Leaders

Junior First Meeting

First Junior Girl Scout Troop Meeting

Pre-Meeting Activity: (15 minutes before)

On the large paper, or grafitti sheet, make one column for "What I Did This Summer" and one for "Would Like to Do." Have the girls write their ideas on the grafitti sheets. If you regularly have snack, have another sheet to make a list of their favorite snacks.

Opening Activity: (3 min)

Have the girls read the Girl Scout Promise and Law together. Remember to be sensitive to girls who are brand-new to Girl Scouting; don't assume that girls know the Promise and Law by heart.

Troop Business/Planning Activity: (10 min.)

1. Have the girls sit in a a circle, on chairs or on the floor.
2. Explain and demonstrate the Quiet Sign.
3. Girls should establish rules for the troop meetings with guidance from leaders.
4. Help girls decide which form of troop government they want to try.
5. Girls should have an active part in deciding the amount of dues. They will need your guidance for keeping the amount low enough for everyone to afford (see Troop Financing in 104 handout).
6. Plan to make the Kaper Chart at the next meeting.

Major Activities: (10 min each)

1. Play the game "Partners": everyone finds a partner. If there are cliques, you may want to pull names from a hat. Then, each pair talks together for five minutes to find out all they can about each other. Each person introduces her partner by telling the group their partner's name and two interesting things she has learned about her partner.
2. From the grafitti sheets, make a priority list of what they would like to do during the year. Have a few ideas of your own to start the girls thinking. Go over the list with the girls to decide how much each activity will cost and the time needed to complete the activity.
3. In small groups, have the grils make a poster or grafitti sheet of what the Promise means to them. Keep the sheets for the next meeting.

Snack: optional (15 min)

Announcements:

Ask girls to remind parents/guardians of the meeting for troop adults to be held before the next troop meeting.
Give out Parent Consent, Health History and Authorization for Medical Treatment forms to be turned in at the meeting for troop adults.
If the troop is not yet full, have them bring a friend to the next meeting.

Closing: (5 min) Try the Friendship Circle (see Junior Girl Scout Handbook, p. 9).

Make sure to leave time for Clean-Up! Schedule Clean-Up after snack, but before the closing, so girls don't run out when their parents arrive.

More Activities

Pre-Meeting Activities:

Have girls get in their patrols. Patrol officers take attendance and collect dues. Girls can make their own attendance and dues sheets or you can purchase the printed form from the GS shop.

Have riddles written on paper or cardboard and post them around the meeting place with instructions asking girls to solve them. Share answers later in the meeting.
Nosebag skits: Put five to ten items in paper bags (one bag for each group of 4-6 girls). Items could be uniform and insignia, badge, first aid kit, or completely unrelated. Before the meeting begins, have the girls think up a skit using their items. Have them put it on during the meeting.

Opening Activities:

Flag ceremony, song, game

Business Topics:
Vote on a troop crest, troop kapers, troop government

Activities and Games:
see "Program Ideas" section of 104 handout; Handbook activities; Badge activities

Closings: Sing a song, play a game, friendship circle and squeeze.

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