Daisy Girl Scout Leaders

[Marshay]

One more thing (sorry for all the long posts today)

When I bought the tunic, insigna, activity book, petals/patches, etc, our GS store was running a special where you got a free drawstring backpack in lime green that says Girl Scout.

It's very cute and I'm thinking of holding them back and handing them out at our December meeting and will fill them with "a little something" from the co-leader and myself.

So it's a nice little bonus if you purchase everything together for your girl(s).

 

[acklepwifey]

Marshay- Sorry about the color choice...i think i edited it but if not then from here on out the font color will be black!!

I will copy and paste what my co-leaders and I have come up with for our Troop Standards at the end of this reply. Mind you, I am no expert on Outlines so feel free to let me know if it sounds off. Also if you come up with any extras you think I should add let me know, I might make additions. I wanted to share a link that I stumbled across on FB (facebook) for GSUSA but since I am brand spanking new to this and haven't had 10 posts it won't let me . trax.boy-scouts.net/gstrax.htm is the website that has an awesome program for daisy leaders. This program is free and easy to access in Microsoft Excel. This gives simple forms like Parent Information Contact and Emergency Contacts. There's a TON of nifty forms I am planning on using for our troop. It isn't editable so you can't change something you want to have different, but this is still a good example to work off of.

If I were you, I would do all the talking and general business of the Parent Info Mtg THEN hand out the forms. Too many times I have witnessed parent receive forms before the speaker does their thing and the parents don't pay attention to what has to be addressed and rush on their forms.

Here's the Troop Standards Doc I've created:

