OT - Anyone have 1st or 2nd grade children?

[kamik86]

I'm working on starting a girl scout troop. My troop will be Brownie's which are 2nd and 3rd graders (however since the year is almost over and girls can "bridge" to the next grade as far as girl scouts is concerned in June we are advertising to 1st and 2nd graders so they will all still be in the troop come September and not have to move up already). My first meeting is on Thursday and is a parents meeting I have most of the things set up as far as meeting times, what I need to tell parents, etc. However there are a few things I could use opinions on.

1. Can anyone tell me more about the abilities of your "average" child finishing 1st or 2nd grade now? What types of crafts and activities to they do in school?

2. How much do you think would be reasonable for troop dues? Each troop sets their own amount to cover supplies. I'm thinking $5 a month would be good, I want to do monthly instead of weekly so I don't have to collect a small amount at each meeting and have parents forgetting to have cash etc. Parents would also have to pay $12 to register the girls and then if we do extra trips that we don't have money in the budget for maybe some extra for those at least until our first cookie sale.

I'm getting more nervous the closer it gets. I was a girl scout for years but was never a Brownie, I started as a Junior and went until I graduated high school. I am now out of college and want to start a troop. I'm most nervous about the parent meeting though, I'm afraid no one will come or if they do come that no parents will volunteer to help, I don't have a co-leader so unless a parent volunteers to be one and come to all the meetings we can't have a troop since GS rule is that 2 adults be present at every meeting.

 

[aprilgail2]

I don't have a child that young but I have a girl scout troop and we do dues YEARLY- if they can't pay yearly we will break it into one payment in Sept and one in Jan-- we charge 4.00 a meeting and then all trips we take are extra.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I have 3 troops this year and I am stepping down after 2 years as a service unit manager. . Personally I highly discourage against mixing grades. I know you will get all type of opinions.

After next year your 2rd graders will move up to Juniors and your 2nds graders will remain Brownies. Than you will have 2 troops or have a mixed troop.

My Daisies this year are only Kindergarten.. We have one more meeting than were done till Sept. If I have any new girls in Sept I will only take 1st Graders for that troop.

I took over a Brownie troop that has both 2nd and 3rd graders. So come September they will have the problem listed above. I am not continuing that troop and unfortunately it will probably disband.

Than I have my 5th grade Juniors.. They have been together since kindergarten and I have stuck with all of them the same grade.


For Dues I charge $25 a year. Than we have 2 product sales. I do let the parents know in September that If I needed more money I would ask later in the year. I did not have to do that this year. If I asked them to bring dues to the meeting I would be lucky to collect half of the time.

 

[stepmommyof1]

I lead a brownie troop of 2nd and 3rd grade girls. Next year they will be 3rd and 4th grade but I am not going to take in any new 2nd graders, Im going to keep it at 3rd and 4th grade. I will let them be brownies one more year before brdging them to juniors all at once. Its not really "legal" to let them be brownies for an extra year, but I am being allowed to do it anyway because our troop didn't form until several months ago...so, basically the 3rd graders would have bought a brownie uniform, brownie books, etc and then been brownies for like a few months before having to start all over again in juniors. And there was no junior troop anyway. So I asked if we could please be allowed to just keep all my girls as brownies an extra year and then we will all move up to juniors together.

