Skills Training, 8 March

Hello Guides!

For this 集合, in order to teach the Year 1s more about different aspects of Guides, we organised 6 learning stations! These stations covered first aid skills, survival skills and some knots and lashes. Each learning station will have a challenge, and the timings to complete the challenge for each patrol will be recorded. The fastest timing will have 3 points, second fastest 2 points, and third fastest 1 point. After the learning stations, all the points will be collated and the patrol with the least points will have to do a forfeit, which is chek chek goleh.

Station 1: Arm sling

In this station, the Year 2s and 3s are to teach the Year 1s how to tie an arm sling. After teaching them, everyone, especially the Year 1s, are to practice tying an arm sling on each other.

Challenge: Quickest to tie a standard arm sling wins.

Reflection by a Year 3:

Last Friday, we had station games. For the arm sling station, we had to teach the Year 1s how to tie a proper arm sling before having a mini competition to see how fast each batch in the patrol could take to tie finish one arm sling. It was during this station that I felt glad that I had attended the first aid course and remembered what was taught there. I felt that it had benefited me a lot and I was more confident in tying the sling than I thought I would be. When teaching the Year 1s how to tie an arm sling, I had fun bonding with them and helping them throughout the way. I felt that this was a session where the Year 3s had an opportunity to interact more with the Year 1s than usual. During the competition, we cheered on for each batch and honestly, it was really heartwarming to know that those around us are cheering one another on. Lastly, this station allowed us to train our sense of urgency especially during the competition and helped us learn to work more efficiently with one another.

Station 2: Elevation sling

In this station, the Year 2s and 3s are to teach the Year 1s how to tie an elevation sling. After teaching them, everyone, especially the Year 1s, are to practice tying an elevation sling on each other.

Challenge: Quickest to tie a standard elevation sling wins.

Reflection by a Year 3:

Everyone in my patrol was unsure on how to tie a proper elevation sling when we were at the elevation sling station. Our senior had to teach us how to do so by demonstrating to us. I feel that this was a very beneficial station as through normal first aid lessons held by our school during lessons, we were not taught on elevation slings but only normal arm slings. We were given chances to try it out on our patrol mates. I found this a very fun station as we do not really get to tie elevation slings during normal 集合s. I am glad we were all able to reinforce on how to tie an elevation sling, and we had all learnt something from this station.

Station 3: Orienteering

In this station, the Year 2s and 3s are to teach the Year 1s how to use a compass. After teaching them, everyone, especially the Year 1s, have to use the compass to take bearings and find small pieces of paper stuck and hidden around the MRL.

Challenge: Use orienteering to go through a course beginning to end with orienteering cues, as pieces of paper attached on the floor with masking tape. Challenge is marked as C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, while practice starts with P.

Reflection by a Year 3:

For the orienteering station last Friday’s 集合, it was the Year 1s first time learning and trying out orienteering. They had a bit of difficulty trying to learn how to do pacings correctly but they picked it up pretty fast in my opinion. Overall, we did not take too much time to complete the challenges and the year ones learnt a new thing. The year twos did well as they remembered how to do orienteering and we tried to give the Year Ones and Year Twos more chances as we could to use the compass and learn to read the bearings.

Station 4: Trekking signs

In this station, the Year 2s and 3s are to teach the Year 1s how to recognise specific trekking signs. After teaching them, everyone, especially the Year 1s, are to apply this knowledge by matching the respective trekking signs to their descriptions.

Challenge: Patrol has to be able to recognise the trekking signs given by the station masters. If needed, get different people to solve the trekking signs.

Trekking signs	Descriptions
	Turn left
	Turn right
	Pass by
	Beware of dogs
	Follow arrow and find water
	可饮的水
	团长
	前进
	Forward
	Wait here

Reflection by a Year 3:

During Friday’s 集合, we played station games to teach the Year 1s more about what we do during Guides. One of the stations was about trekking signs, which are in the guides notes. The seniors explained to us a few trekking signs and how they were drawn, such as the signs for “turn right”, “canteen” and “Friday”. Then, as a patrol, we drew the trekking signs that the seniors asked us to, and ensured that the Year 1s understood them and knew how to draw them as well. We had a lot of fun trying to draw and giving the Year 1s a chance to learn the signs. We enjoyed the station games as it allowed us to have a chance to teach our Year 1s well as well as to talk and bond with them. we were glad that we all had fun as a patrol and were able to get to know the Year 1s better.

Station 5: Knots and lashes

In this station, the Year 2s and 3s are to teach the Year 1s how to tie a 八字结, 活结, reef knot, mickey mouse lash and timber hitch. After teaching them, the Year 1s are to practice tying these knots and lashes under the supervision of the Year 2s and Year 3s.

Challenge: Tie a square lash with the fastest timing to win.

Station 6: Sprained ankle

In this station, the Year 2s and 3s are to teach the Year 1s how to treat a sprained ankle. After teaching them, everyone, especially the Year 1s, are to practice treating a sprained ankle on each other.

