How to Make the Girl Scout Newsletter
Girl Scout activities have many facets, including regular meetings, special events, fundraisers, and service projects. Newsletters are a great way to keep parents informed about the activities their daughters are enjoying. They can also provide important information about upcoming events. Today's desktop publishing programs can give a professional appearance to any document, but newsletters can be written using a standard word processor as well.
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Things You'll Need
- Camera
- Computer
- Desktop publishing software
- Printer (optional)
- PDF conversion software (optional)
- Street addresses or email addresses for each girl's parents
Instructions
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Choose a program for putting your newsletter together. If templates are provided, choose one.
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Gather or create several key pieces of information:
A list or calendar of upcoming events, including regular meetings as well as special activities such as cookie sales
Write-ups of recent activities
Write-ups of important events approaching, including information the parents and girls will need in order to prepare
Contact information for adult leaders
Photos of recent activities
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Place the information you have into appropriate spots in your newsletter. Display the most important or most crucial information the most prominently. Parents often scan through newsletters rather than read each word, so highlight the information that is most imperative for them to see.
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Edit the finished product. If possible, ask someone else to look at it. Make sure all pieces are readable and formatted correctly.
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Distribute the newsletter. There are several ways you can do this. You can make printed copies and mail them to each of the parents. You could also send them home with the girls. If you have email addresses for the parents, convert the newsletter to a PDF and email it to them. If you have a website for your troop, you can post the newsletter there for future reference.
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Tips & Warnings
You could assign the girls to write some of the articles. Younger girls could draw pictures; with only a little computer skill you can scan them in and shrink them down to use as clip art.
If possible, include pictures of the girls at various activities. Girls in the pictures will feel a sense of belonging, so be sure to include each of them periodically. Photos of enthusiastic and happy girls contribute to the overall feeling that Girl Scouts is a great place for them to be.
Check your finished results before sending the newsletter to the parents. Sometimes formatted templates do not give the results you expect, so be sure that all columns, boxes, and images are where you wanted them.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
