What's inside? The kids were able to win a prize ranging from a sticker, lollipop, a piece of candy, a pencil or a huggie jug. We also displayed some of our crafts that we've done throughout the year with a list of how to make them and we also had a display of the different books that Girl Scouts use. Unfortunately Ashley was the only one who helped with this project. Thank you Ashley.


(7th) - This meeting was cancelled due to Jim being out of town on business.



(21st) - For our start up we made clothespin butterflies. For our main activity we did activities for the Promoting Pluralism Contemporary Issue. We made a poster which we hung at the church, we played a game called "Choices", we talked about name calling, and each girl brought a lunch bag with 5 things that were important to them and their family and they each told why they were important. We then had snack and cleaned up. We still had some time so we made up an Alphabet Code and did the My Numbers requirements for the Math Fun Try-it.

(5th) - This was our last meeting for the year and it was "Bring a Friend" Ice Cream Party. We played Forfeits , Cinderella, Ice Breaker Game, Sequence Balland then we made our own ice cream sundaes. After we cleaned up we played Clumps while we waited for our parents to come and pick us up. We all had a lot of fun.


(19th) - Tonight was our annual Court of Awards and Bridging Ceremonies. We celebrated the event with 5 other troops in our area. After all the girls received their awards and the leaders said all of their thank you's we had a Candle Lighting Ceremony and made a special presentation to the church for sponsoring a lot of our troops and giving us a place to hold our meetings and our ceremonies. Renee, Jim, and Ashley donated a puppet theater which our troop painted two Saturdays ago. With the other Brownie troop, we bought puppets and the Junior and Senior troop donated the curtains which one of the leaders made for it. Unfortunately the preacher was not able to attend but we left him a note thanking him for all that he has done for all of us. Then we had a bridging ceremony, said grace, and sang taps and did the friendship circle and squeeze to make wishes. Then the parents joined all the girls and leaders downstairs in the hall for refreshments.