Teaching Songs

There are many successful approaches to song leading. Singing is a fun activity in troop meetings, during outings, and especially at a campout. It helps keep girls and adults in a positive frame of mind. You can sing during cookouts, bus rides, waiting for your next activity to start, or walking from place to place.

Select a teaching style that matches the song.

There are three main styles for teaching a song, and each has its own introduction that is easy to understand. Using this introduction consistently will increase your girls’ ability to sing along.

“This is a catch-on song!”

This is perfect for songs with very few lines that repeat. A song like “this is the song that never ends”, “down by the bay”, or other repetitive songs are perfect for this.

“This is a repeat-after-me song!”

This is for songs that are call-and-response and where the girls say the exact thing you said.

“To teach this song, I’ll sing a line, and you’ll repeat it!”

For songs too long to be a catch-on song, this is perfect. Teach the song line by line, with girls repeating you for each practice line. Then, sing it all together at the end.

If there is a rule, or pattern to the song, be sure to share. Common rules include:

• Singing a song over and over, but removing a word each time.
• Singing four lines repeat-after-me style, then all together, then starting a new verse.
• Getting louder, softer, more off-key, etc, each time
• Singing a song over and over, faster each time
• Audience participation, like having someone yell out a topic for the next verse. If you have someone in the crowd who can show off an example, this should help.

Never underestimate how much silliness you can add to a song. Girls like to be silly and see you being silly, too. You can add more flavor to your song with:

• Motions
• Holding a note for a long time
• Making funny voices when you sing
• Keeping your energy high and having an awesome attitude!
• Leading the song with another adult, not just by yourself

What’s your favorite silly Girl Scout song?

Flagpole Ceremonies

Flag ceremonies are often part of a larger ceremony or event. Some troops host a flag ceremony at every troop meeting. Others troops reserve ceremonies for big, important days like bridging ceremonies or end of year celebrations. At camp, a flag ceremony often starts and ends each day. Most of our flag ceremonies aren’t perfect, and that’s ok. Girls are learning and practicing how it’s done, which means mistakes will be made. Your goal as a volunteer is to set the tone and provide guidance to complete the ceremony.

Our flag ceremony reminders in this article are for ceremonies hosted around a flagpole, such as at summer camp. In this case, a folded flag is brought to the flagpole, and raised in the morning or beginning of the event, and retired in the evening or at the end of the event. These take place most frequently at camp, but you might find opportunities to do them at your school or for civic ceremonies.

Make a plan

There are a few decisions you will want to make before the ceremony. You’ll want to inspect the flagpole to make sure all the clips are working, and you will want to make sure you have a flag that is the correct size for the clips. You also want to decide what you want to include during the ceremony. For instance, determine whether you want to add the Girl Scout Promise or Law after the Pledge of Allegiance, or include a poem or song.

Prepare the Girls

Girls have different roles to fill during the ceremony. Each girl needs to know what she is responsible for doing, and what her cues are. You’ll want to set aside time to practice before the ceremony. Let’s look at the roles.

The color bearer (or flag bearer) is the person who carries the flag. During an opening ceremony, this girl will walk forward holding the folded flag with color guards behind her. She will pass them the flag, undo the rope from the pole, clip it onto the flag, and raise the flag. During a closing ceremony, she will bring the flag down the pole, and after it’s folded, will carry it away from the flagpole.

The color guard is a team that guards the flag(s). Any even number of guards may be used, but usually four or six girls are sufficient. During the opening ceremony, the color guard walks behind the color bearer. When passed the flag, they unfold it and hold it as it is raised until they can be certain it is high enough to not touch the ground. During a closing ceremony, they are passed the flag as it reaches them, and they fold it. Folding is a team effort, but the girls doing most of the folding are placed in the back of the line. Be sure girls have a chance to practice folding before the ceremony. And remember, they are learning. Sometimes stage-fright gets the best of them and the folding might not be perfect. You can always refold it after the ceremony, preparing for next time.

The Girl Scout in charge (or caller) is a designated Girl Scout who announces or calls each part of the ceremony. You’ll find an example of ceremony commands at GSUSA’s website.

Plan Reminders for the Audience

Because these ceremonies often happen at camp, your audience will be primarily other girls. Be sure to give them reminders like to remove any non-religious headgear (such as baseball caps) or how to make a horseshoe around the pole. If you sing a song, like Taps, during your ceremony, consider teaching it ahead of time.

Get to Know the United States Flag Code

Display of the American flag is governed by law to ensure that it will be treated with the respect due the flag of a great nation. This is known as the United States Flag Code. Some of the rules most useful for Girl Scouts posting the flag on a pole are:

The flag should never be allowed to touch anything beneath it, nor should it ever be carried flat or horizontally—always aloft and free.

The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.

When flown at half-staff, the flag should be first hoisted to the top for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. When retiring at the end of the day, the flag should again be raised to the top before it is lowered.

During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag all non-military persons should face the flag and stand at attention with the right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Citizens of other countries present should stand at attention.

It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during hours of darkness.

The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all weather flag is displayed.

