Are you the leader of a Cadette Girl Scout troop? Here are some resources for you to use as you guide your middle school girls through this level of scouting. Updated February 2022 *This post contains affiliate links. Cadette Leaders Need Practical Resources for Their Middle School Troop How many of you know a girl who was a Girl Scout past the fifth grade? If you are like most people, not many. When girls begin their adventures in Girl Scouting, they are as young as five years old and in kindergarten. Everything is exciting to them, and they are very happy with crafts, field trips and an occasional guest speaker. As the girls become Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts, it becomes more challenging keeping them engaged. They want more outdoor adventures like camping and fun overnights at museums and party places. As their leader, you do your best to comply with what they want while attempting to keep your own sanity. Photo from Pixabay By the time the girls finish the Junior level at the end of fifth grade, there is a dramatic drop in their ranks. As puberty hits full throttle and what other people think becomes more important, the coolness factor of scouting plummets and many girls no longer want to be associated with the movement. For my troop, this has not been our experience. I was the leader for six years, and this upcoming year I am stepping down from that role and moving to a co-leadership position. A friend of mine will be the leader, and ten of our eleven girls will become Cadette Girl Scouts. We are also very fortunate that the principal of our school is a former Girl Scout who earned her Gold Award years ago. She is a positive role model for our girls. The Challenges of Being a Cadette Leader Middle School Girls Are Not the Easiest to Be With! As a mother who has been through the middle school years once before, I can honestly say that I am not looking forward to replaying the drama of these early teen years. Relational aggression (female bullying), cliques, first heartbreaks, and monitoring social media use was challenging. Cadette leaders have to deal with all of this with girls who are not their daughters. Many times, a troop will inherit new girls at this stage because the girls' former troops have disbanded and are no longer viable. The girls wish to remain in scouting, but need someone to take them in. Leaders must be very aware of integrating new girls into their established troop and making sure that they are welcomed and accepted by the others. We are all sisters in scouting, and this is a great opportunity for new friends to be made. Cliques and leaving other girls out is not an acceptable behavior and needs to be thwarted. A Smart Girl's Guide: Middle School (Revised): Everything You Need to Know About Juggling More Homework, More Teachers, and More Friends! (Smart Girl's Guides) from Amazon This book, as well as the original version, has been a source of comfort and an invaluable resource for both of my daughters. The Biggest Challenge Facing Cadette Leaders There is competition for your time! Photo from Pixabay As girls get older, their lives get busier. Once upon a time,dance and athletics were a fun activity. Many girls, including those in my troop, participate on travel teams for sports or competition teams for dance. This means hours of travel and practice that will interfere with Girl Scout activities. In middle school, girls are introduced to after school clubs. These may bring new friends and new interests that will also occupy their time and lessen their involvement with Girl Scouting. Photo from Stoonn via freedigitalphotos.net Then there is homework. Modern society dictates that more homework is good, so teachers pile it on. For high achieving students, this extra workload can be a challenge, but for those who struggle in school, this creates more problems. Homework has to come first, even at the expense of a Girl Scout activity or meeting. Peer pressure is also a challenge. No matter how you slice it, Girl Scouts is not considered a cool activity. Adult leaders need to combat that with activities that the girls vote on and plan. When other middle schoolers find out that the scouts in their grade slept over in a museum, went on a long weekend to a water park resort or saved all their cookie money for a trip to Disney, then the cool factor is upped significantly. A Smart Girl's Guide: Friendship Troubles (Revised): Dealing with fights, being left out & the whole popularity thing (Smart Girl's Guides) from Amazon Online Resources for Cadette Leaders Starting at a new level is always a challenge. As the girls get older, meetings are supposed to be more "girl led", but with cliques, absences and forgetfulness, things might not get accomplished as they would with a responsible adult in charge. Of course, this is a life lesson that needs to be learned. As the leader, you are transferring the role of leadership to the girls. Here are some great resources on how to do that, as well as how to run your meetings, select badges and community service projects, plus how to do a Journey. Girl Scout Leader Blog All the posts from my main blog relating to Cadette Scouts Old Cadette/Senior Ambassador IP's and Badge Thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can get all the requirements for the old program at this link. Cadette Uniform This shows where badges, patches and pins go on a Cadette vest or sash. 6th Grade Cadettes Moving up from Juniors is a big deal. Here is some wonderful and relevant advice from leaders who have already made the transition. Camping With Cadette Girl Scouts One leader shares her camping trip with readers. Cadette First Aid Badge Learn how your troop can fulfill the requirements for this badge. Silver Award These are the directions on how to earn the Silver Award.
