Ames Brownies

Mar 28, 2011

Girl Scouts Prepare for 100th Anniversary

We are going to bein great company as thousands of Girls Scouts visit the Birthplace next year. Click here to read all about it.

Mar 26, 2011

EARTH HOUR SATURDAY MARCH 26th

Earth Hour 2011

will ask the world to:

Switch off your lights for Earth Hour at

8.30pm, Saturday 26 March 2011

and celebrate your commitment to the planet

with the people of the world

Our Girls are Great Recyclers!

Cameron had just a few bags to count this month....Can you see my puppy in the lower left corner ....
she is white and matches the bags......

Mar 23, 2011

Camp Pokanoka

Cami Grant and I will be heading up to Camp Pokanoka during the spring Break to take a look around.
We will get more pictures for you of the facilities....

June 3-5^th Camping Things to pack…..

BUG SPRAY

Swim suit

BUG SPRAY

Good walking shoes

BUG SPRAY

Mess Kits

Did I mention BUG SPRAY?

Girls asked for Tents...... I opted for TABINS instead..... a tent/Cabin

Shower and washroom nearby~

Each Tabin Sleeps 8

Here is the Kicker .....Outdoor cooking..... so when the girls plan the meals they will have to plan accordingly.

I am not called Fearless Leader for nothing~

Mar 20, 2011

Meeting March 22nd

SUPPLIES NEEDED: Fabric swatch: About 4 x 4 Got extras bring them along........

Snack: Mia

Secretary : Claire

Recycler: Cami

Clean Up: Briyana and Amber

Am. Flag: Quincy

Am. Flag CG:Zosia

GS Flag: Tess

GS Flag CG: Alessia

Caller: Mazzy

Focus: What’s for Dinner? Menu planning for Camp

One more Swap~

3:15- 3:20

3:20- 3:30 Flag Ceremony

3: 35-3:45 Brownie Circle/ Ring

· Secretary Minute: Gather any materials not already given to her. take attendance

Troop Business

· Site Sales March 12th

· Food drive –Continues

· Plastic bag recycle- Cami

· Cookie Sales TOP 3 sellers/donations: All awards will be given in May when we rec. them from Council

3:45-4:20

Activitiy

SWAP Crafts exchange with troop in Georgia

Whats for Dinner? Menu Planning for Camp

4:25- 4:30 Clean up

4:30 Friendship squeeze : Mia /Closing

Mar 19, 2011

Penny Drive Begins

Beginning March 22, our Troop will be hosting a Penny Drive

to Raise Funds for our 100 Year Celebration trip to

Georgia.

To collect is really easy.

1. Find a jar/container with lid

2. Tell friends and family That you are saving pennies for Brownies.

3.Using coin King at the Riverside Bank Count your coins.

4.Fill in deposit slip and deposit funds into your Troop 41588 Girl Scout Account

( Mrs. Winkler will give each girl 2 deposit slips with our account #)

5. turn in Deposit slip receipt to Mrs. Winkler

You will be surprised how fast the coins add up

This fundraiser will continue on through next year so once you fill your jar, start again.

Mar 12, 2011

Another Successful Site Sale

81 boxes of cookies in 3 hours. 27 boxes per hour

$82 dollars in DONATIONS~ $27.33 Per hour

Not a bad Day for our Troop

Thanks Mrs. Kawiecki, Mrs. Adams for coming out with the girls

Mollie, Lulu, Cami, Emily and Claire you all did a great job!

Happy 99th Birthday Girl Scouts~

March 1912 Violet troop
First Girl Scout troop formed in the United States

Mar 9, 2011

All about the S.W.A.P.S.

Another busy meeting..... We learned about the history of S.W.A.P.S. and made some for fellow girl Scouts in Georgia... Troop 22551 out of Conyers Georgia.

Picture Swaps

Fortune Cookie Swaps

Smore Swaps

To see all our S.W.A.P.S. photos.... Click here

Mar 8, 2011

COOKIE MONEY DUE /March 9th by 7pm

Please drop off cookie money and donations to Mrs. Winkler by 7 pm Wednesday March 9th.