13 Ways to Help Girls Feel Good About Themselves

Catch your Girl Scout doing something awesome. Give praise, recognition, a special privilege, or increased responsibility for a job well done. Emphasize the good choices they make, not the bad.

Take their ideas, emotions, and feelings seriously. Don’t belittle them by saying, “you’ll grow out of it,” or “it’s not as bad as you think.”

Define limits and rules clearly and enforce them. But do allow leeway for girls within these limits. Let them take the lead whenever possible.

Be a good role model. Let girls know that you feel good about yourself. Also let them see that you too can make mistakes and learn from them.

Teach girls how to deal with time and money. Help them set reachable goals so they can achieve success.

Help girls develop acceptance toward those with different values, backgrounds, and norms. Point out other people’s strengths.

Give girls responsibility. They will feel useful and valued.

Be available. Give support when girls need it.

Show them that what they do is important to you. Talk to them about their activities and interests. If you see them at school events or performances, make a point of saying hello and commenting about their success.

Spend time together. Participate in group activities.

Discuss problems without placing blame or commenting on a girl’s character. If girls know there is a problem but don’t feel attached, they are more likely to help look for a solution.

Use phrases that build self esteem, such as “thank you for helping” or “that’s a good idea!” Avoid phrases that hurt self esteem such as “How many times have I told you?”

Show how much you care about them. Give them high-fives and have crazy handshakes. Tell them they are terrific and that you care about them.

Valuing Differences

At Girl Scouts, we make sure girls are valued members, regardless of their economic, physical, psychological, or intellectual capabilities. The goal of each volunteer is to contribute to a girl’s path of becoming a caring, competent, and confident woman.

To ensure that each girl is valued, we can provide opportunities when:

Girls are actively planning an activity, like a meal or a trip. Be sure to encourage brainstorming, and acceptance of all suggestions.

Duties are rotated: kapers, roles in a ceremony, skits, songs, graces, choices for games, etc. Make sure that girls all get a chance to make decisions and be leaders. Celebrate creative solutions or ideas.

The situation calls for problem solving efforts. Lead the girls in ways to solve the problems, but do not do it for them. Encourage input from all girls.

Asking questions about appropriate behaviors for a particular activity or event. Our past experiences are not the same. By asking what is appropriate, you are encouraging the sharing of ideas and learning about differences. Then everyone knows the expectations and has participated in the choosing of appropriate behaviors.

Discussing family traditions. Holiday and family traditions are part of our socialization process. But they are unique to each family, because each family is unique. We are usually unaware or unconscious of this fact and act as if each family is just like ours. As a result, we remain unaware of the family and holiday traditions other people observe. Ask questions about traditions that girls in your troop observe, but try not to make them fit a mold based on your own. List many activity options and let the girls choose how they would like to observe the holiday.

We make an effort to be aware that family size, education level, jobs, economic status, heritage, geographic location, and health status are a few of the factors that influence each person’s behavior. They are also unique to each person. To promote understanding and valuing of differences, we can ask ourselves, “What may have been the experiences of the person to cause her to choose to act that way?” Then gently ask questions that build rapport and acceptance.

This is a task that is ongoing for each of us personally and as part of the group. If we do not learn to value differences, we lose the appreciation for the uniqueness of an individual. We also lose the contributions each will make when encouraged in a safe environment.

10 Things Caring Leaders Do

Make safety and health the number one priority.

Caring troop leaders know where their girls are at all times. They can say “no” to girls when needed.

Play with the girls.

Caring troop leaders are with their girls, watching them, listening to them, playing with them, and having fun together.

Listen to girls and have one-on-one talks with each girl.

Caring troop leaders let girls do most of the talking and listen deeply. They make time for one-on-one talks with each child. One-on-one does not mean alone or away from other people, rather that you have conversations with each girl in addition to group conversations.

Create enthusiasm.

Caring troop leaders do this by singing, chanting, laughing, being cheerful, being enthusiastic, and genuinely enjoying time with their girls.

Praise and encourage the girls.

Caring troop leaders praise girls for doing something creative, altruistic, or beneficial for the group.

Lead girls, but never boss them around.

Caring troop leaders are not bosses, they are leaders.

• A boss says “I”; a leader says “we”
• A boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm
• A boss makes meetings boring and dull; a leader makes it a game

Interacts with girls at each meeting.

Caring troop leaders make sure that every meeting has time to share experiences, ideas, laughs, and work as a team. They make sure girls have time to make choices and talk about things that interest them.

Stay alert for girls who need extra help.

Caring troop leaders are continuously on the watch for girls who are unhappy or having troubles. Girls who are too aggressive or too quiet usually need special attention. They encourage girls to talk but never force them.

Puts the needs of the girls first.

Caring troop leaders know that the needs of the girls must be put ahead of their personal needs in order to be effective. Let the girls decide what they want to do as a troop, don’t reject ideas because they seem to be extra work for you. During troop meetings or outings, you should be interacting primarily with the girls, not other volunteers.

Give special attention to each girl during a farewell.

Caring troop leaders do this at the end of a meeting, or even before bedtime during an outing. They offer high-fives or other personalized moments to let girls know that they are welcomed back and that their leader likes having them in their troop.