Girl Scouts: FINAL HEAD COUNT FOR WEDNESDAY RESTAURANT VOLUNTEERING

Hi everyone,

Please check in if you and/or your scout will be joining us Wednesday, and let me know if you're meeting at our house and need a ride, or if you're going straight to Trickle Bee.

I want to make sure we're not waiting for anyone who's no longer coming, and don't leave before everyone is here!

Thanks so much!

Aleks

Girl Scouts: Meeting Recap and Next Week Volunteer Time!

Hi everyone!

What a fun meeting!  The girls are really good at planning these.

Since several of the girls had to go to Lego League for the beginning of the meeting, we started a bit short--but the girls handled it very well.  After dividing up leadership roles, the girls took a few minutes to get themselves set, and then we got right into their action plan.

We started with a Quinn-led game of telephone to get us warmed up.  The girls quickly saw how fast messages could get confused and mixed up, and noticed how similar that could be to real life when rumors get spread, or when one person decides to repeat something they may have overheard in the halls or somewhere else at school.

Kendra led us in our second activity--challenging ourselves.  Each girl got a little notebook, and wrote out 10 ways they want to challenge themselves to break out of their comfort zone before the next meeting.  They decided they would even take notes when they finished their challenges noting how they felt before, during, and after they made their challenge attempts.  We'll see how the girls do next meeting when they decided they will check in and hold each other responsible.

After that, we moved over to Teagan and Eva's activity--comparing the various sorts of media to a 7-layer dip.  Like the dip, all the various kinds of media blend into each other and interact with each other so it's not always easy to separate them.  Plus the dip was delicious!

Finally, Carrie led us in considering how we would change a popular TV show to make it more accurate, appropriate and positive.  The hardest part was finding a TV show everyone had seen!  It finally turned out that "Jesse" from Disney was a show all the girls were familiar with.  They came up with a lot of really good thoughts, including avoiding stereotypes and stereotyping characters, to making relationships more realistic, and even considering the role of consequences for kids actions.  

We wrapped up by watching the movie "Period.  End of Sentence" as I mentioned before.  We didn't get a lot of time after to discuss it, so if you get a chance, please talk about the movie with the girls and discuss what messages and themes they took away from it.  (Notably, how the women of that village took something that they were extremely embarrassed about, and used it to empower themselves, earn a living, and help pursue their dreams--but only because they were brave and determined enough to challenge themselves to overcome the embarrassment.)  The girls also took some notes about movie making techniques that they thought worked well in a documentary.

NEXT WEEK:  VOLUNTEERING AT TRICKLE BEE

The plan would be to meet up at our house at 10:30 if your scout needs a ride, and expect them to be back at our house around 2:30.  If you want to bring your scout there directly, that's OK too, and you can go straight there anytime in the 11:00-2:00 window.  The address is:

4424 W North Ave. Milwaukee, WI

Happy Wednesday and Keep Scouting!

Aleks

Girl Scouts: Recap and Next Week!

Hi everyone!

Just a quick recap of what we did yesterday, and a peek at what the girls decided to do next week.

We started with a little activity to get our creativity rolling and also think about how headlines can sometimes be misleading--"News of the Day!" Each girl made up a headline or two about an ordinary occurance, but made the headline sound super dramatic.  Then we all tried to figure out what the real story was.  For example, can you guess what stories these are REALLY talking about? (Answers at the end.)

1)  Girl Caught with Addictive Substance at Greendale Middle School!

2)  Teacher Refuses to Let Students Speak Their Native Language In Class!

3)  Sky is falling!  

4)  Doctors HATE This Teacher For Ruining Their Income!

5)  The OCeans Are Moving!

6)  Teachers Force Students to Do Physical Labor!

7)  Disease Spreading Rampant Across Greendale Middle School!

8)  Teacher Doesn't Return to School After Students Drive Her Out!

Once we were feeling pretty creative we decided what to do next week, and the girls picked out these activities:

1)  Think of 10 ways to challenge yourself then check in next month.

2)  Remake a TV show, but make it more timely and appropriate

3)  Play the telephone game to show ho messages can get changed as they spread

4)  Make a 7-Layer Dip and think about how the layers blend into each other like different kinds of Media blend into each other.

