Medieval Times, Lessons 25 & 26

Russians & The Moors in Spain

I really wish our library would hang onto older titles longer. They seem to cull nearly everything that's out-of-print. So unfortunate. We continue to run into difficulty finding the recommended books for our studies. And, there really aren't many alternatives. OpenLibrary.org often saves the day, but I've been striking out there lately too. In other words, it was another short week.

Lesson 25 - Russians

• Read The Usborne Medieval World by Jane Bingham (pages 58-59).
• Completed HO map work for Lesson 25, Main Lesson.
• Read The Tale of The Firebird by Gennady Spirin.

Lesson 26 - The Moor in Spain

• Read The Usborne Medieval World by Jane Bingham (pages 60-61).
• Completed HO map work for Lesson 26, Main Lesson.
• Read Chanticleer and the Fox by Geoffrey Chaucer via OpenLibrary.org.

Bedtime Read-Aloud

• Three Swords for Granada - Walter Dean Myers

* HO = History Odyssey

Talk It Up Badge

The Talk It Up badge is really meant to be completed as a troop. Since that wasn't an option for us, we thought about the things our troop traditionally uses cookie money for and then tallied up costs for Tessa only. We estimated that in selling about 200 boxes of cookies, Tessa will contribute $110 to the troop. Since the requirements for this badge are well defined in The Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, we didn't do anything more than complete the booklet to earn this badge. This post is simply to verify that Tessa completed the required work. The basic steps for the Talk It Up badge are listed below.

Talk It Up

When you take part in the Girl Scout Cookie Program, you are helping with the largest business run by girls in the whole world. When you earn your Making Choices leaf, you learn to figure out your needs and wants. Now use what you know as you sell Girl Scout Cookies!

Steps

1. Decide how to use your cookie money

2. Talk about how to use cookie money to help others

Tessa decided she would like to use part of her cookie money to make toys for homeless cats in shelters. I really like this idea because it's something she could actually do.

3. Inspire your customers

Purpose

When I've earned this leaf, I'll be able to decide how to best use my cookie money.

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 6

The Seasons

I wasn't thrilled with my book options for this unit, so I was a little worried the concept of the changing seasons in relation to the Earth's tilt and its orbit around the sun might come across as a wee bit abstract. Luckily, Bill Nye was able to pick up the slack. Tessa seemed to get it just fine.

Wednesday

• Read Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Shining Seasons" (page 34). (I only had one inflatable globe, so I just moved it from one season to the next. I made sure the North Pole always pointed in the correct direction.)
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Earth's Seasons DVD by Disney.

Thursday

• Read Changing Seasons by Bobbie Kalman.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Global Opposites" (page 35).
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Get Clear on the Hemispheres" worksheet (page 39).

Friday

• Read Four Seasons Make a Year by Anne Rockwell.
• Read Skip Through the Seasons by Stella Blackstone.
• Tessa sorted the months by season with free printables from Teachers Pay Teachers. We used "Vocabulary Sort - Seasons!" by Marjorie Sheridan for the season titles and "Months of the Year Title Cards" by Dawn Melvin for the month titles.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Creative Calendars" (page 35). (I changed my printer settings to print "2014 Black and White Chevron Monthly Calendars" by Tiffany Ford two to a page so the calendars would be smaller and easier for Tessa to work with.)
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: The Fun Four" worksheet (page 38). (We were running short on time, so we completed this orally.)
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Seasonal Squares" game (pages 40-41).

Tessa sorted the months by season. This proved a little changing until I encouraged her to think about the month each season starts. From there, we deduced that each season is made up of three months.

Tessa's completed "Creative Calendars." She grouped the months by season, labeled and illustrated the cover of each booklet and then drew icons for various holidays.

Tessa always enjoys playing the mini games that are sprinkled into our curriculum. I try to squeeze them in where I can.

Other Books of Interest

• The Reasons for Seasons - Gail Gibbons (Would have liked to have read this one, but couldn't locate it at a library or find it free to read online.)

Medieval Times, Lessons 23 & 24

Mongals & Eastern Europe

Tessa and I completed the following over four days. The Khan books are fairly lengthy, so they took a day each. I've noted that two books are free to read on Kindle with an Amazon Prime membership. Amazon limits the number of books you can borrow, so choose wisely. You won't be able to borrow both at the same time. You can't just read one, return it and then download the other either. Unfortunately, lending privileges don't currently work that way.

