TAKING ACTION, CROSSING THE BRIDGE

Friday was our final meeting of the year and we reminded ourselves of our talents, self-imposed guidelines, and accomplishments. We also sang some songs and prepared for our Take Action project at Glenoaks Stable today.

This morning we were able to clean almost all of the saddles and bridles as well as organize the boots and helmets in the stable tack room. We also learned how to properly groom a horse.



Some of the girls, the rising 4th years, walked the bridge at Briones Park to become Junior Girl Scouts. It has been a busy, and rewarding, two days.

Have a fun summer!

Unlocking the Brownie Quest

This afternoon we discussed our final step to unlocking the Brownie Quest and made a really cool craft to remember our journey. The necklace, series of overlapping discs, resembles the various layers of the year. How we consider ourselves, our family, our troop, our community, and world. The girls brought these home plus the badge series. Information on placement can be found here: http://www.girlscouts.org/content/dam/girlscouts-gsusa/forms-and-documents/our-program/uniforms/with%20links%20diagram%20gs_brownie_vest_sash_insignia.pdf

We talked about our slightly revised plans for the upcoming TAKE ACTION project (ask your daughters!) which we hope to finalize very soon.

The girls also planned the final Bridging Ceremony. 

Connecting and Taking Action!

This afternoon, the girls explored the "circles" of their lives, nominated and voted on their Take Action project. The remainder of our meetings will be used to execute and learn about the project.

We discussed the Healthy Commitment cards in relation to our family circle--healthy eating, exercise, and good sleep were some of the things the girls had acted upon in the last weeks.

We listed possibilities for taking action in our school, community gardens, people and animal shelters. Almost all of the girls supported an action with animals and ultimately decided on a project involving the Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority (remember the cute dogs and cats??).

They then wrote group letters to our friends there asking for general direction and permission to clean cages, feed, and entertain the animals. Can't wait to find out what we hear!

Beginning Our Journey: The Brownie Quest

Yesterday we began the Brownie Quest journey. 

This journey, culminating in series of four badges (below), will occur over seven consecutive  meetings and will bring us to the end of the Brownie year at Bowman. 

The girls began unlocking keys to learn more about themselves, their sister Brownies, 

and what they value.

The girls have some homework this week focusing on making a family star. 

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Connecting at World Thinking Day

Today, Brownies connected with Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the globe at World Thinking Day. Although the event was held in Palo Alto, gatherings like it occurred in many countries at the same time. The girls tasted, crafted, wrote postcards to Scouts in Ankara, Turkey and voted on the New Zealand (new) flag among other things.

They also traded S.W.A.P.S. 

What are they and what do they mean? See below.

Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere orShare With A Pal

The History

The origin of SWAPS is Native American. Potlatch is the ceremonial exchange of gifts practiced by Native Americans of Northwest Coastal tribes. The custom stems from the legend explaining why birds have colored feathers. As the story goes, two Indian girls plucked feathers of a magic bird and distributed the multi-colored plumage to the colorless birds living in the forest. From that time on, birds have had brightly colored feathers and those gifts were remembered at potlatch ceremonies.

Families were summoned to the potlatch by a messenger carrying a bundle of sticks representing the number of people to be invited. The ceremony included speeches, songs, dances, games, races, and refreshments. The host and members of his family were costumed and enacted legends about their heritage. The gift giving came last of all, just before the guests departed. Since potlatch gifts were symbols of the families status in the village, they were often quite elaborate, often being carved boxes, canoes, dishes, jewelry, mats and baskets. The potlatch ceremony was given to commemorate the births, deaths, marriages, or coming of age of members of the group. (1)

The idea of SWAPS was started at the original National Roundup Conferences.

At that time a SWAP was a little remembrance that one Scout gave another. SWAPS are handmade, thus the girl is giving a part of herself to show friendship. Swaps are exchanged at National Conventions, Council events, Wider Ops, SU or neighborhood events, troop meetings and most frequently at day camp. They can have a tag attached with the event name and date or the Troop number, Council name or State. (2) In some countries SWAPS are called hat crafts.

Swapping promotes friendship. encourages girls to talk to other people.

SWAPS are great mementos of a good time as well as a great way to share something about where we live and what we do. (1)

Home Scientists at the Tech Museum

Brownies at the Tech Museum!

We had a fun day yesterday learning about various scientific properties and making pepper dance, our own ice cream, and blubber.

At the end of the day we earned the Home Scientist badge ( a skills-building badge supporting our journey It's Your World - Change It! Brownie Quest).

This badge can be placed on the side of the vest under the Brownie pin. See previous post for details.

To date, we have completed the Legacy Badges and Financial Literacy Badges for this year. At the next meeting (March 11) we will begin digging into our journey!

An experiment to try at home:

Grow rock candy

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/FoodSci_p005.shtml#summary

SAFETY FIRST

Former Bowman Facility Manager and current staff member, Erin Knight, spoke about safety at our school, in our community, and in the larger world. The girls were really interested in the discussion of natural disasters. We examined floor plans of the Tech Museum in San Jose and formed our own safety plan for tomorrow's outing (ask the girls about it!). The girls earned the Safety Award Pin.

This afternoon we completed our discussion on the budget work the girls have undertaken over the last several months, earning the Money Manager badge. The Philanthropy badge was also given out today.

The Safety Award Pin is placed on the same side of the vest as the numbers. The other two triangle badges can be placed below it with the other legacy badges.

Hiller Aviation Museum

We had an EXCELLENT tour at Hiller today under the rainbows and with Jon. 

The girls learned the parts of a plane, sat in the cockpits, built and flew their own gliders, and learned about women in aviation.

THE GIRL SCOUT WAY

This afternoon, Jackie Garcia from the Ecumenical Hunger Program http://www.ehpcares.org

visited the girls and spoke to them about her job, what happened to the food we donated to EHP in December, and what constitutes an emergency.

As always, the girls had tons of good questions.

We also mapped out where the closest emergency services (fire, police, and hospital) are to Bowman as a beginning to our safety award.

We heard from former scouts (ahem, there were four in the room) about their fond memories of Girl Scouts.

Thanks to everyone who provided snack, stories, and help.

The girls received the Girl Scout Way legacy badge today.

Where Wishes Come True: Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority

We checked something off of our 2015-16 wish list today by visiting the SVACA. Thanks to our new friends Leonor and Patty, we learned about the center and how to relate to the animals there.

We then hung out with some dogs and cats.

Painting

We focused on creating today and met an artist! Bowman's very own art teacher Kristin Silver. Kristin spoke to us about her path as an artist and showed some of her work.

The girls then set to work themselves. The Brownies first painted different emotions (very colorful!) while the Daisies began making three-dimensional objects.

The Brownies explored ways of painting without a brush--and loved it.

They paired off and drew portraits.

They also cleaned, cleaned, cleaned and left the teacher's lounge a bit sparklier and smelling nicer (thanks to the lavender bouquets) than it was before we met this afternoon.

By the day's end, the Daisies had continued farther with their journey while the Brownies completed all steps for the Painting badge and one activity toward the Girl Scout Way badge. 

Both are triangular legacy badges.