Troop#__________ Standards 2010-2011
1) Welcome to Girl Scouts!
a) Thank you for giving your daughters a fun, educational, and character building experience. This is girl scouts!! Your daughters have the opportunity to develop self-esteem, self-reliance, and leadership and teamwork skills in a fun and safe environment. Every volunteer has opportunities to use unique skill, uncover untapped talents, and to contribute to the community through their work with the girls. This is a ‘Girl-Led’ program. What that means is even early on in the Daisy level, your girls are being taught to make their own decisions, plan their own futures, and do what they want to do. Introductions…
i) Leader-State some bio of the leader
ii) Co-Leader-info about each co-leader
Our Goal- Introduction to Girl Scouting, learning Promise and Law while incorporating nature and earth. Working towards earning Daisy Promise Center and Petals, and Journey Badges.
2) What’s Next?
a) Now that you’re here, you’ve made the first step! If you haven’t already registered your girl (or yourself) with the Girl Scout Organization, we can do that today.
3) Financing the Troop*financial aid may be available; I need to obtain more information from Council.
a) National Membership
i) This amount is set by Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) and is currently $12.00 per year. This Amount covers accident insurance at all Girl Scout activities.
ii) The Family Partnership Campaign is a tax-deductible gift to the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) that helps support our troops around the community. Although not required, it is an optional way to give back to the troop. All girls who donate $25 or more receive a 2010 Family Partnership Patch to put on their uniform.
b) Troop Dues-this is at the discretion of the leaders of our troop. Unfortunately, there will be no refunds of this fee. If you are at a hardship at this time, let us know and we will try to accommodate you. We believe all girls should have the opportunity to be a Girl Scouts.
i) Uniforms-see separate handout
(1) Either a vest or tunic is REQUIRED for each girl in our troop.
(2) T-shirts and other apparel are available through the Council Web page.
(3) Membership Pins, WAGGS Pins, Insignia Tab, Troop Numerals, Council ID Patch, & US Flag Patch.
(4) Journey & Activity Badges.
(5) Samples of Uniforms.
ii) Activity Books & Journey Books
(1) Daisy Activity Book
(2) Daisy Journey Garden Book
(3) Daisy Journey Earth and Sky Book
iii) Supplies Fee
4) Meetings
a) Place of Meeting- Name, Address, Time mtg occurs (see Schedule)
i) Please drop off/pick up your child ON TIME! Only those on the Emergency Contact Card can pick up your child. If person is not the parent, photo-ID or Drivers License will be asked to release the child. Girls will not be left unattended.
5) Safety-Wise
a) This is the “Safety Bible” for Girl Scouts and we adhere to its contents.
i) A first aid kit will be present for all meetings and events. If your child has an allergy, asthma, or any type of medicine dependent illness, please make back-up EMERGENCY medication available. I will keep this back up in the kit at all times and at the end of the year I will return it to you.
b) The ratio of child:adult for meetings is 5:1.
c) A safety emergency plan will be implemented and/or simulated throughout the troop year. A written emergency plan will be present at all meetings.
6) Field Trips
a) Parent Involvement
i) Field Trip will be made throughout the year. Accompanying adults must be registered and background checked in order to go with the girls. So parents, be advised now…unless you are registered and background checked, you can not participate with your daughters at Girl Scout events.
ii) Please make sure to turn in permission slips by deadlines!! The last thing I would want is a girl left out due to her parent’s failure to remember to turn in her permission slip.
b) Transportation
i) Any REGISTERED & BACKGROUND CHECKED Adult 18+, with a valid CA Driver’s License may volunteer to transport the girls to an event in an insured and registered vehicle.
ii) If the registered adult is male, a registered female MUST accompany in the car at all times.
iii) The ratio for field trips is also 5:1
c) Events
i) Throughout the course of the year, we will be preparing for various activities for the girls to be apart of based on our Troop funds throughout the year. Some of the activities we can think of are:
(1) Girl-picked Movie Night at a volunteer’s home
(2) Trip to local Fire and Police Station
(3) Caroling for the Holidays
(4) Going on a nature walk to a local park and picking up trash around the park.
(5) Any and all ideas/suggestions are welcome and appreciated…
7) Fundraising
a) Troop Dues-see above
b) Council Sponsored Product Sales (Cookie Sales)
i) During cookie sales we ask the parents to not go door-to-door selling or set up “booths” with your child doing the selling. Parents can sell the product for the child and parents should be the only one to deal with the transfer of money. We will have a Troop Cookie Chair person selected to handle all the Cookie business. I will let you know when the time approaches who you will be going through besides me to do the Cookie Sales.
ii) As said above, NO BOOTHING is permitted for Daisy level Girl Scouts. This just means your daughter can not sit at a “booth” with merchandise out available to sell. You as the parent take the responsibility of doing the selling on behalf of your Daisy.
c) Donations
i) The Family Partnership Campaign is a fantastic way for our troop to earn money back. If we can reach $100 donations by December 31, 2010, we will receive 10% back of our troop contributions.
ii) Local Businesses can donate up to $250 to our troop. Anything over $250 goes and remains with the Council.
*Extra fund raising events may/may not be allowed. Need to gather more information about this…
8) Parent Responsibility to Our Troop
a) Please be punctual (on time). If you are running late, give us a call to let us know. Do not make “running late” a regular occurrence. Too many instances will result in further action from the leaders of the troop.
b) Help your daughter fulfill troop responsibilities (turning in permission slips on time, helping with snack duties, helping with take home work)
c) Sign-Ups will be available for positions in the troop. If you are interested in signing up, please be prepared to register and submit your information for background screen. (see separate sign-up sheet)
i) Please take your responsibility seriously. If you’re scheduled to provide the snack for the meeting, and you don’t supply it, the girls will not receive a snack that day.
d) All parents are strongly encouraged to volunteer with the troop, but are not required. Parent involvement is key to having a successful troop.
It’s recommended that snacks be healthy. No cookies, or soda please. Things like fruit cups, raisins, apple juice, etc. are suggestions.
9) Communication
a) Email:
i) Provide a list of Leader&Co-Leader(s) emails
b) Telephone:
i) Provide a list of Leader&Co-Leader(s) phone #'s
10) Forms
a) Child Registration
b) Adult Registration *only on request*
c) Background check Pack *only on request*
d) Health History and Automobile Information
e) Product Sales Permission Slip
f) Parent Contact Information & Emergency Contact Information
11) Add-ons or Revisions
a) If there is something we as a troop add to the Standards of our troop, we as the leaders will give the parents the revisions in a timely fashion.
12) Any Questions???