Challenge: Fastest to treat a sprained ankle in a standard manner will win.

Treatment for sprained ankle:

1. Rest the injured part.

2. Ice the injury to reduce swelling

3. Compress with thick layer of soft padding

4. Elevate and support the injured part to reduce flow of blood to injury, minimizing bruising to the area

The patrol will also be taught how to treat a muscle cramp, which will be tested later on in the station.

Treatment for muscle cramps:

1. Gently stretch the affected muscle in the opposite direction

2. Massage the area

3. Hold the stretch until the cramp is relieved

Reflection by a Year 3:

In the first aid station, we learnt how to treat ankle sprain and muscle cramps. We also took turns tying the bandage on our ankles. This was something I had never learnt before, so it was rather interesting for me. Also, we cheered a lot, strengthening our patrol as a whole. The Year Ones also had an opportunity for a hands-on experience as they got to try to tie the bandages too. All in all, I really enjoyed this interesting and meaningful activity.

Hope that the Year 1s learnt a lot from this 集合, and that the Year 2s and 3s were able to revise on the skills taught at the stations!

Published by:

Hoong Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary

Skills Training, 1 March

Hello Guides!

In this 集合, we would be teaching some hard skills to the Year 1s, namely the tying of lashes and the building of basic structures!

Teaching of Lashes

The Year 1s will be learning the basic lashes such as square lash, diagonal lash, tripod and A架. The Year 2s and 3s in each patrol will be split and one Year 1, 2 and 3 will form a group in each patrol. The Year 2s and 3s will teach the Year 1s how to tie tight lashes and within the standard timing.

Reflection by a Year 3:

We were allocated time to teach the Year Ones basic lashes during 集合, which gave us time to interact as well as to teach them. Firstly, we were given time to teach the Year Ones a square lash. we tried our best to teach them so they would understand and take note of certain things such as to keep tension and how to tie a clove hitch. This allowed us to ensure that our juniors had a good foundation on basic lashing before progressing and learning how to tie structures. We taught them how to tie a square lash and diagonal lash and reminded them to take note of details such as not to overlap.

Building of Baggage Rack

The Year 2s and 3s will be guiding the Year 1s to build a baggage rack.

Reflection by a Year 3:

For the baggage rack, we did not do very well as the baggage rack that we made was quite unstable and the lashes were quite loose throughout the structure. We had also measured incorrectly and thus our baggage rack ended up a bit lopsided. We also did not have enough sense of urgency as we had to ask for a lot of time extensions. However, it gave the Year Ones a chance to apply their newly learnt skills for tying lashes and building the A-架 and it was mostly their first time. They also got to learn how a baggage rack is built and had hands-on experience in building as we tried to give as much opportunity for them to tie the lashes and that was something I feel we did good at. We will have to increase our sense of urgency as well as the standard of our lashes in the future.

Building of Basic Structures

After the baggage rack, the Year 2s and 3s will be teaching the Year 1s how to build an emergency shelter and a flagpole. Each patrol would be building 2 emergency shelters and 1 flagpole.

Reflection by Year 3s:

In the teaching of basic structure activity, we had to build 2 emergency shelters and 1 flagpole. Our patrol was split into 2 groups to build an emergency shelter each, then whichever group finishes first could do the flagpole. For my group, we were a bit confused on how to build the emergency shelter, and only figured it out at the end of the activity, so we didn't manage to successfully build the emergency shelter. However, I found this activity to be useful as it cleared many of our doubts on how to build this emergency shelter, and hopefully, the Year 1s were able to learn something new from this activity, since this is their first time building these two structures.

I was in charge of building one of the emergency shelters with some of my patrol juniors. We had to 打进 the 木 into the ground, but because of the dry weather, it was really difficult to do so. All of us spent a lot of time to tale turns to do it but to no avail. We also accidentally made a hole and tore a small corner of our poncho, making it harder to attempt to attach the poncho. In the end, we could not complete our structure as we had spent too much time revolving around the problem of not being able to have our support ready for the structure. I learnt that sometimes, no matter how much we have planned or expected, some things may not go according to our plan. We would also need to be more creative in solving problems when faced with them. We could have used water to soften the soil. It may not work, but it is worth a try as it is possible, although we would make the ground muddy and thus, the 木 will be dirty too.

Afterwards, the patrols had patrol corner to help the Year 1s know the rest of the patrol better, and also to strengthen the bonds within the patrol.

Hope that the Year 1s gained valuable experience from this 集合!

Published by:

Hoong Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary

World Thinking Day Celebrations, 23 February

Hello Guides!

On this Saturday, our whole 团 headed to Our Tampines Hub to participate in the World Thinking Day Carnival there. With the theme of ‘Leadership’, this year, Girl Guides Singapore organised a carnival run by Guides from many different schools, with booths selling handmade crafts, offering sustainable arts and even games for visitors to try out. Here are some reflections from our Guides :)

Reflection from a Year 1:

The World Thinking Day at Our Tampiness Hub was simply memorable. It was the first time I celebrated World Thinking Day with the fellow guiders and my seniors and batchmates. There was a lot of activities and booths for us to participate in and enjoy. Through the booths and exhibitions, I manage to gain a better understanding of guides. Through that event, I also managed to bond with my batchmates and seniors. It was a really fun and enjoyable experience. I am definitely looking forward to the World Thinking Day the following year !!

