Daisy Binders

I know that they do not encourage leaders to ever pay out of pocket for anything, but I couldn't resist. After skimming through our own copies of the Daisy's Girl Guide to Scouting binders, we have opted not to have our parents purchase them for their daughters. Instead, I bought some blue 1/2" binders on sale and used my Silhouette Cameo and some Oracal 651 vinyl to customize their binders. These will be given to the girls at their first meeting and has all the information they (and their parents) will need! They will also be responsible for bringing them to every meeting. 

So far in their binders I have included:

• Troop Overview Calendar (I use this calendar to list every meeting and which specific petal we are working on during that meeting/STEM days we have)
• Troop Snack Schedule
• Troop Monthly Calendar (this calendar lists our meetings, holidays, troop and service unit events, as well as the dates that they have off of school. I have August - December created on my macbook as of right now, but will probably only include two months at a time in their binders because the girls will have to decide which activities they would like to do/participate in)
• What Daisies Do Information Sheet
• Girl Scout Daisy Uniform Layout
• Daisy Awards Chart (I previously found this online, but lost the URL, so I have uploaded it for you. This is the same award tracker that can be found in the Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting).

We will also have a section for all of their petal work and songs.

*** Fashionable Moms is a great resource for Girl Scout printables and my go to website for all my calendars! Girl Scout Daisy Jumpstart Guide is a great source for information you may need as a leader or can be used as informational handouts for your parent meeting.

Organization is Key

After meeting with my co-leader today, I was finally able to finally start putting our binders together!

The first page in my binder is our Troop Roster form provided by our Council.

My dividers in the binder are:

- One for each of our twelve girls

- Meetings

- Petal Work

- Songs

- Service Unit Events

- Permission Slips

- Product Sales

- Blank Forms

In each of the girl's sections I have included (click on links to view/download forms):

- Daisy Insignia Record

- Daisy Information Sheet (my own creation)

- All About Me Sheet (I found this as an image online, so I have uploaded a .PDF version)

- Health History Form (Council Website)

- Parent Involvement Form (Council Website)

- Photo Release Form (Council Website)

*** all of these forms will be given to the parents at our Parent Meeting for them to fill out and then will be filed back into my binder for easy access.

First Year Leader

This is going to be my first year as a Daisy troop leader.

I had such a great time volunteering with my oldest daughter's Daisy troop last year as a co-leader and Cookie Mom, that I decided to start a new Daisy troop this upcoming scouting season. My older daughter bridged to a Brownie and my youngest daughter is entering Kindergarten and will be a first year Daisy.

I've spent the summer on Pinterest and on google searching for ideas. I've also been a volunteer/parent for our Service Unit's Growing Daisies program, so I have come across so many resources to help me with my planning.

Since I have such a vast amount of new resources and ideas, I wanted to have a page where I can share all of my favorites that I have found, as well as my own ideas and creations. I also figured this would be an awesome way to document my first year as a Daisy leader and another year as a co-leader with our Brownie troop.

I am so excited to start our scouting season. I have an awesome co-leader, who was also a volunteer in our Daisy troop from last year. I already know half of the scouts who will be in our troop, and will have interacted with the other half during our Growing Daisies program.

I have high hopes for our troop.

I don't want our troop to place an emphasis arts & crafts. I definitely want to incorporate as much community service as we can. I've already sent many e-mails to various organizations in the area to find as many community service opportunities as possible. I've realized that many organizations do not have any opportunities for young children unless you have a 1:1 adult and girl ratio because they do not want to be held liable for any accidents, but many organizations are willing to find or create easier tasks for young children if you reach out to them.

I also want our troop to incorporate a lot of outside of meeting activities (trips, educational programs, fun recreational events and family fun days).  I am also excited to announce that our troop will have a monthly event called STEM Mondays. On this meeting date we will spend the entire meeting time strictly on science, technology, engineering or math projects. We will also have a strong bond with our sister troops (my other daughter's Brownie troop and also a new Junior troop that will be led by another one of our volunteer moms from last year).

In the end, I hope that my scouts will end their first year as Daisies with confidence and the ability to lead. I've seen the positive influence that Girl Scouts has had on both of my daughters, even with my youngest one only experiencing Girl Scouts as a tag. I hope my scouts will leave feeling the same way as my daughters; inspired and excited to continue on in Girl Scouts.