Boy, I'm on a roll! I've gotten the Cadette tracker done and the Daisy tracker will be done today too. I hope you find this useful! I'll be a Cadette leader next year and making this tracker got me excited about taking the girls to the next level of Girl Scouting. This tracker allows troop leaders to document badge requirements for each girl. Includes all of the new Legacy and Journey badges in the Girls Guide to Girl Scouting. Each page includes one badge. For my troop, I printed the sheets in color, double-sided, then laminated them. To hold them together I hole-punched them laminated sheets and used a binder ring to hold them together. I placed stickers on the requirements so I can keep track. The girls got so excited looking through all of the badge choices in one place. A note about formatting: The tracker is available in Word [.doc] or .pdf format. If you are savvy with Word formatting, you can personalize the .doc tracker to your liking. If you would rather hand write in the names of the girls and not worry about formatting, download the .pdf. You can download the tracker Word tracker here or the .pdf tracker here.
Over the past few years, increased attention has been paid to the mental health and wellness of our youth. As a leader, time with you and with sister scouts
The Girl Scout Cadette Breathe Journey is one that the girls can learn a lot from. Here is a list of resources for them and for you, their leader, to use. *This post contains affiliate links. Updated February 2022 When I was growing up, there were public service announcements from Woodsy Owl that told us to Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute! In the 1970s, this was a crunchy granola way of thinking, as we were not as enlightened to the perils of air pollution like we are today. The quality of the air can have a direct effect on how we are feeling. As the mother of a son with asthma, air quality is very important to me. Image Created on Canva It isn't just pollution that affects the air we breathe. As a writer, I truly need absolute silence to get my mind in the zone and do my best work. When my kids are home, all hope of doing any research and writing original content just flies out the window. Fighting, having the television on, or having their friends over to play are much too distracting for me.People who have had careers where noise levels are too high risk having permanent damage to their ability to hear. Rock stars such as Phil Collins, Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton have all admitted to having hearing loss after playing their loud music on stage for years.In the Cadette Breathe Journey, girls will learn how the air around them impacts the Earth and their lives. Breathe Journey Guide for Leaders Photo from Pixabay Having internet resources is a good thing-I wish we had them back when I was a full time elementary school teacher back in the day! However, because I am also old school, I like to hold a book and have a hands on resource that I can pull of the shelf without having to turn on the computer.This adult leader guide for Breathe can be paid for with troop funds, since the girls are benefiting from it. Do not feel guilty asking for the money-after all, you volunteer many hours of your time for free! Girls Book from Amazon Adult Guide also available Other Kinds of Pollution In addition to noise pollution, your senses can also be assaulted by smell. If you have ever had to change a dirty diaper, you know what I mean! There are scents which are pleasing to the nose, while others are quite offensive.In fact, people with severe allergies can have significant breathing problems when they are near a person or a group of people who are heavily perfumed. My synagogue politely requests that during the High Holy Day services of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that we refrain from wearing perfume because of this problem. There is a sign in my son’s allergist’s office to please not come into the office wearing perfume. Relax-It's Good for You! To make the Journeys Program more interesting and fun for the girls, each one includes activities to help the girls learn the objective of the meeting and the overall goals of the Journey. For one meeting, the troop can make something that they can take home to help them relax and find time in their busy day to have a few minutes of downtime. These kits come in handy for this project. Available on Amazon Girls Need to Breathe! Finding time to decompress from the stress When life becomes overwhelming with work, family, chores, and everything else, some people find it hard to breathe. The stress gives them anxiety, and they begin to breathe in a shallow manner. They cannot relax and this exacerbates the problem even further. Stress begets more stress! Bath Bomb Kit from Amazon Another aspect of the Breathe Girl Scout Journey is to teach the girls how to breathe-take a moment and relax. The middle school years present all kinds of challenges-more homework and projects, sports, and other activities become more competitive and time consuming, and relationships with peers and are also changing. On meeting can focus on having the girls find a time and place to just relax. Put on some relaxing music and do some breathing exercises or practice some simple yoga poses. Fun Craft Girls can find meaning and inspiration from these beads. They can make necklaces, keychains, or put them on a piece of cardboard that has been covered with felt and glue them on. Inspiration Beads Available on S&S Worldwide Cadette Breathe Resources for Leaders The following links will be beneficial to leaders as they plan the Journey. Girl Scout Troop 340 This group of Cadettes shares what they did to accomplish the goals of Breathe. Troop 1445 Breathe Journey in a Weekend Girl Scouts of the Nation's Capital Online Guide Earn the Breathe Journey on a Camping Trip Girl Scouts of River Valleys has resources for leaders. Image created by the author on Canva Take Action Projects for the Breathe Journey Girls have taken to the internet to share with their sister scouts what they have done to Take Action for the Breathe Journey. Let these girls help guide your ideas or help spark some new ones. There are dozens more of these videos. Here is just a sample.
