College Park Girl Scouts: Fun Service Opportunity

Hello Girl Scouts!

Next Monday (5/4) we're looking for a few girls who aren't afraid of getting muddy to help clean up the College Park garden area and get it ready for planting.

We'll be working on it after school, probably for less than an hour.  Gloves and tools will be provided.  It'd be great to see you there! Let me know if you can join us.

(Parents welcome too!)

Thanks,

Aleks

Saturday 5/2 Brownie Event at Discovery World

Hello everyone!

Is anyone free on Saturday morning?  Due to cancellations, we have 5 spots available for anyone who wants them, to go to Discovery World and be a home scientist.

The only catch is that you have to arrange your own ride--though if multiple people are going, I'll help arrange carpools if you like.  (Unfortunately, it looks like Evie's one of the cancellations.) 

It's 10:00AM-Noon, at Discovery World.  The spots are paid for already, so just show up.  You'd have to pay for parking, but if that's going to cause you not to be able to go, just send me an email and we'll have the troop cover it.  (We just finished selling a lot of cookies.. )

Here's the description:

"Have you ever wondered how crystals are formed? Girls Scouts will learn how to create non-Newtonian matter, explore the difference between a solid, liquid, and gas, and study chemical reactions. Girl Scouts will be introduced to the science behind static electricity and more as they discover the science that takes place right in their homes."

Anyone?

Thanks!

Aleks

Girl Scouts: Campout date correction

Hello!

The June campout dates I sent were shifted one day--the choices are all over the weekend of the 19-20-21, not the 18-19-20th.

So the choices will be:

Sleepover Camp 6/19-20, or

Daycamp 6/20, or

Sleepover Camp  6/20-21, or

Sleepover 7/17-18.

That's all for now!

Aleks

Girl Scouts: Discovery World and Troop Campout Dates

Hello everyone!

First:  May is almost here, and there are Discovery World trips for both 3rd and 4th graders coming up.

For 3rd Graders:  on 5/2 (Saturday) from 10:00-Noon there is the "Home Scientist" workshop:

"Have you ever wondered how crystals are formed? Girl Scouts will learn how to create non-Newtonian matter, explore the difference between a solid, liquid and gas and study chemical reactions. Girl Scouts will be introduced to the science behind static electricity and more as they discover that science takes place right in their home."

I have Tiki,Emmi, and Evie down as attending, and I was able to get 2 more spots from Discovery World, so if your scout might be interested, let me know!

For 4th Graders:  on 5/20 6-8PM there's the "Junior Detective" workshop:

"A crime has been committed at Discovery World and we need your help to figure out who did it! Become a detective as you learn how to decode messages,identify fingerprints, and use microscopes to analyze hair samples left at the scene. Gather evidence from the crime scene and see if you can solve the mystery."

I have Gabby, Sara L., Adrhia, and Olivia down as attending, and was also able to get 2 more spots from Discovery World for a couple other scouts if they're interested.

Also for 3rd Graders:  on 5/20 6-8PM there's the Discovery World "Senses" workshop:

"Are you a supertaster? Do certain smells remind you of different memories? Can you hear a pin drop from a mile away? Find out the answers to these questions and much more as you reveal the science of your five senses. Girl Scouts will perform scientific experiments to learn how their senses work"

I just added that to our calendar since the Lighthouse Senses workshop got replaced with the Letterboxing trip last weekend.  There's room for up to six scouts to attend.

Second:  Troop Campout Dates!

We have our Troop Campout dates locked in!  As in the past, we'll be at Ross Lodge in Whitnall Park.  Also as in the past, your scout has some choices:

1)  She can do an overnight from 4:00PM Friday June 18th-6:00PM Saturday June 19th.  We'll do some activities Friday night and have a campfire dinner and night-time hike, then on Saturday we'll do camp activities throughout the day including hikes, games, and crafts.

2)  She can do just a day camp Saturday 6/19 9:00AM-6:00PM (or later if she wants to stick around).  This way she'll get to do the camp activities.

3)  She can do an overnight from 9:00AM Saturday 6/19 to 10:00AM Sunday 6/20.  She'll get to do the camp activities Saturday, stay overnight and have a camp breakfast in the morning.

4)  She can do an overnight from 4:00PM Friday July 17th -4:00PM Saturday July 18th.  We'll do some activities Friday night and have a campfire dinner and night-time hike, then on Saturday we'll do camp activities throughout the day including hikes, games, and crafts.  NOTE:  For the July date, our day time activities will be throughout Whitnall park as we have to be checked out of Ross Lodge by 10:00 AM on Saturday.

