November Meeting

Sorry this is so late in posting! Things have been crazy with Holidays, birthdays, basketball games, and I have a final exam I am trying to study for also!

We had a very productive meeting! We earned the U.S. Hisotry Badge by outlining the original 13 colonies on a map of United States, then we had to label the state capitols on the map. For those that did not finish this, I need it completed by January! Butterflies are also supposed to label a few National Parks, please turn these in at the Decemeber meeting, January Meeting latest! We also made a timeline of American History with the starting point being the American Revolution and the Ending Point being the Afghanistan War. We also put in lots of little facts about Civil Rights, inventions, College founding, American Indian laws, etc. This was a little challenging, but once finished, gave us some good insights! Such as the fact that it took us 100 years to start obeying the Civil Rights Laws that were enacting at the end of the Civil War! We also talked about famous American inventors and what they invented; and we also talked about the relationship between the American settlers and the Native Americans, and we learned what the Reservations are, why there were established, and the fact that they still exist baffled the girls!

We also finished the U.S. Consitiution Badge with these requirements, and also our collections and mailing of the donations to the service men counted as a requirement for the Patriotism badge that we also started at the meeting. We learned about the 4 branches of the military and what their duties were, we made little flip books to help us.

We will be taking December off of the Liberty Award and will earn the Gingerbread badge, and the Edible Art badge. I am really looking forward to this! It should be great fun! As I said in the newsletter, I could really use some extra eyes to suppervise, and hands to be in different places at the same time. We will be mixing the ingredients and baking gingerbread men cookies, and building gingerbread houses. I plan on buying a couple of the house kits from Wal-Mart, then having them all build them together. I also ordered, off Oriental Trading, some take home bags that they can decorate with sticker foamies into gingerbread houses, and also foam gingerbread men ornaments to make. I will arrive early and have "stations" set up, then they can move through as groups, once we work together to mix the gingerbread batter, so we can get that baking.

I plan on finishing the Liberty Award at the January meeting; and holding a small Awards Ceremony at the end of the meeting, approximately 4:45! Parents and anyone else that wants to come and invited, the girls have really worked hard to earn this Award, and they deserve the recognition! At the Ceremony I will hand out all the badges that we have earned so far with the Liberty Award, but also the Fairy, Gingerbread, and Edible Art ones, and also for those who have earned Service Hearts, these will be handed out then as well. All homework will need to be turned in no later then the January meeting for me to be able to hand you that badge, and if you are short any of the main badges (Elections, Patriotism, Government, Constitution, History) I can NOT hand you the Liberty Award till it is turned in.

Homework Assignments are: 

Otters: (Brylie & Kali) you will need to do the History badge, and make the serviceman booklets. I will give this to Rachel and she will help you. Turn in your work by the January meeting. Hope you had fun at the party!

Dolphins: (Nat, Claire, Jaclyn, Megan) finish filling in your state capitols on your map.

Butterflies: (Emma & Vanessa) 1. finish filling in your state capitols on your map, along with 5 National Parks. 2. A paragraph on what the requirements are to be Presidents, why do you think these are in place, and would you change any?

PLEASE WEAR YOUR WHITE SHIRTS AND VESTS TO THE JANUARY MEETING!!

A change is coming to Frontier Girls!!
During our Elections Badge, the girls voted to have more meetings a month. I proposed to them various ideas of what these meetings could entail, and being the Democracy! that we are, we are adding a second meeting a month starting in January, however, your involvement in this meeting with be varied! The second meeting of the month will be an age level specific meeting! 
I will add these dates to the calendar as I tie them down, but our first one will be January 14th, and will be an OTTER meeting, LED BY THE DOLPHINS! This will give the Otters a chance to be the center of attention, and the Dolphins, my middle aged group, the chance to be the leaders! The Dolpins will help the Otters to earn the My Troop Badge and Kindness Badge.
The February Special Meeting will be just for Dolphins.
There will not be a March one, since we will have an outside event, see below.
The April Special Meeting will be just for Butterflies. 
There will not be a May one since school will be out!  

Horse UpDate
I have talked to Lisa McCrary, and she was really enthusiastic and willing to help us earn the Horse badges. She has agreed to let us spend a Saturday with her family, and her horses and to learn all about them, and even maybe ride them. Kevin has also been in contact with a guy in Eagleville who holds horse day camps for troops to come and learn about horses, go horseback riding, and then watch a horse stunt back riding show at the end. I will keep all updated. I am going to try to plan something for early March so it doesn't interfere with Easter.

Snack Rotation List

Claire has finished the Snack Rotation List for the year. A copy was sent home last Monday, but in case they were lost in backpacks, here is the list again, and I will also put it on the calendar page, who is to bring snacks to each meeting!

November: Vanessa
December: Emma
January: Remington
February: Jaclyn
March: Kali
April: Brylie
May: Megan

October Meeting

We had a very fun and productive meeting this month! We also had a guest join us, Lauren, and I was so pleased at how well ALL the girls made her feel welcome and included! We have now completely finished the Our Flag and U.S. Government badges for the Liberty Award.
 
To Finish the:
  U. S. Presidents Badge: all girls need to read a biography of a President on their reading level and tell me,  1. when they were President (& which # of Pres. they were) and 2. something important that happened during their Presidency. Butterflies will also have to write a paragraph on what the requirements are for the job of President. Why do you think these are in place, and would you change any of them? We will assign this as homework at the November meeting, so you don't have to worry about it till then, unless you want to knock it out early!
  Elections & Voting Badge: all girls need to 1. visit the polls with a grown up on November 6th. and 2. watch part of the election results, what is a blue state? what is a red state?
  U.S. Constitution Badge: Dolphins & Butterflies need to re-write the Bill of Rights in their own words, what does it mean to you? We will assign this as homework in January, unless you want to get it out of the way now, go ahead!

