UM6 Another GFI activities week

End of Term, GFI sessions and big patrols

The guides had another GFI evening tonight, where they had were supposed to have chosen activities to last most of the evening.

It was the last week of term - many of them in new high schools - and we found an interesting mix of over-tired, hyper, exhausted, stroppy and slightly-off-colour girls. So, probably not the easiest of nights, and also perhaps not the best for a GFI night when they are required to listen to each other, follow instructions for activities they have chosen, think for themselves, and work together.  

Note to self: Don't do GFI sessions at the end of a half term!

Our Young Leaders were tired and off-colour this evening too, and not up to their normal level of help, so spent much of their time just chatting. They were both tired and had come straight from school, so we didn't push them too much.  

By and large, the girls seemed to enjoy their activities, but these were some of the things that, as a leader, I thought didn't work quite so well.

• One patrol finished much earlier than any of the others. They then spent time wandering round the room distracting other girls.  They had other activities to do, but raced through them, and needed constant 'entertainment' to stop them  interrupting other patrol's activities.  
• One of the patrol chosen activities was to play Captain's Coming with the whole unit - but that required all the tables to be put away, and the whole unit available to play with them, when others were doing their own activities.  
• Our 'big' patrol of 8 were doing cooking, making cheese puffs. While this worked well as an activity and they were all very pleased with their results, it was hard work with 8 very lively girls in the kitchen.  In future, I'd try and ensure this patrol has at least 2 activities, then split the patrol in half, and swap over activities half way through.
• The 'cooking' group had failed to tell us that they needed flour, rolling pins.  We only got half the information on their planning sheet. They just assumed it would all be there.
• Without an extra parent helper, I struggled to keep track of what activities the girls were doing and whether they'd actually done what they had chosen (or whether they were just sitting nattering).
• We definitely had a problem with girls not listening to simple instructions, walking off/talking when leaders were speaking to them, not paying attention, and leaving other people to do the hard work (our newest guide ended up doing all of the washing up for her big-8 patrol when they did cooking. Despite us asking them, the other girls all just disappeared or messed around.  There was a lot of cleaning and tidying to do by the leaders afterwards.
• One patrol had to make a play up, which apparently consisted of them using the side room to screech at each other and roll around the floor...

That said, the Guides' view afterwards was that they had enjoyed the evening, and I do think they appreciated having a less structured evening where they could just chatter, lark around, and be kids.  It just felt harder work than normal for the leaders.

So, what to do to improve this?  I think there are some fairly simple solutions

1. Our Big-8 patrol - split in two for activities - this would make it easier to focus instructions to the individuals, hopefully reduce them shirking out of tidying up, and reduce the messing around....and give them all more access to the equipment/activities they are using. Win-Win.
2. Kitchen work - no more than 6 in the kitchen at once (see first point!)
3. At GFI Planning session:
1. check the chosen activities should last long enough to fill the time allocated
2. stress that the equipment and resources that they need leaders to provide MUST be written on the form - otherwise it won't be there!

Baden Powell Activities

Also tonight, our BP girls took themselves off to try and plan a collaborative games evening together. We talked briefly about what 'collaborative games' are and they bounced some ideas around.  Not quite sure what they are going to end up with, but i'm not absolutely convinced they really understood 'collaborative games' as i think they had football and netball on the list (30 girls in small church hall....ahem).  We will see!

That said, I am really impressed with their enthusiasm to organise the evening (and for the BP challenge clauses in general), and that they really got on and had a brainstorm about what kind of things they thought the other Guides would enjoy doing.

UM4 GFI Activities and BP

Unit Meeting 4

This evening the Guides spent time on their Go For It!  Last week, each patrol chose their GFI, did a 'getting started' activity and then planned 4 'sessions' worth of activities to complete over the next few weeks.  Tonight we allocated time for them to do 2 of their 4 planned session (each session being 30-ish minutes each).

• Pandas - GFI Peace (unit printed copy only)
• Friendship Bracelets
• Greetings
• Pelicans - GFI Grrreeen (unit printed copy only)
• Recycled Bubblewrap purses
• Recycled Magazine holders
• Puffins - GFI Blast from the Past (PDF Download here)
• Candle Smores
• Design a space menu
• Penguins - GFI With A Splash (unit printed copy only)
• Waterways, lakes and rivers scrapbook
• News Item on a water rescue

Bringing their own Resources and learning lessons about responsibilty

Each patrol had given me a list of what they were going to bring for their activities, and a list of what they needed me to bring, or the unit to provide.   In theory, I should only provide what they have asked me to provide. In practice, it's a bit different.

I always have  a dilemma here: I think we should encourage the girls to remember their resources, take responsibility, and deal with the consequence of forgetting them.  BUT  if one girl forgets to bring a key resource or doesn't turn up, this prevents her whole patrol from doing the activity, this is (a) unfair on the rest of of the patrol and (b) means I have to find something for them to do for half an hour, or magic up a replacement task - neither of which I want to happen.  So, for key resources, I do bring some extras (kept hidden in a bag!).

