Spotlight on September

 The "ber" months are here! I am a fall person through and through and I love it when we finally hit the season (even if it takes a while for Oklahoma weather to catch up). This time of year always brings so many things to celebrate, that it seems like the perfect time to bring back the Spotlight On sheets to help keep up with all of the wonderful variety this time of year has to offer. This is just a small sampling of celebrations for the month, but the ones that (to me) seem like the best from a youth development perspective. If you would like to see (and save) the full size version, simply click on the image.

There will be some posts showing how we've celebrated the incoming fall as we go through the month, but I like to release these early enough that you can plan as well. 

Enjoy your celebrations!

Weekly Planning - Week 1 - All About Me

 I love themes! I believe they help us stay on track and incorporate fun and diversity in our Club experience. This school year I have revamped our daily schedule to be a group effort between our YDPs and our Unit Director at our Riverview Club (where we serve 1st - 3rd grade kiddos). 

Our theme for Week One is All About Me. This gives the opportunity for Club members to get to know each other and reconnect with old friends.

Day One is a group activity where each member creates their own puzzle piece and we can use these to create a wall display featuring the members of each group. You can find this project on Scholastic Teachables.

Day Two is part of the Healthy Habits program. We have created at pre/post test survey for use with grant monitoring. If you would like a copy of this to use with your site, just send me an email at jwood@bgcottawacounty.org.

Day Three is a Career Interest Survey that is part of our adapted Career Launch program. Since the national program is designed for older kids, we have adapted and created a program that fits with the age of Club members we serve. The survey that we use was created by College Foundation of North Carolina and is designed for elementary age kiddos. If you would like to use the same survey, you can find it here.

Day Four is a project from the Youth for Unity program. We use this program along with Smart Moves for social / emotional learning. 

Day Five is an adaptation of a project I have used during my days as a preschool teacher. I have found the easiest way to do this is to pair kids and have them work together tracing each other. If you have minimal space, you might opt to have members create a self portrait on regular size paper instead.

So, that's our first week in a nutshell. I'll be sharing our weekly program guides with our themes here as we go in case you want to adventure along with us.

Weekly Theme Plans - Quarter One

When preparing for a new school year, the task of planning can seem especially daunting. To help that not feel quite so large, we have a weekly theme that helps when planning.

Quarter One Weekly Plans

Week 1 - All About Me

Week 2 - Dinosaurs

Week 3 - Taking Flight

Week 4  - Volcanoes

Week 5 - Club Community

Week 6 - Community Helpers

Week 7 - Arg Me Hardies

Week 8 - Celebrating Hispanic Heritage

Week 9 - Whimsical Wonderland

These are not complete plans, but they do include the major programs for each week - Smart Moves, Healthy Habits, Career Launch, and Project Learn. A Unit Director will take these one page weekly plans and complete their daily planner filling in with other activities including Triple Play, Art, STEM, and Games.

Girl Scout Ways in April

I've worked with Girl Scouts for over two decades (it really doesn't feel like that long!) and one of the things I loved most about having a Girl Scout troop was our holiday and seasonal activities. The ideas I share in these monthly posts are from a New Leader Booklet that was shared with me when I started leading Girl Scout troops in the early 2000s. Since our council (and as far as I know any other) no longer shares this information, I want to make it accessible on the internet. Enjoy!

Have a "Silly Party" to celebrate April Fools Day. Call the girls prior to the party and tell them to wear whatever they have on at the moment (a "come as you are" idea). Have everyone bring something "different" to share as the food part of the party. Then, exchange presents - a totally useless/tacky item from around the house, wrapped beautifully. Play goofy games and sign silly songs.

Talk a walk and notice all the spring time changes. Don't forget to take a trash bag with you to pick up any trash you find along the way.

Celebrate Earth Day. Talk about recycling, cutting up six-pack rings, waste from fast food, etc. Bury different waste products (lettuce, apple, plastic, paper, Styrofoam). Plan to dig them up in six weeks and then again in six months.

Make recycled paper. Tear up paper and put in water in a bowl to soften. (You can add a small amount of colored paper to color your finished product). Put softened paper in blend, pour out onto an open section of newspaper. Place a piece of window screen over it and squeeze out excess water with a board. Let dry for several hours. Make invitations to the Court of Awards ceremony on the recycled paper.

Make "food chain" - paper chains starting with one thing and each ring is something that east that thing. Play some nature games. Another activity that would go with the food chain is to watch The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten (it's on Netflix and SchoolTube). 

Make travel sit-upons for bringing to Camporee. Decorate a square of fabric with markers and laminate with clear contact paper. The sit-upon can be folded and carried in a pocket.