We played Presidential Bingo and learned lots of interesting trivia about the Presidents, and got to know what they looked like a little better, we also made a timeline, and put them all in order from Washington to Obama! We talked about the Constitution and who wrote it, and who signed it, and the process and arguing it took to get the job done. Also, we learned that there has been 1 President from Missouri, ask your daughter if she remembers who he was and where he was from in MO!

We also held our own elections! The red words are some of our vocabulary words that we learned while earning the Voting & Elections Badge. We had three Propositions, two amendments, and a new position to elect. The Amendments were: 

1. to change to Quest Clubs which would allow boys into the troop without changing how we do things! This failed 4-5. We decided to re-visit this issue at a later date, maybe with parents presence.

2. Proposition X which would change our meeting times to twice a month instead of once a month. This passed by a landslide! I am considering options, and this will go into effect starting in January! I am thinking that the second meeting of the month be special events, such as one month, have an Otter meeting run by the Dolphins, this would give the Otters more of a chance to do something they want, and the Dolphins, the middle age group, more of a leadership position as the older girls. I was also thinking of having a special Butterfly meeting for just the older girls to do something a little more age appropriate for them.  Then the Dolphins would also get a special meeting... or the second meeting could be a Character meeting when we do just a character badge... or an Awards meeting where we work on Life Skills/Make A Difference/Leadership Awards, etc... or we could just meet twice a month, and get more badges done!

The Propositions (Rule changes):
1. No toy closet. This failed, meaning they are allowed into the toy closet. I am adding an addendum saying, only after all work is done, and the room is cleaned!

2. Only Healthy Snacks for snack time. This also failed, so they can still have cookies and brownies and whatever they want!

3. Lori does all the cleaning after the meeting. This passed. I vetoed this. However, I will HELP all patrols!

Our New position was for Job Inspector. This person will check the room after the meeting to make sure everything is how we found it. Two people were nominated and seconded. They were Claire and Megan. Megan won the majority. Congratulations, Megan!

I am really sorry that our Horseback Riding Trip had to be cancelled. However, after talking with several parents, it might be a blessing in disguise! There is a Horseback Riding badge, and a Horse Care badge, and it was suggested that earning these badges might come easier on more of a one-on-one situation. Several local people/families were mentioned as possibilities that we may talk to about  helping us, and allowing us to spend a day with them and their horses, and also get to ride them. I will make some phone calls, and hopefully make some plans!

I also spent this weekend gathering supplies for our Fairy Event. This should be lots of fun! I am really excited about doing something very girly and goofy after all this Liberty Award work!

Horseback Riding Trip

Our horseback riding trip is now fixed for October 27th! 

There is NO COST for the girls. Any adults or siblings 6 years and over who would like to ride, the cost is $16 per person. 

Our trail ride starts at 2pm at Indian Cave State Park and will last for one hour. 

We need to leave here no later than 11:30am to have time to drive over and be ready at 2. I will need to come straight back home, as I have another commitment that starts at 6pm here. But you are welcome to do as your family wishes after the ride.

We will not have a chance to feed the kids. Please have lunch finished by 11:30, and I will bring snacks and drinks for the ride home.

September Meeting & October Frontier Girls Newsletter

September Meeting Reminders: 
We gave each other a challenge. I did not know the significance of the Liberty Bell and it's history, so we made a deal that every girl who brings information about the Liberty Bell to the October meeting will receive three cookies! 

Also, requirements for the Butterfly level girls are one more than the rest, so this extra requirement will be homework for them. So there is not a crunch period, in February, to get the Award finished, here is an assignment that I recommend they have ready for October's meeting: Read the Bill of Rights and re-write it in your own words. What does it mean to you, for you?


October Frontier Girls Newsletter Highlights

Contest  -November Contest – Our American Eagle has yet again hidden himself somewhere in our website. Everyone who finds the correct page that the eagle is located on will be put into a drawing to win $5 for their level.  Help us improve our search engine ratings by clicking on as many pages as possible until you find the eagle seen below.  Then email kerry@frontiergirls.com with your name, level, and mailing address along with which page you found the eagle on to be entered in the drawing.  Very few girls are currently entering this contest, so you odds of winning are quite good!

 


New Badges - Popcorn, Food Presentation, Sportsmanship, Crochet & Statue of Liberty.


My post about the Make A Difference Award and Servant Hours also made the newsletter! Please check it out below, I am anxious for girls to get started on projects, not only so they can earn this prestigious award, but that we can be seen more in the community.

Girl of the Month
Each month Kerry likes to highlight a Frontier Girl who is working on something special or who goes above and beyond. So I will be on the lookout for someone to nominate!

Crafts
There was a cute Emergency Campfire Kit shown. A decoupaged box with S'mores ingredients.

Community Service and Servant Heart Hours

HEART HOURS FOR SEPTEMBER ARE SEPTEMBER 16th.. the Legion is having their Pancake Breakfast. Helping with drinks and clean up count towards your hours.

I have been thinking about service hours the past week, and thought I would make a post listing ideas for the girls to do. As I only see some of them once a month, check here for ideas for during each month. I will have an opportunity each month for some time to be earned, but for the girls who do more, here is some more! I would like to see more girls work on a Make A Difference Award this year. If you are interested in earning this award, and would like extra help, please contact me, and I will help you with the details! Keep in mind that parents, grandparents, teachers, and others in the community would love to help you also!