Discover how to draw like a professional comic artist. Using some of these activities they will learn from the pros, and then draw some of their very own comics to share with friends and families and also earn the Comic Artist Badge.
Checklists below include badges released as of July 2023! If you'd like checklists for the retired 2001 set of badges, please scroll...
Updated September 2022 What is the Cadette Girl Scout Silver Award? There are three levels of Girl Scout Awards-the Bronze (earned when girls are in Junior troops), the Silver (earned when girls are Cadettes) and Gold (an individual project girls must complete before they graduate high school). While leaders do have a hand in helping the girls earn the highest award at this level, they are truly a guide at the side. Image Created on Canva First, the girl must complete at least one of the three Journeys at this level. Then the girls have to pick a project that they want to work on alone or with a group. There is a lot of planning that goes on with this, but as an older girl, she needs to stand on her own two feet to figure out what will work and what will not. These projects are meant to "make the world a better place", an integral part of the Girl Scout Promise. Once the plan is complete and put into action, then the girl has to fill out paperwork, give it to her leader, and then celebrate her accomplishment! Please note that every Council is different. What may be approved in one Council may not be in another. Each finished project has had the paperwork signed and completed, and what you are reading are the results of those efforts. Cadette Silver Award Ideas If your troop wants to earn this award, here are dozens of ideas for you to try. Clothing Giveaway This is what one troop did after their aMaze Journey to earn their Silver Award. 4 More Ideas from Girls Working on Their Own or in Pairs 50 Silver Award Ideas Give your girls this list and they should be able to find something that speaks to them. Girl Empowerment Camp Creating a Golf Program for Kids Creating a Family Space in a Hospice Center Outer Banks History Center Project for Cat or Dog Lovers Another Animal Lover Project Making a Cat Tree Image created by the author in Canva Project for a DIY'er Creating a Gaga Pit Food Allergy Awareness Building a Bird Garden Creating Good Night Blankets Girls Health Project Creating a Living Wall (Vertical Garden) Creating a Buddy Bench Anti-Bullying Project Improve Math Skills for Kids Domestic Abuse Shelter Library Project Bilingual Readers Resource Database One Girl Scout created a database of over 1,400 Spanish language books for her local library system Kitchen Renovation This trip of Cadettes helped renovate a church kitchen Literacy and Displaced Persons Silver Award Project How one girl created a library cart of school supplies and books for displaced people. Real Troop Ideas This is a listing of real Silver Award ideas that other Girl Scout troops have accomplished. 34 Silver Award Ideas from one YouTube video 10 Ideas from the Girl Scout of Western Washington 8 Silver Award Projects With a Twist This post is from the Girl Scouts of Western Washington shares the actual projects of eight different troops or girls.
There is a direct correlation between what we eat and how we feel. In this Girl Scout Cadette Eating for You Badge Easy Meeting Plan and Activities, your 6th, 7th and 8th graders will become familiar with this connection and how it affects their physical and mental health. In this Girl Scout Cadette Eating for You product, you will find: Taste testing to discover new foods and beverages Activities to visualize exactly how much sugar is in the food we eat No bake recipe for healthy energy balls What foods to avoid for better skin and better sleep Food craft activities Other products for Cadette Troop Leaders: Girl Scout Cadette Troop Leader Planner for Troop Organization Binders The Guide for Leading Girl Scout Cadettes, Seniors and Ambassadors Girl Scout Cadette New Cuisines Badge Pi Day Any Day Celebration Girl Scout Cadette Memory Book Scrapbook the Year Final Meeting Idea 3 Years Girl Scout Cadette Time Capsule Meeting for Future Ambassador Scout Please be sure to leave feedback so you can earn TpT credits on future purchases. Terms of Use Short Version-These for your troop use only and not to be shared with another leader, Service Unit, Council, website, blog, training, friends, or family. Failure to comply is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA). Leadership Made Simple is not affiliated with Girl Scouts of the USA. This product is not connected in any way, nor is it sponsored, endorsed, or approved by Girl Scouts of the USA.
