PLANNING YOUR YEAR
We know you want to provide a well-rounded program to your girls throughout the year. We also
know that the Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE) can be accomplished in many different
ways. Use this guide to help you make the most of the GSLE throughout the Girl Scout year.
Website Resources
To get your troop going and to get fresh ideas, our website (www.girlscoutsgwm.org) offers
many useful tools for you to use:
 Access to your online Troop Management
 Online membership registration
 Online program registration
 Forms and applications
 Program Guides (online and printable)
 Pathway information
 Recorded webinars
 Volunteer information
Adult Leadership Support and Enrichment
Attending Community meetings helps you connect with other volunteers, find resources to
enrich your girls’ troop experience, and keep up to date with Council activities. A Community
meeting is usually a monthly or bi-monthly meeting of leaders and volunteers from your local
Community, led by your Community Team members.
You can also find planning and leadership support from:
 Council GSLE staff
 Your GO (Geographical Operations) team
 Council website
 GSUSA website
 Local volunteers
 GSGWM Farnsworth Weekend
 Journey rental boxes
GSUSA Program Resources
Girl Scouts of the USA offers excellent materials you can use to help your girls build leadership
and life skills. They include:
 Journeys – colorful interactive books that help girls discover, connect, and take action to
achieve specific outcomes in the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. The curriculum is
mapped to national and state educational standards, and delivers the 40 developmental
assets for youth identified by the Girl Scout Research Institute as critical for youth
success.
Each Journey has a Leader’s Guide that explains how to use that Journey, gives you
ideas on activities, and explains how girls benefit from the Journey. Girls can work on
them as a troop or independently. They are designed to work with The Girl’s Guide to
Girl Scouting binder.
Journeys can be customized to meet the interest of your troop with:
a. Creative field trips
b. Outside professionals – guest speakers
c. Council program event
d. Council Journey box rental
e. Activity with another Girl Scout troop
f. Adapted activities to meet the needs of your girls
The three Journey series include:
Series:
Daisy:
Brownie:
Junior:
It’s Your World –
Change It!
It’s Your Planet –
Love It!
It’s Your Story –
Tell It!
Series:
It’s Your World –
Change It!
It’s Your Planet –
Love It!
It’s Your Story –
Tell It!
Cadette:
Senior:
Ambassador:


The Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting – easy-to-use binders for girls at each level that helps
them keep track of their progress to earn awards and badges
Skill-building sets
Events Troops Can Participate In
Troops can enrich their experience by participating in many different types of events:
 Community-sponsored and Council-run events
 Council-sponsored (programs listed in our Program Guide)
 Troop-planned field trips
Council-Sponsored Patches
You will find these associated with various events or series listed on our website and in the
Program Guide. Girls love to earn them! Samples include (they can change year to year):
 Apple Quest
 Operation Snowflake
 Be Your Best
 Building Possibilities
 Maple Syruping
 Jump to Journeys
Ceremonies
These are an important part of the Girl Scouting tradition and girls love them:
 Investiture/Rededication
 Flag Ceremony
 Girl Scouts’ Own
 World Thinking Day
 Bridging
 Court of Awards
WAGGGS
Girls can be connected to other girls all over the world through GSUSA’s membership in
WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts). Donations to the Juliette Low
World Friendship Fund are collected on World Thinking Day to help girls in other countries
afford participation. Girls can also be involved by:
 World Thinking Day event
 Troop meeting activity
 As part of receiving WAGGGS pin during a ceremony
Girl-Led Planning
Girls gain confidence and learn leadership skills as they take increasing responsibility for
planning their troop activities, including:
 Meeting(s)
 Event(s)
 Trip(s)
 Ceremony(s)
 Community Service and Take-Action project(s)
Trip Planning
When you are planning a trip with your girls, follow these steps:
 Consult the Safety Activity Checkpoints on our website
 Submit and gain approval for trip using an Extended Trip Approval Form for trips more
than 2 nights and/or outside of New England and Upstate NY.
 Review and follow the Troop Activity and Quick Trip Checklist
 Involve girls in the planning and preparation
 Ensure that all chaperones meet requirements listed in GSGWM’s Policies
Money-Earning
Your troop can earn money to support their troop goals and activities in a number of ways:
 Fall Product Sale
 Girl Scout Cookie program
 Supplemental money earners (see elsewhere in this packet)
 Dues
Troop Sponsorship
A community sponsor can help your troop afford special activities and can strengthen your
troop’s link to its community. More information is included in the Fall Troop Packet.