Make A Difference Award Ideas:

• Collect donations & Make "I Care" kits that include toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, combs, etc. for a charity to hand out.
• Collect donations & Make "Birthday in A Box" boxes for charity that include cake mix, icing, candles, paper plates, cups, etc. that is needed for a child's birthday party.
• Host a Safety Seminar for younger children. Seminar ideas are: Halloween, bike safety, water safety, stranger safety, community safety, emergency safety
• Hold a Meeting for the Character Trait of the month at the school to lead them in learning more about that trait, and maybe earn the Frontier Girl badge for it.
• Host a community wide Father/Daughter Dance or a Mother/Daughter Tea to raise money for a specific charity or to raise awareness of an issue important to you.
• Create an Adopt-A-Grandparent program
• Grow a vegetable garden for the needy/food pantry
• Create a website or a blog teaching about an issue/event/idea that is important to you. An example can be found at www.dontwastewaterweneedit.weebly.com that was created by a Dolphin awhile ago.
• Collect donations & create care packages to deployed platoons.
• Hold a Clean Up at a local park, around school, Lake Mozingo, the Nature Trail, around Tri-C area, or other community place.
• Hold an event to create/collect donations to decorate or beautify a classroom, community building, or area around the community. An example may be to hold an event for students to make posters of their favorite books, then help laminate and hang them in the school library.
• Be an assistant coach for a sports team. You will need to lead at least two practices and hold a major role in at least one game.
• Host a movie night, game night, or holiday celebration at a local nursing home.
• Host a Make It night to make stockings for deployed soldiers, catnip toys or fleece blankets for the animal shelter, make holiday decorations for a nursing home or other community place, make tie-dyed shirts for the needy

Remember also, when you are thinking about and planning this award to keep in mind the hours needed to earn the award. Planning, phone calls, gathering supplies, the actual event, clean up, follow up all count in the total time needed. Otters should spend at least 5 hours to complete, Dolphins- at least 10 hours, Butterflies- at least 15 hours for the award. Also, is there a badge that you can earn while completing the award?

Service Heart Hours:

•  helping other girls with their Make A Difference Awards counts on your Heart time.
• clean off your bookcase and donate books to a library, clean out a closet and donate items to a charity, clean out your toy box and donate the items to charity/hospital
• make cards for soldiers who are overseas or for patients in hospitals
• make dinner or dessert for a community member who could use something
• clean up leaves, wash windows, shovel snow, clean a gutter, weed a garden, clean up trash for a senior citizen, or disabled person
• help a senior citizen, disable person, or community place decorate for a holiday
• help cook or serve a meal at a homeless shelter or funeral
• Ring the bell for the salvation army during Christmas time
• bake cookies or other treats and take them to the fire or police station 
• create a poster for an Awareness Event such as November is Military Family Month, and there is a Be Kind to Animals Week in May
• volunteer or participate in another charity or community event. Examples would be if someone hosts something for National Youth Service Day in April (or create one yourself), if another committee or organization holds an event in the community such as Valentine's Cheer Plates at St. Columba Parish, the 5/6 Grade Basketball Tournament
• Participate in a local event or run for a charity, such as a Relay for Life, Special Olympics, Memorial Day festivities, help with a Vacation Bible School
• support a cause such as participate in a Life Chain, Prayer Event, walk in a parade to raise awareness for a cause such as the animal shelter, pro-life, Don't Text and Drive
• helping at Mass such as when your class does mass, be a server, song leader, alcolight, lector, counts every time you do it. This really adds up especially when you serve once a month!
• help a teacher or grandparent clean up a closet, basement or other area

Financial Statement

We have been very fortunate with our beginning of the year fundraising!

We started the year with $29.31 in our account.

We made $848.80 at the Pancake Breakfast.

We made $10 at the Parish Social.

We received a donation of $24.50 from the CYO! Be sure to thank your local CYO members when you see them!

We have $951.61 for the year. So here is our budget as it stands right now.

New Flags: $100
Badges & Awards: $325
Horseback Riding: $150
Self-Control Party: $100
Parades: $75
Jamboree: $25
Pizza for Box Top Night: $50
Camping: $50
Flowers for Park: $30
Which will leave us $46 for supplies for meetings and badge requirements. We should be able to manage this, as the majority of supply money will be needed for the edible art, gingerbread, fairy and ice cream badges. There should be little to no out of pocket expenses for families through the year except registration dues to Frontier Girls and your daughters vests. 

If you have not ordered your daughter her vest yet, you can do so at www.frontiergirlsclubs.com/shop.

We will update the financial statement at the end of the school year to see what the actual costs were compared to budgeted, to see if we may need to have a small fundraiser then.

 

New Year Notes & Business

I hope everyone had a great time on the camping trip! Even with being rained on, it was fun! I know we were really disappointed about having to miss the History Days at the school and log cabin. I am planning on trying to see it again in October, along with going on the horse ride, and hay rides.

Please return the registration packets to me at the Pancake Breakfast!

If I have overlooked a badge that you earned, or you have some last minute badge work to turn in, please let me know ASAP. For the Dolphins who noticed they were missing their Life Skills Pins, they are on back order, and should be in by the Pancake Breakfast. 

The calendar for the new year is finished. Please mark your calendar's of important dates and times. Please also note that it is subject to change as things come up, and new events are added. I am still looking for more service hour ideas to add to the calendar.

