Girl Scouts to help prepare kindergarteners in August virtual series

Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada and Girl Scouts of the USA are starting up a new Make New Friends virtual series entitled “Ready, Set, Kindergarten!” for girls in kindergarten to help them develop social and problem-solving skills before school starts in the fall.

GSSN marketing and communications director Jessie Schirrick said the four sessions, scheduled for 4 p.m. Aug. 4, 11, 18 and 25 online, will offer the girls entering local kindergarten or pre-K programs, many of which have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a chance to meet their teachers and become familiar with the classroom setting in a virtual environment along with a parent or guardian. The sessions are done through the Zoom platform and will be hosted by Girl Scouts staff and volunteers.

“Each group is meant to have enough for 10 girls, and through our four-part series, our hope is they will build relationships with the other nine girls, depending on how many people sign up,” Schirrick said.

The sessions will be about an hour long like a regular Girl Scout troop meeting and will help strengthen four competencies, including language and literacy, cognition and approaches to social and emotional learning.

Jessica Lyle, membership specialist, said each week has a special topic, including “Launching into Literacy,” “Shoot for the Stars,” “Spring into Science” and “Dreaming about Success.”

Lyle said the girls don’t have to do all four sessions, but the groups continue to build on each topic each week.

“The parents get an idea of what the Girl Scouts are about,” Lyle said. “The hope is they’ll want to join a Girl Scouts troop through the school.”

Lyle, a recent graduate, said she met all her friends being involved through the Girl Scouts.

“It’s fun with the younger kids, and the parents are pretty fun,” she said. “We have a chat, which is fun to watch. It’s good for them to get used to being on a computer. As long as they use the link we use to sign up, we’ll be sending out e-mails for them, that should be pretty informative for them.”

Schirrick said the emphasis is to help the kids focus on being successful as they prepare for school.

For more information or to register, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/make-new-friends-tickets-113927642646.