Prepare Girls for Kindergarten with Girl Scouts' Virtual Events Series

NEW YORK, July 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) is launching a free "Make New Friends" virtual event series hosted by local councils across the country to ensure that all girls are prepared to start kindergarten with confidence. The COVID-19 pandemic and transition to virtual learning and activities has disrupted important educational milestones, particularly for children entering kindergarten this year. Social and emotional learning is important for success in kindergarten, and as the experts on girls' leadership and development, Girl Scouts is uniquely poised to lead fun and impactful events that help girls make new friends while boosting their social skills, self-confidence, and experience in a classroom or virtual setting.

One of the largest girl-serving organizations offering social and emotional kindergarten readiness programming, Girl Scouts has designed a specialized, engaging four-part virtual event series that is free and open to all girls who are entering kindergarten. Girls will:

• practice interacting with other girls, exploring new ideas, and gaining the courage to ask questions about what they see;
• explore emotions and learn how being persistent can help them achieve their dreams;
• use their senses to process the world around them while practicing reasoning and problem-solving skills; and
• learn how to listen to a story, identify key characters, follow a plotline, and then share what they learned.

Many in-person kindergarten readiness and pre-K programs have been cancelled or modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including opportunities to meet teachers and classmates and to try out a classroom activity. Knowing that social and emotional learning and development are some of the strongest predictors of academic success and healthy relationships, Girl Scouts has designed fun activities for girls to meet these critical milestones. Events will include activities for girls to explore the solar system, create an inspiring drawing to represent their dreams and remind them to be persistent, and much more.

"Girl Scouts is filling the critical need of preparing girls to learn, lead, and thrive in their kindergarten classrooms," said GSUSA CEO Sylvia Acevedo. "Girl Scouts' national reach gives girls in rural, urban, and suburban communities the opportunity to learn important pre-K readiness skills, especially social emotional learning. Our Make New Friends virtual event series helps girls create friendships, develop independence, and practice social awareness skills so they are poised for success."

Sign up for a local Make New Friends event series at www.girlscouts.org/ready.

We're Girl Scouts of the USA

We're 2.5 million strong—more than 1.7 million girls and 750,000 adults who believe in the power of every G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ to change the world. Our extraordinary journey began more than 100 years ago with the original G.I.R.L., Juliette Gordon "Daisy" Low. On March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia, she organized the very first Girl Scout troop, and every year since, we've honored her vision and legacy, building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. We're the preeminent leadership development organization for girls. And with programs from coast to coast and across the globe, Girl Scouts offers every girl a chance to practice a lifetime of leadership, adventure, and success. To volunteer, reconnect, donate, or join, visit www.girlscouts.org.

SOURCE Girl Scouts of the USA

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