Thank you to those who have dropped it off today.

Top earners will be announced at the next meeting. All prizes will be awarded in May once we receive them from council.

REMINDER NEXT COOKIE SALE

Saturday March 12th 9:00am 12:00pm

Jewel Osco 438 Madison Street Oak Park, IL

Those girls who have not participated in a site sale

should plan on attending.

If you have done a site sale and would like to participate

again you are more than welcome.

Please contact Mrs. Winkler to let her know you will be attending.

We have roughly 60 boxes to sell so hopefully we wont need the full 3 hours. Please bring a slip of paper with the phone number you can be reached should the sale end earlier than planned.

Joan Kanatas and Christine Kawiecki will be the moms in charge during this sale.

Mar 3, 2011

Next meeting March 8th

SUPPLIES: Do you have a hot glue gun/ glue sticks you could send along?

Fabric swatch: About 4 x 4 Got extras bring them along........

Snack: Amber

Secretary : Cami

Recycler: Briyana

Clean Up: Mazzy and Amber

Am. Flag: Mollie

Am. Flag CG:Tess

GS Flag: Quincy

GS Flag CG: Zosia

Caller: Alessia

Focus: Whats a SWAP?

3:15- 3:20

3:20- 3:30 Flag Ceremony

3: 35-3:45 Brownie Circle/ Ring

· Secretary Minute: Gather any materials not already given to her. take attendance

Troop Business

· Site Sales March 12th

· Food drive –Continues

· Plastic bag recycle- Briyana

· Thinking day postcards

3:45-4:20

Activitiy

SWAP Crafts exchange with troop in Georgia

4:25- 4:30 Clean up

4:30 Friendship squeeze : Amber /Closing

· Next Meeting MARCH 22nd

Feb 22, 2011

REPOST OF OCTOBER 2 2010 Blog

This is fallen way low low in our blogger list I am reposting it for your convenience.

Oct 2, 2010

A whole bunch of information for you!~Dear Parents,

We are very excited to begin our 2^nd and last year as Brownie Troop 41588 here at Ames. Those girls who wish to continue on as Girl Scouts, will have the opportunity to do Bridging activities that will help them next year as Junior Girl Scouts.

We have 11 girls who will be joining us this year.

Cameron, Mia, Claire, Zosia, Quincy, Emily, Amber, Briyana, Tess , Lulu and Mollie

We have a wonderful group of Moms and friends who will take various roles in the troop, all with the goal of making this a memorable year for our Brownies.

Please read over following packet with our Brownie Troop information and feel
free to contact any of the leaders below with any questions you may have.

We have so many exciting things planned…..we hope you can join us as we and our last year of Brownies and prepare our girls to move on to the next step in the Great World of Scouting.

Sincerely,

Brownie Troop Leaders
Wendy Winkler
Joan Kanatas

Information:

In keeping with our paperless pledge, when possible we will Contact parents via email of troop happenings. A blog has been set up at blogger and parents are encouraged to become followers of the blog.

http://amesbrownies.blogspot.com/

Meeting & Snack Schedule:

2^nd and 4^th Tuesdays a month……unless otherwise noted below due to school holidays , 3:15 pm – 4:30pm

Snacks may include finger foods:cheese, crackers, grapes, apples, bananas, granola, yogurt?
Girls will be required to bring a reusable water bottle to fill with water for snack.
*Snack girl will also be responsible for starting the Friendship squeeze in the Friendship Circle "see explanation at the end of this letter"

While parents are not required to attend monthly meetings, on occasion they will be asked to participate in various events or outing and are strongly encouraged to volunteer time to at least one meeting. If you can help in any capacity, please contact any one of the Leaders listed above.

Badges:

Badges will be earned over a period of several meeting. Badges will be handed out at meetings and the final ceremony at the end of the year.
Please see below diagram for placement on the vest or contact Wendy

Camp Schedule:

November 13^th: Day trip TBA
June 3^rd – 5^th: Weekend trip TBA

Ceremonies

Brownies Bridge to Juniors: TBA

No January Investiture will be done this year as we have no new scouts to our troop.

