Guides Reach High Places

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Carissa

This past weekend the 22nd Burnaby Mountain Guides enjoyed a fun night of rock climbing at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Girls had a great time conquering the 44 foot climbing wall. For many of them, this was a new experience and they all had a great time.

Each girl had the opportunity to take several tries at the wall and some were able to reach rather impressive heights. The climbing wall is appropriate for beginners or for people with more experience, and the staff was very helpful. Lots of fun was had in the spirit of friendship and active living.

This fun activity was a cool way for the girls to take advantage of visiting Richmond. They tied the event in with a sleepover at Guiding’s own Richmond Guide House. At Guide House, the unit met up with the 2nd Burnaby Mountain Sparks who were also having a sleepover there that night — the Sparks slept inside, while the Guides got to practice their tenting in the back yard.

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The Guides had a really fun time sharing some of their camping knowledge with the Sparks and everyone had a nice time sharing a barbecue hot dog supper and campfire (complete with s’mores!) together.

Over all it was a really fun over night event. The girls loved trying the rock climbing, as well as developing leadership skills with the younger girls. Thank you to all of the hard working leaders who made the night possible.

District Science Day at SFU

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Carissa

Last weekend Burnaby Mountain District partnered with SFU Let’s Talk Science to hold an all-ages interactive Science Day at Simon Fraser University!

Enthusiastic university volunteers led the girls through a variety of activities and demonstrations touching on several disciplines within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Girls got to work together to try hands on science activities and had a lot of fun.

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Sparks learned about good bacteria and bad bacteria and got to to design their own cute bacteria buddies. They also learned about weather and clouds.

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Brownies enjoyed dissecting owl pellets to reassemble whole rodent skeletons — they thought it was a little bit gross, but really cool! They also explored physics by designing bottle-propelled rockets that they got to launch for an audience of Sparks.

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Guides and older girls tackled environmental science, considering problems like how oil spills and water pollution can be safely cleaned. They also rocked out with a variety of lasers, using problem solving skills to power high tech gadgets.

Over all it was a really educational and entertaining day. Girl Guides prides itself on being able to offer girls the chance to try new things, especially by helping them develop interest in areas like STEM where women are underrepresented in the professional fields. Thank you to Let’s Talk Science for hosting us! We in Burnaby Mountain are very lucky to have SFU situated conveniently in our district. Many of our Guiders are SFU students and it is always great to take advantage of the opportunities that having a world class university in our district has to offer!

District Thinking Day: Connecting

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Carissa

February 27th Burnaby Mountain District came together to celebrate World Thinking Day. Following the lead from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) we took a “Connect” theme and decided to connect as a district while also connecting with the community. The focus of the event was a food bank drive for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank done in the style of a can art construction competition.

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Each unit had been working for the past few months on collecting non-perishable foods, mostly in cans, in preparation for the event. Girls took time to consider their donations and to plan a sculpture that took into consideration a Guiding theme (so we could also connect with worldwide Guiding!). At Saturday’s event, the girls worked together, showing great cooperation, to assemble their sculptures.

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Sparks, Brownies, and Guides had a great time building with the canned goods. Older girls got involved in other ways. One Ranger took the lead coordinating the donation drop off with the food bank and lead a team of dedicated Pathfinders and Rangers in tasks like assembling and filling the boxes, and arranging to have the goods dropped off at the local fire department, which would hold the donations until the Food Bank could arrange pickup on Monday morning.

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Pathfinders and Rangers also helped to run the bake sale, which was a fundraiser for the upcoming district camp, and also the WAGGGS inspired “Connect” picture frame activity, which helped some units complete their WAGGGS Thinking Day 2016 Challenge.

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Congratulations to the 49th Guides who won the sculpture competition with their trefoil-inspired piece. The unit won some funds for unit activities and each girl got a small prize.

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The real winner, of course, was the Greater Vancouver Food Bank which got a donation of more than 800 cans and other items (including a good number of Girl Guide Cookies!). Thank you to everyone who donated, and who helped to pack and move the boxes. We also want to thank the City of Burnaby, which donated cool prize packs for every participant including a pin, pencil, and chocolate treat.

Units Visit Bright Lights

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Carissa

Recent weeks have seen outings from two different Burnaby Mountain units visiting the Bright Lights at Stanley Park and the festive Christmas Train. 2nd sparks stanley park

First, on a Saturday afternoon, the 2nd Sparks enjoyed the sights and sounds of seasonal merriment, then on a Tuesday evening the 22nd Guides enjoyed the lights during a much darker time of day.

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The Sparks really enjoyed the train itself, oohing and ahhing over the different displays. They enjoyed the music and recognizing scenes from different Christmas stories that they all know and love, including Charlie Brown, the Grinch, and Frozen.

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For the Guides, at nighttime, what really stood out were the 3 million lights set up in a variety of displays. It really looked magical.

The Bright Lights event benefits the local Burn Fund, an excellent cause! Both units had a great time.

Guides have a Halloween Party

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Carissa

This week, the girls in the 22nd Burnaby Mountain Guides had a Halloween party! The girls took a break from their regular Girl Guide uniforms and came in costume because of the special occasion.

Fun included many pumpkin and Halloween themed activities.