Reflection from a Year 3:

To celebrate World Thinking Day, we attended a carnival at Our Tampines Hub to celebrate being part of the sisterhood that is Girl Guides. We got the opportunity to meet the different guides from different schools, as well as the brownies, and we had the chance to interact and learn more about their guiding activities through the different booths and exhibitions. It made me realise that we are all part of one big sisterhood, and we should all strive to contribute and make the world a better place for everyone together. It was overall a very fun and meaningful experience for us.

It was an enjoyable experience for all of us and we would like to thank everyone involved for spending time and effort to plan and carry out this event!

Published by:

Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary

Year 1 Induction and CNY Celebrations, 15 February

Hello Guides!

15 February was the day that the Year 1s joined us! We had multiple fun activities to welcome the Year 1s, as well as a ‘reunion dinner’ afterwards in celebration of Chinese New Year!

Performance

Before the Year 1s arrived, they had to have a briefing. During this time, the patrols had to plan a performance for them. The performance could be a skit, a song or a combination of the two. They also had to be related to Guides as they would serve as an introduction into what Guides is all about for the Year 1s.

Reflection by Year 3s:

On Friday, our new Year 1s came for the first time and each patrol prepared a skit/dance/song for them. Our patrol started by brainstorming ideas or whether we wanted to do a skit or a song. In the end we decided to act out ‘three little ducks’. 2 people were charge of the singing part and the rest were to act as the ducks. However, when we rehearsed the whole thing out, we realised that it was only 40 seconds which was quite short. Our Patrol Leader Raenn then told us to sing the song much slower and we added 'kookaburra’ and 'gako the frog’ in too. To make the whole performance seem more interesting we thought of saying out the lyrics of 'kookaburra’ word by word with each patrol member taking turns saying each word. Through this performance, I learnt that communication is important and only through communicating efficiently can we ensure that the performance goes well. I felt that there was one flaw in the performance which us suddenly forgetting the lyrics at a point of time. We should have recited the lyrics more often so that we will not suddenly forget the lyrics suddenly, like the Guides motto: be prepared.

During Friday’s 集合, we welcomed the new Year Ones by preparing a performance showing them what guides was like. We were given 20 minutes to think of ideas and practice before the year ones came. my patrol was very excited to meet the Year 1s and we wanted to put up a good performance for them. We decided to sing two songs with actions, which had relevant lyrics to our guiding journey. The first song we sang was “count on me” by Bruno Mars and we had changed some of the lyrics to fit the theme. Next, we chose the song “you’re a girl guide” with actions as it is a cheerful song about guides and we thought it would be suitable for our performance. We had a lot of fun deciding on and rehearsing the actions together and changing the song lyrics of “count on me”. Although I was slightly worried that I might forget the actions due to the short amount of time we had, I was still glad that we were given this opportunity to show the Year 1s a short fun performance to welcome them into Guides.

Treasure Hunt

After the performances, we had a treasure hunt! The Guides were given a set of clues which would bring them to different locations. At these locations, the Guides would either have to perform a task or answer a question, all of which would be related to Guides. As such, this was another opportunity for the seniors to teach the Year 1s more about Guides. The winning patrol of the treasure hunt would also receive a prize.

Reflection by Year 3s:

After the Year 1s arrived, we had a treasure hunt, in which we were required to find post it notes with questions or tasks and answer them to gain points. Along the way, we got to introduce the Year 1s to some of the basic things in Guides, such as the items in a 配备 and the PS in each patrol. I feel that this was a fun way for them to learn more about their new CCA. In addition, the treasure hunt provided us with an opportunity to bond and work together as we had to solve many riddles as fast as possible. Overall, I felt that the treasure hunt was very enjoyable and it's a great activity to break the ice. At the same time, we could bond more as a patrol and it provided us with a sense of pride and accomplishment whenever we completed a task. I hope we can have more of such activities in the future.

For treasure hunt, the Year Ones joined us and we were to find post it notes, and complete the tasks written on them. I feel that we did quite well as we managed to find quite some post it notes, and also tried our best. The year ones were quite cooperative and enthusiastic in joining in the activity, even when we taught them maboleh and chek chek goleh. Even though we were last place, it is the process that matters and not necessarily the result. It was also a great opportunity to get to know our Year Ones and interact with them as well as train our teamwork because the tasks had to be completed by most of our patrol. I feel that the Year Ones were not as shy as I thought they would be and the activity was very fun overall.

After the treasure hunt, we headed to the canteen to have something similar to a reunion dinner. There, we got to know some of the Year 1s a little better, and could discuss various topics with them.

Hope that the Year 1s had fun with us today!

Published by:

Hoong Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary