leading girls
online tutorial offered by usagso
exploring the essential
components Girl Scouting
Getting started
Helpful for this tutorial:
• A Girl Scout Journey Adult and Girl book (any
level)
•
•
•
•
The Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting (any level)
Access to Volunteer Essentials *
Access to Safety Activity Checkpoints *
Pen and paper for note taking
*See leading girls resources page for links for your USAGSO region
Leading Girls Objectives
• Leading Girls will give you the tools to be the
best volunteer you can be!
– You will understand the Girl Scout Mission, Girl Scouts
Promise, and Girl Scout Law; the foundations of Girl
Scouting
– You will learn about the 3 Keys to Leadership (the Girl
Scout Leadership Experience – GLSE)
– You will hear about the Girl Scout Journeys, the Girl’s
Guide to Girl Scouting, the highest awards in Girl
Scouting and other traditions in Girl Scouting
– You will hear about how Girl Scouts address safety,
trips, camping, cookies and the rest of the fun you
will have with the girls
– Where to access tons of resources
GIRL SCOUT SPECIFICS
Girl Scout Beginnings
Juliette Gordon Low –
Founder
March 12, 1912
18 girls in Savannah,
Georgia
"I've got something for
the girls of Savannah,
and all of America, and
all the world, and
we're going to start it
Girl Scout Mission
Girl Scouting builds girls of
confidence, and
character,
who make the world
a better place.
Girl Scout Promise
On my honor, I will try:
To serve God* and my
country,
To help people at all
times,
And to live by the
Girl Scout Law.
Girl Scout Law
I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong,
and responsible for what I say
and do,
and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place,
and be a sister to every Girl
Scout.
Girl Scout Organizational
Structure
Girls
Volunteers &
Parents
Your Overseas
Committee
USAGSO-NA,
WP & NY
Served
USAGSO
GSUSA
WAGGGS
Who Can Join Girl Scouts?
Kindergarten & 1st
Grades
6th, 7th & 8th Grades
2nd & 3rd Grades
9th& 10th Grades
4th & 5th Grades
11th & 12th Grades
GRADE LEVELS
Girl Scout Daisies:
K to 1st Grade
Sample Activities
 Camping and hiking with
their family
 Planning a picnic and
making snacks
 Planting a community
garden
 Earning petals and
leaves
 Girl Scout Cookie
Program and other age
appropriate money
earning activities
(especially to earn
Girl Scout Brownies
2nd and 3rd Grade
Sample Activities
 Visiting a zoo to feed—and
learn how a veterinarian
cares for—baby animals
 Marching in a community
parade
 Working on badges
 Planning an overnight to
celebrate Girl Scout events
 Deciding how many cookies or
other products to sell to
earn money for trips and
other activities
 Camping and making s'mores
over a campfire
 Learning about nature and
the out of doors at summer
Girl Scout Junior:
4th and 5th Grade
Sample Activities
 Staying at a Girl Scout
camp and learning outdoor
skills
 Sleeping over in a science
museum and working on
STEM projects
 Girl Scout Cookie Program
and other money earning
activities – deciding how
to spend their proceeds
 Going on a scavenger hunt
for neighborhood litter
 Writing to a Girl Scout
who lives overseas
 Earning the Girl Scout
Girl Scout Cadette: 6th, 7th, and
8th Grade
Girl Scout Senior: 9th to 10th Grade
Girl Scout Ambassador: 11th to 12th
Grade
• Engage in different Girl Scout Pathways
• Make most of the decisions in the group –
what badges and Journeys to work on, what
trips to take, how to get there and what
to do when they get there…Girl Led all the
way is the only way older girls want to be
involved
• Earn highest awards in Girl Scouting (Girl
Scout Silver and Girl Scout Gold Award).
• Cadettes - Program Aide
• Seniors & Ambassadors –Counselor in
Training (CIT I or CIT II) or Volunteer
How to Involve the Parents
• Have a plan before you arrive at the parent meeting! Start the
year strong!
• Calendar of events
• Cost of dues
• Troop date and time of meetings
• Expectations of parent involvement
• Have specific responsibilities set aside for parents
• Cookie parent, 1-2 helpers per meeting, communications
person, snack volunteers, drivers for field trips…
• Have sign up sheets ready to go.
• Follow up with your volunteers constantly.
THE GIRL SCOUT
LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE
The Girl Scout Leadership
Experience
(GSLE)
•
World’s best leadership experience
•
Defines activities and outcomes
•
Is differentiated by grade level
•
Offers flexible pathways for
participation
•
Keeps Girl Scouts focused on our core
mission of building girls of courage,
confidence and character, who make the
world a better place .
Focus of Girl
Scout
Activities
---
Discover
Connect
Take
Action
Girl Scout
Processes
---
-Girl Led
-Learn by
Doing
Cooperative
Learning
15 Short Term
and
Intermediate
Outcomes
---
Girls gain
specific
knowledge,
skills,
attitudes
,
behaviors
and values
in Girl
Scouting
Long
Term
Outcome
--Girls
lead
with
courage,
confiden
ce and
characte
r to
make the
world a
better
place
Discover
Connect
Take Action
Leadership
Girl Led
Learn by Doing
Cooperative
Learning
Girl Scout
Progression in Girl
Scouting
Grades K1
Grades 23
Volunteers
help girls
realize their
goals.
Senior Girl Scouts
Cadette Girl Scouts
Junior Girl Scouts
Brownie Girl Scouts
Daisy Girl Scouts
talk with
their
volunteers
about their
ideas for
their
activities.
brainstorm
ideas and
volunteers
help
determine
which are
possible.
work in
groups to
develop
ideas they
like best.
take a
larger role
in planning
and
decision
making.
decide
what they
want to do
and how to
do it.
volunteers
guide and
help as
needed.
Volunteers
help when
necessary
rotate
leadership
and tasks
and plan
their
activities,
budgets
and goals.
Ambassador Girl Scouts
Girl Adult Partnership
Volunteers
assist
occasionally
.
.
Grades 4-5
Grades 6 8
Grades 9-10
Grades 1112
THE GIRL SCOUT JOURNEYS
What is a
journey?
A journey has a beginning and
an ending. As we travel the
distance between the two, we
learn and grow!
A national Girl Scout
journey offers girls:
• An
invitation to explore
the three keys to
leadership
• A chance to reflect on
what they learn
• Fun and challenges
A national Girl Scout
journey offers
volunteers:
• How-to
guides, which
explain
how the leadership
experience ties to the
outcomes
• Specific examples that
show how to use the
Girl-Led, Cooperative
Learning, and Learning
by Doing processes
• Tips and encouragement
for easy participation
in fun and purposeful
Girl Scout Leadership
Journeys
Adult book
Girl book
Traditional Girl
Scout
Programming
How Journeys fit
with Traditional
Girl Scout
Programming
Journeys Books for Girls
It's Your World Change It!
• Welcome to the Daisy Flower
Garden
• Brownie Quest
• Agent of Change (for Juniors)
• aMAZE (for Cadettes)
• GIRLtopia: Toward an Ideal World
for Girls (for Seniors)
• Your Voice, Your World: The
(1st set)
Journeys Books for Girls
It’s Your Planet—Love It!
• Between the Earth & Sky (for
Daisies)
• WOW!
Wonders of Water (for
Brownies)
• Get Moving! (for Juniors)
• Breathe
(for Cadettes)
• Sow What? (for Seniors)
• JUSTICE (for Ambassadors)
(2nd set)
Journeys Books for Girls
It’s Your Story – Tell It!
(3rd
• 5 Stories, 4 Flowers, 3 Cheers for
Animals!
(for Daisies)
• A World of Girls (for Brownies)
• Amuse (for Juniors)
• Media (for Cadettes)
• Mission: Sisterhood (for Seniors)
• Bliss – Live It!
Ambassadors)
(for
set)
It’s Your Journey –
Customize It!
• Adult guides provide you with
ideas, examples, and
encouragement.
• Not to be taken as “this is
how you HAVE to do it.”
• Have fun and let the girls
make it their own!
It’s Your Journey –
Stretch It!
• Stretch or condense it.
• Fits a 6 months to a year well.
• Tap into the girls’ imaginations.
It’s Your Journey –
Explore It!
• Engage girls in stories of
girls and women taking
action.
• Capture the imagination and
motivate.
• Encourage girls to create
their own.
THE GIRL’S GUIDE TO
GIRL SCOUTING
The Girl’s Guide to Girl
Scouting
"Every badge
you earn is
tied up to your
motto. A badge
is a symbol
that you have
done the thing
it stands for
often enough,
thoroughly
enough, and
well enough to
be prepared to
give service to
it."
The National Program
Portfolio
Leadership
Journeys
(Keys)
GG2GS Badges
(Skills)
The Girl’s Guide to Girl
Scouting
The Girl’s Guide to Girl
Scouting
Badge Categories
The Girl’s Guide to Girl
Scouting
National Proficiency Badges
GIRL SCOUT TRADITIONS
Taking Your First Steps…
• Decision time
–
–
–
–
–
Find a Co-Leader(s) or Co-Volunteer
Decide When and Where to Meet
Gather all materials needed for parent meeting
Make sure all girls are registered
Hold a Parent / Guardian Meeting
• Form a Group Committee
•
– Get parents and other adults to help with the troop (chaperones, cookie
parents, newsletter, snacks, etc.)
Hold Group Meetings (or Event, Series or other Pathway meeting)
– Use Journeys and Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting
– Utilizing Other Resources (girlscouts.org, usagso-na.org, etc.)
– Troop Governance: Letting Girls Lead
BE SAFE
BE A ROLE MODEL!
HAVE FUN!!!!
The Six Parts of a Girl
Scout Meeting
•
•
•
•
•
•
Start-up
Opening
Business
Activities
Clean-up
Closing
Incorporate Traditions
• Time-Honored Ceremonies
• Girl Scout Promise
• Girl Scout Law
• Girl Scout Handshake
• Quiet Sign
• Friendship Squeeze
• Songs
• Girl Scout Slogan (“Do a Good Turn Daily”)
• Girl Scout Motto (“Be Prepared”)
Ceremonies
• Bridging Ceremonies
• Closing ceremonies
• Court of Awards
• Flag Ceremonies
• Girl Scout’s Own
• Investiture Ceremonies
• Opening ceremonies
• Pinning ceremonies
• Rededication ceremonies
Special Girl Scout Days
Girl Scouts celebrate special days each year, which you’re
encouraged to include in your group planning
•February 22: World Thinking Day (the birthday of both
Lord Baden-Powell and Lady Olave Baden-Powell, the
originators of Boy Scouts and the Scouting Movement
worldwide)
•March 12: The birthday of Girl Scouting in the USA. The
first troop meeting was held in Savannah, Georgia, on
this date in 1912
•April 22: Volunteer Leader Appreciation Day—this day is
set aside especially for you!
•October 31: Founder’s Day (Juliette Gordon Low’s
birthday)
HIGHEST AWARDS
Community Service vs. Take
Action
Community Service Project
Take Action Project
A one-time effort; has shortterm impacts
Identifies the roost cause;
has long-term
benefits and sustainable
support
Issue:
An uninsured family’s
home is destroyed by a fire
Option 1: A solution could
be to establish a Habitat for
Humanity group in the
community or work with an
existing Habitat group and
organize a work group to
rebuild the family’s home.
Solution:
Collect clothes,
household goods,
and food for the family
Issue: Racial tensions exist
in the community.
Solution: Organize a one-time
diversity celebration.
Option 1: One solution could
be to create an organization
that holds regular seminars,
meetings, or workshops about
racial tolerance and
understand other cultures.
The Bronze, Silver & Gold
Unifying Look of Uniforms
• Daisies have a choice of tunic or vest.
• Brownies – Ambassadors can choose a vest
or sash.
• All of these elements are for displaying
the various pins, badges and awards
earned.
• The unifying look = for girls is their
uniform component (tunic, sash or vest,
combined with their own solid white
shirts and khaki pants or skirts.
• For adult members =unifying look of the
uniform Girl Scout official scarf or tie
for men, worn with the official
membership pins, combined with their own
Girl Scout Daisy
Girl Scout Brownie
Girl Scout Junior
Girl Scout Cadette
Girl Scout Senior
Girl Scout Ambassador
Girl Scout Adult
PATHWAYS
Girl Scout Pathways
…the ways that girls and
adults participate in Girl
Scouting—offer girls a
wonderful opportunity to
experience Girl Scouting
through one or more of the
six proposed pathways.
Girl Scout
Pathways
Events
Different
girls, each
event
Series
Camp
Same girls,
all sessions
relating to
a specific
theme or
purpose
Day and
Resident Camps,
focus on outof-doors and/or
environmental,
outdoor
education
Virtual
Travel
High-quality,
interactive
program;
safe, secure,
online
environment
Regional,
national,
and
internationa
l
trips
Troops
Same girls,
all sessions;
typically
spans of the
length of a
school year
Travel
Safe, Girl-Led Traveling
• Facilitate Girl-Led Trip
Planning
• Obtain OCC Permission for Trips
• Transporting Girls
• Travel Appendix of Volunteer
Essentials
“Ask the girls
what THEY
think.”
Juliette Gordon Lowe
IMPORTANT
RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsibilities of the
Volunteer
BE SAFE
• Prevent injury and illness to
Scout activities.
• Demonstrate a concern for the
the individuals for whom you
• Honor pluralism and diversity
emotionally safe.
participants in Girl
health and welfare of
are responsible.
so that girls feel
BE A ROLE MODEL
Adhere to the following guidelines at all times:
• ALWAYS treat the girls as well as you would have
someone treat YOUR child and as well as YOU would
want to be treated!
• Involve girls in safety planning.
• Take advantage of the learning opportunities
offered by Girl Scouts.
HAVE FUN
• If you are having fun, the girls will be having
fun!
Responsibilities of the
Volunteer (continued…)
– NEVER, ever, ever use illegal drugs!
– NEVER smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol in the
presence of
girls or at a Girl Scout
event or activity.
– NEVER allow a child to ride in a car with a
person who is under
the influence of
alcohol or drugs (even if it is the
child’s parent or guardian).
– NEVER carry firearms or ammunition in the
presence of girls. If
you’re facilitating
a marksmanship activity, transport
weapons separately.
– NEVER engage in child abuse of any kind.
SAFETY
Creating a Safe Space for
Girls
• Recognition and Acceptance
• Fairness & Trust
• Effective Conflict Management
• Open Communication with Girls
• LUTE method for teens (Listen, Understand,
Tolerate, Empathize)
• Discussing Sensitive Topics
• Listen and Ask, Arrange for Education
• If It Sounds Serious…
• Communicating with Parents or Guardians
• Creating an Atmosphere of Acceptance and
Inclusion
Girl to Adult Safety Ratio
Group
meetings:
Group
meetings:
Two non-related
adults (at
least one of
whom is female)
for this number
of girls
Plus one adult
for each
additional
number of
girls
Girl Scout Daisy
(K–1)
12
Girl Scout
Brownie
2 adults must be
present AT ALL TIMES
– one person is
never allowed to
hold meetings,
travel with,
supervise or
otherwise work with
Girl Scouts alone!
(2–3)
Girl Scout Junior
(4–5)
Girl Scout
Cadette
(6–8)
Girl Scout Senior
(9–10)
Girl Scout
Ambassador
Series,
travel, and
camping:
Series,
travel, and
camping:
Two unrelated
adults (at
least one of
whom is female)
for each number
of girls
Plus one adult
for each
additional
number of girls
6
6
4
20
8
12
6
25
10
16
8
25
12
20
10
30
15
24
12
30
15
24
12
Conflict Resolution
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mediation
Active Listening
Time Out
Role Reversal
Skillful Listening
Applying the Girl Scout Law
Discuss conflict resolution
early in the year
MONEY EARNING
Managing Group Finances
• Establish sub-account with OC
Treasurer
• Help Girls with Financial
Planning
• Financial Literacy and Cookie
Business Badges for all grade
levels (Leaves for Girl Scout
Daisies)
Selling Cookies & Money
Earning
A Time-Honored Girl Scout
Tradition
• Understand financial and sales
abilities by grade level
• Tie sales to the GSLE
• Girls should always know where the
proceeds go
• Safety
• Group money earning – must have OCC
approval
STAYING INFORMED &
CONNECTED
Resources for You
Girl’s
Guide
to Girl
Scoutin
g
Voluntee
r
Essentia
ls
Journey
Adult
Guides
USAGSO
staff
Our
Websit
e
ENewslett
er
Facebook
Voluntee
r
Meetings
Overseas
Committee
Chairperso
n
Your
region’s
website
Chapter 4
of
Volunteer
Essentials
& the
Safety
Activity
Checkpoint
s
girlscouts
.org
USAGSO - NORTH ATLANTIC
USAGSO-North Atlantic Headquarters
Unit 31301, Box 13, APO, AE 09613
Civilian: +39 050-54-8696
DSN: 633-8696
northatlantic@usagso-na.org
www.usagso-na.org
USAGSO – NY SERVED
NY Served Headquarters
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
212-852-8037
overseas@girlscouts.org
www.usagirlscoutsoverseas.shutterfly.
com
USAGSO – WEST PACIFIC
West Pacific Headquarters
(located on Camp Zama)
Unit 45005, APO, AP 96343-5005
(646)381-0088
westpacificadmin@gmail.com
www.westpacificgirlscouts.org