Typical Meeting Rundown
• Pre-Meeting Activity-coloring pages, songs, games, etc.
• Opening Daisy Circle/Warm-Ups- reciting the promise & law, Pledge of Allegiance, engaging game or activity, etc.
• Attendance & Business- Roll Call, Collection of Forms/Slips, Troop Voting, Upcoming Events, etc.
• Petal/Journey Activity-Focusing on that week’s Petal or Journey activity towards earning their badges.
• Snack Time-girl who brought snack will help distribute.
• Closing/Clean-Up- Promise & Law, Review, Cleaning our area, reviewing our petal activity, friendship circle, etc.


Daisy Cost Breakdown

19.00- Supplies Fee
15.00-Vest or Tunic
8.25-Daisy Activity Book
7.00-Journey Garden Book
7.00-Journey Earth & Sky Book
6.75-Daisy Flower & Petals Patch
5.00-Troop Numerical Patches
4.00-Council ID Patch
2.50-Insignia Tab
2.25-WAGGS Pin
1.75-Flag Patch
1.50-Daisy Pin
$80.00 Troop Dues

WISH LIST
Crayons Kids Scissors
Markers
Glue/Glue Sticks
Hand Sanitizer
Band-Aids
Construction Paper (any color)
Washable Paint
Pencils
Popsicle Sticks
Yarn (any color)
Colorful Beads

Please Sign below acknowledging that you consent to the above Standards of Troop #_______.




Signature of Parent or Guardian(s) X_________________________________________ Date________________________


Hope this helps!! Please feel free to edit this and send me feedback!

 

[Marshay]

Wow -- such great thought you've put into this. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm printing it off now and will incorporate this into my meeting as well.

Great job!

I will definitely use that Trax website, too...just waiting for our troop number.

Since we only have about 1 hour for our Parent Initial meeting, I think I will forward a copy of the complete agenda, along with some of the documents prior to the meeting. There is no guarantee the parents will read it or complete the docs, but even if one parent does so, it'll help.

And hopefully, the majority will read the "standards" beforehand so nothing is a shock ... also, if they complete the forms (at least basic contact information) then we'll be that much more ahead.

One thing I didn't see in your forms was the "Meet My Daughter" Form. I think this would be helpful for you as troop leader to get to know your girls a little better. I found it on the girl scout forms page.

Also, don't forget about photo release for adults and girls. We are hoping to take photos through-out the year and then do a simple "flip book" or "shutterfly book" (if we have extra funds) to give to each girl. Sort of a 'yearbook' for Daisies. But even if you just want to do a website for your girls, you'll need the release.

What are you using for the Automobile information Form? I missed this one.

 

[Marshay]

since I am brand spanking new to this and haven't had 10 posts it won't let me .

Feel free to do simple posts here to get to your 10 so you can PM. Or go to the Community pages and wish 8 people a happy birthday to get to your 10 posts. People do it all the time!

Are you a Disney-nut like us too or did you just find out about Dis from a Girl Scout Daisy search? Either way -- Welcome!

 

[acklepwifey]

Wow -- such great thought you've put into this. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm printing it off now and will incorporate this into my meeting as well.
One thing I didn't see in your forms was the "Meet My Daughter" Form....What are you using for the Automobile information Form? I missed this one.

Is the "Meet My Daughter" Form like introductions of the girls in the troop? If yes, then at our first few meetings I am going to do what I call a Warm-Up exercise letting the girls get to know each other. There's an activity where the girls write their name on a piece of paper in their favorite color marker. On the opposite side of the paper they draw a picture of themselves and what their favorite food or thing to do is and tie a ribbon or piece of yarn on the edges to make a neck-tag. Then all the girls take turns introducing themselves, flip over the neck-tags and try to guess the name of the girl that just introduced herself and favorite things.
As for the Automobile Information, it should be on the same form as the Health History form. It might be different for CA, but check with your SU to see if it is a separate form if it isn't on the Health History form.
And as far as the Media Consent, on the Girl Registration form there is a part where parents can decline to have their daughters image and name used for the purpose of Girl Scout publicity. I was told by my SU that by not checking this little box parents give consent to have their daughter's image used for Girl Scout purposes. But like I said it might be different here in CA then VA where you're at (I think thats where you're located lol).
Oh and we are disney nuts in this household. So when I stumbled upon this thread I was doubly bowled over with joy. We have yet to go to WDW but if we wish upon a star...

