One Year

A year ago today- I took a picture of me in my pajamas with a cup of coffee and a sign that said the First Day of Distance Learning. 

My office set up has changed so much since this picture

It has been a HARD year for SO many reasons.  I know that we have lost so much in so many ways.  But, as I look back on this year- I have to think about the good that has come from it as well and the resilience that we have to make things happen.

So-enjoy a picture overload and a year full of memories and great things that happened!

There were lots of parades! We learned to celebrate in a different way. I went and cheered for every one of them that passed by.

I walked a LOT of miles (and lost weight in the process)

We learned how to make everyone in Bitmoji

We all enjoyed Tiger King!

We moved our Girl Scout meetings to online

Because we moved to virtual- it opened up so many more opportunities-
Such as meeting someone that works for NASA

I was able to be more involved with Girl Scouts- and even had a chance to give presentations and work with other leaders throughout the US.

I got to see ALL the panels for NTTBF

Collaborating on presentations and trying new things

Changing programming and how I meet our students and community.

We planted trees

The Brownies made donations to an animal shelter for a service project

We socially distanced decorated pumpkins

We won second place in the Irving Arts Center Christmas Tree Decorating competition

The Juniors completed their Bronze award by having a coat drive.

We got a new President on my birthday and I got to virtually make a flower arrangement during lunch

4 Destination ImagiNation teams headed to State!

We had a whole virtual campout and made lots of yummy food.

We picked up lots of trash and volunteered time with our city.

Celebrated these girls and all they accomplished remotely this year!

These Cadettes were awarded Youth Leadership Award through Keep Irving Beautiful and
Super Star Award through Irving Parks and Recreation

I know that I spent a ton of time looking at computer screens- but what happened during those moments were pretty amazing and have inspired me to continue to offer opportunities in different ways. I am SO proud of all the work that has happened this year even during a pandemic.

Bridging/Awards/Virtual Campout and More!

 I have been a Girl Scout since I was 5 (gahh I am old!) and I have had the privilege of being a leader for the past 6 years.  I have talked often about Troop 1810 (and I have now added Troop 6458) and I am reminded again this weekend how much they fill my heart.. and how absolutely resilient they are!

These girls have BIG goals and BIG dreams of changing the world and traveling.  Due to Covid- we had to put that all on hold this last year- but that doesn't mean they still have not accomplished so much! I have written about my Virtual Meetings before- you can check it out here.

Since March 2020 we have been virtual- meeting even through the summer every Monday. 

I first have to brag on how much these girls accomplished by being virtual (we did SO much more, but these were a couple of the highlights) before I get into our Bridging/Awards and Virtual Campout

Brownies- finished their Journey and created a service project to help our local animal shelter. They created a virtual flyer through Google and had zoom meetings to make it happen. They then got together and shopped and delivered items to the animal shelter.

Juniors- finished their Journey, created a Take Action Project of a book about bullying (over Google Slides), and then began working on their Bronze Award (did I mention this was completely virtual?) They chose to get coat donations to help All Things Made New in our area. They created flyers, decorated boxes to collect donations, had planning meetings, and had a coat drive-thru one Saturday (social distanced, masks, and all protocol followed.  In order to get the Bronze, each girl has to have 20 hours of service towards the project. They were able to donate over 125 coats to the local organization.

Cadettes- Not only are these girls almost done with a Journey so they can complete a Take Action Project and begin on their Silver Award soon- they have also received rewards from our community for all the work they do to help our city. These girls have done so much community service with Keep Irving Beautiful and Irving Parks and Recreation that they were recognized with the Keep Irving Beautiful Youth Leadership Award and also the Super Star Award from Irving Parks and Recreation.

I realize that every location/council is doing different things. We are following all of our council rules and regulations.  Our bridging/awards took place outside in a parking lot (which was pretty perfect for social distancing) mask were required, and parents got an email before the meeting for a Covid check-in.

You can find the whole timeline with a packing list and shopping list that we used.

The video shares how we planned and prepared for our virtual campout. For any activity we do- it is all up to the girls. The girls brainstormed about what they usually have on campouts- and then voted (and all I did was get everything together) This was also super successful because families were all in.  These girls have also been together for over 5 years.  We also had things that the girls could do on their own with only supervision (isn't that what campouts are as well?)

There are affiliate links throughout this blog, but I am not gaining anything from this- just sharing where I found materials.

From 10am-12pm we held our Bridging, Awards, night light craft, and Camp Kit Pick Up

We had our awards on toilet paper.  The patches are fastened with straight pins

When arriving each girl got a lap tray that I found at Michael's (also-I love that there is a teacher discount!) This bridge has been used by years and by different troops. Each time a troop bridges they sign in. I LOVED seeing my girls names on it when they bridged to Brownies, then to Juniors and now to Cadettes.

We created nightlights for our virtual campout during bridging. I found these plastic jars at Michael's as well.. These were super easy to make- you can find directions here

Each girl got a campout kit that also had a photo challenge- the pictures inside our FB group are AMAZING!

Not seen is the craft they chose and also the buddy burner. Thanks to Marci for taking me to COSTCO for the first time! Great way to buy in bulk and get ready to pre-package

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The festivities started at 4pm where girls were invited to set up their sleeping space. This could be anything! I had some girls set up a tent in their house, a mini tent in their bedroom, a sleeping bag on the floor, a fort, or even glamped in their own bed.  They also loved using these lap desk for this as well.

For all the activities- I set up 1 zoom call that we would hop on and off of for the whole evening and the next morning.

5pm- was our first activity where the girls made super cute No-Sew Pillows that looked like avocados (they chose this craft)- This took us about 30 minutes to make. I left the zoom open, but let the girls know that I am here just turning my video and sound off as I set up for the next part.

6pm- We made our hamburgers.  Some girls picked up Buddy Burners (thanks to my Co-Leader Susan for teaching us how to use it over zoom too!) some girls cooked over a stove, and some girls made theirs on a grill or fire outside.

Pulled my computer outside to make our hamburgers

8pm- Time for sweet treats! We had all the fixings to make Smores- I had to make mine in the microwave-and was jealous of those girls making theirs over a fire. We also tried our hands at Banana Boats.

We signed off for the night. I actually did sleep in a tent in my backyard until almost 1am.

8am-I made my camp mocha (which is hot chocolate and coffee) and hopped onto our zoom to make breakfast.  The girls LOVED making Omelette in a Bag so yummy- so good- so easy! I also loved how many of our girls got up to participate on this- it was Sunday of spring break and 8am in the morning!

I ended my virtual campout weekend by stopping by our local Dairy Queen- which is our troop tradition on the way home from camping. 

I miss camping in person- but what this taught me- is that our girls will be ready to camp again.  With the photo challenge, I created a folder on our Girl Scout Facebook page for parents to upload pictures- the pictures are PRICELESS!  This also would not have been successful if I didn't have parents that were all in as well. This has been a hard year, but I love that our girls are still invested and ready to try new things.  I can't wait to see what this next year brings!

So thankful for these girls! Missing a few but what a great morning

Are you virtually meeting? Have you had a virtual campout?

I Just like to Smile- Smiling is my Favorite!

What a STRANGE first semester it was in public school! One of my favorite things to do though.. is celebrating teachers.  This year our district created a Campus Leadership Ambassador team to help spread even more cheer. I was SO excited that I got chosen for it (along with my partner in crime Mary Anne) Now as a CLA we are tasked with doing a little something every month.. but you know I love to plan! So we helped plan out the days before winter break

Background of our school- we are a middle school in Texas.  We have a little over 100 staff and we are currently a hybrid model.  We have students on campus and students virtual with an enrollment of about 850.

Because it has been such a crazy year... we wanted to bring smiles. If you haven't seen Elf you must do it! It has SO many great quotes... and it is just silly fun. Each day starting December 7th was a different Elf quote with fun to go along with it. I did purchase a life size Buddy the Elf from Amazon... and it was AMAZING (and scared a few people too) At the beginning of the month I also asked staff to fill out a form of their favorite holiday songs- and we created a Lamar Spotify Playlist

At the bottom of this blog is the Piktochart (there is an educator discount.. and this is a program that I use all of the time) that I created for teachers and promoting.

One of the main things when thinking through different ideas this year is making things were socially distanced and safety protocols were followed.  I am going to share just a few highlights from the last couple of weeks. We also created a photo opportunity with Buddy

The first day was Desk Pets- which was an idea that I saw on TikTok (Quote: "So- good news...I saw a dog today")

We had a waffle bar that used Eggo waffles (which was the BEST idea ever) Quote-"We elves try to stick to four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup." Admin served: milk and toppings using gloves and it was spaced out.

All the sweets to go along with an Eggo Waffle Bar

One day we hit on all the staff bathrooms and put nicer toilet paper in them (it was hard to find toilet paper by the way) Quote- "Have you seen these toilets? They're ginormous!"

We did virtual gingerbread houses during the three different lunches. I was worried how this one was going to turn out, but was thankful it kind of worked! Staff picked up prepackaged ziploc bags of 6 graham crackers and prepackaged bags of scoops of regular icing.  Staff stopped by the library and were able to pick out extra items to add to their gingerbread houses (these were also served.. so only one person touching the items with gloves)-Quote- "I thought maybe we could make gingerbread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating, and maybe even hold hands." 

Covid Style Cookie Exchange- usually we have a potluck during the season, but due to safety concerns, we had to postpone this year.  We made sure to have plenty of prepackaged cookies ready for the taking and then if people wanted to participate and bring their own to share.. it too had to be individually wrapped so staff could come through and grab a bag. Quote-"I'm sorry I ruined your lives and crammed 11 cookies in the VCR."

We of course had a coffee bar where admin created the coffee and added all of the toppings.  Quote-"Congratulations! World's best cup of best of coffee! Great job, everybody! It's great to be here."

I worked on a holiday card done with staff Bitmojis.  I began asking for a Bitmojis at the beginning of December (I also made a few of them) Each staff had a Google slide where they uploaded a few festive photos. I then turned those into a holiday card that we printed off and also sent out through email. "You have such a pretty face. You should be on a Christmas card."

One game we played was with the quote- "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." We played music from our Lamar Staff Christmas Spotify play list and the 5th caller would get a prize.

In the work room we also create a new What do you Meme board with various photos from some of our favorite holiday movies and left sticky notes. The memes that teachers created were hilarious!

It was a crazy and ROUGH year.  There was nothing easy about it! But just because it wasn't easy and it was hard doesn't mean that it isn't okay to smile underneath your mask.

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A Game of Clue

 The city where I live has done and OUTSTANDING job of creating activities that allow for residents to get out, social distance, and have fun (I haven't even gotten started with how amazing the Irving Public Library and all that they are doing.. but that is a blog for over at Bee In the Bookends) One of the things that the Irving Parks and Recreation Department did was a game of Clue along one of the trails outside of the city.  The Clues were spaced out a little over a mile through the trail.  Each one had a different Suspect/Item/Place that was NOT the Suspect/Item/Place.  To figure out who did it you used process of elimination  I of course loved walking the trail with 2 of my Awesome Girl Scout Friends (socially distance of course!)

After walking this trail.. and playing the game, I realized I wanted to do something along the same lines.  Our district is currently virtual so teachers are on campus, but teaching virtually.  I know that as a librarian.. I like the chance to get up and move.  I recreated this awesome idea from the Irving Parks and Recreation to be for school! 

We just started using Canvas, so I thought it would be a perfect Clue Game!

Here is what I did:

-Took pictures of 6 different places

-Used Bitmojis for 6 different people

-Used 6 different tech tool pictures

-Uploaded these items into this Google Presentation

-Created a Google Form for staff to fill out when they used process of elimination to figure out who solved Canvas! 

-Posted all the clues around the school on both floors with directions for staff to stay socially distant, wear the masks, don't touch anything but enjoy finding the Clues! I also reminded staff this one was not a race- everyone that filled out the form by a certain date would be entered into the drawing.

-With the email I also sent out the checklist so they could use that as they walked around (very important.. to print off ALL the clues! I apparently missed one and had people emailing me right away!)

-Encouraged staff to post on Twitter using #lmsgame

You can find the Clue Google Presentation that I created here (it is view only, so feel free to make a copy.. and of course change the names and locations!)

                                                       

Love this Tweet from our Dean of Students @CoachBRich 

A huge shout out to Irving, Texas for doing so many awesome things! I even got a special delivery for winning at their game!

Do you play games with your staff? I have this one running for 2 weeks, and can't wait to start the next game! Teaching is tough right now, so anything that I can do to Bring the Sunshine.. I want to do! Speaking of Bringing the Sunshine- be watching.. I am going to start a Podcast soon!!

Virtually Speaking- Taking the Girl Scout Meeting Online

When I left school on March 12th.. I knew that my world was about to change.. but I didn't realize how much! I am super involved in so many different activities both in school and out of school. One of the things that I absolutely love the most is my Girl Scout Troop!  We meet every other Monday.. and when the pandemic started I knew that I was going to need to continue troop meetings.  I am sure the girls needed it..but I personally needed the consistency myself. 

A few things first:

-I know we all say that we have the best troop ever.. but really guys.. I have the best troop ever!!  I have girls and parents that are invested!

-I have Brownies, Juniors and Cadettes (28 all together)

-I work in a school.. and am online a ton- so I understood moving online

-I use Google FOR EVERYTHING!

-We usually don't meet during the summer on a normal basis, but because of these times.. the girls/parents and myself enjoyed having the consistency of weekly meetings

-I met with the parents via Zoom at the first of April to make a game plan.  They all agreed that they wanted girls to keep meeting so they could earn those awards they had been working on and to be consistent. 

-We use Zoom for our meetings

-When I first started Zoom meetings I would meet with Brownies and Juniors at one time and then Cadettes at another time.. I ended up changing that so we could work on more specific goals

    Monday Meetings (in a normal time it would be meetings 5:30pm-6:30pm)

    -Brownies 5:15pm-6:00pm

    -Overlap time 5:45pm-6:00pm

    -Juniors 5:45pm-6:30pm

    -Cadettes- 6:45pm-7:30pm

-Not every girl is going to make a virtual meeting.. just like a regular meeting

Before I dive into what and how I did things.. I wanted to share this AMAZING resource that GSNETX has put out!  You must check out the Virtual Meetings Playbook.  They broke down everything.. and gave me even more ideas!!  Bookmark the site.. go now.. do it!

Preparing for a Meeting

-I created a Google Slide for each meeting.  This would have my agenda, links, videos, and other information that we would use for the meeting.  

-By creating Google Slides- I could also share these very easily through our Zoom and put into the Google Classrooms I created for each level.

-By creating in Google Slides- I can also have the girls work on collaborative projects (such as for our Junior Journey we are working on right now)

-I reminded myself that EVERYTHING was going to run a little slower.. and these meetings weren't just about me, badges, and Girl Scouts- it was a space where the girls could be themselves.

-Click on this link to make a copy of one of my meeting presentations- Now guys.. these are not super in depth.. it is more to keep us on track!

Did I mention that the Virtual Meeting Playbook that GSNETX put out is amazing with tons of resources how to get it going?

During a Meeting

-Have an agenda

-Set some expectations.. my big one.. I don't mind our girls not being on mute- I want them to talk and interact.  I do have the expectation that if their surrounding is too loud to mute themselves.. and have their video on (which hasn't been too bad) I also remind them that what they put in the chat (even when they think chats are private) that I can see everything

-Enjoy! Just because you aren't in your regular meeting space.. doesn't mean that you can't have fun!

Things that worked

-Scavenger Hunts- One of the first meetings we did a Scavenger Hunt.  Instead of having girls find a certain thing- they had to find items that started with a letter.  They also had to remember each letter to spell out a word that they would share at the end! 

-Reading a book! I LOVED Sharing Be You by Peter Reynolds (okay.. okay.. I am a librarian.. but still.. it was a great book and reminder!)

-Guest Speaker!  For one part of the Journey, they had to ask questions to a woman that was in a role that you would not normally expect.  We spent one meeting thinking of questions and talking about etiquette... and then the next meeting we had a guest speaker. This was also one of those silver lining things.  If we had been meeting in person.. it would have been harder to do this.. but since we were virtual.. it opened up who we could chat with.  We were able to have Kat Echazarreta who is a NASA Electrical Engineer who lives in California!  (also- this is a time where social media has its perks because the connections you can make!)

-Drawing-the Irving Public Library Youtube page has some super fun drawings that our girls have loved doing!

-Just listening.. everyone is going through such a tough time right now in so many ways.  Sometimes the girls just needed a place to ask questions and "see" their friends.  Sometimes they just want to hang out and be silly.  Isn't that how our real meetings are?

Things I am going to try next year

-Being more consistent on what I post in Google Classroom (speaking of Google Classroom.. you don't have to be a teacher to have one! BUT.. if you want your girls to be in the Google Classroom.. they will need an email address other than their school one- it doesn't cross over)

-I LOVED Richel's idea that I got yesterday about a caddy that has all the GS stuff in it! I am having a drive thru pick up soon.. and I am going to add that goody to it!

-I loved the ideas that Donna gave us about unplugged activities- I am going to dive into some more of those ideas.

-More cooking activities

However you hold meetings..give yourself grace.. I know that my meetings are not perfect.. in person or online.. but think about your why! I know my why is for these girls to have space.. but also for me! Don't see virtual as a terrible thing.. but as a way that you are still growing those girls to be the best they can be. Want to find me on social media- I spend a ton of time over at @akbusbee on Twitter and Instgram!  Good luck this year!!

Want to create your own Bitmoji Group photo- check out my youtube video over it

 What are you doing to continue to offer your girls ways to connect? Have you checked out the Virtual Meetings Playbook? Have you been meeting virtually.. and if so.. what has been your girls favorite thing?