Girl Scouts: Don't forget for the meeting tomorrow!

Hi!

Don't forget to bring a day's worth of garbage to the meeting tomorrow (if you can!)  If you can't, that's alright, the girls can share if they have to.  Or, if you can bring it by a little later, that's OK too, we probably won't do the garbage sorting until 4:30 or so.

Aleks

Girl Scouts: Patch opportunity May 6th

Hi,

One of the projects the grade school PTO's have been working on has been to move election voting out of schools.  One of the fruits of that project is that this next Tuesday, May 6th, almost every elected official in Greendale will be meeting together to talk about the issue, and hear from the community.  The school board, the village board, and village president will all be there, so this is a unique opportunity for the girls to meet their elected officials, and see democracy in action on an issue that even touches their lives.  

The meeting is in the Safety Center (police station) and starts at 6:00.  I've included the agenda, if you're curious about what's going to be discussed.

If girls want to go, I know there are "civics" badges, and I'll make sure to have them for girls that attend.  I don't know if it's important for parents to stay with the girls, but it's probably a good idea--that way the girls can go home when it gets boring! 

Aleks Skibicki

Girl Scouts: Thursday meeting needs

Hi!

1)  Two more girls need rides from Highland View to College Park, and there's only one more spot available that I know of.  Does anyone else from Highland View going to the College Park meeting on Thursday have a seat open in a vehicle?

2)  For the scouts going to the meeting, to follow up on our Reduce-Reuse-Recycle theme, it would be great if you could bring one day's worth of garbage from your home to the meeting.  We'll spend some time sorting it out into piles of reduce-able, re-usable, and re-cyclable, to see how close we could get to becoming "zero-waste."  We'll wear gloves while sorting, but feel free to leave out meat-packaging, or disease-carrying garbage.  Also, please leave out anything sharp that could cut the girls--we haven't done our first-aid badge yet!

Thanks so much!

Aleks Skibicki

Girl Scouts: Rides on Thursday and Lego League!

Hello everyone!

First:  Thanks to all the girls and parents that helped pack up the boxes and boxes and boxes of cookies we're sending to the soldiers.  They will for sure be appreciated!  

Second:  At the moment, it looks like only Evie, Hannah, and Ellen need rides to College Park after school on Thursday to get to the meeting there.  Emma's mom had room for the three of them in her van.  I'll email the families who needed rides her information after this.  If anyone else needs a ride to College Park, or has room in case someone else needs a ride, let me know ASAP and I'll connect you with each other!

Third:  Based on the feedback I received, I registered 2 teams (Rock Star Girls and Super Star Girls) as Lego League Teams this year.  Which means we have room for up to 12 girls to be Lego League-ers and work to engineer a solution to this year's challenge:  "Disaster Blaster."  I've included the "Challenge Information" .pdf as an attachment so you can see if it's something your scout would be interested in.  The teams will work mostly outside of the GS group, as their own teams, and can present their projects to the GS troop as a whole when they finish it up.  If we don't get 12 GS girls, we can open it up to other girls from 6-9 years old.  

See (some of) you Thursday!

Aleks Skibicki

Girl Scouts: Great Meeting, and (more) Updates

Hello everyone!

Great meeting!  Someone learned better time management!  And that someone was me!

We worked on Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle by doing all three of them.

We learned to Reduce our waste by learning to make our own glass cleaner--that works amazingly!  The recipe is:  1 Tbs Vinegar, 1 Tbs Rubbing alchohol, 1/2 Tsp Cornstarch, 1/2 Cup Water.  Shake, and spray.  (The shaking is important; you want to make sure the cornstarch is mixed up every time you use it.)

We learned to Reuse our old stuff, by using old magazines as jewelry and making magazine-paper-bead necklaces.

We learned to Recycle, by recycling old scrap paper into new paper with seeds in it that we can use to plant in a garden or other green space.  

I found some great "Recycling Rocks!" patches at the Girl Scout store, so look for those to come home for your girls' sashes soon.

Just one new announcement:  We have one meeting in June.  Since we have four 3rd graders in our troop who will become Junior Scouts at the end of this year, and get their green sashes, I'd like to use that last meeting as a Bridging party for them.  Can all of our 3rd graders come to the meeting on June 5th?  If they can't, we'll schedule a bridging ceremony and party at a different time.  I just thought this would be a good time for all our girls to congratulate our 3rd graders on moving up to the green.  

And don't worry, they'll have green sashes, and be Junior Girl Scouts, but they're still welcome and a part of our Girl Scout Family.  In fact, Ms. Kelly and I made sure we had an extra Troop Number (we're technically 8035 and 8036) so the girls can stay together if they want to stay together--I know that's been an issue at College Park when one part of a troop moved up a GS rung, and another part didn't.  We may start to give them extra responsibilities as helpers during meetings, and things like that though...with great uniforms come great responsibilities!