 

[acklepwifey]

Just an additional question....are adults who are registering supposed to fill out a health history form as well? I wasn't given any for myself or co-leaders so based on your responses I might ask for them.

 

[Marshay]

Is the "Meet My Daughter" Form like introductions of the girls in the troop? If yes, then at our first few meetings I am going to do what I call a Warm-Up exercise letting the girls get to know each other. There's an activity where the girls write their name on a piece of paper in their favorite color marker. On the opposite side of the paper they draw a picture of themselves and what their favorite food or thing to do is and tie a ribbon or piece of yarn on the edges to make a neck-tag. Then all the girls take turns introducing themselves, flip over the neck-tags and try to guess the name of the girl that just introduced herself and favorite things.
As for the Automobile Information, it should be on the same form as the Health History form. It might be different for CA, but check with your SU to see if it is a separate form if it isn't on the Health History form.
And as far as the Media Consent, on the Girl Registration form there is a part where parents can decline to have their daughters image and name used for the purpose of Girl Scout publicity. I was told by my SU that by not checking this little box parents give consent to have their daughter's image used for Girl Scout purposes. But like I said it might be different here in CA then VA where you're at (I think thats where you're located lol).
Oh and we are disney nuts in this household. So when I stumbled upon this thread I was doubly bowled over with joy. We have yet to go to WDW but if we wish upon a star...

Looks like our Health form is separate from the automobile info and our registration is separate from the photo release.

The Meet My Daughter form is for the parents to complete and is:

My daughter is most happy when ...

She is unhappy when ...

She gets excited about ...

She is afraid of ...

This year in GS, she is looking forward to ...

She might have the following special needs ...

Additional Comments ...

 

[Marshay]

Just an additional question....are adults who are registering supposed to fill out a health history form as well? I wasn't given any for myself or co-leaders so based on your responses I might ask for them.

Yes I was told that you need adult health history at least for any travel ... maybe for a meeting too (?)

The thought behind it was what if the other adult got in a car accident or slip and fell at your meeting and knocked themselves unconscious. Would you know whom to call in the case of an emergency (besides 911)?

I think of it as a CYA document!

 

[kelann7]

Hi,

Well, I survived my first Daisy Girl Scout meeting as a Troop Leader. It was a lot of fun, a little hectic at first, but I think it went well. I have 13 girls and 1 co-leader who was a big help. Two other moms helped out at the meeting also, but they won't always be there. We have meetings every other Friday right after school. At each meeting, one girl is assigned to bring the snack and I asked that the parent also attend that meeting to help out with snack time and to be involved and see what we are doing.

I charged $50.00 dues - this did not include the $12.00 membership fee to Girl Scouts, but it did include the tunic and patches and pins. I did not get the WAGGS pin - I'm going to wait and give that out in February for World Thinking Day. I am not going to use the Journeys books this year. So, what I bought for uniforms came to about $35.00 and the rest of the dues I'm using for supplies for our craft projects.

My Girl Scout rep is very helpful and she suggested that since we were just starting out to keep it simple and wait until the 2nd year to do the Journeys books. So, we are just going to work on earning the petals.

I'm planning an activity or craft or game for each meeting that illustrates one of the petals and they will get the petal for participating. If a girl misses the meeting, then towards the end of the year, we will do some kind of make up day for them to earn the petals that they missed.

At this age, I think it is best to reward them right away instead of waiting until the end of the year to give our patches.

Keep the ideas coming.

Thanks.

Kelly

 

[Marshay]

Hi,

Well, I survived my first Daisy Girl Scout meeting as a Troop Leader. It was a lot of fun, a little hectic at first, but I think it went well. I have 13 girls and 1 co-leader who was a big help. Two other moms helped out at the meeting also, but they won't always be there. We have meetings every other Friday right after school. At each meeting, one girl is assigned to bring the snack and I asked that the parent also attend that meeting to help out with snack time and to be involved and see what we are doing.

I charged $50.00 dues - this did not include the $12.00 membership fee to Girl Scouts, but it did include the tunic and patches and pins. I did not get the WAGGS pin - I'm going to wait and give that out in February for World Thinking Day. I am not going to use the Journeys books this year. So, what I bought for uniforms came to about $35.00 and the rest of the dues I'm using for supplies for our craft projects.

