Sunbeams
We are half way through our season already! We are learning a lot in a short period, all while building great Pioneer friendships. What’s even better is there is a lot more fun in store for us. The endeavors we have experienced in the past meetings are:
October 2nd: Bike Safety Week. In correlation with the annual “Pioneer Family Bike Hike”, the first Pioneer meeting consisted primarily of a bike safety discussion. After receiving extremely informative information from the visiting Lannon police officers about bike safety, the Sunbeams continued the “Keeping Safe” unit by discussing safety within the home. The girls will transform into excellent “Explorers” as they learn about themselves and their surroundings all while learning how to keep safe. Becoming a good “Explorer” is one of our goals as a Sunbeam Pioneer. In addition, we worked on a word search and a first aid kit-coloring sheet. We also talked about first aid and learned how to care for a minor injury by hands on role-playing. All girls received a handout, pencil, and badge sticker from the police officers
October 16th: Nature Collection. This week we explored the life of an insect. This topic enabled us to become more aware of our surroundings and to appreciate other creatures in “God’s World”. The two craft projects the girls created kept us very busy! We made crazy crawler bugs out of recycled egg cartons and dragon fly magnets from old clothespins. The girls make good “Sunbeam Helpers” by recycling; through recycling, they are contributing to the care of God’s world. Along with their “critters”, the girls left with some information on insects to study at home.
November 6th: Flag Study/Patriotism/Voting. As an opening for the meeting this week, the Sunbeams watched as a few of the older Pioneers performed a flag ceremony including the customary practice in the retirement of the colors and the proper folding of the flag. We continued our discussion on flag etiquette as a separate group. After the lesson we made an “Uncle Sam” pin along with examining the origin of Uncle Sam. Most of the girls came home with a copy of the story we read, so if parents choose to, they can read it again with their daughter. We also decorated a note to vote to go along with the pin for them to bring home. Teaching good citizenship and patriotism is an element of the purpose/mission of The Lutheran Girl Pioneers.
November 20th: Cooking. Every year the St. John’s Pioneer Caravan hosts an Advent Supper in-between the two Advent services. This year we provided soups and a salad bar, along with dessert for the annual supper. Our meal was very well received, we even had enough salad fixin’s left to sell salad at a few basketball games to help support the cost of the supper. Our very own Sunbeams contributed the dessert, which consisted of four different flavors of cookies. We baked three varieties of cookies from frozen cookie dough we had left over from the fund-raiser, but the peanut butter cookies we baked were made completely from scratch! What an experience! Thirteen girls all had their hands in on the production, literally! What fun we had! Cooking is an important skill the leaders like to instill in the girls. Later on, when the Sunbeams become Travelers, there are charms they can earn that require cooking. Cooking for the Advent supper offers the Sunbeams a sense of service to others, as well as service to the lord, one of the missions of the Lutheran Girl Pioneers. Additionally, as a Sunbeam “Explorer”, we learn about how our congregation celebrates special events in the church.
December 4th: A Christmas Project. The Sunbeams were busy little elves this particular Monday creating a special gift for their loved one. Making the special ornament gave the girls a chance to get into the spirit of giving, so very important at Christmas time. Becoming a good Pioneer “Friend” is another objective of a Sunbeam Pioneer. Developing into a good friend /family member by showing kindness to family and friends is an element for the Sunbeams to earn their “Friendship” certificate by the end of the season.
December 18th: Caroling. The under toned theme for this Pioneer year is “lost arts”, activities, or traditions. Today’s families are so busy that some favorite traditions of the past have become lost in time. Realizing this unfortunate change in present society, it has been our goal to restore some old traditions for the kids. With this in mind, the service project in December was a caroling outing. All participating girls in our Caravan had a joyful time indeed! The Christmas caroling outing encouraged, once again, service to the lord. We can be a good friend in the spirit of Christ by providing service to others and spreading the good Word through music.
January 15th: First Aid. The various units covered this year will enable the Sunbeams to earn Explorer and Friendship status within the Pioneer program. First Aid is one of those particular units. In continuation with the first-aid exercise we covered in October, we put together mini first-aid kits after talking about what items make-up a typical household first-aid kit. In addition, we continued a discussion on “Keeping Safe”. Each room in a house may have things that are dangerous to her safekeeping, such as the kitchen, bathroom, and even their own bedroom. God has given us the ability to think about what we do, so we need to think about how we can keep ourselves safe. All the girls went home with their kits and a “keeping safe” handout to fill out at home with their parents to which they can keep in their first-aid kit or back pack.
Until next time……
Linda Paton
Sunbeam Leader
