Daisy Girl Scouts - A Head Start on Literacy: "Playing in the World of Words"
Since 1990, Head Start and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America have worked together to provide opportunities for graduates of Head Start to join the Daisy Girl Scouts.
The focus of Daisy Girl Scouts is on self-esteem and helps girls look forward to learning to read and succeed in school. Literacy enhancement and leadership training are also offered to their parents. As a result of these concerted efforts, there is in creased participation of young girls of Asian, Hispanic, American Indian, and African American heritage in Girl Scouting. This encourages pluralism and promotes ethnic pride and respect.
For Families:
In Girl Scouting, parents can continue the Head Start emphasis on parent involvement. Adults who become Daisy Girl Scout leaders receive the benefit of Girl Scout training and program support, further enhancing their ability to nurture their child's growth while increasing their own leadership and job skills.
For Literacy:
In the "Daisy Girl Scouts-A Head Start on Literacy: Playing in the World of Words" project, Head Start girl graduates explore the overall Girl Scout program. With an emphasis on getting "a head start on literacy," age-appropriate activities encourage pre-literacy skill development. Through "playing in the world of words" (storytelling, singing, dramatic play, dancing, drawing, and making things), girls learn to express themselves and understand others. Such activities help them to learn to read, succeed in school, and enjoy interaction with their ever-widening world.
Girl Scouting offers a program of informal education to girls from kindergarten through high school, ages 5- 17. The program emphasizes self-potential; relating to others with understanding, skill, and respect; values; and contributing to the community through service.
Daisy Girl Scouts are welcomed into the Girl Scout family after a year-long program designed especially for girls who are entering kindergarten.
The Daisy Girl Scouts literacy project is designed with particular sensitivity to the needs and interests of girls from low-income families. Recognizing that low income populations include disproportionate numbers of "minorities" and single-parent, female heads of house holds, as well as high rates of illiteracy, limited English proficiency, transience, and unemployment, project services are being designed with (not just "for") participants. Support is bilingual and individualized as needed.
Activities designed to develop self-identity, cultural pride, and a respect for differences-like joining Brownie Girl Scouts at neighborhood events, enjoying older girls reading to a troop, or participating in Daisy-sized service projects within the community-all contribute to the process of increasing pluralism in Girl Scouting.
"A Head Start on Literacy" is generating great enthusiasm and has become the premiere project of the Girl Scout National Center for Innovation. Daisy Girl Scouts from Head Start become part of the Girl Scout national network, and every effort is made to maintain contact, even when their families move, to continue their participation in Girl Scouting. The project covers the transition from Head Start to Daisy Girl Scouts, the first year of participation in Girl Scouting, and the process of "bridging" to Brownie Girl Scouts.
For more information on Daisy Girl Scouts, contact:
Nancy Richardson at (818) 449-8068, or the national headquarters: Media Services Department, Girl Scouts of USA, 830 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022. (212) 940-7500.