I have also added everyone to their Leadership Position, and made the Patrol's. Remember that each Patrol Leader is in charge of naming their patrol. A three word phrase that includes your color. At the Pancake Breakfast I will have blank buttons, and each girl will be able to decorate their own leadership position button to wear by their level tabs.

For the girls who bridged. Please add your new buttons and level tabs to your vest until after the Lollipop Parade. We will wear our vests in the parade, and I want to show off your achievements! We will make special banners to keep your old level badges after the Parade and Social.

END OF YEAR NOTES:
I am so proud of everyone's service hours! I am excited to announce that together we performed more than 212 hours of community service this last year! I am giving us a goal of 250 hours for next year! 

Super Troop Award - The new award for Frontier Girls Troops, and I want it!! You guys do your part by re-registering by the end of August, and I will do my part by planning and holding events for the rest of the requirements! Remember that all you really need is the online only version for $25, and Kerry Cordy did inform me that she will pro-rate this fee based on when you registered last year.

Folders & Newsletters - I will have a new folder ready for all girls by the Pancake Breakfast. Inside you will find the motto, promise & creed, a fresh servant hour log, your current life skills log, and copies of all badges that we will work on during the next year. Every girl will be expected to have their folders at every meeting, and I will have special awards for those who have their newsletters signed by a parent. There will be a booklet for the Liberty Award, and as it will take several meeting to finish, not having your papers will get you behind.

Homework - there will be a small amount of homework every month, mostly keeping track of something, or looking up some information in a book or online. The reason for this is the character traits that we are trying to instill in our daughters. Character takes time and practice to develop!

Uniforms - Please wear your red Frontier Girls t-shirts to all meetings through the year, and all Servant events that could get messy. For non-messy events, and other events that we are appearing as a troop to the public, we need to wear our uniforms. A special award will be given for those who are able to do this.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST & BAKE SALE:
I need all the girls to help! I know there is a conflict that will keep Nathalie and Jaclyn from attending, so lets have them help with baking extra items for the bake sale. Please let me know what times work best for your families. You don't have to stay the whole time, but I do need someone there by 7:30, and to stay and make sure all is cleaned up by noon. I am planning to be there the whole time. We will also be hosting a raffle for a ham, and having a bake sale table. Every family needs to provide a few items for the sale. This will be our major fundraiser for the year, and therefore will determine our budget for the year!

LOLLIPOP PARADE & PARISH SOCIAL:
We will be walking together in the Lollipop Parade. Please wear your vests and blue shorts or skirts that have no decoration on them, and a white polo shirt. We will meet in front of the MFA in Conception Junction at 2:30pm. After the festivities at the park, we will host a basketball booth at the social. The work schedule will be as follows so that all girls will also have time to visit all the other booths.
4:00-4:30: Remington & Emma
4:30-5:00: Megan & Claire
5:00-5:30: Brylie & Kali
5:30-6:00: Vanessa & Jaclyn
6:00-6:30: Emma & Nathalie

News from Frontier Girls

 

A Note From the Founder – Pinterest Boards

I was recently introduced to a new website called Pinterest.  For those of you who are not familiar with it, it is like a giant online bulletin board of fun projects and activities.  You start your own board and then “pin” links to websites that interest you.  I recently started a Pinterest Account for Frontier Girls projects and plan to have boards for each of the Areas of Discovery as well as boards for topics like Patriotism, Troop Resources, Fundraising, and SWAPS.  On each board will be pictures of projects that you might wish to use in your Frontier Girls journey.  When you click on them, you will be taken to the website that has instructions for the project.  Please remember that these sites are NOT part of Frontier Girls and we cannot guarantee their content, so please surf responsibly.   As our troops and members send me great websites, I will make sure to pin these to my boards as well.  If you have a Pinterest board of your own that relates to Frontier Girls, please let me know so that I can follow it and repin your ideas to the main Frontier Girls boards.  To visit the Frontier Girls Pinterest Boards go to :

http://pinterest.com/frontiergirls/    You can also reach each of the Frontier Girls Pininterest Boards from the Areas of Discovery or Alphabetical badge list. Have fun!

Kerry Cordy

Girl of the Month – Rebecca Strub

Submitted by her leader, Diana Havir

One of the greatest joys I’ve experienced as a Frontier Girls troop leader is watching shy girls who begin the program develop into much more confident leaders of their peers within a few short years.  Getting to be part of their transformation is truly a blessing.

Perhaps the most remarkable transition I’ve witnessed thus far has taken place in Rebecca Strub.  She was one of the original members of troop #109 when we first started almost 4 years ago, and she started as a dolphin.  While she has always been a joy to know and work with, she was certainly not excited about speaking in front of our troop and needed much encouragement to lead or participate verbally.

The Rebecca I know today is a butterfly.  She proudly wears the dolphin level Gem Award she earned before “graduating” to the next level last year.  Her mother reports that the biggest challenge for Rebecca earning her Gem Award was memorizing the Frontier Girls Creed, but she worked on it every day until she had it done.  She willingly volunteers to lead the troop in the flag ceremony or the Frontier Girls promise at a moment’s notice.  She brings items that are relevant to whatever badge we are working on and confidently explains them to us.  She has served the troop this whole year as snack coordinator, using the phone to contact and coordinate with the rest of the troop.  Even though using the telephone readily can be a great obstacle for shy young girls, she has faced the challenge head on and improved her phone skills greatly in the process.  These are only a handful of reasons why I feel she deserves to be recognized in the newsletter as a Frontier Girl of the Month.