Thanks again,

Aleks Skibicki

Girl Scouts: Some repetition (but only because it's important)

Hi,

Just some repetition, because a mistake could really cause confusion!

1)  The meeting tomorrow is at Highland View!  It's our May 1st meeting (next Thursday) that's at College Park.

2)  This Saturday is the Green Living Festival at the Domes.  It looks AWESOME.  Let me know if you're planning to attend.  We'll all meet in the lobby at 12:00, but if you want to go early and meet us back out there at noon, the event itself runs from 9AM-4PM.  Here's a link with the schedule to see what your scout might enjoy.  There's a lot going on, so we can coordinate our trip to make sure the scouts have fun.  I'll make sure to bring patches with me too!

http://county.milwaukee.gov/FloralShowampEventSc10360/GreenLiving.htm

As always, if you want the troop to cover admission, just let me know and it's done!

3)  I'll send a paper sign-up for the May meeting home this Friday, but the SignUp Genius page is up and ready online.  I'm still planning some activities, but Greendale's Waste Management manger will be coming to talk to us about recycling, and what happens to our trash after we throw it away.  (Is it like the end of Toy Story 3?)  Here's the meeting sign up link:  

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FA5AD22A13-maybrownie

4)  Please let me know if you can come to our Cookie Packing Party this Friday 6-8 in the Art Room at HV.  We have a lot of packing to do, and we'd like to get lots of cards from the girls to pack along with the cookies and blankets we made.  Parents don't have to stay, but if you would be able to, let me know so we can keep you there if we need you.

Thanks, and see some of you tomorrow!

Aleks Skibicki

Girl Scouts: Friday Cookie Packing Party

Hello!

Here's the email I promised about our Cookie Packing Party.

We'll be in the Art Room at Highland View from 6:00-8:00, and we'll be putting together cookie care packages for troops overseas.  We'll be packing up the blankets we made at the nursing home, cookies, and cards that we'll be making at the party too.  We have a lot of cookies to pack, so we could use as much help as we can get.  We could also use 6 parents as supervisors.  (Less if there'll be less attendance.)  

Thanks a million!  We worked so hard to get this many cookies to share; it's amazing to see them ready to go.  It will help let the men and women on the other side of the world know we haven't forgotten about them, nor are we taking them for granted.

Aleks

Girl Scouts: A Handful of Updates!

Hello!  

There are a bunch of questions and updates for you, so I'll get right to it!

1)  Our "last Thursday in April" meeting is this Thursday!  If you haven't picked a meeting yet, sign up at the Sign Up Genius Page ASAP!  And remember, after all the dust settled, it ended up that this Thursday's meeting will be in the usual place/time--Mrs. bushman's room 103 at Highland View.  Which brings us to:

2)  Our "first Thursday in May" meeting is May 1st,  and it IS at College Park, in the music room. If your scout wants to attend that meeting, but needs a ride over from Highland View, let me know as soon as you can so I can arrange it.  I may even be one of the parents whose scout needs a ride--we'll have to coordinate getting set up and ready for the College Park scouts, with getting the Highland View scouts over there!

I have a May Meeting SignUp Genius Page set up at the link below, so please sign up and let me know when and where to expect you:

http://www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0A4FA5AD22A13-maybrownie

3)  April 26th Green Living Festival at the Domes:  It's time to earn an Earth Day patch by visiting the Green Living Festival at the Domes.  We have a confirmation that the event is ON, and it should be a great time to learn and have fun.  There's a link with more information below.  Please let me know if you plan on attending so I can get enough Earth Day patches!  I know a bunch of the girls have a soccer game until 11:00, so we should be able to meet at the domes at noon and still have a great time.  (Seriously, check out the link, it looks awesome!)

http://county.milwaukee.gov/FloralShowampEventSc10360/GreenLiving.htm

4)  Fishing last weekend.  Did everyone who went get a patch?  I'm sorry I couldn't be there, so I want to make sure anyone who went (and braved the rain!) gets their badge!

5)  Gardening this year.  Earn your gardening patch, by signing up for a shift this summer taking care of the College Park, Highland View, or Canterbury gardens.  You can sign up here:

Highland View:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FA5AD22A13-highland1  

College Park:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FA5AD22A13-college1

Canterbury:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FA5AD22A13-canterbury

6)  Keep your eyes open for an email Tuesday morning.  We want to get our Cookie Share Cookies sent to our "adopted" Army troops overseas before it's so hot the cookies all melt, so we're going to have a cookie and gift-wrapping party either Wednesday or Friday after school.  We won't know which until Tuesday morning, so we'll send out the information then!

I think that's everything for now.  I hope you got a chance to enjoy this wonderful day!

Aleks Skibicki

Girl Scouts: Fishing Saturday

Hello everyone!

