Cycle Safety

A few showers in the late afternoon had me worried, but they cleared up and allowed us to spend the evening learning and practising bicycle safety with Phil from Avanti at the Mount.

This was for the Serious Fun Unit Patch

Land Section; Clause 3: 

Learn about bicycle road safety and then complete a practical course to show you have good control of your bike. Include slalom course, braking and intersection turns.

Phil talked about the benefits of biking, taught the girls how to find out the best pressure for their tyres, went over the ABCS (Air, Brakes, Chain, Seat) and everyone pumped up their tyres before we started the course.

Here are the photos I took (on my cellphone camera, which is why the quality is so poor). Scroll to the bottom for a video. If your daughter is in any of these photos and you want me to take them down, just let me know which ones.

Our lovely new leader D, riding for the first time in over 10 years!

And the video, as promised (couldn't resist the soundtrack)

 

Scottish Fun and Highland Games

August is International Month in Guiding

...and with the recent Commonwealth Games being held in Scotland, we decided to kickstart our international learning with a Highland Games night.

We had Caber Toss (using long bamboo poles), Gumboot Throw (instead of Hammer throw), Weight over Bar (how high can you heave a bottle of water), Sheaf toss (I thought about throwing pillows with brooms, or marshmallows with forks, but ended up going with tiddlywinks/table rugby) and Maide Leisg. I had fun and got nice and muddy, the girls loved it and hopefully learned something, and I took my camera with me but had too much fun to remember to take photos.

I got all my information on the games from wikipedia. An easy to plan, fun night.

Book night

JC ran her first full meeting tonight (we are lucky to train lots of new leaders in our unit), and it was amazing!

Today is J.K. Rowling's and Harry Potter's birthday, so we thought it would be appropriate to hold a book night.

The Guides brought along a favourite book, or a book they're reading at the moment and we all shared what we like about our books. I took along my book, I can fly, which I wrote and illustrated, and was very pleased that the girls loved it, even though it's aimed at 2-6 year olds. I think it was cool to show the girls that they can write and illustrate books if they want to - our girls can do anything!

Next they made beaded bookmarks. We found these strange hook-like things in the Guide cupboard, and DB and I had no idea what they were - JC knew though!

The end results were awesome - all the girls made their own unique bead strings. 

This is an example I found on etsy. Forgot my camera again!

They also made drawings of their favourite characters.

Goodbye

It was a happy night, because another new Guide joined, and another potential leader visited us, but it was also a sad night, because it was the last night for HR, who has been with the unit since 2012. The girls made her a card and presented her with a gift. We will miss HR, but we know she is moving on to new adventures, and she will keep in touch!

Term 3 begins

Brownie Link

Term 3 got off to a fabulous start with four new Guides linking up from Brownies. They will be part of our Senior-Junior Patrol until they learn more about the Guide programme and renew their promises later in the term. Our three Senior Guides at the moment are super helpful and friendly, so hopefully our new Guides will feel welcome.

Badges Badges Badges

We had a HUGE badge presentation with every single girl receiving a badge or certificate for all of their hard work throughout the year so far. 

Geocaching

MH is our resident geocaching expert (she's found nearly 1,000 caches around the world!) and she taught the girls what geocaching is all about and how to read and use her handheld GPS devices. In small groups, they went in search of a cache near our Guide hall - a great way to get out and about on the first night back.

WAGGGS World Game

This is a Game I made up. The logos for the five WAGGGS regions are placed around the hall (one on each wall, and one in the centre), and the leader calls out a country or a World Centre. The girls have to decide which region the country or World Centre belongs in, and run to that area of the hall (a bit like Captain's Coming). This is a fun way to learn a little geography and also for the girls to understand just how widespread Guiding is - 10 million members in 146 countries!

Kia kaha tō reo!

Nau mai, haere mai. This week is te Wiki o te reo Māori, or Māori Language Week.

Do you know how to say Girl Guides in te reo Māori? Kōhine Whakamahiri. It looks like a mouthful, but, like anything, with a little practice, it becomes easy. Here's a quick guide for pronunciation (if you speak with a NZ/Aotearoa accent): 


Kōhine (Girl): 

• Kō = kaw (aw as in "awesome")
• hi  = he (as in "he is a great guy")
• ne = nay (as in "name")

Whakamahiri (Guide, tip, advise):

• Wha = fa (as in "father")
• ka    = ka (as in "cup"
• ma   = ma (as in "mama")
• hi     = he (as in "he is a great guy")
• ri      = re (as in "reading is fun")

Kōhine Whakamahiri! Kia kaha tō reo! (Speak up!)

Taps in Māori

The official version, according to GGNZ, says "te puke," but my co-leader pointed out that that would mean "from the hill" (singular). 

For more information on Māori Language week, check out the Kōrero Māori website.

Act on...

This term we have two main things to focus on: advocacy, and a unit concert.

Advocacy

The 5th of May to the 5th of June is Girl Guide Action Month, and this year girls all over the country are standing up to say (Family Violence) It's NOT ok!

On the 23rd of May, Pink Shirt Day, our district held a Pink Shirt Day event to "Speak Up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying" where children and adults from Guiding and our local community learnt about what bullying is and strategies for standing up to bullies. There was also a fantastic self-defense workshop for last resort action. 

The girls in our unit chose to advocate this term for Guide Dogs and blind awareness. We held a car wash and sausage sizzle and raised over $200! Some of the girls made and decorated puppy-shaped cookies to sell as well. It was a fantastically successful day (and a day of sunshine amid a week of wind and rain!) and we are very grateful to all the parents and little sisters who came and helped, too.

Act Up!

Act Up is the name of a 'theme' certificate in Brownies and Guides. We are combining it with the specialised badge "Spotlight" and preparing to put on a concert at the end of the term. 

Spotlight is not just about performing, but all art forms, so we started off by creating gorgeous photo frames for Mothers Day: spray painting a die-cut cardboard frame in silver and using 3D stickers and shapes for decoration. Even though they used the same materials, the finished products were all so unique. We photographed all the girls and they got to put themselves in the frame with coloured card for a back drop, making a beautiful gift for Mothers Day.

We also made some impressive paw print themed signs to advertise our car wash, with thanks to one of our favourite Guide dads, who lent us his expertise as a signwriter.

The girls have spent time in their patrols preparing acts for the concert, and last week they developed an alternative tale of the Gingerbread Man story (5th of June is gingerbread day), which will be added to the evening's line-up.

Last week we were also lucky enough to have a visit from some Brownies who are almost old enough to link up to Guides. We tried to show them how fantastic Guides is and we hope they had a good time.

On Sunday many of our girls attended our regional Girl Awards Day at a special event called ACTIVATE! It was fun-filled afternoon of crazy sports, and girls who have achieved a significant award in the last six months were honoured in front of all the participants.

2014 Term One prep

Hi!

My health deteriorated shortly after I started this blog last year. The girls had a lot of fun and achieved many things. My health is now back on track and I'm ready for the new year!

We had 31 girls at the end of last year. We sent three up to Rangers, and our first meeting for the year is in two days, so we'll see how many we have returning after the summer break then.

All of the leaders in our unit have an amazing term planned, so watch this space.