Mountain View Mirror - Online
February 1999

Here is a fun and easy science experiment you can do with the girls

Get a jar with an opening slightly smaller than a large egg. Set the egg on it so that it rests comfortably on the lip but doesn't go in. Drop a lit piece of paper into the jar and set the egg on top. Wait. The egg will be sucked into the jar. (Warning: if the jar opening is too small, the egg will break. Try this at home in the sink before doing it at the meeting)

Questions: why didn't the paper burn out? Why did the egg get sucked in? What does this tell you about fire? air? the egg?

- Courtesy of Henry, Scoutlink

Dough recipes are very fun. Try these edible ones for snack - remember to let the girls Play with their food first!

• 1/2 Cup dry milk
• 1 Tablespoon honey

Mix peanut butter and dry milk add honey mix very well.

scaps Candy Clay Recipe

• 1/3 Cup butter or margarine
• 1/3 Cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 lb. powdered sugar

Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl with hands, mix in powder sugar. Knead the dough until smooth. Add more powdered sugar if necessary to make the clay non-sticky and pliable. Divide the clay into small portions and mix in food colors or paste food dye. Use a spatula or spreading knife to mix the colors. Work with bits of colored candy clay on a paper towel to decorate a plain graham cracker. Eat your creation. There should be enough clay from this batch for a group of fifteen to decorate one graham cracker Do not make candy clay on a hot day or the butter will melt and make the clay too sticky. Flat figures and designs work best, standing animals or people do not work well.

- Courtesy Cindy Carnicom

• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon water
• About 2 tablespoons used tea leaves*

Mix flour, salt and water in a bowl.
Add as many tea leaves as the dough will hold without falling apart. Gather the mixture in your hands. Press it into a firm ball. Put the ball on a clean surface and knead until you have a smooth dough.

*Collect dried rose petals instead of tea leaves

Clear winter skies make for beautiful night hikes. Bundle up well first - it may even be dark enough that you can do these at a meeting place rather than camp. They are from a variety of sources, most notably the Girl Scout resource book, Exploring Wildlife Communities with Children.

Hide and Go Beep: When it's too dark to play hide and go seek, get out your personal radar for a game of "Hide and Go Beep." Locate one another by sound : Hidden players must "beep" every 30 seconds or so. Just count to 30 and beep.

Mapping Night Sounds: find a special spot to stop and listen. Have a notepad, pencil, and a flashlight, if needed, with you. Make a "sound map" by placing yourself in the middle of your paper with an "x" and drawing night sounds on your paper as you hear them from different directions. Which way is the noisiest? Which direction is the quietest? Are there any reasons for the differences? Share and compare your map with a friend.

Search for Nocturnal Aquatic Animals: Suspend a waterproof flashlight into a pond or a lake and catch water creatures attracted to the light. Compare with a sample of water from " dark water;" i.e., water that was not illuminated.

Stargazing I: Lie on your back and look up on a clear night. Pretend that you are given the task of finding and naming constellations for your family and friends. Find at least three constellations of your own making and describe what you see, how to locate them, and make up a legend for fellow stargazers.

Starlight Safari: Take the group on a starlight safari. After 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes can see almost as well as a cougar's. What does the night sound like? What smells were not there during the day but are noticeable now? Use your sense of touch. Feel the textures and temperatures of your environment.

- Courtesy of Susan Pittman

After the success of the WAGGGS-L Thinking Day Chat last year many Leaders and Girls expressed interest in having another Thinking Day Chat in 1999. So, Senior Troop # 2589 of the Girl Scout Council of the Nations Capitol (GSCNC) with the help of many members of the WAGGGS-L mailing list are proud to once again co-host a World Wide Girl Guide & Girl Scout chat session on the Internet for Thinking Day. In the past this has proven to be an excellent opportunity for girls to learn about Guiding and Scouting around the world, and we encourage everyone who can to participate. Last year we had over 1500 chatters from at least 12 countries participate.

As Thinking Day (22 February) falls on Monday in 1999 the chat's virtual committee has decided that to celebrate this important day over the preceding weekend. And as many units wish to again make this an overnight activity, we will have the channels open and available from Saturday the 20th at sunset in New Zealand until sunset Sunday the 21st in Alaska/Hawaii. We have an online "master clock" with time conversion capability up on the web at: http://members.aol.com/gstrainer/timezone.htm Basically the chat will run from Sunset 20 Feb, until Sunset 21 Feb wherever you are in the WAGGGS world.

This "expanded" time frame will hopefully accommodate the maximum number of chatters worldwide, including those that have religious reasons they cannot participate on a specific day of the week. This should also leave time for units to participate in their own local thinking day events.

There will be a patch available. The design is on the web site at the bottom of this information. Prices and ordering information are not available yet, but will most likely be very reasonable as they have in the past!