It is exciting to watch all the girls in our troop grow and mature into young women, though I am especially proud of the changes Rebecca has made in such a short time.  I look forward to seeing what the future holds for this bright young lady.

New Badges Added for July

Beach Fun,   Home Fire Safety, Leather Working, Locks of Love, Pirates

July Contest

Our American Eagle has yet again hidden himself somewhere in our website.  Unlike last month, everyone who find the correct page that the eagle is located on will be put into a drawing to win $5 for their level.  Help us improve our search engine ratings by clicking on as many pages as possible until you find the eagle seen below.  Then email kerry@frontiergirls.com with your name, level, and mailing address along with which page you found the eagle on to be entered in the drawing.

Camping Trip

We will be leaving my house at 1pm on Friday, August 3; and will arrive at the campsite by 2:30. We will spend an hour setting up tents and the site. We will spend the evening doing badge work, going on a hike, and touring the museum. Saturday morning after breakfast and clean-up, we will finish any badge work that needs to be done; then we will have our Bridging & Awards Ceremonies, pick new Leadership positions for the new year, and create new patrols. My goal is to be done and on the road by 11am. 


Camping Supply List

___Tent
___Tarp to fit under tent (optional)
___Sleeping bags or air mattresses
___Pillows
___Extra blankets
___Folding chairs (optional)
___Water bottle
___Flashlight
___Insect repellant
___Sunblock
___Prescription medications
___Personal hygiene items
___Towels
___Toilet paper (there are restrooms and showers available, but in case they are empty!)
___First aid kit (optional, I will have a large one)
___Snacks for travel time
___Modest pjs
___Outfit for morning
___Tennis shoes and socks for hiking
___A change of clothes in case (optional)
___An item to be put together into a trail mix (no chocolate please!)
___Frontier Girl Folder


If anyone has any skewers, or campfire cookware they could bring, please let me know. We will also be splitting up the grocery list between families, I will let each family know what they are responsible to bring after I get a final head count.

Calendar Updates

I have updated the calendar with the firm dates set for the rest of the summer activities through August. I am starting to plan the next school year, so things around the blog will be changing in the next month! Please refer to this calendar post through the camping trip!

September 26th Meeting:  My Troop, Teamwork (not finished)

October 24th Meeting: Etiquette

November 12, 2011: Campfire Jamboree: Fire Safety, Fire Building, Outdoor Cooking


November 28th Meeting: Pet Care, Gentleness (Todd Mattson care package)

December 5th: Setting up our Christmas Tree after school, also making a poster, and gift wrapping two boxes for under. Also making collection boxes for Box Tops, our school service project.

December 19th Meeting: Holiday Badge, Joy. Christopher Salinas care package.

January 23rd Meeting: Take the Lead, Responsibility, finish Teamwork.

January 29th: Pancake Breakfast @ Legion Hall

February 24th: Movie Night to cut and sort box tops and soup labels.


February 27th Meeting: Paper Crafting, Love. Henggeler Care Package

Will hand out vests, and awards earned so far.

March 26th Meeting: finish Paper Crafting & Love badges. Platoon Care Package

March 31, 2012: 1-4pm Mozingo Nature Trail Outing: Hiking, Peace 

April 23rd Meeting: Flower Gardening, Patience; Community Service Project: Flowers at Park

May 7th Meeting: Paleontology, Geology - Field trip to NWMSU

June 9, 2012: Life Skills Day; will have stations set up to earn different Life Skills, from 2-5pm at my house. We will also earn the Self-Control badge.

July 21, 2012: Nodaway County Fair Parade~ walk with flags.

4th of July: Stanberry 4th of July Parade. Parades badge. Will meet the 3rd from 3-5 at my house to prepare. Meet in Stanberry, in front of the school at 9AM. ~Ride on float.

August 3-4: Overnight Camping Trip at Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska: Camping, Faithfulness, finish hiking, Orienting, Native Americans Cultures, Friendship, maybe a few others. We will also have our Year End Ceremony, and hand out level pins, awards earned, and have level up ceremonies. We will also plan Fundraisers and the Lollipop Parade/Parish Social/Next School Year. We will also pick new leadership positions, and new patrols will be made.

August 19: Pancake Breakfast with Raffle & Bake Sale.

August 25:  Lollipop Parade~walk with us, or walk with another group in support of. Parish Social Fundraiser.

Exciting News!

I talked to Shiela Trautz yesterday, and we have been penciled in for a Pancake Breakfast on August 19th. I really like this date.. first Sunday after school starts, Sunday before the Parish Social, and only breakfast in August! This is great news to be starting the school year with funds for activities. 

I would like for us to run a bake sale and/or have some other kind of raffle/silent auction going on at the front table, maybe both.


Also, on the Frontier Girls website, they know have up and running an alphabetical list of all badges, simply click on the badge you are interested in, and the requirements pop up in a separate window. You must me logged into your account as a member, and it is under the Files heading.


I will have the camping supply lists ready to hand out at Life Skills Day Saturday!

Request from Kerry

I received a request today from a woman who will be  visiting more than 2,500 men and women recovering at the Wounded Warrior Unit at Ft. Campbell, KY.  She wants to make sure that she has at least one card for each person and has asked for our help. 

If you would like to help with this nationwide service project please make cards of support and encouragement and mail them no later than May 18th to:
 
Operation Quiet Comfort
307 Palmer Ln.
McCormick, SC 29835

This is a one time project only, so do not mail cards to this address after May 18th.  Sorry for the short notice, but we just got the request this morning.  Thanks for all your help!