What awesome weather!  And it looks like Saturday will be amazing too!  It'll be a great time for the girls to learn about fishing at Scout Lake Park.  If everyone meets up at noon at the building in scout lake park, (by the lake) that should work great.  You don't need to bring equipment or anything like that.  It's all provided.

I do need to beg a favor though--unfortunately, a last minute scheduling snafu means Evie and I won't be able to go :( , and I'm going to the GS store tomorrow to pick up fishing-related patches for the girls.  Is there some parent that is going that I could drop the patches off with tomorrow and could get them to the girls that go?  The Walleyes Unlimited group that's running the event does a great job, so it should be a great time for the girls, and I'm pretty sad to miss it.  

Thanks so much!

Aleks

Girl Scouts: Meeting Notes and April 24th Update and Fishing April 12th

Hello again everyone!

What a busy busy busy meeting on Thursday!  Thanks so much to Katrina Cooper for helping out--we couldn't have done it without you!  And to Mr. Connor for bringing our snack and drink!

First, the weather calmed down just enough for us to have a chance to take a walk around the school and pick up litter.  The girls did a great job picking up around the school.  I think they made a difference and made the school look a little cleaner and brighter!

After that, we started the meeting talking about the 3 r's:  Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, and the girls had some great ideas on how to do all three!

Then we split into groups to do two different recycling projects.  Because of time constraints, not everyone got a chance to do both projects.  Everyone did at least make some recycled paper, so I'll start with that.  We started by building framed-in screens and ripping up old newspaper and paper bags, and other waste paper.  We put the waste paper in a blender with some warm water, and added some cinnamon (since we decided to make air fresheners with our recycled paper.)  After blending the paper into a paste, we put it on our screens and spread it nice and flat and pressed it to dry.  By now your recycled paper should be dry.  The girls can cut it into whatever shape they like, or leave it natural, and it should have a nice cinnamon-y smell wherever they leave it.  

Second, some of the girls made rolled-paper bead necklaces.  Those are pretty much just what they sound like.  It was neat to see the girls experiment with different shapes and sizes of paper to roll into beads.  Some of their jewelry looked pretty good!

Looking at the April 24th meeting, and watching it snow (SNOW!) outside right now, I think we'll keep that meeting at Highland View.  As I mentioned we will for sure be at College Park on 5/1, the following Thursday, so we're not waiting too long for our College Park scouts' chance to show off!

Finally, next Saturday (April 12th) is the Scout Lake Fishing Clinic.  If we wanted to meet up there at noon, how would that work for people?

See you soon!

Aleks Skibicki

Girl Scouts: IMPORTANT APRIL 24th MEETING UPDATE!

Hi,

I just got back from College Park, where there had been some confusion on when we needed to be there.  It turns out 4/24 is the Museum Night/Open House at College Park, and  the whole school will be getting ready for that, so we can't have a room there for the 24th after all.

After everything was double (and triple) checked, we do have space (the music room) on 5/1, the first Thursday meeting in May.  

Which leaves us with a question for the 24th:

Do we stick with Highland View, OR, would we like to plan to take a walk down to Scout Lake park, and do our meeting there?

Sorry to keep switching back and forth on this.  I should have known everything was going too smoothly!

Aleks Skibicki

Girl Scouts: Just a quick reminder, a request, an announcement, and a heads-up!

Hello again!

A reminder:

Our "First Thursday" April meeting is coming up this Thursday.  If you haven't signed up here:  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FA5AD22A13-april please do to let me know whether to expect you this Thursday or on the 24th.  This should be a fun one, since we're going to be focusing on Earth Month and community service.  We'll start by cleaning up around the school and then move inside for some green activities.  (We'll either make our own recycled paper, or make our own environmentally friendly cleaning products.  We'll see how testing goes tomorrow!)

A request:

Can anyone stay and help at the meeting tomorrow?  Ms. Kelly won't be able to be there, so while Kathleen will be there for most of the meeting, I think I'll need an extra set of eyes and  hands if I can.

An announcement:

We have a space to have our meeting at College Park on the 24th--the principal is letting us have our meeting in the music room there!  I'm pretty excited, and think it's great that our College Park scouts will get a chance to show off their home turf.

A heads-up:

I sorted out a pile of patches yesterday, and will be dropping them off with teachers tomorrow morning before school.  I sorted the parade patches, the World Thinking Day patches for scouts that didn't get the patch right at a meeting in March, the patches for the Cool Waters Girl Scout party back in August, and a couple other stragglers that had been floating around looking for homes.  IF you think you're missing a patch (for example, you know your scout was in the 4th of July or Village Days parade, but I didn't include a parade patch) please let me know.  I tried to do the best I could, but its always possible something slipped by me!  I promise I didn't mean to leave anyone out if anyone is missing anything!

See you soon!

Aleks