My Girl Scout rep is very helpful and she suggested that since we were just starting out to keep it simple and wait until the 2nd year to do the Journeys books. So, we are just going to work on earning the petals.

I'm planning an activity or craft or game for each meeting that illustrates one of the petals and they will get the petal for participating. If a girl misses the meeting, then towards the end of the year, we will do some kind of make up day for them to earn the petals that they missed.

At this age, I think it is best to reward them right away instead of waiting until the end of the year to give our patches.

Keep the ideas coming.

Thanks.

Kelly

Ugh, I forgot about World Thinking Day. I may take your suggestion and give the WAGGS pins then, too!

glad you had a good meeting.

I just got the list of my girls today and my membership card! I'm official!!!!

 

[acklepwifey]

It's official!! I got my troop number today!! I can't explain the relief I'm feeling right now!!! So glad things are starting to go uphill instead of down! What day is World Thinking Day btw... and what activity are y'all planning on doing for that day? I'd love to get some ideas on what to do. Are any of you doing something for Earth Day as well? I am trying to map out meeting by meeting of what to do for the entire year so my brain is a little dead right now.

 

[shelby101301]

i wanted to subscribe because they are looking for a troop leader for my soon to be daughter's troop and I had to say no. But I really want to do. Problem is my husband just signed up to be den leader for my brand new cub scout son. I don't see how we can manage both, but I still want to, kwim?

In the mean time, I can keep up with the ideas. I said I would at least help as much as I can.

 

[Marshay]

It's official!! I got my troop number today!! I can't explain the relief I'm feeling right now!!! So glad things are starting to go uphill instead of down! What day is World Thinking Day btw... and what activity are y'all planning on doing for that day? I'd love to get some ideas on what to do. Are any of you doing something for Earth Day as well? I am trying to map out meeting by meeting of what to do for the entire year so my brain is a little dead right now.

I just got my Troop number this morning, too!!! I'm now complete. Sending out my Introduction Letter to the parents this morning. We have 8 girls interested (including my daughter and co-leader's daughter). Two are sisters so that should add a bit of fun to the troop!

Next steps for me:
1) Send out letter
2) Reserve Meeting space (Hand in paperwork)
3) Work with Parents to answer questions or Register girls early (we have a SU Daisy event but you have to register PRIOR to our 1st meeting. Ugh. So if anyone wants to go, I have to get all their paperwork in by next Wednesday...)
4) Register my daughter
5) Plan Agenda for 1st parent meeting for parents and kids
including copies of all forms
6) Open bank account

That should be enough to keep me busy this week!

Oh, for Earth Day we are planting seeds and soil and cleaning up a nature trail near our school. Then each girl will take their seed/soil home with them and grow them over the next month. They bring them back in late May and we'll plant them at the school where we meet.

World Thinking Day -- I haven't read up on that but my co-leader is from Ecuador so I think I'll have her do an international theme for that meeting. You might want to ask the parents in your troop if someone could present pictures, activity, food, songs, games, etc from their background for this day.

i wanted to subscribe because they are looking for a troop leader for my soon to be daughter's troop and I had to say no. But I really want to do. Problem is my husband just signed up to be den leader for my brand new cub scout son. I don't see how we can manage both, but I still want to, kwim?

In the mean time, I can keep up with the ideas. I said I would at least help as much as I can.

Believe me if I had some parents who would be able to help out with specific tasks, I'd be very grateful! If you tell the troop leader that you will do the 'grunt' work but aren't able to actually lead/plan/organize, I bet she will still love that!!

Welcome!