Kerry Cordy
Frontier Girls Clubs
www.frontiergirlsclubs.com

Frontier Girls May Contest

Design an original Frontier Girls cartoon.  Entries must be received by May 31.  Include  your name, mailing address and Frontier Girl level with your submission.  $5 will be awarded to the winning entry from each level.  Parents and Leaders may also participate at the adult level.

April Meeting

Our flower garden looks fantastic! The girls did such a great job! We even planted some bulbs in the other flower bed at the park. I handed out water schedules, please keep these in a special place by your calendar, lets not let our beautiful flowers get weeded out! We also earned the Patience badge. Their homework is to set their favorite snack in front of them ready to eat, then set a timer and wait (PATIENTLY!) for 15 minutes before having it!

Our next meeting is May 7, and we will be going on a field trip to the geology/geography department at NWMSU. I do need an extra driver! Brylie and Kali are in charge of snacks for the trip. Please make it something that can be eaten on the road.

The Pampered Chef catalog party ends May 7th also. Please ask family and friends if they are interested. Also there is a way to place an online order through Laura's Pampered Chef consultant sight. This is a great outlet for family that is far, as orders can be shipped directly to them!

Our camping trip date has been set!! July 27-28th. We will be going to Indian Cave National Park in Nebraska. It is about 15 miles across the boarder on Highway 136. We will be camping in tents, hiking trails, seeing real cave drawings, a butterfly field, and there is also a museum to tour. I will post next month a detailed camping supply list that each family will need to supply. If you do not own a tent, please ask to borrow one from family/friends first, before buying. 

I will be sending out letters with homework assignments that need to be turned in by the Camping Trip. Remember, I already have the badges, jut turn in the paperwork, and it is yours!

April Frontier Girls Contest

The April Frontier Girls Contest:

Write a poem about something that you learned about in Frontier Girls. Include your name, level, troop number and e-mail to Kerry at frontier girls.

Nature Hike

We had such a great time on our Nature Hike last Saturday! We made a trail mix to share, and we learned the hard way not to include chocolate!

We went over hiking safety rules, and played three hiking games; an ABC hunt of items.. though not sure we ever found a z, there were no zebras roaming the forest! We also looked for habitats, we found lots of different homes, including ants, fish, birds, snakes, frogs, and rabbits; then we played a trail marking game. We split up into 2 groups. One group went and left "signs" along a trail with rocks, branches, leaves, litter; and the other team had to follow the clues to find the hiker. Then we switched and the other team got to leave clues. I am happy to report that all hikers were found! To earn the Hiking badge, Otters need to log 4 hours of hiking, and Dolphins 5 hours. We hiked 2 1/2 hours. You can either finish as a family, or we will be hiking again on our Camping Trip.

We also earned the Peace badge. We stopped at a gazebo for a peaceful break. We talked about conflict resolution and how we can only control what WE do in an argument. We also talked about how religion is the number one cause for war in the world, but that religions all have one thing in common.. The Golden Rule! We went over how Jews, Muslims, Hindu's and Christians all say their Golden Rule! Then we all sat quietly for a time to become peaceful and to listen to the world around us, then we worked together to write a poem about peace. 

We also all made it one mile without complaint! This was a big requirement for our Life Skills Award!

March 2012 Meeting

At the March meeting, we finished the Love and Paper Crafting badges. Be sure to look at your daughters books! We got 2 new Frontier Girls, Kali and Brylie, they are a wonderful new addition to the troop!

We handed out the Service Hearts that I found. They should probably be hot glued or super glued onto their vest, they go ON the ribbon. Otters earn one heart for every 5 hours, Dolphins earn a heart for every 10 hours. Hour ideas for April are to get outside and help. Pick up trash at a park or trail, help a neighbor clean up their yard or house to get ready for spring. 

We also have a troop stationed in Afghanistan to send a care package to. The Platoon leader has suggested summer items, including water balloons, games, balls, snack items (no chocolate), and small American flags. I will bring some flags to the April meeting, and we will fold these into triangles for them to carry in their pockets. They also would like a card and/or picture from us so they can get to know us. They also suggested writing materials so they can write us thank you notes. We will put this together at the April meeting, so please send your items with your daughter then. 

Also for our April meeting. We will be planting our flowers in the park in Conception, I will need help transporting girls, and pick up will be at the park at 5pm. I have the grant from the Community Betterment Committee for $30. I plan on buying a few perennials, and annuals, and maybe some mulch to help with week control this year. I will have a weeding and watering schedule then. Please bring a trowel or spoon or weeder to help us with the planting. 

Frontier Girl Challenge for March/April is to make a sandwich by yourself including cleanup.

Megan is in charge of snacks for the April meeting.

We are planning a Pampered Chef catalog party fundraiser for April 23-May 7th. Simply take orders from family and friends, no real door to door selling is needed! The girls will get a percentage of the total order sum. We need funds for the parades this summer, and for our camping trip in August.

Our May 7th meeting will be our annual field trip. We will be touring the Rock and Fossil museum, and labs at the Northwest Missouri State University Geology/Geography Department. I will need help with transportation. I plan on returning to the school by 5:30pm, no later then 6pm.

Exciting News For Our Troop!

Exciting News!!!

Emma is the Frontier Girl of the Month for March!!! Go to the Frontier Girls website to see March's Newsletter!

