Family Science Day for Daisies and Brownies - 5/11/13, 9-11 a.m.

Ever floated a ping pong ball in mid air, bent water or been a part of an electrical circuit? 

Time for all Daisies and Brownies to try these and many other fun science experiments with the Society of Women Engineers, Sneakers to Beakers, and I Robot!

Sat.,  May 11, 9:00a-11:00p,
Where: Waltham  
Cost: $9 Girl/$2 Adults

For more info contact program@girlscoutseasternmass.org

Hersheypark Camp-O-Ree - 5/31-6/2 OR 6/7-6/9!

Hersheypark Girl Scout Camp-O-ReeMay 31 - June 2 & June 7 - 9, 2013 Girl Scout Camp-O-Ree allows your Girl Scout Troop two fun-filled weekends to participate in this popular package combining the adventure of camping with more than 65 exhilarating rides and attractions. Cabins still available for the second weekend! Three great packages available, but space is limited! View full details and download order forms. For questions or to place an order, call 1-800-242-4236 (Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM) or visit our website.

Brownie and Junior Badge Workshops - 4/13/13 and 5/18/13

The Winchester and Stoneham Senior Girl Scouts are offering a Brownie "Snack Time" and a Junior "Simple Meals" badge workshop with a focus on local foods.  

On April 13: the Brownies will be from 1 - 4 PM and the Juniors from 9 - noon held at the 1st Congregational Church in Winchester.  

On May 18: the Brownies will be from 10 - 1 and the Juniors from 1.30 - 4.30 PM held at the 1st Congregation Church in Stoneham

$10 will cover food, a plant, and the badge.  Girls may either register individually or with their troop.  To register, please send the appropriate form & payment in.

    Brownie flyer: http://bit.ly/Z20Lol

    Junior flyer: http://bit.ly/XkXPcd

April Vacation Week Gymnastics - 4/19

Don't forget about April Vacation Week Gymnastics at Reading Gymnastics Academy!

When: April 19th, 9-10:30 a.m.
Where: 172 Woburn Street, Reading
Cost: $7 per girl
Open to all Daisy and Brownie Scouts

This event is limited to the first 60 girls to sign up - so get your sign ups in!  Don't forget that there is a release/permission form that must be submitted with the registration.

The flyer and release form can be found here.

Scout Day at Plimoth Plantation - March 23rd

2013 Scout Day!
March 23, 2013

from www.plimoth.org

"Mark it on your scout calendars! Whether you’re a Daisy or an Eagle Scout, wear all or part of your uniform and you’ll receive free admission - members of your family will receive half price admission! (Plymouth residents: your scout receives free admission, and family members may choose the Plymouth resident discount OR the Scout Day discount.) 

Admission is good for Plimoth Plantation and the Plimoth Grist Mill at Jenney Pond.

Special scout activities will be available on the pier where Mayflower II is usually docked.

Your troop or pack may also schedule a special hands-on workshop while you are here!

For more information contact us at programservices@plimoth.org, 508-756-1622 ext. 8359."

Check out http://www.plimoth.org/learn/programs-kids-scouts-families/scouts for the complete information

Food Pantry Flyers - 2013

Here are the Food Pantry Flyers to support our efforts to help the Food Pantry for the month of March!

On the Spot Flyer

I Promised a Girl Scout Flyer

Coloring Flyer

Drop off day of all collected items is March 24th.  Watch the Monday Leader's mail for more info!

Simon Says art activity

Came across another potentially fun idea for a meeting at The Artful Parent blog:

http://artfulparent.typepad.com/artfulparent/2010/07/simon-says-draw.html

Basically, it is Simon Says with drawing - and each girl can express her own creativity!

Nick Jr video on Juliette Gordon Low!