 

[acklepwifey]

Hello All!! We had a Girl Scout Round up last night at a local school and to my surprise, there was TONS of interested parents! Our SU team was there and I was asked to come just to let Daisy parents know that I have an available troop. It ended up being me talking in front of all of the Daisy parents with my co-leaders at my side. Our SU pretty much let me take the reigns when it came to the interested Daisy parents. So with very little preparation, I think I knocked it out of the ballpark with the parents. At the end of the night, we have 6 new members of our troop and a sign up sheet of at least 10 interested girls long.
There was also an interested leader in the works for a separate Daisy troop (she was VERY unprepared) so whatever excess amount of girls we decide to not take, I can forward their information to this up and coming leader. To make sense of this entire story I need to ask you fellow leaders...How many girls should I max out at? I have myself and 3 co-leaders so I think the max we can take is 24, but how much is too much? I think 16 is a good # but my DH mentioned that if I could do 16 why not 20 and that got me thinking. so now I am indecisive as to how many I should say 'ENOUGH!!' without feeling awful for turning the rest away. I also foresee some problematic parents just from what I had to deal with last night. Our original meetings were set to happen every other Monday from 6:45-7:45PM. A lot of complaints here...sob stories about parents taking a day off and in turn losing money cause they want their daughter to be in our troop. I have a cheer class my DD5 was attending Mondays from 6-630 and that was the reason i had the time from 645-745. I have called and cancelled the cheer classes so I can move the meeting time up to 6-7 but how do y'all deal with boisterous parents and trying to make them all happy? I know I can't make EVERYONE happy but is there a balance? Thanks for the advice!!

 

[Marshay]

Hello All!! We had a Girl Scout Round up last night at a local school and to my surprise, there was TONS of interested parents! Our SU team was there and I was asked to come just to let Daisy parents know that I have an available troop. It ended up being me talking in front of all of the Daisy parents with my co-leaders at my side. Our SU pretty much let me take the reigns when it came to the interested Daisy parents. So with very little preparation, I think I knocked it out of the ballpark with the parents. At the end of the night, we have 6 new members of our troop and a sign up sheet of at least 10 interested girls long.
There was also an interested leader in the works for a separate Daisy troop (she was VERY unprepared) so whatever excess amount of girls we decide to not take, I can forward their information to this up and coming leader. To make sense of this entire story I need to ask you fellow leaders...How many girls should I max out at? I have myself and 3 co-leaders so I think the max we can take is 24, but how much is too much? I think 16 is a good # but my DH mentioned that if I could do 16 why not 20 and that got me thinking. so now I am indecisive as to how many I should say 'ENOUGH!!' without feeling awful for turning the rest away. I also foresee some problematic parents just from what I had to deal with last night. Our original meetings were set to happen every other Monday from 6:45-7:45PM. A lot of complaints here...sob stories about parents taking a day off and in turn losing money cause they want their daughter to be in our troop. I have a cheer class my DD5 was attending Mondays from 6-630 and that was the reason i had the time from 645-745. I have called and cancelled the cheer classes so I can move the meeting time up to 6-7 but how do y'all deal with boisterous parents and trying to make them all happy? I know I can't make EVERYONE happy but is there a balance? Thanks for the advice!!

Glad to hear you have interested girls and parents!! Woo Hoo!

So far we have 4 girls that are available during our meeting time and interested. I'm waiting to hear back from 4 more.

Which brings me to a number -- I really, REALLY would stress to you to do no more than 10 actually. We are taking 8 to start with.

Being it is our first year, we don't want to get overwhelmed. The more girls = the more work and the more potential for conflict and burn out.

I know you want to include everyone but you won't serve your girls well if it's too much.

Just my 2 cents.

Now as for handling parents -- others may disagree, but I am taking the 'hard-line' approach.

Here is the time we are meeting and where. If you can't make it then I'll direct you back to the wait list or you can form your own troop.

Also, we have PARENT responsibilities they must do in order for their daughter to be in the troop -- chaperon one meeting and one special event plus take on at least one role within the troop. My co-leader and I will actually run all the meetings (unless a parent wants to) but we expect the chaperon to either lead songs, direct the craft, read a story or some other talent that they possess).

As soon as parents hear that they have to actually do some work, this will weed out those who can't or won't get involved and esp those who just sit back and complain and don't help.

I'm making it a point that this is not The Little Gym where you pay someone some money, drop your kid off and expect her to be entertained for an hour until you pick her up.

I think being a bit strong with the parents from the beginning will set the standard...unless YOU want to do all the work and be pushed around by them.

