A Note From the Founder – Brag Moment for Mom
by Kerry Cordy
For those that don’t know, both my girls are now grown adults age 24, and 27. My oldest, Katie, is an elementary school fine arts teacher for the public school system, but she teaches with a homeschooler’s heart. When we homeschooled, I taught the girls by combining as many subjects together as possible so they could see how the world is interconnected. When Katie teaches art, she also teaches health, science, geography, social science, math and more.
For example, she recently taught a lesson on creating water color koi ponds. All her lessons start with a warm up to get hands and fingers limber and ready to go (health). Then they watched a 3 minute video called “Japan: Where Tradition Meets the Future” (social science) and learned where Japan is on a map (geography). This was followed by a few facts about koi fish (science). She then showed the kids a variety of famous koi art such as koi photos by Lukasz Palka, Jeremy Novy’s street art utilizing koi stencils, and Yuumei who creates both 2D and 3D koi art (art history). While the kids create their own pieces of art, Katie plays flyoever drone videos of whatever part of the world they are currently learning about, in this case, Japan.
Our badge program is much like Katie’s class. It is designed so that kids can work on multiple badges at the same time so that they can see how topics interconnect. If your child did this art lesson for the Watercolor badge, they might ask questions about koi and earn the Animals Specific badge for Koi. In learning about Koi, they might get curious about where they come from and earn the Japan badge or they might get curious about the water they live in and earn the Natural Wonder – Pond badge. Let your child’s curiosity lead them!
( All three of the images below were painted by my daughter Katie as samples for her lesson.)
Trash Collector Challenge Game
- Print out the trash cards below, cut apart and hide around the room.
- Divide into two teams on each side of the room. Each team should have three sorting stations on their side of the room; recycling, compost and general waste.
- On “Go!” teams race to find as many trash cards as they can in 2 minutes and sort them into their team’s bins.
- The team with the most cards correctly sorted wins.
STEM Challenge – The Power of Paper
Supplies:
- Several sheets of paper, exact number will vary with your design
- Tape
- A heavy book
Using only paper and tape, create a structure capable of holding up the heavy book. Think about how you can roll or fold the paper to give it more strength. Think about the shape of your components and general design. What shape is the strongest? The most stable?
Try more than one design and see how many books each one will hold. Why was one more successful than the other? What was the maximum amount of weight your structure could hold before collapsing?
Glitterbugs Schedule (Virtual Group for Adult Women 18+)
If you are a female member age 18 or over and would like to join the Glitterbugs, please email kerry@frontiergirls.com and I will put you in touch with Cassi, the leader. Below is their schedule for the next 2 months.
- March 27: Holistic Wellness
- April 9: Loom Bands/Watercolor/ Coloring/ Color. We will cover these badges while creating a personal project of your choice to complete the craft requirements of the Dragons in Literature and Mythology creature badges.
- April 23: We will have a special guest speaker to teach the ASL badge. Becky S, who is an audiologist with education and training in Deaf culture and education and is also part of the Deaf/ hard of hearing community, will be joining us.
Celebrating March 4th (March Forth!)
March 4th is the official Frontier Girls holiday and we “march forth” to spread the word about our great program, sharing who we are with others. But why March 4th? Per the National Constitution Center, “The significance of March 4th predates the Constitution. The Confederation Congress, which operated under the Articles of Confederation (our first Constitution) picked March 4, 1789, as the day it handed off power to the new constitutional government. March 4th was the Constitution’s first official day in business.”
This date reflects a crucial moment in American history, as our nation embarked on its journey as a united and self-governing republic. Choosing this date as our official holiday reflects our commitment to the founding principles of our nation. By designating this date as a holiday, we hope to emphasize the importance of civic engagement, leadership, and participation in the democratic process in the youth we serve.
Whether you are part of our Frontier Girls program or use our badges through a Quest Club or homeschooling, March 4 is still a day to be celebrated. It is a great day to focus on the history of our country, on our government, and on our civic responsibilities.
Below is a list of ideas for celebrating the day.
- If you are a Frontier Girl, earn your March 4th badge.
- Start the day with a flag ceremony to honor the national flag and symbolize unity.
- Create patriotic crafts such as flags, banners, or other items that represent the spirit of the country as well as Frontier Girls.
- Wear your uniform to school or church.
- Participate in a community service activity to learn about responsibility and civic duty.
- Do random acts of kindness as you live the Frontier Girls motto, “If you see a need, take the lead!”
- Host a movie night featuring films about the founding of the United States or historical events.
- Earn any of the badges needed for the Liberty Award including
- Learn and sing patriotic songs that reflect the values of the country.
- Discuss the concept of citizenship and what it means to be an active and responsible citizen.
- Explore a local historical site or museum to learn more about the early history of the United States.
- Organize a scavenger hunt with clues related to the U.S. Constitution or historical events.
- Create a time capsule with your troop and set a date to open it in the future.
- Organize or participate in a historical reenactment related to the founding of the United States.
Upcoming Award Ceremonies
The end of the school year is quickly approaching and with it the season of award ceremonies. Many troops and clubs close the school year with a final ceremony to present all their kids with the badges and awards they have earned over the last several months. Please keep in mind that we make all badges to order so this time of year can get very busy for us. Make sure to place all orders at least 3 weeks before your ceremony to ensure you receive all your badges in time. If for any reason you are missing any badges or awards for your ceremony, remember to make use of the free printable certificates so that you will still have something to present to each child.
If you have never held an award ceremony before there are a variety of ways to make them special. If you go to the Blog, under the Resources tab of the website and click on the Ceremonies category, a variety of ready make ceremonies are already suggested. If you have an idea for a ceremony, but need help with the symbolism or script, feel free to email me at kerry@curiosityuntamed.com and I will be more than happy to help you with a custom ceremony just for your troop.
YSA Heartwarming Young Heroes Grants
In partnership with The Hershey Company and Hershey’s Heartwarming Project, YSA will award Hershey Heartwarming Young Heroes Youth Grants for Youth Service Month & Global Youth Service Day 2024 projects. Youth changemakers – aged 5 to 25 – in the U.S. and Canada are eligible to apply for these grants to lead awareness, service, advocacy, and philanthropy projects in their communities.
This year, youth may apply for grants of either $250 or $500 depending on the number of youth who will be participating as volunteers (project planners, project leaders, and day-of volunteers). $250 grantees will be required to engage at least 25 other youth as volunteers while $500 grantees have a 50-youth volunteer minimum requirement. A total of $50,000 in grants will be awarded.
New for 2024: Projects may address any issue or community need that is important to the youth project leaders and their peers. All proposed projects should engage a diverse group of youth volunteers from different social backgrounds and provide opportunities for those youth volunteers to create meaningful connections with their peers, caring adults, and community partners, while developing social awareness and relationship skills.
What are we looking for?
- Proposed projects must be youth-led;
- Projects must take place during Youth Service Month (April 12-May 12, 2024), with some activity on Global Youth Service Day (April 26-28, 2024) strongly encouraged;
- Projects must take place in and impact the community where the youth applicant lives;
- Youth applicants must engage youth from different social backgrounds as volunteers (including, but not limited to young people of color; young people from low-income families or neighborhoods; and other youth who are usually served, but not asked to serve such as youth with disabilities, youth in the foster care system, youth from military families, youth in the juvenile justice system, youth who are immigrants or refugees, youth who are English Language Learners, etc.) as well as first-time volunteers.
To learn more visit https://ysa.org/grants/hershey/