Girl of the Month- Emma Lager

Emma Lager,a 5th grade Dolphin from Troop #146 in Conception Junction, MO is our Girl Of The Month for March. Since becoming a Frontier Girl in September, she has earned 16 badges, and is working on more, has earned three Service Hearts, and found a sponsor for her troop who bought all the tall flags and poles for their team. Emma has been a leading force in getting her troop’s tall flag team up and running.  She has memorized the God Bless the USA routine, and is currently revamping it to add more twirls, and even a toss. She is is also choreographing a new tall flag routine to “Where the Stars and Stripes, and Eagles Fly” which she will start teaching her team this March. Emma has even choreographed how her team will walk in the parades this summer with their flags and with the help of her sister, wrote the Parade badge. She is currently serving as Photographer for her troop, and is always there to help the other leaders whenever necessary as well as helping the younger girls with love and caring, and without just doing things for them. Emma is an enthusiastic recruiter for more girlsto join her troop and does a great job of promoting Frontier Girls and what we stand for. She is currently trying to decide on a A Difference project, but can’t seem to decide between cleaning up the lake, adopting an overgrown flower bed at the local park, helping with story hour at the local library, or organizing a letter writing campaign to President Obama over the HHS mandate for the local kids.  Decisions, decisions….  If I know Emma, whatever does not get done now, will simply be put on the list to do later.  This is one girl lives our motto, “If you see a need, take the lead!”

Nathalie won the February essay contest through Frontier Girls, her essay was published in the Newsletter as well!


Winners of the February Essay Contest are:
Penguin:  no entry
Otter:  Nathalie Lager, Troop 146 
My Favorite Frontier Girl memory is the Christmas party. We made Yule Logs out of chocolate icing and biscuits, the chocolate smelled so good that we couldn’t resist.  Then we did  snow globes we made them  out  of  baby oil, the baby  oil did  not work, so we had to dump it out and we  just used little toy Santa clauses, Christmas  trees, elf’s, water and glitter, ribbon and beads on the side. Then we  made  candles  for special   presents  we  made them out of candles and stickers, the stickers  are beautiful, and  we  had to wrap them with construction paper. Then we made Joy Journals, if we  did not  get them done we had to have homework. It was all fun!  Last we had a relay race to fill our stockings with candy and bouncy balls and stamps. It was so much fun, we did not even care who won. We also learned how to say Merry Christmas in several different languages. Feliz Navidad!

Brylie will be joining our troop this month!


 The March Contest is to take a photograph of your favorite springtime thing and send it in.  The winner from each level will receive $5.  One entry per person.  Please include your name, troop number (or pioneer), level, and mailing address with your submission.

February Meeting

What a meeting we had today!! We spent at least 30 minutes going over business. I passed out all the badges that have been earned so far, along with all the items that go on their vests. Remember that families are responsible for buying their own vests. They run small, so buy big, and remember they keep the same vest till they outgrow it, so buy a little bigger still! The girls have $50 left in their account. I spent just over $300 getting all the badges, and troop numerals. I spent $30 at Wal-Mart getting supplies to make the other pieces for the vests, and paper, ink, and a binder to print out badges. I have about half the badges printed out, I will need another ink cartridge to finish! We spent $57 on pizza for movie night. The $50 should get us through the end of the school year, between badge supplies and flowers. We will need to have another fundraiser before the parades start. I am thinking about a Pampered Chef catalog party, I will talk with Laura about it this week.

We were all sad to learn that we are loosing one of our members. Krysta has decided to step down as a Frontier Girl. We all wish her luck on her future endeavors.

Today we worked on the Paper Crafting and the Love badges. We read about the history of paper, and we are working on Love scrapbooks. They are 6 pages. Page 1 is titled God knows I love Him because.. Page 2 is titled People know I love them because.. Page 3 is titled I Love Me! Page 4 is titled I love my country by.. Pages 5 & 6 will be a collage showing different scenes of showing love. We have not finished these, and the girls decided that they would rather finish them at the March meeting instead of as homework. We also had lots of fun learning how to make paper chains, tissue paper roses, and how to do quilling (a technique of rolling strips of paper tightly then flaring them out into designs). We are using these techniques to decorate our Love books. Hopefully at the March meeting we will be able to finish these and at least start the Health & Fitness badge. We also got caught up on some much needed Thank You notes that we owed people throughout the community!

Frontier Girl Challenge for March: To go over fire safety with your family, to create a meeting spot outside in case of fire, and to check your smoke alarms.

Service Heart Hour Ideas for March: help a neighbor get ready for spring! Help clean out a garden bed, wash windows, pick up fallen debris from their yard. Serve, song lead, usher or in some way help during a church service. Read to some younger kids for Dr. Seuss' Birthday.

Congratulations to Emma for earning her 3rd Service Heart!

Remington is in charge of snacks for the March meeting.

Remember that we have Tall Flags practice on March 6th till 4 pm; don't forget your flag!

Frontier Girl Contest for February

Frontier Girl Contest: This month’s contest is an essay about your favorite Frontier Girl Memory. There will be a winner at each age level who will receive $5. Please e-mail your essay’s to Kerry Cordy with the subject Essay Contest at kerry@frontiergirls.com by February 29th .



Also, I am in desperate need of photos from our events! If anyone has pictures from the Campfire Jamboree, or the Basketball game, please e-mail them to me, or tag me in them on Facebook! Thanks so much!

