Thinking Day 2010

February 22 is known in Guiding (and Scouting) as "Thinking Day". The 2010 National Service Project is a unique way for girls to learn about hunger and poverty in their community, across Canada and around the world. This project offers girls an unprecedented opportunity to speak out and take action on hunger and poverty in their communities. We’re challenging all Units to donate 50 kilos of goods or volunteer 50 hours of service to hunger and poverty alleviating organizations! Girls will read educational stories, learn from a local expert, plan and carry out a service project to take action on issues of hunger and poverty – from collecting canned food to writing letters to politicians. We can all work for positive change!

Cybercitizen Challenge

The Cybercitizen Challenge has been developed by Media Awareness Network (MNet), a non-profit education organization that has been pioneering media and Web literacy programs in Canada since 1996. MNet’s work is based on the belief that to be literate in the world today—to be able to "read" the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us daily—young people need critical thinking skills. This is especially true when it comes to the Internet.

Once these activities are completed, the girls are eligible for the Cybercitizen/Cybercitoyenne Challenge crest.

About the challenge
The goal of the Cybercitizen Challenge is to help girls, at all levels of guiding, to be informed and responsible citizens of cyberspace. In particular, the challenge addresses five main issues girls and young women may encounter online:
Safety: girls are made aware of how certain activities and behaviours may endanger their safety (

Privacy: girls learn what may become of personal information they post online, and how to protect their privacy

Marketing: girls learn about the techniques marketers use to target young people
Authentication of online information: girls are provided with practical methods for telling if online information is true or not

Ethics: girls reflect on the ethical aspects of their online activities— from cyber bullying to posting pictures

In general, each challenge activity addresses one of these issues, while the online educational games that we link to—Privacy Playground, CyberSense and Nonsense and Jo Cool Jo Fool—cover numerous topics.
All Challenge activities also come with backgrounders for leaders to help familiarize them with the issues that girls will be exploring. Click on the links above to access them.
Many of the activities require computers with Internet connections, while others can be completed without a computer. (In the table below, activities that require a computer are marked with an asterisk*.)

Guides
Guides must complete at least 2 of these activities to successfully complete the Challenge (with the exception of Jo Fool & Jo Cool). The activities should look at two different topic areas.
Privacy Playground: The First Adventure of the Three CyberPigs*:In this adventure, the CyberPigs learn about online marketing and about protecting their privacy as they surf the net. (Safety, marketing and privacy)
Jo Cool or Jo Fool: Interactive Module and Quiz on Critical Thinking for the Internet*:This interactive online game takes students through a series of mock sites that test their savvy surfing skills. The game ends with an online quiz that gives students an even more in-depth level of information. (Safety, marketing, privacy, ethics and authentication of information)
It’s a Dog’s Life: Through the story of a computer-savvy dog, girls are given the opportunity to develop an ethical approach to online communications. (Ethics)
Site Digging: Using pictures of Web pages about the swift fox, Guides learn about the importance of asking “Who posted this information?” and “What kind of information is this?” when conducting online research. (Authentication of online information) Site Digging Handout
CyberSense and Nonsense: The Second Adventure of the Three CyberPigs*: In this adventure, the CyberPigs explore the world of chat rooms and learn to distinguish between fact and fiction, and to detect bias and harmful stereotyping in online content. (Ethics and authentication of online information)

Centenary Message

October Calendar of Events

October 1 - Hula lessons

October 3 - Day trip to Niagara Falls

October 8 - Covering basics, general housekeeping

October 15 - Food bank shopping

October 21 - All Ontario Campfire

October 22 - Cookie selling @ Donlands subway 5 -8pm

October 29 - Halloween crafts with Dawna

Cookie All Stars continues!

GGC is pleased to announce that Cookie All Stars is continuing for the 2009 chocolatey mint and 2010 classic campaigns.

Overview

Cookie All Stars will now run as a year-long* initiative covering both the 2009 chocolatey mint and 2010 classic campaigns. Girls will work towards prizes and recognition based on the combined number of chocolatey mint and classic cookies they individually sell.

NEW! As an added bonus Girls that participate in cookie selling events and their Unit reach a sale of 20 cases or more for the combined 2009 chocolatey mint and 2010 classic campaigns will receive a specially designed group sales crest.

Girls will no longer take orders for cookies. Instead, Guiders will place cookie orders for the number of cases girls think they can sell as well as for the cases for cookie selling events.
*Year-long refers to a Unit’s typical operational year.


How will it work?

The new year-long structure for Cookie All Stars will start for the 2009 chocolatey mint campaign and continue with the 2010 classic campaign. Guiders will order cookies as per the current process. Guiders should determine how many cases she thinks each girl in her Unit can sell, plus the number of cases for cookie selling events.

Guiders will track the number of cases girls sell during both the chocolatey mint and classic campaigns.