We will again be using Internet Relay Chat (IRC) clients on the DalNet IRC network for the chat. If you are interested in joining the chat you will need to contact Gail for the details. For the sake of the safety of the Girls around the world this will NOT be posted on the Mountain View Mirror Web Site! You can also find more information at: (http://www.gscnc.org/su53-8/t2589/tdchat99.htm)

1. Latin name for Peace
4. Acronym for where we send money
8. The actual date
10. Month
11. Name of 1st Daughter
15. How broad the scope is
17. Her Maiden Name
18. Name of 2nd Daughter
19. World _____ Guide (her)

2. His Sister's Name
3. Country where they are buried
5. He was the first
6. Name of only Son
7. His first name
8. Difference(years)in their ages
9. Why the date was chosen
12. Pax ____, their home in England
13. Where they met
14. Name of their African home
16. Her first name

Answers can ONLY be obtained by calling Gail B. or waiting until next month’s newsletter! Good luck seeing how much you really know about the Baden-Powells, Thinking Day, and the history of our movement! Don’t be discouraged if you can’t figure this out… It’s not as easy as it looks!

Purchase extra Girl Scout Insurance for any event or activity outside of regular Girl Scout troop meetings where non-registered girls and adults are attending. OR when a Girl Scout troop is traveling for more than two nights. When coordinating a Neighborhood event, only one order needs to be placed for the entire Neighborhood. The cost is 12› per person, per day with a $5.00 minimum purchase. To purchase or for mare information call the Membership Registrar.

The 1999 "Summer Programs and Resident Camps" book has been mailed. The book provides information on summer resident camps, day camps, and registration forms for camp programs. Registration for summer resident camps opens March 5, 1999.

If you have a Girl Scout troop member or know of any girl with special needs who would like to attend camp, encourage her to not let her disability stand in her way. Many camps can accommodate people with different disabilities. Call the camp director or the Girl Scout Service Center first to discuss in the camp will meet the needs of the girl.

Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts or adults who have an interest in helping girls with special needs can contact the Girl Scout Service Center to find out if any summer camps can use their assistance.

Employment opportunities are available for the 1999 summer season at resident camp: June 17-August 25 for Camp Arrowhead; shorter periods of employment are available through the Camp Collins program. Positions that are available include: Nature Specialist, Health Supervisor, and Unit Leaders. Contact Kay Shoemaker, Camp Arrowhead Director, at the Girl Scout Service Center: (503) 620-4567 or 1-800-338-5248.

Lifeguards are required when Girl Scout troops participate in water activities. Before participating in a water activity Safety-Wise must be reviewed. There are also other activity check points that must be reviewed before the Girl Scout troop participates in a water activity.

Girl Scout troops that plan to camp in the spring and summer need to remember to complete "Overnight Activity" forms and to use approved camping sites. Also, progression is an important part of the Girl Scout Program. Prepare girls for their camping trip by having smaller overnights leading up to the big event. Girl planning guides all of your Girl Scout troop activities. Involve girls in all aspects of their camping trip.

The Expanding Your Horizons career conference for young women in grades 6-12 has been set for April 17, 199 at Lewis and Clark College. More information should be in the schools.

If you are interested in speaking to local community groups about Girl Scouts call Harriet at (503) 598-6514 or (800) 338-5248 to be added to the list. Girl Scout information will be provided for you.

The Audubon Society of Portland has developed a Camp-In experience for groups of `15-35 participants, 3rd grade - adult. Experience the wonder of an old growth forest right in Portland. $26.00 per girl, $13.00 per adult, includes dinner and breakfast. Call Steven Robertson at (503) 292-6855 ext. 118.

Be Your Best Week begins on Monday, March 7, 1999 and runs through Saturday, March 13, 1999. Girls and adults are encouraged to find ways to be their best during this week. This may include eating healthy, participating in exercise, implementing a service project or other opportunities to feel good about themselves. Girls registering for the Be Your Best Event in the G.R.E.A.T. Guide will receive a ribbon to wear on Be Your Best Day March 9, 1999 and also a journal to keep track of their accomplishments.

Junior, Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts may take part in the Be Your Best Week-Fitness events that are taking place on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 and March 12, 1999. Both these events are listed in the G.R.E.A.T. Guide and do require pre-registration.

Daisy Troop #554 - Our Daisy troop has 8 great little girls. We have been working hard to learn our Girl Scout Promise and have had lots of fun at our troop meetings. We began our meetings in November which allowed us to make some really neat crafts. In November, we made pine cone turkeys out of "big" pine cones. We laid them on their sides and attached decorated tail feathers and head made out of fun foam. They turned out to be wonderful center pieces! In December, we made reindeer out of painted popsicle sticks & pipe cleaners and paper plate angles decorated with sequins & gold scribble paint. In January, I presented the girls with their own Daisy Scrapbook. I made some really fun and cute pages on my computer, copied them onto colored paper, made a sturdy cover and back then used the Fisher’s Landing Elementary comb binding machine to put them all together. They turned out very nice and the girls are really enjoying them. I encourage you to contact your local school for help with projects like this. They were happy to help and it really kept our cost down. At our last meeting of the month we will be holding our Investiture ceremony. The girls are working hard at learning the Promise and are excited to have their parents and family attend their ceremony.