Uniforms, Awards & Service Hours

The girls did not raise enough money for the troop to buy the vests. The troop will buy all the pieces for the vests, but each family will need to purchase their own vests, they are 14.99 each, plus shipping, through the Frontier Girls Store . If you would like I can order all the vests, and then be paid back so that we can split one shipping cost. Let me know what you would like. Frontier Girls say the vests run small, and keep in mind that they keep their vests even when they level up, as long as they fit, so order as big as you dare! Hopefully the next time we needs vests, it wont be that big a deal for the troop to order them. 

The girls also did not have an extra $100 for the level pins (silver animal shaped pins that fit on the level tab to indicate their rank in the troop). With six of the girls leveling up in August anyway, lets just wait, and present them at the camp out awards ceremony. They also sell puzzle piece shaped pins that each represent one of the leadership positions within the troop, these are also $10 a piece, I would eventually like to purchase these, and then just move them from girl to girl as we change positions each year. All other awards such as the Life Skills, Make A Difference, Liberty, etc. are also $10 each. We will need to have another Fundraiser some time this summer to help purchase these, along with funding our camp out. Please help start thinking of ideas! 

The girls are all doing such a great job earning their Service Hearts! These are $4 each from the F.G. Store. Another Mom has suggested that we might be able to find these cheaper somewhere else, so now I am on a mission! 

Some Service Hours ideas for February are to bake some goodies for the Holiday Cheer plates that St. Columba Church will be donating on February 12th. Or you can make something to donate to a nursing home!

Flag Corp Preformance

 You guys were so great tonight! They did not record the opening ceremony, but trust me, it was wonderful!!

Tall Flag Preformance during Half-Time January 31, 2012

Kerry Cordy's Facebook comment about your performance after she watched it this morning! 

January 23, 2012 Meeting

We had a very productive meeting this afternoon! We finished the Teamwork badge by talking about the definition of teamwork, and what affects good teams. Then we earned the Responsibility badge. We talked about what real responsibility means, and ways that we are responsible to God, our family, school, community, country and environment. 

We all have a Responsibility chart. The idea is that they are to chose a chore that they are already responsible for doing at home, but that they have trouble fulfilling. They are to put a check mark on each day of the calendar that they did their chore without being reminded to, or complaining about it. Below the calendar is a 2 week chart that they are supposed to think about whether or not they were more responsible or irresponsible during that particular day, with the hope that they will strive for responsible checkmarks!

This tied in with Leadership, so we moved on to the Take The Lead badge. We talked about leadership qualities, and how each of us holds different leadership roles. We read some great quotes about leadership by great leaders (and also Yoda!). Then I read to them a short biography of Marie Curie, and we pulled out ways that she showed leadership in her life, and she also seemed very responsible! I have given them the assignment to read a biography on their reading level, and to look for the leadership qualities we discussed. I asked them to please pick a woman, Mrs. Swinford was kind enough to make us a list of biographies that are in our library, that are specifically female. They may however choose a man if they really wish. We had some really great discussions today, and I hope the girls got to thinking about a few things! We also played Simon Says to take turn being a leader!

The responsibility charts and the biographies will be due at the February meeting. Several of the girls were asking about why I always give assignments. Frontier Girl badges are designed so that we are not just discussing theories, but are actually trying to implement virtues and character traits into our everyday lives. That takes thought and practice on a daily basis, and we only meet once a month! These are badge requirements, and failure to turn them in, means you do not receive the badge, however, it is only too late to turn something in, by the August Campout. 

With the busy days lately, even I didn't remember to stop and pick up an item for our Care Package, so we will move this to the February meeting.


Maggie is in charge of bringing snacks to the February meeting.


Remember, our Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, everyone is required to help at least an hour, we need people from 9am thru cleanup.

Also, we will have Flag Practice Wednesday from 1-2:30 in the school gym.




*** Frontier Girl Challenge ***


To memorize your complete address and zip code, and your home phone number with area code.

Flag Corp Practices

With our big show being Tuesday, January 31st, and February 7th also being a game night at school, I have decided to cancel the February 7th Flag Corp practice. Also, please note the calendar under the Flag Corp Heading. I have taken us back to the first Tuesday of the month for practices. Our next event will be walking in the Nodaway County Parade in June.

Change of Date

Please note that we are changing the date of the movie night in February to the 24th. We will be enjoying popcorn, pizza and movies while we trim, sort, count and ziplock baggie all the Box Tops for Education and Campbell's Soup Labels. These must be recieved by March 1st for the school to get them money. Please note also that this is our required service project to benefit our sponsor (the school), and all are expected to attend.

Also, Mr. Jermain is giving us the use of the school gym, next Wednesday, January 25, to practice flags one last time. AM seems to work best for most, so lets meet at the school at 1PM and practice till 2:30PM.

January Notes

In honor of the Frontier Girls 5th Birthday on January 19th, lets all wear our Frontier Girl t-shirts to school.


The girls have $3.95 in their checking account. Our Pancake Breakfast is being held on January 29th, let's all spread the word and get a great turn-out! We need money to purchase vests ($30.94 each girl), and also all our badges (which till January 31st are on sale for .89 cents each) all Service Hearts are $3 each. We also need money for flowers to plant our bed in April. I am anxious to see how many of our flowers will return! Carolyn Holtman said we will be given our $30 grant for this again this year. We also need a few supplies for badge work, and money for snacks for our hike in March, our float for the 4th of July, and food and supplies for our camp-out in August.  


Claire is in charge of snacks for the January 23rd meeting. Also, please remember to bring an item or two for Anthony Henggeler's care package.




Does anyone have a camcorder for the Flag Corp performance on January 31st?