Crafts are a favourite activity of these girls. At the party they coloured Día de Muertos masks, and also did a spooky pumpkin seed tree craft.

And it wouldn’t be a party without games and treats. They rounded out the evening with pumpkin bowling and decorating a pumpkin-shaped rice krispie treat!

Many units are celebrating with Halloween parties this week. Thank you Guides for sending in these fun photos.

Happy Halloween from Burnaby Mountain District!

Sparks Enrollment

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Carissa

Burnaby Mountain’s newest unit, the 2nd Sparks, had their first ever enrollment ceremony today.

Eight new girls were enrolled, plus one girl who was a Spark in another unit last year. Special guests, the new Burnaby Mountain District Commissioner and Deputy District Commissioner came for the event, as did several of the girls’ family members.The ceremony involved the girls sliding down the rainbow, just like the girl Crystal in the Sparks ceremony. Girls felt very special as they said their promise and got their first collection of badges, including their Sparks enrollment pin.

Following the ceremony, girls and their guests got to enjoy some delicious cupcakes, fruit, and juice. It truly was a merry occasion.

At the end of the day one dad remarked, of his daughter, “between all the rainbows, friendship, and sharing, it’s like this program was designed right around her!” It’s so great to see the girls enjoying the Sparks program. Welcome to Girl Guides, girls!

Guiders Planning for a New Exciting Year!

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Carissa

Guiders from Burnaby Mountain District recently had “cookies on the mind” at their district planning session. In this team building game, our adult volunteers raced around a hallway corridor balancing a classic Girl Guide Cookie on their forehead. The winner of the race won a unit’s portion of profit from a case of Girl Guide Cookies for her unit!

As always, the ladies had a good time coming up with fun activities for the upcoming year. The nearest events include a uniform exchange day, another district cookie blitz day, and a reprisal of last year’s successful bowling day. All three of these are fundraisers for bigger events to be announced later in the Guiding year.

We’re always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to work with our units. Come out to meet representatives from Burnaby Mountain at Lougheed Town Centre this coming Saturday and Sunday. We’ll answer any questions about getting involved as either a girl or an adult in our organization!

District Space Centre Sleepover: Guiding Reaches for the Stars!

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Carissa

Last weekend Burnaby Mountain District took over the HR MacMillan Space Centre for an amazing sleepover! More than 100 participants got to learn all about space including astronauts, the universe, rockets, and more.

Girls were divided into groups to take part in different activities. One of the stations took place in the observatory where girls got to learn about the giant telescope and how astronomers study space. SC 2

Everyone got a chance to explore the cosmic courtyard, which featured lots of hands-on activities. Girls got to touch a moon rock, feel different spacecraft materials, design rovers out of lego, and consider the possibility of alien life forms.

Another station was a presentation by Space Centre staff about what it’s like to be an astronaut. Girls got answers to all kinds of interesting questions: How to astronauts wash their hair? What do they eat? Where do they sleep? How do they go to the bathroom?

Finally, everyone got to see a show in the planetarium theatre before bed, showing us just how small we really are in the universe. They learned about planets, stars, and galaxies, and got to spot constellations and find out why Pluto is no longer classed as a planet.

It was a really successful event and everybody had a great time. Space Centre staff were impressed with how well behaved the girls were and how organized the leaders were. They were also impressed that we knew more songs about space than just “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!” SC 7

In the morning, girls got to launch the bottle rockets that they constructed the night before. Everyone was impressed with how high the rockets actually flew.

This is another great example of how Guiding includes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) into programming for girls of all ages. We learned a tonne, and had a great time doing it. A HUGE thank you goes out to the incredible Space Centre staff for leading such an exciting program as well as to all the Guiders who volunteered their time to make the night a success.

What happens at a typical Guide meeting?

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Carissa

Most often we here at Burnaby Mountain District like to post about the really super awesome outings, events, and meetings that our girls are getting up to (stay tuned for a post in the next few days about the amazing district sleepover at the planetarium!). But sometimes it’s good to post about a regular weekly meeting. You might be wondering what does a Guide group do at an average meeting?

The girls at the 22nd Guides recently decided to answer that question for local Brownies who will be advancing to Guides in the coming year. They invited some second year Brownies to see what Guides is typically like.

The answer, of course, is that there is no “typical” night at Guides! These girls like to do all kinds of things from arts and crafts, to cooking, to community service, to planning for their upcoming events, to playing games, and more.

As a special treat, the Guides treated their Brownie friends to an activity of cupcake decorating, showing off how they have honed their decorating (and eating) skills.

And it wouldn’t be Guides without the fun and friendship of hanging out with your Guiding buddies. This is a unit that knows how to giggle!

Sparks Do van Gogh

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Carissa

Last night the girls in the 1st Burnaby Mountain Sparks went to a 4 Cats art studio to participate in a painting workshop to recreate Vincent van Gogh’s famous masterpiece, Sunflowers.

A wonderful art facilitator gave tips on drawing and painting the vase full of flowers. Girls were encouraged to think about warm colours and cool colours and to group those together to emphasize mood.

The girls had a great time and produced some really awesome art. By the end of the night they had each made their very own acrylic painting with modeling paste on an 11″× 14″ pre-stretched canvas. The 1st Sparks love 4 Cats!

Burnaby Mountain District

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