We put together our snacks (caramel apple buffet!) and then watched a short documentary while taking notes about techniques and things the filmakers did that worked well and made the movie good.  (The movie was "Ladies First" a short documentary about a woman archer from India who was ranked #1 in the world, and the discrimination and challenges she faced in her quest for Olympic Gold.)  The girls took some good notes on what worked and things they want to incorporate into their movie.

I would like to watch one more movie next week, a short documentary called "Period. End of Sentence" that won the Oscar for Short Documentary last year.  It's rated TV-PG, but I wanted to make sure I ran it by all the parents first because it does talk about the taboo women in India faced about their periods and how they are overcoming it, using it to empower themselves, start a business, and gain independence in their male dominated rural village.  It actually was inspired and produced by a group of High School girls in California, so there's a double connection.  Here's more information about the movie.  It's on Netflix if you have that and want to preview it. (Or just want to watch it--it's very good and realistically inspirational!)

https://www.documentary.org/online-feature/period-end-sentence-transforming-taboo-cause

Let me know if you don't want your daughter watching it, and we can find some other activity for her, or you can pick her up a half hour early.  (It's only a half-hour movie.)

Thanks, and see you next week!

Answers to the Headline Stories above:

1)  A girl had coffee at school.

2)  The Spanish teacher has a rule:  "No English in Spanish class."

3)  It was snowing.

4)  Healthy Choices class helps keep kids healthy.

5)  There are waves on the ocean.

6)  Kids have to take gym class.

7)  Some kids have colds at GMS

8)  A math teacher got the flu and stayed home the last couple days.

Aleks

Girl Scout Reminders: Meeting, Nuts, and Movie Pro/Con Sheet

Hi everyone,

Just a couple quick reminders:

#1)  Meeting this Wednesday is a planning meeting, so it goes until 4:30

#2)  Remember to have your scout support or critique options for the MEdia journey movie they will be making.  Feel free to send the link to their email addresses so they can do it from their chromebooks if they want:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FfsMU-2KQhGWHyNOcidTxejFsrKPsmxJpoobXF_66e0/edit?usp=sharing

#3)  Nut sale products are (mostly) in the back of my van, and I'll have them sorted by scout by tomorrow afternoon.  So if you had a nut order, let me know when is good to pick it up and I'll make sure it's ready!

That's all for now,

Aleks

Girl Scouts: Meeting Next Wednesday, and Movie Topic Online Debate!

Hi everyone!

#1)  Just a quick reminder our next meeting is a planning meeting after school next Wednesday 11/13 from 3:00-4:30.  The following meeting is the next Wednesday, 11/20, and is an action meeting from 3:00-5:00.

#2)  Last meeting the girls brainstormed ideas for the movie they'll make as the culmination of their MEdia work.  To save some meeting time, and to keep the debate focused, I made a Pro/Con spreadsheet for the girls to fill in as a Google Spreadsheet.

It's pretty simple and probably self-explanatory, but here's an explanation anyways:

On the left side are listed all the topics they came up with.

After each topic are spaces for up to 10 Pro and 10 Con reasons for the girls to use that topic for their movie.  The girls can fill in any Pro and Con reasons they think of.  They can add as many or as few Pro or Con reasons to as many or as few topics as they want.  They don't just have to pick one topic, and they can think of both Pro and Con reasons for the same topic if they want.

As an example, I had Evie start filling in the "Pedestrian Safety/Rights and Driver Rules/Responsibilities" topic. (But she could have, and probably will do more later.)

The only rules are:  

• Don't delete anyone else's Pro or Con reasons, even if you disagree with them.
• Be respectful and appropriate.
• Keep in mind that we'll share the various reasons at the next meeting.

Here's the link, anyone with the link can edit the sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FfsMU-2KQhGWHyNOcidTxejFsrKPsmxJpoobXF_66e0/edit?usp=sharing

#3)  The girls picked volunteering at Trickle Bee, a volunteer run, pay-what-you-can restaurant, for our activity this month.  We're trying to set up their visit for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but are waiting to hear if they have room for us to help.  (it's a small restaurant!)  If we get the "OK," who would be available between 11:00-2:00 Wednesday 11/27?

See you next Wednesday!

Aleks