Sparks with Critters

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Carissa

Never a group to shy away from an adventure, the 1st Sparks recently had a special guest come to a meeting. And he brought… friends.

Mike, of Mike’s Critters, was a great host for the girls who learned a tremendous amount about different kinds of animals including what they eat, how they protect themselves, why they look the way they do, and lots of other really cool trivia.

Mike brought a rabbit, a hedgehog, a red-eyed tree frog, a parrot, a leopard gecko, a chinchilla, a chameleon, and a mealy corn snake. The girls got to look at all of the animals up close and were able to touch most of them.

Did you know the Chinchilla is the softest animal in the whole wide world?

Some special volunteers even got to take turns holding some of the animals. The girls were so brave and were even excited to get to hold the snake!

The girls were so excited to have Mike and his critters at their meeting. It was educational, engaging, and totally hands-on. What a great opportunity. This unit and its leaders give Mike a rave review and totally suggest you check out his website and condsider booking him for your upcoming events.

Brownies Experience the Orchestra

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Carissa

Last month the girls of the 54th Brownies enjoyed a concert at the Orpheum Theatre in downton Vancouver called Latin Beats Heroic Feats. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra put the show on as a part of their Kids’ Koncerts series.

Especially exciting was the opportunity visit the VSO Instrument Fair in the hour before the show. The girls got some hands on exposure to a variety of instruments.

Performers were available with several different instruments to give kids personal demonstrations and a chance to try them themselves. The girls had a chance to try a cello, violin, flute, oboe, bass clarinet, and more!

There was even a craft station — always a bit hit with Brownies! — where the girls got to make their own carnival masks, which later became a part of the interactive show. The orchestra performed a number of musical pieces from across North and South America in an interactive show designed for kids aged four to eleven years old. Clowning and puppetry were also used to stage a story about a young boy’s travel through time and space, learning all about music and rhythm. Once again the girls impressed everybody with how well behaved and engaged they were through the whole experience. This unit visited the symphony last year as well and when Brown Owl asked what kinds of outings and activities they wanted to plan this year, there was an overwhelming desire to see the symphony again.

Way to go, 54th Brownies, helping these girls develop a love for live orchestral music!

Three Ring Brownies

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Carissa

Girls in the 54th Burnaby Mountain Brownies have been learning about the circus. They recently had one of the district’s Pathfinders, who does circus lessons, come in to show them some tricks and let them try some equipment. stacked Activities including spinning plates, crazy yoyos, juggling, ring tossing, human pyramids, and more. It was a lot of fun!
The unit is carrying on with the circus theme, currently working on puppets for a three ring puppet show that they will be presenting at a Mother’s Day luncheon. Their puppets are animals, clowns, and acrobats… stay tuned! pyramid

The circus activities are also involved in completing a provincial Arts challenge. How cool is that?

Thank you to the awesome Pathfinder who donated her time to teach the Brownies fun new skills.

Guides at the Biodiversity Museum

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Carissa

Recently the girls of the 22nd Burnaby Mountain Guides took a Saturday morning to visit the Beatty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia. The unit rode transit from Burnaby out to UBC and then enjoyed a hands-on tour of the museum.

The wonderful museum staff had prepared a session for them focussing on birds. It was very interesting. Girls got to handle actual biodiversity artefacts and and learn about birds in a variety of ways. The Feathered Friends module is described as follows: Are you bonkers for birds? Learn the basics of bird watching by discovering how body shape, colouration, behaviour and sound can be used to find out more about the birds around us.

The pictures shown are the girls posing with the museum’s impressive 26 meter long blue whale skeleton. Very cool!

It is always exciting to get our girls out in the community — especially onto university campuses! — to learn about things they didn’t know in ways that may not have occured to them. STEM Programing (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) is a wonderfully enriching part of our program and the girls love it!

Units Visit Local Seniors

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Carissa

Our district is pretty excited this year to be continuing to make connections in this community. This fall and winter, units from our district have been building a relationship with LJ Christmas Manor, a local senior citizens highrise complex under the sponsorship of the Lions Club. This vibrant community of seniors have been happy to receive our units, and our girls have been so welcomed that we hope to make return visits.

In November the 22nd Guides did a Remembrance Day visit. They sang some of Guiding’s more traditional and sombre songs in honour of the occasion and shared a snack with residents afterwards.

In December the 54th Brownies visited and sang a campfire that mixed traditional campfire songs (including some silly ones!) with Christmas carols. The girls then gave out Christmas themed gift bags with handmade ornaments and cards.