Talk about fire safety and practice fire building with edible camp fires. Have the girls tie back hair and check for clothing that might dangle into the fire. Give out paper napkins (fire circle) and clear clear with a fork (rake). Make woodpile by stacking wood according to size (coconut - tinder, pretzels - kindling, and tootsie rolls -fuel). Fill cup with beverage (water bucket) and have a straw (poker). Check for wind direction (back should be to wind). Add two "mini-handfuls" of coconut tinder. Make an "A" with kindling in center of fire circle. Place red-hot (fire starter) under top bar of "A". Put candy corn (match) on fire starter to light. Add more candy corn (flames) and add more kindling and tootsie rolls (fuel). Put flames out by sprinkling from fire bucket (sip). Eat everything so you leave a clean fire circle.

April 6 is North Pole Day - a celebration of Arctic wilderness. Do some activities with magnets, discovering polarity. Learn how to use a compass.

April 7 is World Health Day. Is there a service project your troop could become involved with that promotes good health? Perhaps you could hold a drive to collect hygiene products to send to people in need. Tuck toiletries such as soaps, shampoos, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, face cloths, etc into a pair of new socks and tie with a ribbon. Perhaps you could even include gift cards for fast food chains as well. Donate to a homeless shelter.

April 14 is National Dolphin Day, to remember all sea creatures. Take part in a beach clean up or learn about sea creatures. Eat goldfish crackers and do a craft with fish.

Celebrate Spring! Decorate a pot with rubber stamps paint and plant a pretty flower.

Make butterflies with tissue paper twisted in the middle with a pipe cleaner or a clothespin.

Have a She and Me game day at a local park. You could have teams of girls and their adults taking part in different activities like three-legged races, egg toss, etc.

Initiate a book swap. 

Learn some simple facts about women scientists, Then put the name of one scientist on the back of each girl and let her go ask yes/no questions to figure out who she is. Only one question asked of each person!

Plant trees for Arbor Day!

Make a collection of tree leaves. Arrange the leaves carefully between sheets of newspaper or blotting paper and press them under bricks or books for several days. Mount the leaves neatly on sheets of poster board or drawing paper. Label each leaf with the name of the tree. Make sets to show which are deciduous and which are conifers or make plaster casts of leaves.

April Monthly Themes

 In what now feels like another lifetime, I was a preschool teacher. Each week we would have a new theme that I built our lessons around. It was fun and it gave a fresh look to our classroom. Weekly themes can easily be incorporated into your after school programs as well. I use a lot of Magic Tree House and the Magic School Bus when I plan our weekly themes. Our Book Buddies group reads the Magic Tree House books (our goal is to complete one book a month) and we use the Magic School Bus as a kick off for the science aspects of some of our Project Learn lessons. 

Week 1 Robin Life Cycles (featuring our returning pair Bertram and Bonnie and their nest)

Week 2 Plants & Photosynthesis
    - Magic School Bus Gets Planted Season 3, Episode 10

Week 3 Easter & Eggs

Week 4 Medieval Times & Castles
    - Magic Tree House #2 The Knight at Dawn 

Week 5 Frogs & Friends

We have a two-year rotation on our themes and revamp the projects that go with them when we revisit them to keep the projects fresh and fun. Our facility works with grades 1-3 so it's unlikely that kids will have repeat activities while they're with us. We do have some consistent themes (like our Robin life cycle celebrating the mating pair that has returned to our Club to make their nest for the last five years) but we will find different activities to pair with those themes to keep kids excited and engaged.

Read Across America Week

   Read Across America Week was always one of my favorites both as a youth and when my own children were growing up and it's something I still love today. My favorite part has to be the themed dress up days (even though the idea of just chilling out and reading all day is a very close second!). Not one to turn down a good dress up opportunity, here's our dress up line up for this year's Read Across America Week.

Monday - Fox in Socks: Wear your craziest socks (bonus points if they have foxes on them!)

Tuesday - Green Eggs & Ham: Wear green (and enjoy some green eggs and ham for snack today)

Wednesday - Wacky Wednesday: Anything goes (as long as it's Club appropriate) - crazy hair, clothes on backwards, even Halloween costumes!

Thursday - Thing Thursday: Grab a buddy and twin today

Friday - Oh the Places You'll Go - Career Day! Dress as the career of your choice today.

Spotlight on March

 Happy March, Friends! I hope you enjoy the March Spotlight post. Currently, there are Read Across America Week and Spring Break resources in the works. To be able to read the full newsletter, click on the image below to make full sized.

Much Love,