NEW! As well as the total number of cases sold at Unit cookie selling events.

A Unit tracking form will be provided to track individual girl sales and Unit sales for both campaigns.

In the spring, Guiders will submit their orders for prizes based on each girl’s total cookie sales for the year.

NEW! New prize levels

Now that Cookie All Stars is a year-long initiative, girls have the entire year to achieve their cookie selling goals, making it easier for them to earn prizes for their hard work. Girls will now receive prizes for selling quantities of cookies, at the following levels:

Girls who individually sell seven to 14 cases will receive a specially designed crest.
Girls who individually sell 15 to 29 cases will receive the specially designed crest and a $20 gift card for Toys R Us.
Girls who individually sell 30 to 39 cases will receive the specially designed crest and a $75 gift card for Sears.
Girls who individually sell 40 or more cases will receive the specially designed crest and a $125 gift card for Future Shop.


NEW! Girls that participate in their Unit cookie selling event and their Unit sells 20 cases or more over the 2009 chocolatey mint and 2010 classic campaigns will receive a group sales crest.

Recognition certificates

Every girl that participates in Cookie All Stars will receive a recognition certificate (it will be available for Guiders to download and print in the spring)
Girls that sell 40 cases or more will receive a certificate signed by the Chief Commissioner (they will be mailed with prizes in the spring)

Welcome Back 125th Danforth Girl Guides!!!

Welcome back for another fun filled and exciting year of Guiding!
This is the place to check for upcoming events, pictures and information about our unit.




For those of you joining us for the first time, here are the essentials.

Uniform:
Uniform consists of dark blue coloured pants, an official Guide t-shirt, sash, and scarf. Unfortunately the Toronto Girl Guide store is no longer open, and all orders have to be placed online via the Girl Guides of Ontario web store at:http://www.thegirlguidestore.ca/. Prices and sizing information can be found on the site too.


Dues:
We will continue to collect dues this year, which will cost $1.00. In keeping with the new banking system, dues will now be collected quarterly. Please make cheques payable to 125th Danforth Girl Guides. With registration, please make out a cheque for $15 – which will cover dues until the end of the calendar year.

Important dates:

Thursday September 10, 2009 – first meeting

Saturday October 3rd – proposed trip to Niagara falls
We will be joining other Guide groups within our Community to have a day trip to Niagara Falls, utilizing Go Transit’s new Niagara Falls service

Wednesday October 21st – all Ontario Campfire
We will be joining other groups within our Community to have a campfire to celebrate the 100th Guiding year in Canada.

Thursday October 22nd – sell cookies @ TTC
In an effort to sell fall cookies, we are in the process of booking a near-by TTC station for the evening, where we will be able to sell our Mint cookies

Friday November 6 – Sunday November 8 – Harry Potter Camp
This camp is tentatively planned to be held at Camp Ma-kee-wa, which is a Girl Guide property north of Toronto. Bussing would be included as part of the cost of this camp. We would be joining other Guide and Pathfinder units within our Community.

Celebrating 100 years of girl greatness - National 2010 Celebration Launch Party
When: January 16, 2010, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Where: Casa Loma, Toronto, Ontario

What: A launch party and media event to officially kick-off the Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada 100th anniversary celebrations

Who: All Members, both past and present, and the general public


Friday February 12, 2010 – Sunday February 14, 2010 –Winter Camp
As a unit, we would like to be able to have a winter camp (sleeping indoors), so we can work on outdoor winter badges, such as cross country skiing and snowshoeing. We have not begun to plan this camp yet, however will be working on planning in the next month or so.

Friday May 22nd, 2010 – potential trip to Kingston
We would like to plan a year end celebration by taking a group trip to Kingston. We had much success in selling our Vanilla/Chocolate Spring cookies, and with lots of planning and fundraising, we hope to help subsidize the cost of this trip. More information will be available October/November about this trip.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at barb@dreamworx.ca

See everyone Thursday September 10 for our first meeting!

2010 National Celebration Launch Party

National 2010 Celebration Launch Party
When: January 16, 2010, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Where: Casa Loma, Toronto, Ontario

What: A launch party and media event to officially kick-off the Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada 100th anniversary celebrations

Who: All Members, both past and present, and the general public


You’re invited to join us at Casa Loma, once the home of Lady Mary Pellatt, as we officially launch our year-long 100th anniversary celebration. In addition to a press conference, here’s just a sample of what you can expect at this fun-filled event:

Scavenger hunt through the castle
Crafts and activities from past decades
Communications Corner – from Morse code to text messaging, learn how girls communicated throughout the last 100 years
Interactive display of uniforms from past decades
Yummy refreshments!
You can come to this event as a Unit, with your friends or with your family. Registration opens September 1, 2009, and the cost is $10 per person, which includes admission to Casa Loma for the day.