Check out this cute video on Juliette Gordon Low produced by Nick Jr!  This would be a quick video to show Daisies to give them some history on the founder of Girl Scouts!

http://www.nickjr.com/video/index.jhtml?videoid=110955

NJ GS's provide "Journeys in a Box"

Look what Debbie found - a Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey has done a lot of work to help Leaders with the task of planning out Journeys!  Check it out at the address below:

https://www.gsnnj.org/About-Us/GSLE/Girl-Scout-Journeys/Pages/Journeys-in-a-Box.aspx

There are so many great things out on the web!  Thanks Debbie...and thanks GSNNJ for sharing!

Girl Scout Sunday - March 10th

Sunday, March 10th
GS Sunday patches will be distributed at these Churches:
9:00 Mass at St. Theresa’s Church
10:00 Services at Union Congregational Church
8:30 and 10:30 Services at Trinity Evangelical Church

Please wear your GS Vest or Uniform

A group photo will be taken afterward at each church

GS Sabbath is the following Saturday, March 16th.

The flyer can be found here

Leader's Meeting Minutes - 2/12/13

Attendees: SU Treasurer: Julia Slavin [71872], SU Recording Secretary: Alycia McGoldrick [73904], SU Registrar: Anne Valade, Kristin Puliafico [85118], Karen Mericantante [85335], Ruth Kennedy [73899], Kristin Lamont [85193, 71880], Jodi Sponzo [73897]

Items requiring attention are marked in red
ASAP!! Items requiring IMMEDIATE attention are preceded by "ASAP!" and marked in red

Intro/Announcements
Forms for Father/Daughter Sports and Ice Skating were collected.

A request was made that the Troop Directory be attached to a Monday email.

Registration Update
Council updates to the rosters seem to be slow - some girls are not yet appearing in the right troops.  If this is the case, let Anne know.  She can't fix it but can feed it back to Council.

Council tells us that we are ~50 girls short of our registration goal. 
Council is going to try to run a recruitment event - our concern is that if we had those 50 girls registered, we wouldn't have troops to put them in!

Registration fees are going to be going up to $25 per girl - with $15 going to GSUSA and $10 going to GSEM!

Town Events
Father/Daughter Sports Event - Moved to 3/2
Ice Skating Event - February 20th
World Thinking Day - February 22nd

Girl Scout Week - March 10th-16th
Girl Scout Sunday - 3/10
  Looking for volunteers to coordinate with their church (make sure that the clergy knows that it is 3/10 and ask that Scouts be recognized at the very least - varies with sanctuary), and hand out patches.  Churches are: St Teresa's, Union Congregational, Trinity, Martin's Pond, Aldersgate (we will be contacting past volunteers)
  Flyer with details will be posted to the blog.  There will be a collection for NR Food Pantry at St Teresa's that day

Mother/Daughter Daisy Tea - late March/early April

March is Girl Scout Food Pantry month
Tentative date for collection drop off - 3/24
Troop participation was VERY low last year.  The intent is that troops make this a troop activity (service project and learning opportunity).
Flyers will go up on the blog in case troops want to do door to door solicitation of donations.
On collection day, will welcome a handful of additional volunteers to help sort donations - if interested, please contact Julia Slavin at juliaslavin@verizon.net.
Will likely have a collection day (or two) at Stop and Shop where Scouts stand at the doorways requesting and collecting donations.  Will have 1-2 hours slots for troops to sign up to staff.  Details will be in Monday email and posted to the blog.

Vacation Week Gymnastics - 4/19, 9-10:45 a.m.
This will be a single session and space is limited to 65 girls, so sign up early!
Flyer will be distributed in the Monday email and posted to the blog.
Collection will be at March Leader's meeting.

North Reading Garden Club's Arbor Day - 4/26, 6 p.m. at IRP
This event is open to all scouts.  If planning on attending, please email Ruth Kennedy at ruthekennedy@gmail.com so that she can make sure to have adequate supplies.

We will provide a date for an Early Bird Registration event at the March meeting.

The small group discussed ways to make scouts better for the leaders and the girls:
Facebook
Leaders - Have you had success with a troop event, outing, or activity?  Please post it on our Facebook page so that others can benefit from your experience.  If you tied it to a badge or Journey, share that too!

Are you struggling with ideas for a specific topic?  Post your questions on Facebook and take advantage of the collective knowledge of the group.

Do you know of an NR Leader on Facebook who isn't part of the group?  Invite them!

Blog
If you have things that you think would make sense to post to the blog - crafts, outing ideas, badge ideas - please send them along to Amy Kelly at kellys@majekelly.com.  

Next Leaders Meeting is 3/19, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall

Father/Daughter Sports Event Update

The new date is Saturday, March 2nd at the Little School.
With the new date we will be accepting new participants for the Father/Daughter Event.
We need to have all interested sign-up by Sat. the 16th.
The times have not changed for the 2 sessions.
session 1 is 10 - 12 noon and session 2 is 1 -3pm
$15 per couple and $7 each additional girl

The form is here

New participants can drop off info to either mailbox: Cheryl Carr @ 479 Park St. or Janet Grasso @2 Barberry Road

We hope that all that have signed up can still join us for the new date but we understand if there
are some that may have scheduling conflicts. We can refund anyone that signed up and can not join us on March 2nd.
Send request for refund to janet_grasso@hotmail.com and cherylcarr03@gmail.com .

Father/Daughter Sports Event postponed until March 2

Due to the impending snow storm, the Father Daughter Sports Event scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, February 9th, to be held at the Little School has been postponed.  The Event has been rescheduled to March 2, 2013.  More information will be forthcoming from Troop 71888 who is running this Event.  If you have any questions, please contact either Janet Grasso at janet_grasso@hotmail.com or Cheryl Carr at cherylcarr03@gmail.com.

February is Black History Month

From GSUSA:

BLACK HISTORY MONTH Throughout February, we join the rest of the nation in celebrating Black History Month, an annual observation of the profound achievements of African Americans and the perseverance of the men and women who fought for the justice and equal treatment owed them as U.S. citizens. Our first troop for African American girls was formed in 1917, 47 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, and by the 1950s, GSUSA began a national effort to desegregate all Girl Scout troops. Not long after, in 1956, Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. described Girl Scout as "a force for desegregation." Today, we partner with historically black college and universities, sororities, and companies to ensure that Girl Scouts remains a vital part of the African American community.

2/18 - Girl Scout Centennial Silver Dollar

From GSUSA:

FEBRUARY 28: GIRL SCOUTS OF THE USA CENTENNIAL SILVER DOLLAR We can hardly wait for the United States Mint to announce final details about our commemorative coin and start the minting process. We're excited to share—drum roll, please—that the coin goes on sale at noon ET on February 28 at the U.S. Mint's website and 800-USA-MINT. The Girl Scout organization is eligible to receive up to $3.5 million from this historic sale, and surcharges received by GSUSA are to be used for national program development and delivery. Coins may also be available at council shops and will make wonderful gifts for those in your community who have supported Girl Scouts. You can also win one of the coins through our Facebook and Twitter trivia contest, which begins February 25.

2/22 - World Thinking Day

From GSUSA:

FEBRUARY 22: WORLD THINKING DAY Girl Scouts have celebrated World Thinking Day since 1926, taking time to give thanks for the international friendships they've developed. This year's theme, "Together we can save children's lives," gives you a chance to take action on issues affecting children's lives and/or contribute to the Juliette Low World Friendship Fund, which supports building global competencies through international travel and friendships.

Volunteer Opportunity

"Are you looking for a short-term or long term service opportunity? The Girl Scout Museum at Cedar Hill can use your help. Work with our volunteer staff to sort and catalogue the collection, do research or data entry. There are small tasks and longer projects that will help to preserve the Girl Scout story.

Hours and days are flexible. We’ll work with your schedule. We have collections in North Andover and Middleboro if those locations are better for you. To earn the Service to Girl Scouting Bar, you need to provide 20 hours of service to the organization. We will train you for what you need to do.

This is an excellent opportunity to provide service back to the Girl Scout Organization. Adults welcome to volunteer as well.

Please contact 781-373-4360 or cedarhillmuseum@live.com"

Volunteer Recognitions - due 2/8

It's time to recognize the good work of Leaders, Co-Leaders, Parent Volunteers, etc...
If you feel that there is someone in North Reading who deserves recognition for the work they do to support Scouts - please, nominate them for recognition!
Everyone enjoys being thanked!

For more info on the awards and the process, GSEM has provided a flyer that can be found here

Leader's Meeting Minutes - 1/15/13

Attendees: Service Unit (SU) Coordinator: Amy Kelly [73897, 71901], SU Secretary: Debbie Nearing [73891], SU Treasurer: Julia Slavin [71872], SU Recording Secretary: Alycia McGoldrick [73904], SU Cookie Coordinator: Kerstin March [71898], SU Registrar: Anne Valade, Kristin Puliafico [85118], Cheryl Carr [71888], Ruth Kennedy [73899], Sue Kirby [73899], Kristin Lamont [71880], Barbara Duff [71902], Jodi Sponzo [73897]

Items requiring attention are marked in red
ASAP!! Items requiring IMMEDIATE attention are preceded by "ASAP!" and marked in red

Intro/Announcements
Meeting was called to order at 7:36 pm. Pledge was recited.

Three members of Troop 73897 gave a presentation on social media and the safety precautions that should be observed.  This was part of their Take Action project for their Journey.

Service Unit Update
The Founder's Award, a scholarship for a graduating senior Girl Scout will be given this year.  There are 7 graduating seniors!  Gifts for the seniors are being ordered.
The Service Team discussed that there needs to be 1 event per year whose proceeds are earmarked for the Founder's Award.
There will be a spring Mother/Daughter Daisy Tea to meet that requirement.

We will hold 2 separate fly ups again this year.  Troops 73894 and 73897 will be coordinating the Fly Up for the older girls.  Girl Council will be running the Fly Up for the Daisies (feedback was very positive on the separate Daisy event) Need to pick dates.  If anyone knows of conflicts (recitals, 1st communions, softball banquets, etc...) please let Jodi Sponzo know.

Volunteer recognition nominations need to be submitted by Feb 8th.  If you have a co-leader, parent, or know of another volunteer that you think deserves to be recognized - submit the applications on-line as www.girlscoutseasternmass.org

Amy is going to send out a letter to the all parents...subject - Did You Know?
     Parents can attend the Leader's meeting (for their troop, for themselves)
     Parents can use the blog to stay informed, get forms, etc...
     Kids can attend Council programs even if their troop isn't going
     Parents can run a meeting for their troop, teach the girls something new
     All Leaders in town are volunteering their time and receive no compensation
     There are open positions on the North Reading Service Team and parents can serve
     Parents can be the camp trained person for their daughter's troop
     ....and more!

There was a discussion about the frustration shared by the Leaders that parents don't respond to emails, don't meet deadlines.  Ideas:
     Be strict with your cut-offs
     Send text messages
     Hand paper flyers out (? this seemed to work in times past)

There was a discussion about Leader's Meeting Participation (or lack thereof).  Ideas:
     Add a topic each time that addresses the needs of Daisy Leaders and see if it draws them in
     Try a Sunday 8 am meeting time
     Decide if we even need a Leader's Meeting - many troops are active and engaged even though the Leaders don't attend the Leader's Meeting
     Try to make it a more social-type event
     Amy may send an email to the Leaders that don't attend these meetings just to see what they've been up to and check in!

There are still open positions on the Service Team (and opportunities to influence the North Reading Council):
     Service Unit Coordinator (Amy's role)
     Registrar (Anne's role)
     Recording Secretary (Alycia's role)
     Fall Product Sales Coordinator (Shauna's role)

Ruth and Sue's troop is going snowtubing on the last Thursday in January and would love if other troops would join them.  They will be at Amesbury Sports Park.  Note - they're not coordinating the event...you'll still need to fill out your forms and whatnot - they're just hopeful that other troops will join in the fun!

Registration Update
Council updates to the rosters seem to be slow - some girls are not yet appearing in the right troops.  If this is the case, let Anne know.  She can't fix it but can feed it back to Council.

Council tells us that we are ~50 girls short of our registration goal. 
Council is going to try to run a recruitment event - our concern is that if we had those 50 girls registered, we wouldn't have troops to put them in!

Registration fees are going to be going up to $25 per girl - with $15 going to GSUSA and $10 going to GSEM!

Town Events
Father/Daughter Sports Event - February 9th
Bring your dad, uncle, grandfather, significant adult for a day of fun and sports. Will include basketball, bowling, golf and more!
Flyer is here and due back at next Leader's meeting.

Ice Skating Event - February 20th
Sandy Griffin going to lead this event and we will distribute the flyer via email since there is no December meeting.
World Thinking Day - February 22nd
This year's theme "Together We Can Save Children's Lives".  This is based on the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals which aim to improve the lives of the world's poorest people.
Good info to use for your troop can be found at GSUSA's website or by Googling it.

Girl Scout Week - March 10th-16th
Girl Scout Sunday - 3/10
Girl Scout Birthday - 3/12
Girl Scout Sabbath - 3/16
Mother/Daughter Daisy Tea - likely in this timeframe
There may be an event for the elementary school 1/2 days

March is Girl Scout Food Pantry month
More details will be coming

April
Vacation Week Gymnastics
Garden Club' Arbor Day

Cookie Update
Order deadline this Friday
Check to make sure that all your girls are in the database!
The cookie drop will be on February 8th and Kerstin is still looking for a few volunteers to help manage the pick up.  It generally runs from 8 - 11 am.  If you are interested in helping - contact Kerstin March.

Council Programs (didn't cover these but agreed to put them in the minutes)
Many winter Council Outdoor Programs offered for all ages
Winter Wonderland Program for girls in K-3rd
Come do some summer camp activities in the middle of winter!
1/27 @ Camp Cedar Hill.
visit www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/programs

Glow in teh Dark Lock In for Juniors, Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors
Try your hand at the climbing wall while it's glowing.  Take a night hike, play man hunt.  Stay up all night if you want!
2/9-10 @ Camp Wind-in-the-Pines/Plymouth

Winter Vacation Camp for girls in 6th-12th
Come to camp for the week and downhill ski or snowboard, go night tubing, try snowshoeing, and more!
2/18-22 @ Camp Wabasso
visit www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/programs

Winter Hiking Series for girls in 6th-12th
Attend various session and then join in for an overnight outdoor hiking trip
Sessions vary, overnight 3/8-10
visit www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/programs

Snowshoeing for girls in 4th-12th
Learn how to snowshoe, develop teambuilding skills, and have fun!
Dates and locations vary
visit www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/programs

April Vacation Camp for girls in K-8th
Come to camp for the week and see what camp is about - come for a day or two or the whole week
4/16-19 @ Camp Cedar Hill/Waltham, Camp Maude Eaton/Andover, Camp Wind-in-the-Pines/Plymouth
visit www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/programs
 
Next Leaders Meeting is 2/12, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, Room 14

Another GS Skating Event - 1/21

Love to skate? Reading Girl Scouts has invited us to attend their Friends and Family Girl Scout Skating Event...
When: Monday, January 21st 9:30 - 11:20 am
Where: Burbank Arena, Reading
Who: Friends and Family, 5 years and up
Cost: $5 per person (Scouts receive patch), skates not included
See attached flyer for more info