So, start thinking about which choice you prefer.  I'll get sign up pages set up soon, and will send them out when they're ready.

Aleks

 

Girl Scouts: Meeting Recap

Hello everyone,

That was a really fun meeting.  It was great that the weather was wonderful too.  If you're trying to piece it together from kid reports, here's the recap:

First:  Every girl who had been at last month's meeting got her "World Thinking Day" patch.  Make sure you get that from your scout!  

The theme for the meeting was "Earth Day"

We started by taking a look at a few products from the grocery store and figuring out what parts of the packaging could be recycled, and also designing new packaging that would be less wasteful--focusing on the "reduce" part of "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle."

Then we spent some time talking about water pollution and litter, and talking about how it's not just ugly looking, but kills marine life.  We also talked about the floating island of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that's as bg as the entire continental United States.  (Yikes!)

To get a feel for that size, we measured the perimeter of the US map on the playground with a rope, than moved that over next to the US to see how big the floating garbage island really is.  We were surprised by how many Wisconsins could fit into it!

Then we put on gloves and grabbed some bags and cleaned up litter around our school.  We made a log of all the garbage and litter we found, and went back inside to figure out what the most common litter around the school was, to figure out who might have caused that litter, and figure out what we can do to reduce that litter.  (Answers:  recycle more, get outside garbage cans, tell other kids to not litter.)

Finally, to "Reuse" we made wire-cage necklaces with found beach glass.  The girls really seemed to like those, and made some really good-looking jewelry!  It was also neat to see girls that thought they couldn't do it figure out that they really could!  These girls can do anything!

Then we had a snack and went home with big smiles and a drive to make the world a better place.

Happy Scouting!

Aleks

Girl Scouts: Anyone else for this weeks meetings?

Hello everyone!

Just checking in to make sure I have enough supplies.  I know a lot of you haven't signed up for either of the meetings.  If you plan on coming, please sign up now.  I won't have time to get extra supplies tomorrow for scouts that I didn't know were coming.

Sign up here:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ad22a13-april1

Thanks so much!

Aleks

Girl Scouts: One more call for Letterboxing at the Lighthouse!

Hello!

I need to get a final count to the Lighthouse ASAP.  I currently just have Evie, Dea, and Lilly going on April 18th, 9AM-Noon.

I'll send them the final count tomorrow around noon, so please let me know ASAP!  Like I said, 4th graders are welcome.  I actually have a feeling this will be right up their alley:

The girls will use compasses and coordinates to discover letterboxes around the North Point Lighthouse with historic stamps to collect in their "letterboxing notebooks".  They'll also make their own letterboxes that the other girls can discover back around Greendale.

Letterboxing was the inspiration for geocaching, and has been a fun recreation for people as far back as Victorian times (long before GPS!)  The lighthouse person in charge of the event is SUPER excited about it too.

Aleks

Girl Scouts: April 18th at the Lighthouse--Make Up Day for a Badge

Hello again everyone,

I know it's coming up quickly, it snuck up on me too, but the Lighthouse has finished its repairs, and we'll be able to do the Letterboxing Badge there on April 18th to make up for the Senses badge event being canceled back in February.  The event is from 9:00-12:00 that morning, (so we can still make our game Strikers!) at the North Point Lighthouse.  If I remember correctly, I registered 7 girls for the event, so we have that many spaces available for us for this event.  

Here's what "Letterboxing" is:  http://www.letterboxing.info/articles/00000001.php

Let me know if your scout is interested!  Officially this is a "Brownies" (2-3rd grade) event.  If we don't get enough Brownie interest, I can probably open it up to a 4th grader, so let me know too.

Aleks

Girl Scouts: April Meeting Date Choices

Hello everyone!

That was a lot of cookie selling--amazing job!  This month, we'll be having an Earth Day related meeting, which should be a ton of fun.  We'll make some reusing-objects jewelry, playing some games about the environment, and depending on the weather, taking some time to help clean up our local school environment too.

I've capped each meeting day's attendance at 20, BUT if parent helpers sign up for either day, I'll open that up to more--I know Thursdays often break that 20 mark, which is kind of tough for just 2-3 parents to wrangle.

Here's the sign up page:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FA5AD22A13-april1

See you there! 

Aleks Skibicki