Membership Dues:
* $12 = Girl Scouts of America Membership Fee

* $12= Adult membership fee: dues will cover the membership into the GSUSA and will include an automatic insurance coverage from the GSUSA for all outing, trips and overnighters that the parent goes on.

· $60= Chapter Dues. includes all Badges, Patches and pins earned, Crafts, Activity supplies.

2 checks please: *$24 Payable to : Girl Scouts of America

* $60 Payable to : Troop 41588.

No girl should be turned away due to financial reasons. The Girl Scouts have a confidential financial assistance to those who are unable to cover fees.

Field Trips:

Field trips will be arranged in the community. Transportation is to be arranged by parents. Field trip may require a small fee.

Meetings:

Start-Up: A simple activity to be done as girls arrive/ allowing the leaders to get set up.
Opening: Girl Scout Promise, flag ceremony/ Color Guard, and a simple song.
Brownie Ring: Troop information to be shared with the girls and possible decision making
Activities: One or more program activities or craft
Snack: Each meeting a different girls will be asked to bring a healthy snack to share with the troop. Girls will receive notice prior to their snack date.
Clean Up: A Girl Scout leaves a place cleaner than she found it.
Closing a meeting : Closing Song, Good Bye until next time.

Patrols:
Due to the small group we have, Patrols will be done at camp. Girls will Have individual assignments at meetings. Click on picture below to enlarge.

Job Descriptions:

American/GS Flags : Take out and set up stands, Participate in Flag Ceremony, Take down and put away stands at the end of the meeting.
Color Guard: Assist in Set up and take down of Flags, Participate in Flag Ceremony
Caller: Participate in Flag Ceremony
Troop Recycler: In charge of collecting all plastic grocery bags at the end of the meeting , count and being to Riverside Foods for recycling
Troop Secretary: take attendance, remind people of their jobs, gather supplies for activities of missing girls and bag them with their name as well as pass out materials as needed.
Clean Up: Will be required to stay an additional 5 min following the meeting for final clean up, scraps off floor, chairs pushed in, supplies where they belong and lights out.
Alternate: To take the place of any girl who is absent from doing her job and help out if more materials need to be distributed.

Uniform:
white, cream or blue shirt and Brown vest. Because our uniform helps the girls identify themselves with the Girl Scouts , please have your Brownie in Uniform on Meeting Days and outside field trips.

Girl Scout Glossary:
· Girl Scout sign: Hold the middle three fingers up by putting your pinky
and your thumb together.
· Girl Scout handshake: Shake hands with your left hand while making the Girl Scout sign with your right hand.
·Friendship circle: This stands for an unbroken chain of friendship with Girl Scouts and Girl Guides all around the world. Everyone stands in a circle and places their right arm over her left and holds hands. Everyone makes a silent wish as a friendship squeeze is passed from hand to hand.
· Friendship squeeze: After someone shares something in the circle, she squeezes the hand of the person standing next to her, who shares something and then squeeze passes on around the circle.
· Quiet sign: Hold up your right hand. As people in the group see the quiet sign, they stop talking and also raise their hands. Once everyone is silent, the meeting continues.
· Girl Scout motto: “Be prepared!”
· Girl Scout slogan: “Do a good turn daily!”
· Brownie Ring: A circle that the girls can sit in to share ideas.
· Earned recognition: brownie try its

The Girl Scout Promise:

On my honor, I will try:

To serve God and my country,

To help people at all times,

And to live by the Girl Scout Law

Feb 20, 2011

To view all of our Rock climbing photos Click here.

What a fantastic family evening.

Despite the illness and the out of town Brownies we still had a great showing. 24 people including parents, siblings, cousins and friends came to learn about wall climbing and enjoyed a night of Pizza afterwards.

It was especially nice after working so hard at our successful site sales….. I cant say enough about how proud I am about the way the girls conducted themselves and the great job they did.

I was amazed at how fearless all our climbers were! I think we should definitely try this again~