I put together a packet for the parents, and I gave it to them at our first meeting- which by the way, wasn't a real meeting, it was a parent information meeting for anyone interested, and you can put out coloring sheets or something for if they bring their girls, but the point of that first meeting is just to hand out info, answer questions, etc.
Here's whats in the packet I made:
PAGE 1: my contact info (my full name, home phone, cell phone, email address, a secure website they can check for troop updates) plus a tear off part they can hang on their fridge that tells the date, time, and location of our meetings
PAGE 2: page with the girl scout promise and laws on it that the parent and child must both read and sign, with a short paragraph from me saying that our meetings need to be a place free from teasing, bullying, peer pressure etc.
PAGE 3: page that tells the national registration fee is 12 dollars and that money does not go to our troop, it goes toward the nationals, and that if financial assistance is needed please let me know, and then below that I listed what our monthly dues would be (I put 5 dollars a month) and I explain what our dues will be used for (so they know that their money is not just going in my pocket) and also a sentence that says if they ever want to see our troops financial records they have a right to see it and all they have to do is ask and i will let them see it (because that is true, the parents and girls have a right to see the finance records- which is why you should keep all receipts for supplies bought)
PAGE 4: costs of the sash or vest and where to buy it plus all the insignia to put on it and i also wrote on there the location, phone number, website, and store hours for the local girl scout council shop so they can get their uniform. i also wrote on there that uniforms and sashes etc are NOT required but if you want one and cant afford one then please let me know because we would be having fundraisers at some point to help with the cost of these items
PAGE 5: girl's registration form, this will be provided by your service unit person, they should give you these so just staple them on, and once it is returned then you send it back to the service unit person along with the girls 12 dollar registration fee
PAGE 6: health card they have to fill out and give back to you. this health card will be given to you from the service unit. you don't send the health card back to the service unit though, you have to keep health cards for every girl with you at all times when you have the girls with you.
a girl cannot be left at a meeting without her parent unless you already have that health card filled out and returned to you, this is so if there is a health emergency, you either have that card so you know how to help her, or, the parent is still there so they can help her themselves- just dont let a girl stay at a meeting without parent if you don't have the health card filled out and returned to you.

by the way i did not get any volunteer for a co-leader unfortunately, however i do have a couple moms who are so nice and helpful and pretty much always stay during meetings to help me out and they always help clean up afterward and even carry supplies out to my car for me which is amazing, and so even if you can't get a co-leader, you might end up with one or two moms who will help out a lot.

if not, insist that every parent sign up for at least one meeting where they will stay and "be present in the room". lol. you can't make them help you lead the meeting but ask if they can at least stay in the room and read or something, because you can't have a meetings without another adult there- period.

 

[descovy]

I am a Daisy & Juniors leader (although my Juniors started as 2nd grade Brownies )

We are BIG about being girl-led vs leader led (or "mommy -led) and it is reflected in many of these issues.

Dues... we charge a one time "initiation fee" of $25 for new members. Beyond that, dues are $1.00 a meeting. We ask that the girls "earn" their dues. Often it was from allowance, or doing an extra chore around the house. At meetings, the girls pass the can, and say how they earned their dues.

Other than that we earn money from fall product and cookie sales. Each girl takes part, some sell moree than others, but everyone gets a say in how the money is spent. Product sales are the bulk of our budget, dues are a bit of the pie. Virtually no other out of pocket for parents (parents do pay for uniforms and badge books (take home) When we did the journeys books, the troop paid for it and used it at meetings only, though) The girls (since 2nd grade) have decided as a troop how money is spent, and the activities, field trips, try-its, badges they do. Parents don't pay for field trips/activities. We will state, you have $600 in YOUR checking account, going to the zoo will cost $150 ($15/girl) is that something you want to do?

They also pick the badges they want to earn. First time out, we asked all to come with their top three Try-its (after recieving the book) Made a big ol list of what every girl came with... then each girl was given 3 stickers to "vote" on her favorite badge. She could throw all 3 stickers on a Try-it she REALLY REALLY wanted, or divvy up through the options. Then as leaders we went through the list in top order. Once the troop was established, we survey the girls at the end of every year... what do they like to do most, etc... Their answers always surprise us. We leaders (3) *think* we know what they like, then we get a majority on an end of year survey saying they want to do "science stuff" who knew?

So anyways, that's our troop. Probably how my Daisy troop will morph to, when they become Brownies. We don't do crafts for the sake of crafts, or do what the adults think is cute... we really try to make it as girl-led as possible. Us leaders are more like the facilitators. Want to learn canoeing? We'll research the dates/options and register the girls. But we won't "pick" canoeing just because we "think" the girls want to do it.

 

[mykidsand_i]

by the way i did not get any volunteer for a co-leader unfortunately, however i do have a couple moms who are so nice and helpful and pretty much always stay during meetings to help me out and they always help clean up afterward and even carry supplies out to my car for me which is amazing, and so even if you can't get a co-leader, you might end up with one or two moms who will help out a lot.
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I have been a girl scout leader for a few years now- and even do 5 hours paid a week worth of office work for our local chapter. How is it possible for you to work with money when there is no co-leader? In our chapter (and MANY chapters, if not ALL) you must have two names on the girl scout account at the bank. If you don't you could get it BIG TROUBLE!!! There was a troop leader in my town that put all of their cookie money into their account and her name was the only one on the account and some how about $100 was missing...wasn't the leaders fault but there was no way to prove it or re-check anything because she wasn't working with a co-leader.

