What is a Nugget Newsletter?
Think Ahead to Spring & Summer!
Point Reyes National Seashore
Nominate Your Outstanding Leader!
Why attend an Association Leader Meeting?
Are you a FRIEND of Girls Scouts (FOGS)?
Leader Skills Weekend - Training and FUN all in one
Tips: Surfing the Internet
Read on, and see the variety of activities Girl Scouts do all year! The Nuggets Newsletter is a Pleasant Hill Girl Scout Association (PHGSA) publication (serving Pleasant Hill, Martinez, and part of Concord). This is mailed three times a year to ALL adults registered with our Girl Scout troops. Nuggets provides news about local Girl Scout events, news about troop activities, and Girl Scout stories of interest - we all do so many fun activities, so share and enjoy! Any articles can be submitted to the Editor, Audrey Slaughter, via email: slaughtr@pacbell.net
Approaching winter is the perfect time to start planning your next family or Girl Scout troop campout. You can reserve months ahead, and some sites are taken quickly! Here are some ideas:
East Bay Regional Parks District
(www.ebparks.org) or (510) 562-2267:
Lake Del Valle (Livermore), Briones (Martinez) - Wee-Ta-Chi campsite is well maintained and secluded, Black Diamond Mines (Antioch), Coyote Hills (Fremont), Anthony Chabot (Hayward), Sunol (Hayward) - has creek and horses can be arranged.
California State Parks
(www.parks.ca.gov) or 800-444-PARK (7275)
Samuel P. Taylor (Marin - near redwoods), Caswell (Ripon), Mt. Diablo, Kenwood (Sonoma) - creek surrounds property, campsites are in front of a big and flat meadow, Sunset State Beach - redwoods and the beach!, Sugarloaf Ridge - great shade.
SF Bay Girl Scout Council Campsites (800-447-4475, x202)- Camp Bothin (Marin), Camp Butano Creek (San Mateo County), Sugar Pine (Calaveras County, Twin Canyon (Lafayette).
Other campsites: Olema Ranch Campgrounds (Marin 415-663-8001) - large campsite with hot showers, playground, nature programs and crafts for kids, great place to watch whales migrating, Memorial Park (San Mateo area 650-879-0212) - hiking, swimming in Pescadero Creek, interpretative center. Saratoga Springs Picnic/Campground (below San Jose 408-867-3016)
Junior Girl Scout Troop #1662
Tammy Jacobson (Leader)
We had great fun mixing academics with hiking, singing, nature and old-fashioned Girl Scout fun on our trip to Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County. Our troop of 4th grade Junior Girl Scouts planned a weekend trip to Camp Bothin in Fairfax last October. As a day trip we drove the 15 miles to Point Reyes where there are many diverse activities, habitats and adventures available. Stunning geography, wildlife, earthquake lore and Native Californian history - the park has much to offer 3rd-5th graders studying geology & earthquakes, California History, Native Californians and geography!
Our first stop was the Visitor's Center. Inside you will find a wonderful natural museum with displays of the local wildlife from the land & sea, earthquake history, and the latest park activities calendar. When they saw a Girl Scout troop had arrived, the very helpful Nat'l. Park Service Rangers started a fabulous slide show for us of the history, geography, wildlife & the Native American & Mexican cultural histories of the Point Reyes peninsula
From the visitor's center it is a short walk to a Miwok Indian Village exhibit which fit in perfectly with what our 4th graders were studying in school. The girls gave the chaperones a tour of the Miwok village explaining the native way of life. They were able to sit inside a native dwelling while eating their sack lunches, see a deerskin drying, a sweat lodge and more! Along the trail we saw deer, hawks, sea birds, and rabbits!
We then traveled to one of the many beaches in the park, driving through dense forest, an area of old burn, which led to a discussion of preservation, ecology, and natural selection, and rugged steep coastal hills. We arrived at the rolling dunes and marshland at the coast and walked on a boardwalk across the marsh leading to the beach. During the drive the girls counted 7 types of geography, another area of 4th grade studies.
Upon returning to Camp Bothin, the girls wrote Cinquains inspired by what they had seen and felt that day. Other academic opportunities include two different earthquake hikes, one of which illustrates the force of the 1906 SF earthquake with shifted fence lines and cracked earth. Also available are ranger led nature walks, endless miles of hiking trails & beaches, a working lighthouse, and more. We were thrilled to explore this rich resource with 4th graders eager to share their newfound knowledge of California in a beautiful living classroom.
The Girl Scout "Outstanding Leader" award is only awarded when the girls and families in a Girl Scout troop nominate their leader. This year's "Outstanding Leader" award forms must be in by February 1st, 2002. This form is easy to fill out, and we will help you with it! Contact Jann Geyer for more information today! It's a great way to thank your Girl Scout leader for all her work and dedication.
Top Ten Reasons:
- Meet new friends.
- Get great ideas for your troop.
- Brainstorm, network and share ideas.
- Learn a new game, song, skill or craft.
- Laugh a little (okay, sometimes A LOT!)
- Get "HOT" info from Council.
- Learn about Council and Association activities for your girls.
- Ask those questions; "How do I…..?"
- Discover practical solutions for following SafetyWise and STILL have fun activities and outings.
- Take a break once a month-JOIN US!
Then contribute to FOGS, the Girl Scout Council's donation campaign that provides funds to keep and improve Council campsite properties. FOGS also provides funds for training leaders and many other services. We need your contribution today! You can make a donation at any time. Just contact your Leader, or visit the GSSFBA website for details: www.girlscoutsbayarea.org. Thank you in advance!
Leader Skills 2001 (Oct. 20-21) was a wonderful weekend for those adults who attended. We ate, talked and learned FUN games which emphasized the need for cooperation and communication skills. We spent the afternoon learning how to teach our girls to communicate and lead. We cooked with our Pleasant Hill Girl Scout Association camping equipment (new pie irons, dutch ovens, camp stoves, box ovens). We even had cheese blintzes for dessert! We made shrinky dinks (with box ovens), we made adinkra stamps and we learned songs. We shared, laughed and it simply was a wonderful getaway for those in attendance. Both new and experienced leaders all felt we learned wonderful things for ourselves and to take back to our troops
Pleasant Hill Girl Scout Association has its own website at www.phgsa.org. You will find our local calendar of meetings, events and leader resources - from ideas to forms. This website also links to information of interest for Girl Scout Leaders. You will find past issues of the Nuggets Newsletter there, the contents of the PHGSA library (not just books, but camping equipment and more!) and e-mail addresses of our Adult Coordinating Team (ACT).
To look wider still, try some of these other sites for more ideas, information, handouts, links and more.
Girl Scouts of San Francisco Bay Area: www.sfbgirlscouts.org
Girl Scouts, USA: www.girlscouts.org
WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts): www.wagggsworld.org