For example, Marshmallow Smores, I had a spare bag of mini marshmallows and chocolate buttons, so if these were forgotten or the girl was absent, the rest of the patrol would still have something to work with (albeit on a smaller scale). As it happens, they all remembered.

Likewise for other patrols, I brought along some bubblewrap (girls forgot), some magazines (some girls remembered, others didn't).  Half of the girls in Pelicans forgot to bring a cereal box for their Magazine Holder craft - so they had to negotiate with the girls in their patrol who did bring boxes, to share and halve the boxes.  Hopefully a bit of peer pressure here will encourage them to think about responsibility next time.

How the GFI activities ran

The girls really have got the hang of this now (this is the second GFI they have run on their own). 

Here are some observations

1. All patrols worked well in their groups and (from what I could tell at least) girls were treating each other fairly and cooperating.   
2. Wanted to spend longer, and would probably have spent an hour on their first activity, (craft-based) despite all of the chosen activities being listed as 20-30 mins each in the GFIs
3. Lots of good co-operation, collaboration and communication going on in each patrol
4. Good to bring emergency just-in-case 'core' items for each task, so the rest of the patrol isn't prevented from completing their activity if a key person doesn't come.
5. 2 or 3 girls didn't realise they were doing TWO activities this week - they thought one activity per week. Need to make that clearer on their planning sheets.

Baden Powell Challenges - girls on a new journey.

We have one girl who is 3/4 through her Baden Powell challenge activities, and this week we started off four more girls on their journey. One had already looked through the clauses and chosen some she liked the look of, but all four new ones were given a folder to have a look through.  While one seemed perhaps a bit disinterested, the other three of them are already chattering about what clauses they might like to do: organise an international evening for the unit; first aid and fake wounds; cooperative games evenings, and suchlike - I think we may be able to have a term of BP-organised evenings at this rate!  We will see...

UM3 - Go For Its and Patrols

Unit Meeting 3

This week, the aim was for the guides (in patrols) to choose a Go For It to work on this term, and plan which activities they wanted to do from their chosen GFI, and ensure they were happy in their new chosen patrols.

We were lucky to have two parent helpers this week, plus two of our Young Leaders, so one 'leader' to sit with each Patrol.

Go For It!

In the past, the girls have sometimes had problems deciding as a group and learning how to compromise, and also, in actually getting their plans down on paper in any sensible time frame.  It really helped to have one dedicated adult/YL sitting at each table, to help and encourage them through the process.  

I also wanted to encourage the girls to try some different GFIs, and particularly to do some that covered some aspect of Global or Community Awareness. As such, I highlighted a number of GFI's in different colours and this week said they could choose from any of the GFIs highlighted in green.  These were:

• Be The Change
• Blast from the Past
• Breaking Barriers
• Grrreeeen
• Globalistic
• Peace
• Take Action
• With a Splash

Patrols

We also re-jigged the patrols again!  I already knew there was at least one who wanted to change) asked them to come to me after the horseshoe and let me know if they wished to change - but with the limitation that patrols must have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 8 in each.  We had 8 wanting to move!  They juggled themselves around - two patrols of 8, one patrol of 5 and one of 6.  Looking now, I like they way it has worked out. One of the 8's now has all 3 BP girls in it, and while they are working on BP activities, the patrol will have five girls (and not all young ones).  They all seemed happy with their choices.

Games

After all the choosing and planning was done, we had drinks & biscuits, and half an hour of games.  We played these games:

• Yes/No - Move Left/Right game - sitting on chairs in a circle, facing outwards.  Leader shouts out statements with yes/no answers (e.g. I have brown hair, I'm wearing a blue top, I like football, I've got a brother).  If the girl's answer is 'yes' she moves one place to the right. If the girl's answer is 'no' she moves one place to the left. Can end up with several girls sitting on one chair.  This went OK, but they prefer games with more running and shrieking.
• Changing Chairs game - sitting on chairs in a circle facing inwards, one less chair than the number of girls, and one girl in the middle. One girl in the middle shouts out a statement that is true of themselves (I have long hair, I play a musical instrument, i ate sausages today).  Anyone who also says yes, must stand up and run to another chair, and the one in the middle must try and get a chair.  Girls cannot move to a chair immediately next to them.

Other Stuff

• Handed out uniform to our four new guides (just missing a polo shirt each for KF & SM)
• Took in money and consent forms for November camp. 15 places taken so far out of 22. I suspect some may be disappointed.
• Handed out letters about challenge badges

For next week/another time

• New patrols need to agree on their PLs and PS
• Need time to talk to the BP girls and really get them started on their tasks.
• Look at YL folders with the YLs
• Use whiteboard and post-it notes to get ideas for 
• Games to play
• Craft Activities
• Other Activities
• Visitors In
• Trips Out
• Badges
• GFIs