In our entire midwestern area, if there is no specific leader and co-leader, a troop is NOT ALLOWED TO FORM. And that is not only for the protection of the kids/families- it's also for the leaders own good and safety!


I have a 'co-leader' who's name is on the bank account, she helps with all financial stuff, but she doesn't do much else.

At all of my beg. of the year parent meetings I hand out three sheets:

-Late form/policy: it states that there is a set time to drop a child off, and a set time to pick the child up from troop meetings and events. It gives the parents 5 extra minutes for 'slack time' and after that they are charged $3 a minute for every extra minute they are late. In order to be in my troop, it must be signed. I allow one time of being tardy (over the 5 minutes) if it's a reasonable excuse, after that the charge goes into effect.

It sounds harsh- but in my area and for these younger grades, SOME parents look at girl scouts as a 'time to dump off their kids' and 'free babysitting'...There are always those one or two parents that are late ALL THE TIME!!!! After the first 5 meetings, I put in the late policy and there were two moms that were still late ALL THE TIME- they ended up paying in over $150 between the two of them for the rest of the year! The money went into the 'slush fund/girl scout account' and paid for all troop leader and co-leader events. We figured it helped the troop out, because the leaders were able to do more events- since we didn't have to pay...AND the girls got to do more events that way too. Needless to say, one of the girls didn't come back the following year (they moved) and council actually had to call the other parent and warn them. The other parent has had two warnings and has gotten better this year.

the 2nd sheet is a combo of: schedule and snack sign up

schedule for that 1/2 of the year (they get one in fall and one after Christmas break) with empty slots for people to sign up for snack. If no one signs up for snack, we do not have one. Each family can only sign up once until all families have signed up, than any left over spots can be filled again. Yes, again- it sounds harsh, but if we don't do it that way, it's the leader or co-leader or the same parents who always end up bringing the snack!

The next is a form for parent helpers. Every family/parent is expected to help out at at least one meeting durring the year. A lot of troops do it this way in my area. If you don't say they need to, then they WON'T around here! AND, EVERYONE has time to help out at AT LEAST one meeting!!! If they don't, then they shouldn't be involved in Girl Scouts because this is a 'family and volunteer run organization' not a babysitting service!!!

As you can tell, we've had issues in this area with slacker parents who use it as a babysitting service more than anything else...


There are the good parents though, that seem to always want to help out and don't ever be afraid to tell them what is needed and when it's needed. They will help you greatly!

This year, I've had a mixed group of girls and it's worked very well for me. I have kindergarden, 1st and 2nd...Daisies and Brownies. Yes, it is a bit of a challenge, to have the two levels. BUT, it also has some major benifits as well. The older girls have really shown an improvement with helping the younger ones do activities they need help with. It has shown them a 'sisterly responsibility' that they would not have had other wise. There are nights that we do 'break away sessions' and the daisies work on petals while the Brownies do try-its...there are other nights we all work together, because we get creative and find great lessons and activities where both groups can earn their things all by doing the same things.

I have 2 daughters...a kindergartener and a 2nd grader this year. And they are both in G.S. it wouldn't be fair of me to lead one troop and not the other. AND THERE IS NO WAY in the world that I have time to do two troops, so this is what worked out best for me.

 

[monorailsilver]

I have a 3rd grader who is a Brownie. This is her 2nd year & most of the girls in our troop (I am the co-leader) as well.

We had 19 girls at one point all in 3rd grade which is about 2/3rds if not more of our 3rd grade girls in school (we only have one elementary school in town).

One girl quit coming because her gymnastics day changed & the other doesn't always come so we are usually a group of 17 girls & 3 moms.

Occasionally we get another mom to come & help with meetings (or a dad we have as a member). My leader does sent out an email at the beginning encouraging parents to come & help at meetings.

Sometimes the girls don't get what they are trying to do. We have a few that whine & cry & well complain if they can't do it right off the start. We have a few wanderers/don't pay attention girls as well. So an extra parent would be useful to us at times.

We charge $35 for the year for dues. That pays for all the stuff we buy as well as badges. Dues are due at the first meeting.

My leader also put out the snack list & since we have that many girls each parent was responsible once although one parent forgot 3 times..nice..huh!

