Patrol Activity, 11 March

Hello Guides!

On 11 March, we had patrol activities. Here are some thoughts from the Year 3s of each patrol:

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 1:

During today’s PA, we did lash training but it was modified into a mini competition. We were split into 4 different groups and try to tie as many square lashes and diagonal lashes in 30 minutes. During thus this we were told to constantly 报时 but I noticed that only the Year 3s and some Year 2s did. The Year 1s are still quite shy so they may feel uncomfortable with shouting loudly and so our patrol hopes to help them become more open. At the end of the activity the YAs came over to provide some valuable advice and teach us some techniques to tie tighter lashes as well as the importance of doing so. Through this, our patrol has learnt to tie tight lashes while cheering at the same time. During the lash practising session, I feel that the Year 2s could have done better in terms of the tightness and the speed of their lashes being tied. Afterwards, our PL found 8 loose lashes and we had to do PT as forfeit. We also had a lot of PT, which added up to 15 burpees, 55 jumping jacks, 6 min leg raise, 2 lengths of lunges, 3 min 站马 in total. Though it was tiring, it trained our endurance and allowed our patrol to bond even closer. It wad also a good opportunity for the Year 1s to know out patrol better.

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 2:

For PA, we did a baggage rack. The Year Twos and Year Ones were to build the baggage rack and we, the Year Threes, were supposed guide them through how to tie the baggage rack. For the first time, we did not do very well as our lashes were loose, we did not manage our time properly as well as had a low sense of urgency and resulted in not having enough time to finish the structure. Logistics got kapped and we also didn’t cheer as enthusiastically and together as we should and we didn’t 报时 enough. We measured it wrongly and it resulted in our baggage rack being slanted. We tied the baggage rack a second time and managed to tie it faster and made it less slanted. The lashes were not as tight as it should be but was still tighter than before. We had also forgotten to tuck in the 绳尾 and I feel that we should try to remember that. We still didn’t cheer loud enough though. The Year Ones learnt more on how to tie the baggage rack, year twos learnt to step up more and we learnt how to macro-manage.

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 4:

On Monday’s PA, my patrol, P4, combined with P6 to build a see saw. However, as we did not allocate manpower properly, the time spent was inefficient and we could have assigned tasks to patrol members according to what could be done at the time so as to reduce the number of people not doing anything.This resulted in us 过时ing, and having to ask for 3 time extensions. I think this would not have been necessary if we planned out our time well and allocated manpower well. we could also have had a better sense of urgency to be able to complete the see saw in time. However, I think it was still fun at the end of the day as we were able to interact and bond with other patrols as well as members from our own. We had a lot of fun teaching the Year 1s how to build structures such as the seesaw with the 木 as they were relatively new to it.

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 5:

For our last patrol activity of the term, we first started off with building a baggage rack, but only two people can build it at one time and everyone else has to do physical training. There is a rotation every five minutes and originally, we were given 25 minutes to finish the structure. Through this, our Year 1s learnt how to differentiate the different types of gadget poles during the collection of logistics, and it was reinforced to them regarding how to tie a baggage rack. There were areas of improvement for all of us, for example our lashes had to be tighter, and we could have worked faster as at the start, we were a bit slow, and hence we were given an extra five minutes for everyone to finish up the structure. We could also be more careful in taking our gadget poles to tie the structure as we used the wrong pole for the 顶脚. After that, we had to find nine post its which tested us on our knowledge of certain first aid skills, trekking signs, and survival knowledge, with the addition of some 团 and patrol knowledge. Through this, we were all familiar with all these things as those who did not know the answer could learn through this activity. Lastly, we had patrol corner where our patrol talked and bonded together for around 30 minutes while the Year 3s were called out one by one by our Year 4s regarding our leadership roles. I have enjoyed this PA a lot as I felt that this bonded our patrol together and we got to know our new Year 1s better.

Reflection by a Year 3 from Patrol 6:

On Monday, my patrol had combined 集合 with P4 and we were tasked to build a see saw. After collecting the necessary logistics, we started building the structure. To my surprise, I was chosen to be the PL this time and I was a little afraid that I would not be good enough or that I would mess things up in the end. However, it was thanks to the patience of my seniors and the cooperation of my and P4's patrol that I was able to go through this rather smoothly. I am very thankful that my seniors gave me this chance to try to lead as I often do not step up as much. Personally, I feel that this had provided me with the needed extra confidence and allowed me to hone my leadership skills as well as to look at the bigger picture of things. In addition, from this activity, I had learnt to have a greater sense of urgency and a greater sense of time. After building the see saw, we got the chance to sit on it and play for a while. Overall, I had a lot of fun and I feel that it was a truly meaningful experience.

Hope that this was an enjoyable experience for all!

Published by:

Hoong Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary

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