First Meeting

Starting off I had two groups Daisies and Brownies, so the idea at was getting the group to work along side each other while filling their requirements (I have since deiced to change trying to do this which I will explain later). Our first 4 meetings was getting the girls (and Myself) to learn more about Girl Scouts. The first four meeting were working on Girl Scout Way badge (Brownies) and the Promise Center (Daisies) also to have our Investiture and Rededication Ceremony.

As the girls arrived I greeted them and handed them a trefoil shape so they can make their name tags. The Daisies had the promise lightly printed on the other side and the Brownies were blank so they could write it out themselves.  

Most Girls arrived right on time to start the meeting so I gave them a little extra time to complete before we started out meeting.

Next I explained the quite sign and had the girls gather in a circle. We did the Pledge of Allegiance and the promise (which they just repeated after me). They we played a game called get-to-know you.

Get-To-Know-You-Game

I asked the girls to think about what they would like to do as Girl Scouts. Then had all the girls recite the following verse, while doing the actions: Jump in, jump out, turn yourself about Jump in, jump out, introduce yourself. One girl went into the middle and said  My name is __________!, Everyone else responds: Yeah!, than the The girl in the middle says: And I’d like to _________! (say one thing she’d like to do as a Girl Scout), Everyone else responds: Yeah!. Until each girl and leader had gone.

After getting to know the girls we came up with a troop agreement (using their ideas). We talked about what a promise is and recited it again. Then we had snack while the girls finished their name tags.  

That was our first meeting!!!

Getting Started Continued...

In order to stay organized I got a Portable File Box. To help keep any forms I need to had out and to keep record of what badges each girl has earned. So I had 25 hanging files with the following labels:

Girl Membership
Parent/Guardian Membership (each girl in our troop is required to have one Adult member)
Meet My Daughter Forms
Permission Slip/Health Form
File for each Girl
Meeting agendas
Attendance Sheet
Parent Sign-out Sheet
Badge Tracker

Each girls file had a copy of their completed membership form, Meet my daughter, Permission Slip/Health Form and Badge Tracker.


I also started a storage box that would keep anything that might be need for the meeting.

The last thing I need for our meeting was a first aid kit that I could easily bring to out meetings. For this I got a inexpensive backpack with a pre-made first aid kit.

Now I was ready to have our first meeting.

Girl Scouts Getting Started

Girl Scouts- Getting Started....

So my daughter showed some interest in becoming a Girl Scout. I have never had anything to do with Girl Scouts other than buying cookies and my cousins, who have been in Girl Scouts for a while. So after talking to my Aunt (who is a troop leader) I checked on her joining a local troop. I found out there are no troops in our area and that if she wanted to be in one I would have to step up. Again after talking to my Aunt I decided to become a troop leader. Now all I needed was more girls and another troop leader.

I posted on our neighborhood Facebook page letting parents know I was starting a troop and need girls and parents to get it going.  I had two parents volunteer to be by co/assistant leaders. I took all the training to start and just need a place to hold our meetings. I could have done it at my house but with a 2 year old running around I wanted a place for the girls to have fun without having to split my attention between them. My husband was OK with holding meetings at our place until we found a place. I looked around our area and called several places before finding our spot. A Church that holds Boy Scout meetings was more than happy to help out our troop, they were just as excited as I was, after finally finding a place to hold meetings. So we had our parent meeting at my house. I had a presentation for the parents and got 10 girls to join. They were also able to try on the vest and place orders so I could make one run to the Girl Scout store for everyone.

Now all I need was a plan to get the girls started. I searched several internet sites all with lots of good ideas. The only problem was none were tailored to both Dasies and Brownies. Which is what we started out with. This is were I had to do a lot of work to get badges to lined up and have a meeting were the girls interacted. So I found what badges I thought we could start out with and had to make an agenda to work through the badge. I will post about the first meeting in another post.

So to get ready for our first meeting a put together a package for each girl to hand out at our meeting. I also have a volunteer sign up sheet to get the parents involved to help.

The Packet included:
Girl Membership Form
Adult Membership Form
Folder Letter
Girl Scout Promise and Law Handout
Sample Itinerary
Parents Rules
Meet My Daughter Form
Volunteer Application
Year Long Permission Slip
Year Long Health Information
Adult Guide to Girl Scouting

I had each child have one parent/guardian sign up in-case they wanted to help or stay at our meetings. This also ensured parents help since they were part of the troop.

I will post separately how and what we did at our first meeting in the next blog.