We just gave out the early bird reg. for next year & we again encouraged all the parents to sign up.

We usually meet about twice a month right after school & walk to the library (small town, library pretty much right next to the school..well sort of).

I really wish we had more parent help at each meeting. I know as they get older it will be easier but with a large group it is not at this point. We do have a good handful of parents who would help us if we asked but I wish they would just come to the meetings vs going to get a hair cut at that time, etc...

We, like a pp, also have those parents who are pretty much always late for pick up. Just last week a repeat offender was late by 15 minutes. I had stuff I had to do & he made me later (getting kids dinner & heading out to t-ball practice). I do like that deal that fines the parents if they are late.

Then we get the parents who stay & chat. Um..hello...get out of the room or help us clean up.

If we pull out chairs & tables I start to clean up at 4:30 right when our meeting is over as the parents are chit chatting away. But there are those few parents that do see me starting & they do help (my leader talks with the parents if they have any questions & the other co & I clean up).

Good Luck! I think I vented more then helped.

 

[mjkacmom]

All of my kids have done scouting, I have a Daisy, Brownie, and Cubscout right now. I've never stayed at a girlscout meeting, because scouting really isn't my thing, and my kids tend to be involved in a lot of activites, and scouting is the first one to go (scouting and sports do not mix). That said, my best advice is to get yearly dues, not monthly. As a parent, I'm writing checks left and right, and would much rather write one in the beginning of the year, than remember monthly.

 

[stepmommyof1]

MykidsandI,

Well we have only been operating for a few months, and we didn't even have a bank account until a couple weeks ago. The families lknew this. They just put their dues in a big envelope and I told the parents I'm buying supplies and I will always keep the receipts and you are free to check them any time you want.
I am in the midwest too.
My service unit person didn't care. He talked about it to our council, and then they just told me that if I couldn't get a co-leader, then just ask some moms to help out once in a while.
As for the bank account, we did get one recently, he asked another lady from council to open it with me, and she did put her name on it but she doesn't have anything to do with the account really.
Anyway they are all fine with the way I run things. It isn't perfect but if there can't even BE a troop without bending the rules, then oh well. The council and all the moms understood this. I'm not saying I LIKE it that way, but unless I get a co-leader, that's the way it is. I'd prefer if we played by the rules but all the families and council trusts me (and I have been in GS a while now and done various things in GS) and their words were "we'd rather have this brownie troop than have no brownie troop"

 

[ADisneyQueen]

I've been a Daisy/Brownie leader for 8 years. I encourage you to get to know some other leaders at your service unit meetings. Ask the SU manager for help and maybe she could introduce you to a few leaders that could tell you some ideas for badgework or field trips. In our SU, we have a designated person to help new Brownie troops. Have you done the training yet?

I also have gone on a site called leader/guider forums that has been helpful.

For dues I collect $20-$25 per year plus registration. Also, if you cannot find an assistant leader, tell all the parents that they have to register and sign up to help at 2 meetings per year.

Some of the easy try its to start with are art to wear and I think it's called ready set play- you play a bunch of games from around the world, eco explorer, and caring and sharing.l

 

[kamik86]

Well my second worst fear came true... no one came to the meeting at all.

The only thing that would have been worse is if people had come to the meeting and not ever want to join.

 

[descovy]

Aw, I hope you try again in the fall. Most scouts take the summer off. My Juniors troop is meeting once in June and once in Aug just because we are working on Bronze award pre-req's and are *almost* finished But usually, everyone takes a break.

In the fall, people are signing kids up... Does your service unit do a rally? Often they are done at individual schools, although for the last few years my service unit has held one big rally for the service unit. Rallys are basically where new troops are formed. In my service unit, first you sit at a 2nd grade table from Stanley Elem. If there are not enough at your table to form a troop (5) or no one wants to step up to be a leader you merge with a 2nd grade table from a nearby school. Most leaders start as moms talked into it at the rally, but some leaders "early bird" in the spring, take their training in the summer and are ready to go for fall.

When my older troop started, I was a mom talked into it at the rally. We rallyed in September, Trained in October & had parent meeting. It was November before our first meeting.

Conversly, I *knew* I wanted to lead my younger troop (Daisies) so I signed on in April, took training over the summer. At rally in September, all I had to do was round up new kids at the rally. I was meeting with girls a week later!