68th
and 145th Ottawa Sparks
Welcoming Newsletter
Welcome to Sparks!
We are looking forward to a year full of Guiding adventures,
stories, games, songs, crafts and lots of fun.
Meeting
Times
This year we have
two Spark units, the 145th Ottawa Sparks which meet
on Monday nights, and the 68th Ottawa Sparks
which meet on Tuesday nights. Both Spark units are
from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Riverside Churches,
room 7. Please use the side entrance. We would like to begin
our meetings promptly at 6:00 p.m. as we only have an hour
in which to fit all of our activities.
The first meeting
for the 145th Sparks is Monday, September 24, 2001.
The first meeting for the 68th Sparks is Tuesday, September
25, 2001.
If you have any concerns
or questions about a Spark meeting, please feel free to call
us or ask at our weekly meeting.
Sparks
Uniform
The uniform for the Sparks consists of the official Spark T-shirt
or sweatshirt. It is your choice which one your child wears.
It should be worn to every meeting and any special events
(such as the museum night). During the winter the T-shirt
can be worn over a long sleeved shirt for warmth. The uniform
identifies your daughter as being a member of the Girl Guides
of Canada. Once the girls are enrolled, they are also required
to wear their enrolment pin on their T-shirt or sweatshirt
at all times.
The official Spark
T-shirt and sweatshirt along with other items of Spark clothing
are available at the Ottawa Area Guide Shop located
at 453 Parkdale Avenue, Ottawa (613-761-1098).
The catalogues will be sent home as soon as they are available.
The store hours are
as follows for the months of September to December.
| Mondays/Wednesdays |
9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Thursdays |
9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Saturdays |
9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. |
| Tuesdays/Fridays |
CLOSED |
Indoor Shoes
We are very active during our meetings and we ask that the
girls wear soft-soled shoes to the meetings and during the
winter months please send soft-soled shoes for them to change
into.
Dues
Dues are paid at every meeting to help offset the cost of
materials for the unit. Our dues this year are 50
cents per meeting. The girls are encouraged to
be responsible for this themselves by remembering to bring
the money to the meeting and to give it to the leader who
is responsible for collecting the dues. Unfortunately, this
may not cover the cost of extra events and you may be asked
to contribute a little extra for special outings, such as
a sleep over. We try to run all activities from the money
we receive from fund-raising and registration but sometimes
it is not possible.
Program
The Spark program is centred around the theme of Fun
and Friendship.
The Spark program is very
flexible with the goal of the girls having fun while sharing,
co-operating and developing friendships.
The Spark program is organized
into three areas and the meeting themes are based on these
areas:
- Sharing With Others
- The World Around Us
- Myself
Share Bear and Scrap Book
Each week one Spark will be
able to take home Share Bear and his scrap
book. The chosen Spark must take care of Share Bear for
the week and draw a picture in the scrap book to show
one way in which she has shared with another person during
the week. The Spark is expected to return Share Bear and
the scrap book to the next meeting so it may be passed
on to the next girl.
Sharing Times
Sparks love to share stories
about themselves or their favourite toys. Each week we
will have a short sharing time. Two girls will be asked
to share something with the group for 1-2 minutes, if
they wish. Although all Sparks love to bring something
to share every week, we will have a schedule of whose
turn it is to share. Allowing every girl to share something
each week takes up too much of the meeting time and we
find it difficult to get anything else done. The schedule
for Sharing Time will be given out at the first meeting.
Parent Helpers
Parents are welcome to stay and enjoy our meetings whenever
they wish. However, there will be a few times throughout
the year when we will need the cooperation of parents or
another adult, such as a sister, aunt or grandparent. We
will send home advance notice of these meetings so that
parents can arrange to attend. The two nights (one in the
fall and one in the spring) when we sell cookies door-to-door
will require one parent for every two girls to assist them
with this project.
The night we attend the Girl
Guides evening at the Museum of Science and Technology
will require the girls to be dropped off and picked up
at the museum. Car-pooling can be arranged for this. We
will also be looking for parents to bake goods and help
in the kitchen for our annual Daffodil Tea and Bazaar
that happens in the spring. We are hoping to arrange a
sleep-over in the Spring that will also require car-pooling.
Fund Raising Events
Our unit takes part in the
major fund-raising events of the Girl Guides of Canada
which are fall and spring cookie sales. You will receive
more information on these two events when they occur.
Sparks Weekly Meeting Schedule
At the first meeting we will be handing out a schedule of
the themes for the meetings from September to December.
Web Page
The 68th Sparks have a web page which contains copies of
all notices we send home, information about our meeting
themes, the Spark program, words to our favourite songs
and instructions for our favourite games. It will be updated
shortly so please visit http://members.home.net/68sparks/main.htm
and sign our guest book.
[ Return
to 68th Ottawa Sparks Home Page ]
Last updated on September 8, 2001