Lesson 23 - Mongals

• Read The Usborne Medieval World by Jane Bingham (pages 52-53).
• Completed HO map work for Lesson 23, Main Lesson.
• Completed HO Q&A for Lesson 23, Main Lesson.
• Completed draw and color.
• Read Genghis Khan by Demi. (Free to read on Kindle with Amazon Prime membership.)
• Read Kubla Khan: The Emperor of Everything by Kathleen Krull.

Tessa drew a picture of a yurt for her draw and color. I thought it would have been fun to craft a little felt yurt for her Playmobil people, but I couldn't find a pattern.

Lesson 24 - Eastern Europe

• Read The Usborne Medieval World by Jane Bingham (pages 56-57).
• Completed HO map work for Lesson 24, Main Lesson.
• Read "No. 3: Vlad Tempes" (pages 24-25) from Top 10 Worst Wicked Rulers You Wouldn't Want to Know! by Fiona MacDonald.
• Read The Little, Little House by Jessica Souhami.
• Read A Big Quiet House by Heather Forest. (Free to read on Kindle with Amazon Prime membership.)

Both The Little, Little House and A Big Quiet House are based on the same Eastern European folktale, but it was fun to see how the versions differ.

* HO = History Odyssey

Girl Scouts - Snapshots, Fall/Winter 2013-14

I had planned to blog about Tessa's general Girl Scout activities along with her badge-earning efforts, but I can't seem to find the time. I'm compromising by posting these quick snapshots. She's gone to a few other events, but I forgot my camera on those days.

Fall Camporee - September 2013

Tessa attended a fall camporee back in September. It was her first official Girl Scout event and first non-family campout.

The fall camporee was jammed packed with fun activities. Tessa crafted this dinner bell, assembled SWAPs, took a nature hike, roasted marshmallows and even created a little STEM car for a derby.

Cookie Rally - January 2014

An official Girl Scout photographer snapped this pic of Tessa finishing up her cookie goal door hanger at Cookie Rally 2014. It was later posted on the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri Facebook page.

Tessa dressed up as her favorite Girl Scout cookie at Cookie Rally 2014.

Tessa drew a picture of her at a cookie booth on the community share-a-cookie-selling-tip wall at Cookie Rally 2014.

Tessa's completed pic from the wall mentioned above. Teh, heh...gotta love kid-created art.

...3 Cheers for Animals! - Session 6

It's Your Story - Tell It!: A Leadership Journey
Girl Scout Daisies

"The girls continue to explore the needs of animals and begin to focus in on specific animal needs in their communities."

Download ...3 Cheers for Animals! - Session 6 handout.

Session 6 - A Postcard Is Worth a Thousand Words

Opening Ceremony:
Animals Around the World, page 69 from “How To Guide”
(Donkey: Mexico)

• Pointed out Zinni, the zinnia, on "The Flower Friends and Their Girl Scout Law Values" poster. (May also be found in the back of the "How To Guide.")
• Used ...3 Cheers for Animals! - Session 6 map to show where the farm Zinni visited is located.
• Shared the italicized parts and other pertinent information from this section with Tessa.
• Had Tessa touch fabric samples of faux fur and burlap. As she felt the fur, she imagined that she was petting a donkey. Then, she felt (and smelled) the burlap sample. I explained to her that donkeys are used as pack animals in Mexico and many other countries across the world. Burlap is often used to make sacks donkeys carry on their backs.
• Drew, colored and cut out something a donkey might carry on its back on a small piece of white cardstock to add to the donkey’s pack on the Team Animal Mural.

Story Time: “Zinni’s Story,” page 70 from "How To Guide"

• Read “Zinni’s Story” and the rest of the chapter (pages 28-39) from the girls’ book. Completed the activities along the way.
• Discussed the italicized parts from this section and the feature box about mail in preparation for the next activity.

The Power of a Postcard, page 71 from "How To Guide"

• Used free postcard template by Jennifer Rzepecki to complete this section as directed.

The Power of a Postcard, Part 2, page 71 from "How To Guide"

• Not applicable.

Comparing the Caring, pages 72-73 from "How To Guide"

• In lieu of completing the "Comparing the Caring" chart, I had each of our Journey girls think about and write down three good animal-care topics she might like to explore for her component of the Red Robin Project. (I'll choose from these topics at the next meeting and assign each girl one so there aren't duplicates.)

