Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council
Her Story
Brownie Girl Scout Try-It
Overview
This guide provides troop leaders with a template for four troop meetings that center
around the topic of women’s issues. Girls will earn the Her Story Try-it at the end of the
last session. Activities that are * are those that are required to meet the try-it. All other
activities are optional and have been created as a guide to help leaders plan their troop
meetings.
Activity topics
Meeting One: Not One Damsel In Distress!
Meeting Two: Women of Achievement
Meeting Three: Plan a Ceremony to Honor Women
Meeting Four: Special Ceremony Night
Types of activities
Create a fairy tale about strong girls and women!
Create a time line to plan for your dreams!
Hold a special ceremony to honor the women in your life.
Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council
Meeting One: Not One Damsel In Distress!
Leader advance preparation and supply list
1. Bring a collection of fairy tale books to the meeting.
2. You will need a space big enough for girls to move around and do some role
playing.
Pre-activity
If you would like an activity for girls to do while you are waiting for everyone to arrive, let
girls read the collection of fairy tale books.
Opening
Begin your meeting how you normally do (welcome, flag ceremony, song, etc.).
Business
Dues, kaper chart, permission slips, etc.
Discussion
Read a fairy tale or folk tale story out loud to the group. Ask some questions such as:
·
What problems did the girl or woman in the story have?
·
How did she solve them?
·
Was she able to solve the problems herself or did someone need to rescue her?
·
What would happen if we set this story in modern times and you were the girl in
the story? How would you handle one of the problems that she had?
Activity
*Creative Drama Activity (required for try-it, pg. 106, #3, Brownie Try-it book).
Read the Little Ride Riding Hood (LRRH) story that is included in this packet. Ask girls what
happened when LRRH encountered the wolf in the woods? What did she do?
Read section 1 of the story again. Ask two girls to act out that part of the story.
Girls can act out the general storyline. You don’t need to worry about them getting the
“lines” correct.
Now ask girls what would be a better way for LRRH to handle that situation? Let girls talk
about different options and then pick one or two different versions and have girls act
those out.
Next read section 2 of the story again. Ask girls what the grandmother did when the wolf
came. Have two girls act out that part of the story. Again, have girls brainstorm other
ways that the grandmother could have handled that situation. Let girls act out their
choices.
Remind girls that there are many different ways to handle a situation and they should
always think about what would be the smartest and/or safest choice. Strong girls are
girls that can make smart decisions.
Closure
Finish your meeting as usual with your closing song and/or ceremony and friendship
squeeze. Include any reminders for next week. Remind girls to bring their Brownie
handbooks next week.
Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council
Meeting Two: Women of Achievement
Leader advance preparation and supply list
1. Bring a collection of picture books about famous women if you plan to do the pre-
activity.
2. Make copies of the time line activity sheet.
3. Thin markers or colored pencils.
4. Brownie handbook
Pre-activity
If you want a pre-activity for girls to do while you are waiting for everyone to arrive, let
girls look at the selection of picture books on important women in history.
Opening
Begin your meeting how you normally do (welcome, flag ceremony, song, etc.).
Business
Dues, kaper chart, permission slips, etc.
Discussion
· Who can name some important women either from history or from our
community today?
· What kinds of important things did they do?
Activities
*A Girl Scout’s Story (required for try-it, pg. 106, #1, Brownie Try-it book).
Did you know that we as Girl Scouts have our own special important woman leader?
Juliette Gordon Low is the woman that founded Girl Scouts a long time ago. Let’s read
about her story.
Read the story of Juliette on pages 6 – 11 in the Brownie handbook. You can have girls
take turns reading the story, or you can read it if you have non-readers in the group.
After reading the story, ask girls:
· What kinds of things did Daisy like to do when she was young?
· Does she sound very different from you?
· What did she do later in her life?
· Imagine what you might do later in your life. What kinds of things would you like to do
to help people or change the world?
· As part of our badge requirement, we need to invite a woman who used to be a Girl
Scout to our meeting who can tell us about what things she used to do as a Girl Scout.
Does anyone know of someone to invite?
Hopefully there is a parent that used to be a
Girl Scout that you can invite to the ceremony night. You can also check with your Service
Center to see if they can connect you with someone who can visit your troop.