When I went to our "Join Girl Scouts" Night I had no idea that it involved parents. I really thought it was just the leaders and the girls doing everything, so this was a surprise to me and I'm glad our Service Unit educated me. Now I'm a leader! If they don't like something you aren't willing to change, let them start their own troop. With 16 interested girls, that's enough for 3 troops -- surely the boisterous parents can find one of those troops for their daughters.

Anyway, guess that's my 4 cents now!

 

[kelann7]

As for a number, the GS say that at this age, you should have one adult for 6 kids, so if you have 4 adults, you can have 24 kids.

I have 13 girls with 2 adults - I was going to cut it off at 12, but then one more wanted to join and I hated to turn her away. And I figure, one more won't make a difference. But after just one meeting, I can see how you can have two many kids. There are just some activities that are easier to do with a smaller group. The more kids you have, the longer it will take to do each planned activity.

And if there are other parents willing to start their own troop, then I would cut if off and refer them to the other troop.

I actually have both Kinder and 1st graders in my group. I would prefer just one grade level, but we didn't think we would have this many and no other parent wants to be the leader. So, if you have both grade levels, then maybe you can separate it that way.

Thanks.

Kelly

 

[micheleq]

So glad I found this thread today! I just found out that there is no GS presence at all in DD's school. Not a troop to be had. I might ask around and see if there are any girls interested (maybe ask the two K teachers if they can send a note or flyer home that I could write up) and take it from there.

One of my good friends from college is a Daisy Leader for two of her DDs, so she's already given me some good advice.

Anyone else out there start from scratch?

 

[Marshay]

So glad I found this thread today! I just found out that there is no GS presence at all in DD's school. Not a troop to be had. I might ask around and see if there are any girls interested (maybe ask the two K teachers if they can send a note or flyer home that I could write up) and take it from there.

One of my good friends from college is a Daisy Leader for two of her DDs, so she's already given me some good advice.

Anyone else out there start from scratch?

Most of us on here. I never was a GS, never a leader and didn't know anyone who did it. So you can't get more "scratch" than me! But now I got the itch

 

[kelann7]

I'm also starting from scratch - our school didn't have a Daisy Troop.

My Girl Scout Council rep was a big help - she did a flyer and brought it to the school for them to hand out to the Kinder and 1st graders. The flyer was sent home with the parent bulletin that we get every Tuesday. We picked a night for the parent informational meeting and she came to it and talked about Girl Scouts. I also talked about my plans for the troop.

You may want to get the recruitment person from your Girl Scout council to help you - I know mine was a big help and told me to call her for anything I need, any questions I have. Use whatever resources you have.

I bought the leader guide - but I think it needs to be updated - I didn't find it very helpful - it had a few good ideas, but I found more information on the internet just by googling Daisy girl scout.

Thanks.

Kelly

 

[dc8atp]

Last night was our first meeting and we splt the parents and girls up. My co-leader worked with the girls on a project of tracing thier hands, cutting them out and pasting them in a GS sign position onto a green sheet of construction paper. Along with that was a trefoil with the girl scout promise already pre-printed on it. They then worked on learning to say the promise. She taught them Make new friends as well as a couple of other songs and played a name relation game. IE Katelynn kangaroos, Dellaney loves to pet Dogs, etc.

In the mean time I went over the info with the parents. I had a 60% attendance rate of the 10 girls that were assigned to my troop. The other 4 girls were two sets of sisters. I am not sure why they weren't there, but the ones that were had a good time. We handed out forms and got the girls registered. Next meeting we will collect dues and the health forms. We are planting flowers at the school to work on one of our petals. I feel overwhelmed at this point, but excited as well. We charged $20 for dues + the $12 for registration and $12.25 for the book, daisy pin and insignia tab. I think we will wait until Feb. to purchase the WAGGS pin for thinking day. We are planning to do the t-shirts with a daisy embroidered on it and the girls will use a fabric marker to color in the petals as they earn them. The shirts should cost us less than $10 each.

Thanks for all of the good posts and info. I personally kept my troop limited to 10 girsl with an option for 2 more in case the Kindergarten girls make some friends in the next couple of months that would want to join. We are still able to meet ratio with 12 girls and two leaders or 12 girls 1 leader and 1 adult in case a leader can't be present.

Good luck ladies!

Kari