Brownie Troop 224 -- These girls started off the year working on the cookie pre-sale, sampling the Apple Cinnamon cookies, talking about selling safety and goals, and watching the cookie video. The girls finished up their Senses Try-It at another meeting, visiting stations set up to represent their different senses. The girls mapped their tongues with sour, bitter, sweet, and salty foods; used their sense of smell to identify a variety of spices; used their sense of touch to try to identify a variety of materials; and Mrs. Phillips returned with another lesson on sign language. For Valentine's Day the girls decorated Valentine cards with yarn painting, made Valentine mice to donate to children in a local homeless shelter, and mixed colors for a marble painting project to finish up their Colors and Shapes Try-It.

Junior Troop 117 -- -- The month of January was spent on the cookie pre-sale, making plans for the remainder of the year, and planning a winter snow weekend. One of the girls has a family cabin at Government Camp, so we rented snowshoes in Sandy and headed for the cabin. Since most of the girls are in Riverview's 6th grade production of Alice in Wonderland, the girls spent part of the evening playing charades, playing different roles, and mirroring each other for their Theater Badge. After a short night and a filling breakfast, the girls strapped on their snowshoes and headed out for an adventure. (Some quickly realized a little more sleep the night before would have been beneficial.) We hiked on a trail to an open area where we played Mother, May I and Green Light, Red Light with our snowshoes on. After the hike (which seemed much longer than a mile), the girls warmed up with a hot lunch and then returned outside to create snow sculptures. Needless to say, it was a most enjoyable 24 hours and a fairly quiet ride home.

Junior Troop 791 - Troop 791 has been busy. In December we had 7 shoeboxes to donate to Operation Shoebox. We went caroling at SW Washington Medical Center. One of our girl's grandmother was in the hospital at the time so we were able to sing to her specially. We had a few special requests from other patients and visitors. The Volunteer coordinator had hot cocoa and cookies waiting for us after we were finished. We had our rededication ceremony in January. It was the first time the girls participated in a full flag ceremony. They did a wonderful job and we were very proud because they planned the whole evening. We made our Golden Chains and sent them off. We are off to a good start with our pre-sale cookie orders. We also had a clothing drive within our troop. The girls voted to learn about Russia as our Thinking Day event.

Junior Troop 1635 - January was spent working on the Frosty Fun badge and finishing the badge at Homestead for a weekend of sledding and tubing.
We worked on cookie sales. The 8 girls sold over 1700 boxes already and are looking forward to open sales.
We are now working on the video production badge. A local video producer in Vancouver is volunteering his time and showing the girls how to make a video. They even get to be part of an educational video being made the end of February. They will also visit a TV station and see an actual video shoot and see how it is edited.
We will complete our Sky Search badge at Haggert Observertory at Clackamas Community College the end of February.

This area can be filled with things that your Cadette troop is doing. Please submit your news no later than one week before the next Neighborhood Meeting

Troop 72 - December and January were busy months. In December we went Christmas caroling in front of Safeway. A brownie troop accompanied us in singing those cherished Christmas songs in addition to our own, self made versions. One favorite was "Santa is Tapping your Phone." January brought around the Older Girl Retreat at Homestead. Three girls from our troop went snowshoeing around Trillium Lake. It was an exhausting but fun four and a half mile hike. Back in the warmth of Homestead we served oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and spent our spare time listening to Queen and the Beetles while making beaded necklaces.
-Valerie A.

Troop 4222 - In January, Troop 4222, participated in the "Dream dessert" Council event. They came up with the loverly idea of making some sort of Milkshake with Thin Mints. They were given 4 boxes of Thin Mints and were expected to make 200 samples. Burger King and Baskin Robins supplied us with sample cups and sample spoons. The girls got together the Friday before the Contest and made 216 "Cup-o-mint" samples for the next day. At the competition, they were about the oldest girls there. And won an honorable mention.. in other words, the little brownie squirts won.

Also, troop 4222 went on a winter retreat to Huckleberry Inn on Mt. Hood. Caitlin, Emily, Kim and Carroll, our loverly leader, left on Friday at 12 and night skiied/snowboarded. They met up with Carla and Kathy on the mountain of Ski Bowl later, as of Carla had school. (ha ha ha ha ha). All together the trip was a sucess, except for on the second night. Mt. Hood Meadows was a little blizzardy, so instead of skiing and snowboarding we headed to Dairy Queen and had some blizzards to compliment our dinner. Stayed tuned for more entries from the funky chiks from Troop 4222 in the next newsletter.
Written By Emily

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