*Your Story (required for try-it, pg. 107, #6, Brownie Try-it book).
We heard about Juliette Low and the things that she did and accomplished in her life.
Now it’s time for you to think about the things that you would like to do in your life.
Give each girl a copy of the time line and have her draw pictures or words about what
she would like to do in her life at each stage of the time line.
Discussion
Have girls share their timelines and the things they want to accomplish in life.
Remind girls that next week they will be planning their ceremony to honor women. They
can write poems or songs (or find ones already written) during the next week to use in
their ceremony. They can also begin to think about who they would like to invite. Do they
have a special female teacher or adult female friend that they would like to honor?
Next week we will plan our ceremony and make the invitations.
Closure
Finish your meeting as usual with your closing song and/or ceremony and friendship
squeeze. Include any reminders for next week.
Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council
Meeting Three: Plan a Ceremony to Honor Women
Leader advance preparation and supply list
1. Type up the invitation information for the ceremony so girls can create the invitation
outside cover out of construction paper and glue the typed information on the inside.
2. Construction paper
3. Markers
4. Glue
5. Candles (in case girls would like to use that as part of their ceremony).
6. Brownie handbook (in case they need to refer to the story of Juliette).
7. Any songs or poems about women that you might have available or want to use.
Opening
Begin your meeting how you normally do (welcome, flag ceremony, song, etc.).
Business
Dues, kaper chart, permission slips, etc.
*Plan A Ceremony to Honor Women (required for the try-it, pg. 106, #4, Brownie
Try-it book).
Today we are going to plan our ceremony to Honor Women. The first thing we need to
think of is an opening for our ceremony. Does anyone have some ideas?
SAMPLE IDEAS: You could have all of the girls recite a poem, or sing a song, and/or
start by lighting a candle.
For our next part of the Ceremony, let’s honor the women of the past such as Juliette
Low. How could we do that?
SAMPLE IDEAS: You could tell the story of Juliette, each girl could be a woman from
the past and read something about that woman, or other ideas that the girls have.
The next part of our ceremony could honor the women in our life, the ones we invite to
the ceremony. How could we do that?
SAMPLE IDEAS: Each girl could present their guest(s) with a flower, a gift, a picture
that she drew, etc.
The next part of our ceremony can celebrate strong women today. Does someone have
an idea for how we can do that?
SAMPLE IDEAS: Each girl could announce what she would like to do when she grows up, or
how she would like to help the world, etc.
How should we close our ceremony?
SAMPLE IDEAS: Sing another song, have the audience recite a poem with the girls, have
everyone come up and light a candle to say that she will support these girls as
they become women, etc.
After the ceremony how can we thank our guests for coming?
SAMPLE IDEAS: Provide treats, create a card for each person, etc. We can also have our
invited long-time Girl Scout guest to tell her stories during treat time.
So now that we know what we are going to do for our ceremony, let’s work on each of the
parts. You can break girls up into groups to work on different parts of the ceremony.
I. Introduction. Have girls practice the poem or song or other idea that they had.
II. Honor Women from the past. Decide how girl’s will either tell the story of Juliette Low
or if they will talk about a woman from the past and let them practice.
III. Honor the women of today. Decide if they will give each person a flower or if they are
going to draw a picture for her and have girls work on that project.
IV. Honor the women that they will become. Have each girl practice what she wants to
tell the group or any other idea that the girls had.
V. Closing. Practice the song or poem that they are going to do unless you decide that the
adults in the group are going to do something or read something for the girls.
Finally, we need to create invitations for the group. Use the pre-printed invitations that
you created ahead of time. Girls can cut out and glue these inside their own created
invitation. This will help you to save time.
Closure
Finish your meeting as usual with your closing song and/or ceremony and friendship
squeeze. Include any reminders for next week. Will each girl bring treats or will the leader
provide the treats for the next meeting/ceremony?
Remember to arrange for someone to come who can talk about her past Girl Scout
memories. If there are several parents who were Girl Scouts you could have an open
discussion time for people to share their Girl Scout memories. Girls can also ask
questions about things the women did while a Girl Scout.
Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council
Meeting Four: Ceremony to Honor Women
Leader advance preparation
1. Make copies of any songs or poems that the whole group is going to recite.
2. Make sure you have treats to offer your guests (or that the girls are bringing
them).
When girls start to arrive
Have girls help set up a place for the ceremony and for the guests to sit.
Girls can also set up the area for the treats.
Give one or two girls copies of any poems or songs that you are using and have them
pass those out.
When you are ready to start
Welcome the group to the ceremony. Explain that the girls have been working hard to
earn their “Her Story” Try-it and that this ceremony is the last thing that they need to do
to complete it. Thank them for coming and then let the girls begin.
Help girls out if they need it. You can help them out by giving a little introduction to each
section of the ceremony such as, “now we are going to honor the women of the past
by….”
At the conclusion of the ceremony, invite women to have some treats. Inform people that
this will be a Girl Scout memory sharing time.
Congratulations!
You Have Just Earned the
Her Story
Try-It!
Little Red Riding Hood
Read the story all the way through the first time ignoring the section headers.
Once upon a time there lived a young girl who always wore a red cape with a hood on it.
The girl liked it so much that she always wore the hood and so everyone called her Little
Red Riding Hood.
One day her mother ask Little Red Riding Hood to go take a basket of cakes to her
Grandmother who was not feeling well. “Be careful when you go, and remember not to
talk to strangers.”
Little Red Riding Hood set out immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in a little
cottage in the woods.
(Use this for the Section 1 activity)
While Little Red Riding Hood was walking through the woods, she came upon a wolf who
was strolling through the forest. The wolf looked at her Hungrily as he wanted to eat her
for lunch, but he dared not, because of some woodcutters working nearby in the forest.
He asked her where she was going. Little Red Riding Hood forgot what her mother had
said about talking to strangers
(including Wolves) and said, "I am going to see my grandmother to bring her this basket
of cakes.”
"Does she live far away?" asked the wolf.
"Oh no," answered Little Red Riding Hood; "it is the first little cottage that you come to if
you keep following this path.”
"Well," said the wolf, "I bet your grandmother would enjoy a bouquet of these lovely wild
flowers.
Why don’t you pick some for her?
“That’s a good idea!” said Little Red Riding Hood, and she put down her basket and began
to pick some flowers.
“Well, nice to meet you, I shall be off now,” called out the wolf as he hurried down the
path to Grandmother’s house.
The wolf ran as fast as he could, so he could get to grandmother’s house before Little Red
Riding Hood was finished picking flowers.
(Use this for section 2 activity)
When the wolf arrived at the cottage door, he knocked three times.
"Who's there?"
"Little Red Riding Hood," said the wolf, disguising his voice; "I have brought you a basket
of cakes.”
Now the grandmother was sick in bed, so she cried out, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch
will go up."
The wolf pulled the bobbin, and the door opened, and he went in and ate the
grandmother up. He quickly got into the grandmother's bed.
Little Red Riding Hood came to her grandmother’s cottage and knocked on the door three
times.
"Who's there?" asked the wolf, disguising his voice so he sounded like her Grandmother.
"It’s me, Little Red Riding Hood, I have brought you a basket of cakes.”
The wolf then said, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up."
Little Red Riding Hood pulled the bobbin, and the door opened.
The wolf said, “come close so that I can see you.”
Little Red Riding Hood came over and said, "Grandmother, what big arms you have!"
"All the better to hug you with, my dear."
"Grandmother, what big ears you have!"
"All the better to hear with, my child."
"Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"
"All the better to see with, my child."
"Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!"
"All the better to eat you up with."
And, saying these words, this bad wolf fell upon Little Red Riding Hood, and ate her all up.
Her Story Try-it
Evaluation
General Information
Service Unit_______ Troop Number ___________
# of Girls: _____ 1st Grade _____ 2nd Grade _____ 3rd Grade
Years as a Leader: ______________
How long are your troop meetings? _________
How often do you meet? _________________
Overall, how useful/helpful is this type of guide?
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Did you have any problems with the activities?
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Would you like to have more try-it guides available? If yes, what try-its would you like
some assistance with?
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Please return to:
Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council, PO Box 6568, Lafayette, IN 47903