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The Science of Happiness badge is part of the “It's Your World - Change It!” badge set introduced in 2011. For the badges released in 2011, scouts must complete all of the activities listed to earn the badge. What would make you happiest? Money? Cool clothes? Living in a mansion on a tropical island? Such things may make you happy for a while, but science shows they aren’t what keep you happy in the long run. What is? Pleasure, engagement, and meaning (see the redbox for more information).
Discover how to draw like a professional comic artist. Using some of these activities they will learn from the pros, and then draw some of their very own comics to share with friends and families and also earn the Comic Artist Badge.
Updated February 2022 Girls are easily influenced by the images they see in the media. The Media Cadette Journey is an important one to do with this age group, as their bodies and opinions of themselves are changing. *This post contains affiliate links. The MEdia Journey is Very Accessible to Today's Youth If you ask most women how they felt about their middle school years (sixth through eighth grade), most will not have very fond memories. It is an awkward stage of life, as our bodies are maturing, our skin is breaking out, and we yearn to be old enough to drive a car and escape our parents who do not understand us. Our best friends are our lifeline, and we spend countless hours on the phone, hanging out at the mall or at each other's houses. In the days before the internet and cell phones, the only media that I had to contend with was my local AM/FM radio stations, the six channels I had on my television (three network, three local), and the magazines that arrived in my mailbox. Photo from Pixabay and altered by the author on Canva Today, my daughters have so much more to contend with media-wise than I ever did..Cell phones have become weapons. Nasty text messages have replaced face to face arguments that are more easily reconciled because girls cannot hide behind the words typed on a phone. Just try saying those hateful things you typed as you look your friend in the eye. Instagram permits people to instantly photograph and share what they are doing. Having a sleepover or a party? Let everyone who is following you and isn't invited know and make them feel badly! Instagram and SnapChat are the Kings of cyber bullying, where you can create fake accounts and hurt others by what you post. Better yet, why not embarrass someone by posting unflattering pictures of them for all to see. When my older daughter was in high school, she told me you had to accept friend requests from people you don't wish to be friends with or else they would give you problems at school. One of the happiest days for her was post graduation, when she was able to unfriend literally hundreds of her peers whom she never wanted to contact again. The Girl Scout Cadette MEdia Journey helps girls learn about the media in their lives and how to deal with it in a positive way. (Note-MEdia is intentionally spelled in this manner to show the girls how they are a part of it.) Media Leader Guide from Amazon The Media and Body Image Sending the wrong message to our impressionable daughters All a person has to do is look at the magazine covers in the checkout line to see what battles our young girls have with body image. Celebrities are shown smiling under captions that read how happy they are now that they have lost weight. Excuse me, you can only be happy when the scale reads a certain number? Then there are the magazine covers that show miserable looking pictures of television and movie stars and the headlines proclaim how heavy they have gotten. Some of these publications have pictures of celebrities in bathing suits and rate how they look. I would love to see how the photographer of that image looks in a swimsuit. How judgmental have we as a society become?I know that I am more sensitive than most about this issue for two reasons. First, as a teenager, I used to hate myself and how I looked. My short, slightly chubby body was never portrayed in magazines, on television, or in the movies. I was not tall, rail thin or had straight hair. It took growing up, learning to eat properly, and doing daily exercise to slim my body down and to realize that I did not have a problem, it was how women are portrayed in the media. I am also sensitive to this topic because I have a daughter who is a recovering anorexic. This is a mental illness, not a diet gone bad. Seeing how the media equates being thin with being happy is a terrible message to send anyone, in particular unsure middle school and high school girls. Movies to Spark Discussions Queen Sized DVD from Amazon When the popular girls at school pull a nasty prank on Nikki Blonsky's character and nominate her for Homecoming Queen, she does not let peer pressure or pressure from the adults in her life stop her from running. This movie attempts to combat the stereotype that Homecoming Queens must be wealthy and thin. One way to get the discussion about bullying or body image out in the open is to use a movie. Much like a good picture book to teach a lesson worked for Girl Scout Daisies earning their petals, any one of the following movies can be viewed as a troop and then discussed. Tell the parents ahead of time about your plans and have them sign a permission form that states it is okay to see the movie.As the leader, you should preview the movie, prepare some questions for group discussion, and then plan a movie night meeting with your girls.Any one of the following will be appropriate. Cyberbully DVD from Amazon Cyberbullying is real. Unlike the past, where home was a safe haven, social media and the internet makes people a target everywhere they go. In this all too real movie, Emily Osmet's story of what happens to her and the cruelty she suffers from. It is a chillingly real depiction of what teens go through today. Useful Online Resources for The Media Journey Leaders, there are many online resources that are right at your fingertips. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, check out these ideas,and develop your own plan of action for your troop to take so they can complete this Journey and be one step closer to earning their Silver Award. Media in a Day Here is an outline on how to accomplish this Journey in one session. Girl Scouts of Easter Iowa and Western Illinois A great Pinterest board full of ideas for this Journey. Snapshot of Media Journey The Girl Scouts of Northern California have an outline of how to do this program in several meetings. Model Transformation This one minute video shares the "truth" behind the modeling scene. Inappropriate Media Images Just what are they trying to sell? Another big issue girls have in relation to the media is overtly sexual advertisements. One look at online and print ads for teencentric brands like Abercrombie and Hollister and it can make a parent cringe. The images are inappropriate and have young adults in provocative poses to sell overpriced jeans and tee shirts. By advertising their products in this manner, it makes it appear acceptable to girls this age to act this way. As adults we can see through this, but you need to remember that younger minds are still developing and are easily influenced (that is why teens make such dumb choices...their brains are not fully developed yet.One activity leaders can do with their troops is to have an assortment of magazines for the girls to look through. They can look for inappropriate advertisements and try to figure out exactly what the product is trying to sell. How could it be marketed differently? Why is the product being advertised in the manner that is being shown? To Be Fat Like Me DVD from Amazon A high school student who is thin does an undercover project. She transfers to another high school, puts on a fat suit, and learns firsthand how overweight teens are treated. Image created by the author on Canva Completed Cadette Take Action Media Projects YouTube is a great tool for girls to complete their Media TAP-Take Action Project. Here is a sampling of what some Cadette troops have done.
This 2021 Girl Scout bridging guide for all levels will help leaders plan , with ease, this important scouting milestone.
Discover three engaging and enjoyable activities that will help you earn your Cadette Finding Common Ground Badge. Foster understanding, teamwork, and empathy through community service projects and interactive games. Unleash your creativity and embark on an exciting journey towards finding common ground. Start earning your badge by engaging in these fun-filled experiences that enrich your skills and empower collaboration.
Updated September 2022 What is the Cadette Girl Scout Silver Award? There are three levels of Girl Scout Awards-the Bronze (earned when girls are in Junior troops), the Silver (earned when girls are Cadettes) and Gold (an individual project girls must complete before they graduate high school). While leaders do have a hand in helping the girls earn the highest award at this level, they are truly a guide at the side. Image Created on Canva First, the girl must complete at least one of the three Journeys at this level. Then the girls have to pick a project that they want to work on alone or with a group. There is a lot of planning that goes on with this, but as an older girl, she needs to stand on her own two feet to figure out what will work and what will not. These projects are meant to "make the world a better place", an integral part of the Girl Scout Promise. Once the plan is complete and put into action, then the girl has to fill out paperwork, give it to her leader, and then celebrate her accomplishment! Please note that every Council is different. What may be approved in one Council may not be in another. Each finished project has had the paperwork signed and completed, and what you are reading are the results of those efforts. Cadette Silver Award Ideas If your troop wants to earn this award, here are dozens of ideas for you to try. Clothing Giveaway This is what one troop did after their aMaze Journey to earn their Silver Award. 4 More Ideas from Girls Working on Their Own or in Pairs 50 Silver Award Ideas Give your girls this list and they should be able to find something that speaks to them. Girl Empowerment Camp Creating a Golf Program for Kids Creating a Family Space in a Hospice Center Outer Banks History Center Project for Cat or Dog Lovers Another Animal Lover Project Making a Cat Tree Image created by the author in Canva Project for a DIY'er Creating a Gaga Pit Food Allergy Awareness Building a Bird Garden Creating Good Night Blankets Girls Health Project Creating a Living Wall (Vertical Garden) Creating a Buddy Bench Anti-Bullying Project Improve Math Skills for Kids Domestic Abuse Shelter Library Project Bilingual Readers Resource Database One Girl Scout created a database of over 1,400 Spanish language books for her local library system Kitchen Renovation This trip of Cadettes helped renovate a church kitchen Literacy and Displaced Persons Silver Award Project How one girl created a library cart of school supplies and books for displaced people. Real Troop Ideas This is a listing of real Silver Award ideas that other Girl Scout troops have accomplished. 34 Silver Award Ideas from one YouTube video 10 Ideas from the Girl Scout of Western Washington 8 Silver Award Projects With a Twist This post is from the Girl Scouts of Western Washington shares the actual projects of eight different troops or girls.
Are you looking for a fun way for your troop to earn the Girl Scout Cadette New Cuisines badge? Have them host a Pi Day celebration.