As an added bonus, the Brownies ended up invited to watch a shuffleboard tournament happening down the hall and were given a lesson! For many, this was the first time they had encountered the game.

Thanks for having us, Christmas Manor! Hopefully some of our units will be able to make it out to visit you this Spring.

Burnaby Village Museum Heritage Christmas Outing

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Carissa

Several units from Burnaby Mountain District visited the Burnaby Village Museum for its annual Heritage Christmas display at the end of 2014. The museum is known for putting on a great evening with live entertainment, lots of educational material from the 1920’s, and, of course, the carousel.

There was a really fun scavenger hunt themed as the 12 days of Christmas. The clues were the words from the song and the things that “my true love gave to me” were scattered throughout in creative ways. The “four calling birds” for example, was four crows making phone calls in a store window! Shown below are some of the “nine ladies dancing”.

There were lots of lights and amazing decorations. The eco-sculptures were dressed up too. There was lots to learn about how Christmas was celebrated almost 100 years ago.

One of the highlights of course was the ride on the beautiful traditional carousel. The girls loved riding with their friends. The horses move faster than you might think!

We hope you enjoy these photos of the 1st Sparks and the 54th Brownies from when they went together one night. Other units visited the museum on different nights as well.

Sparks Outing to the Theatre

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Carissa

The girls of the 1st Sparks recently enjoyed an outing to the Carousel Theatre for Young People’s presentation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Eric Carle Favourites. The show presented some of our favourite stories: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Mixed Chameleon, and Little Cloud. This production, designed for kids aged 3-7 years old, was perfectly suited to Sparks!

The show used puppets and black light to tell the stories in a way that seemed truly magical. As a special treat, the puppeteers came on stage at the end of the show to demonstrate to the audience how the puppets are used. Almost unanimously, the girls’ favourite part was when the caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly.

As part of regular weekly meetings, the girls prepared for the show by reading the stories and doing some Eric Carle inspired art. Check out some of their finger and fruit paintings of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

It was such a treat to see story books come to life on stage. This outing not only introduced many of them to professional live theatre for the first time, it also prompted many of them to borrow Carle’s books from their school libraries. And who doesn’t want to see kids more interested in books?

The outing was heavily subsidized by the unit’s excellent cookie sales. Way to go girls!

Celebration of Achievement

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Carissa

Last month an Area wide celebration was held to recognize girls who achieved the highest awards possible last Guiding year. In Burnaby Mountain district two young women were celebrated for accomplishing the Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award. These dedicated members earned their award through activities in Rangers and as Junior Leaders with younger branches.

The award night is an annual area tradition. It was a lovely celebration. Seen below are the recipients of the Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award with the Bill Reid prints that they received in honour of their accomplishments. Carissa and Ziyana represent Burnaby Mountain district.

The Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award is the highest award a girl member can achieve in Guiding. It recognizes completion of the Ranger program including a cookie campaign challenge and a service project. This award generally takes three years to complete and successful completion of the award also entitles the girl to two additional high school credits.

Way to go Carissa and Ziyana! Your district is very proud of you and we appreciate all that you’ve done for our organization.

Sleepover at Canada Games Pool

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Carissa

Recently girls from the 24th Brownies and Highlands Guiding Unit went to Canada Games Pool in New Westminster for a fun and exciting sleepover.The evening involved time in the pool and then the sleepover portion taking place in the community centre.

The pool has lots of great things to play with in the water and girls had a lovely time swimming with their friends. A great accomplishment for many of them was being able to pass their swim tests under the supervision of Lifeguards at the pool — way to go girls!

The diving board was a pretty big hit. Girls soared from impressive heights into the deep waters below. Check out this girl catching some air!

As always, the most important thing was the girls had a great time. The units want to thank Canada Games Pool for helping them put on a successful event.

Rangers at the Night Market

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Carissa

As one of their first events this year, back in September, girls in the 12th Rangers went to the Richmond Night Market. They enjoyed eating unusual treats and shopping at unique vendors. The theme at the night market this year was Magical Candyland — it was a fun night to be sure!

The market was busy, colourful, and exciting. The adorable duck mascot and fun candy decorations made for a few irresistible photo ops.

They were joined at the market by the 14th Pathfinders. Afterwards, the two units went back to Richmond Guide House where they tented in the backyard. Meanwhile, the 54th Brownies were having a sleepover in the house — all three units had breakfast together in the morning. It is always a pleasure to see units bridging for special events.

Burnaby Mountain District

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Category Archives: Unit Event