Closing Ceremony:

Sharing the Caring, page 74 from “How To Guide”

• Read pages 72-73 and 76-77 from the girls’ book.

Tessa's completed work from "...3 Cheers for Animals!" Session 6. Her postcard reads, "Feed birds in the winter." She drew the bird feeders and visiting birds that we have outside. The little basket with fruits and vegetables is to add to the donkey's pack on the Team Animal Mural.

Looking for more activities to complement the ...3 Cheers for Animals! Journey?

Check out my Girl Scout Law Ring Book - Pets Version - Girl Scout Daisies & Brownies printable scouting helper.

Daisy Count It Up Badge

Aside from possibly the Amazing Daisy Promise Center, this has been the easiest badge for Tessa to earn thus far. Previous leaf badge booklets and activities from our council's Cookie Rally left her well-prepared for earning her Count It Up leaf. Once again, the requirements for this badge are well defined in The Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, so we didn't do anything more than complete the booklet. This post is simply to verify that Tessa completed the required work. The basic steps for the Daisy Count It Up badge are listed below. I have also included a link to some free downloadable goal charts.

Count It Up

When you take part in the Girl Scout Cookie Program, you are helping with the largest business run by girls in the whole world. When you earn the Money Counts leaf, you learn about how much coins and bills are worth. Now use what you know as you ask customers to buy your cookies!

Steps

1. Find out what cookies cost

Tessa practiced different ways to count up coins and bills to add up to $4 (the cost per box of cookies). Afterward, she counted up amounts for two boxes of cookies.

2. Learn about different kids of cookies

We didn't have boxes of cookies to use for this step, so we used our cookie sales form to go through the different kinds of Girl Scout cookies. Tessa already knew most of their names, so we focused more on learning their ingredients.

3. Set a sales goal

• Goal Tracking Charts - Carolyn at RiskingFailure

Tessa's troop goal is 125 boxes per girl. However, Tessa fell in love with "Honey," the plush golden retriever on our council's girl rewards incentives list, so she set her personal goal at 175 boxes. After a slow start (cookies haven't been as easy to sell as one might think...for us anyway), we finally hit that goal yesterday. Yeah!!

Purpose

When I've earned this leaf, I'll know how my cookie money adds up.

Daisy Making Choices Badge

Since the steps for earning the Making Choices leaf are well defined in The Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, I didn't feel the need to do anything more than guide Tessa in completing the booklet for this badge. This post is simply to verify that Tessa completed the required work. The basic steps for the Daisy Money Counts badge are listed below.

I know some people might feel the leaf badges school-ish, but I like them. Although we may touch upon the skills they teach in daily life, working through the booklets are making a much stronger impact. Good stuff. Thank you, Girl Scouts!

Making Choices

There are things we need, and there are things we want. Both cost money! Let's find out the difference.

Steps

1. Find out the difference between needs and wants

2. Try setting a goal to save for what you want

Tessa made a list of three things she wants (a doll, a raincoat and a magic set) and then recorded their costs and how many weeks she would need to save if she set aside $5 per week before she could purchase them. Since Tessa is still learning how to multiply, she used faux $5 bills to figure out the number of weeks for each item.

3. Help others with what they need and want

Tessa's plan to help others was to gather some of her gently used toys and books and donate them to a charity. 

Purpose

When I've earned this leaf, I'll know more about how to make choices about using money.

Looking for more Making Choices leaf badge ideas?

Check out my Girl Scout Daisies - "Making Choices" Activity Pack Bundle - All 3 Steps! printable scouting helper.

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 5

Storms

Tessa is terrified of the possibility of being in a tornado. Living in Missouri, there's usually at least one that touches down in the vicinity each season. After this unit on storms, I think she's a little more confident now that she understands them better...and, what to do if there is one. She doesn't seem quite so scared now. We'll see. Storm season is just around the corner!

Monday

• Read Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Read The Storm Book by Charlotte Zolotow.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: Lightning Safety" (page 28). (We completed this orally instead of using it as a writing assignment.)
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: A Thunderstorm Is Building" (page 27).
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: A Few Words About Weather" (page 27).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Storms DVD by Disney.

Our completed "A Thunderstorm Is Building" paper craft, which explains what causes the crashing and flashing that happens during a thunderstorm. We altered it a wee bit. Instead of printing three of the clouds on gray paper, I had Tessa color them. We also didn't sandwich the yarn between double copies of the clouds.

Tuesday

• Read Tornadoes! by Gail Gibbons.
• Looked at pictures and read excerpts from Tornado!: The Story Behind These Twisting, Turning, Spinning, and Spiraling Storms by Judy Fradin.
• Read Otis and the Tornado by Loren Long.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: A Twister in a Jar" (page 29). (This experiment didn't really work for us. I did use a larger bottle and doubled the "recipe," so perhaps that's why. We also completed the tornado-in-a-bottle demonstration featured on the Bill Nye DVD mentioned above. That one was really cool and worked like a charm.)

Wednesday

• Read Hurricanes! by Gail Gibbons.
• Read Hurricane by David Wiesner.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: In the Eye of the Storm" (page 28). (We had a hard time with this demonstration too. I couldn't get it to work at all when the string was attached to the ruler. I couldn't move the paperclip into the eye fast enough without it spinning around and around. After holding the string with the paperclip just so with one hand and briskly stirring the water with the other, I was able to get it to work. It took me many tries to get it just right, though.)

Medieval Times, Lessons 21 & 22

Burgundians and Habsburgs & War of the Roses

Not sure these two topics were even worth covering at this age. Tessa did get a kick out of the Lancanster-York family tree, though. We both decided they really could have used a baby names book. Hah!

Lesson 21 - Burgundians and Habsburgs

• Read The Usborne Medieval World by Jane Bingham (pages 48-49).

Lesson 22 - War of the Roses

• Read The Usborne Medieval World by Jane Bingham (pages 50-51).
• Completed draw and color of Lancanster and York banners as directed in Lesson 22, Main Lesson.

Tessa went color crazy in designing her Lancaster and York banners. (Huh, just realized we failed to follow directions. There were supposed to be two knights holding these banners. Oops! Guess we both glazed over that first part.)

* HO = History Odyssey

Daisy Money Counts Badge

Since the steps for earning the Money Counts leaf are well defined in The Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, I didn't feel the need to do anything more than guide Tessa in completing the booklet for this badge. This post is simply to verify that Tessa did indeed do the required work. The basic steps for the Daisy Money Counts badge are listed below. I have included a picture of Tessa (or her completed work) for each step.

Money Counts

You can use money to buy things. You can use it to help other people, too. Let's find out more about money!

Steps

1. Understand different kinds of coins

Tessa identified various coins and their worth. She compared and contrasted the coins as well.

2. Know more about paper money

Tessa identified various paper bills and their worth. She also counted out the proper number of coins to equal a dollar. 

3. Find out the cost of fun

After working out budgets to visit the St. Louis Science Center, and Zoo, Tessa came up with fun things to do for free. She drew pictures of visiting the St. Louis Art Museum, playing with friends, and picking wildflowers.

Purpose

When I've earned this leaf, I'll know more about money and what it's worth.

Looking for more Money Counts badge ideas?

Check out my Growing Girls Budgeting Fun - Girl Scout Daisies - "Money Counts" Activity Pack (Step 3) printable scouting helper.

Medieval Times, Lesson 20

Celts

Somehow our study of Medieval Celts morphed into the study of Irish folktales. Apparently, that's all I was able to find at the library. I didn't realize how lopsided our study was until it was too late to do anything more.

Monday

• Read The Usborne Medieval World by Jane Bingham (pages 46-47).
• Read Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale by Tomie dePaola.
• Completed HO map work for Lesson 20, Main Lesson.

Tuesday

• Read Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk by Gerald McDermott.
• Read Finn McCool and the Great Fish by Eve Bunting.

Wednesday

• Watched The Secret of Kells DVD from Netflix.

* HO = History Odyssey

Daisy Safety Award

Earning the Daisy Safety Award has been a long time coming. It was one of the first things we bought at the Girl Scout Shop thinking it would be a fast-and-easy award to earn. Tessa completed step three back in October during Fire Prevention Week. We had planned to finish it up early December when our troop was set to visit the local police station and fire house, but that trip was canceled due to inclement weather. When it was time for Tessa to earn her Gerri petal (Respect Authority), I finally committed time to get the rest of it done. For whatever reason, Tessa really enjoyed earning this award. I think the knowledge empowered her...made her feel a little bit grown up.

I laid out what we did a little differently than usual. The resources listed below are the ones we used to fulfill the requirements of the Daisy Safety Award. These requirements may also be found on page 21 of The Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting.

Daisy Safety Award

Learn how to stay safe on your Daisy adventures! When you do, you'll earn this important award. Do these three steps to earn the award:

1. Understand what to do if you get lost. Know your phone number, address, and who it's safe to ask for help (police officer, teacher, person in charge).

• "My Phone Number" - education.com
• Pony bead phone number bracelet (Number beads can be found on Amazon or craft stores.)
• "What's Your Address?" - education.com

Tessa used the "My Phone Number" worksheet from education.com to help her learn my cell phone number in case she ever gets lost. She also practiced dialing it on a toy phone.

2. Find out what you should do if you or a friend is choking.

• "Choking" - KidsHealth.org

3. Learn how to do "Stop, Drop, and Roll" if your clothing catches on fire.

• Stop Drop and Roll - Margery Cuyler
• "Know When to Stop, Drop, and Roll" - National Fire Prevention Association, nfpa.org

Tessa learned to "Stop, Drop, and Roll" during Fire Prevention Week back in October. She showed me again today that she remembered how to do it. She also sorted cards from the "Know When to Stop, Drop, and Roll" lesson above to display that she knows exactly when she should Stop, Drop, and Roll.

Related-Product Alert!

Check out my Growing Girls Girl Scout Brownies - "First Aid" Activity Pack Bundle - All 5 Steps! printable scouting helper.

Gerri the Geranium (Magenta), Respect Authority Petal

Once a month, Tessa and I complete a picture book literature study for school. I had a different book planned for this month until I realized that the study for Officer Buckle and Gloria would be a perfect fit for earning her Gerri the Geranium (Magenta), Respect Authority petal. So, I switched the book a couple of days before and we killed two birds with one stone.

The activities we completed over a two-day period came from Reading & Writing with Picture Books, Grade 1 by The Mailbox. I think either activity could be done without the directions, though. Reading the book and then completing just one activity would fulfill the requirements for Gerri's petal. The first activity does take some preparation. You would need to give yourself plenty of time to collect safety tips from newspapers, magazines and such. They aren't quite as easy to come by as you might think, especially child-oriented ones.

To compliment earning Gerri's petal, Tessa finished up the requirements for the Daisy Safety Award the next day.

What We Did

• Discussed the Gerri the Geranium (Magenta), Respect Authority petal.
• Read "Gerri's Story: Playing by the Rules" from The Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting.
• Talked about "Gerri's Story" per patch requirements.
• Listened to Officer Buckle & Gloria by Peggy Rathmann via Scholastic Storybook Treasures: Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics (or Scholastic Storybook Treasures: Treasury of 50 Storybook Classics - Animal Antics and More!) DVD.
• Created a collage of safety tips cut from magazines, newsletters, brochures and various other media. Embellished with dog cutouts and gold foil star stickers.
• Tessa pretended to be a safety office and wrote her own safety tip. Afterward, she illustrated it with a drawing of her fictitious canine sidekick (who also happens to be our real dog).
• Completed the "Congratulations!" portion of the Gerri the Geranium (Magenta), Respect Authority petal.

Tessa created a collage of safety tips cut from magazines, newsletters, brochures and a variety of other media. Afterward, she embellished them to cutouts of dogs and gold foil star stickers.

Tessa pretended to be a safety officer and came up with her very own safety tip. She illustrated her tip with a drawing of her fictitious canine sidekick (who also happens to be our real dog).

Looking for more Gerri the Geranium activities?

Check out my Playing It Safe - Girl Scout Daisies - "Gerri - Magenta Petal" Pack (Step 3) printable scouting helper.

Gloria the Morning Glory (Purple), Respect Myself and Others Petal

Gloria's petal seemed a little abstract to me. When I think of respect, I think of it more in an emotional sense. I felt like the suggested activities were pretty humdrum, but it took me a while to come up with anything better. The extra time and effort was worth it, though. This petal ended up being one of Tessa's favorites.

What We Did

• Discussed the Gloria the Morning Glory (Purple), Respect Myself and Others petal.
• Read "Gloria's Story: A Surprise for Lily" from The Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting.
• Talked about "Gloria's Story" per patch requirements.
• Reviewed the five food groups with ChooseMyPlate.gov coloring sheet, which also served as a reference for how to portion out a balanced meal. - Respect Myself
• Created a balanced meal with Melissa & Doug Make-a-Meal Sticker Pad. (This activity could also be completed with play food.) - Respect Myself
• Colored and dressed a paper doll (paper dolls - outfits) appropriately for a party. (I printed and cut apart several dolls and outfits for Tessa to choose from. Tessa also cut out a small washcloth from a tissue and then drew and cut out a hairbrush, toothbrush and tube of toothpaste for her doll. She used these things to demonstrate how her doll would take care of herself before a party.) - Respect Myself and Others
• Downloaded and listened to Bill Harley's "Wash Your Hands" song while reviewing accompanying poster. - Respect Others
• Mixed fine green glitter and waterproof sunblock (Vaseline is typically used, but we didn't have any) and then had Tessa rub it all over her hands to represent germs. She washed her hands as usual and realized a great many germs remained. She rewashed her hands while singing the alphabet and found that this was a more appropriate length of time to rid her hands of the pesky germs. She's been singing the alphabet ever since!) - Respect Others
• Completed the "Congratulations!" portion of the Gloria the Morning Glory (Purple), Respect Myself and Others petal.

First, Tessa created a balanced meal with Melissa & Doug Make-a-Meal Sticker Pad to demonstrate one way to respect herself.

Then, she colored and dressed a paper doll appropriately for a party to demonstrate how to respect herself and others. I colored and dressed the paper doll on the right to show how not to look. Tessa really got a kick out of that.

Finally, Tessa rubbed glitter and waterproof sunblock all over her hands to represent germs. She tried to wash them off her usual way and realized that she hadn't been washing her hands long enough to get rid of all of the germs. She learned that not spreading germs is one way to respect others. This demonstration was a huge success. Tessa consistently washes her hands longer now.

Looking for more Gloria the Morning Glory badge ideas?

Check out my Respect Myself... - Girl Scout Daisies - "Gloria - Purple Petal" Pack (Step 3) and Healthy Plates - Girl Scout Daisies - "Gloria - Purple Petal" Pack (Step 3) printable scouting helpers.

Mari the Marigold (Orange), Responsible for What I Say and Do Petal

Holiday school breaks are great for catching up on patches. Tessa earned three more petals during Christmas break. First up was Mari's petal. I had a hard time coming up with ways to teach and practice this skill. Chore charts seem to be the popular thing, but I didn't want to do that. I ended up quickly designing a paper activity that I must have dreamed up in my sleep, as I thought of it first thing one morning.

What We Did

• Discussed the Mari the Marigold (Orange), Responsible for What I Say and Do petal.
• Read "Mari's Story: Keeping a Cupcake Promise" from The Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting.
• Talked about "Mari's Story" per patch requirements.
• Printed "Mari the Marigold - Orange Petal" coloring page onto plain paper. Then, I had Tessa crumple it into a tight ball. Afterward, I had her attempt to smooth it out. As she did so, I explained that we are responsible for everything we say and do and although we may make amends or "fix" something, things will never be exactly as they were before. We discussed several scenarios. (I saw this activity several places around the Net. I was surprised how much it impacted Tessa. At one point, she even got a little teary-eyed.)
• Completed "Responsibility Cupcakes" (this links to a revised and expanded version of this activity).
• Completed the "Congratulations!" portion of the Mari the Marigold (Orange), Responsible for What I Say and Do petal.

Tessa crumpled a coloring sheet and then attempted to smooth it out. This demonstration illustrated that we are all responsible for what we say and do. Although we may make amends or "fix" something, things will never be exactly as they were before.

Tessa made "Responsibility Cupcakes" (this links to a revised and expanded version of this activity) to show things she is responsible for. On the blank cupcake toppers, she chose to draw that she is responsible for throwing away her candy wrappers (we have an issue with this one) and washing her hands to help keep herself and others healthy. She decorated her cupcakes with pom-pom cherries and confetti paper sprinkles.

Looking for more Mari the Marigold petal ideas?

Check out my Responsibility Cupcakes - Girl Scout Daisies - "Mari - Orange Petal" Pk (Step 3) printable scouting helper.