As part of the curriculum for Girls On The Run, the team is to do a community project. Last year we joined forces with Moretown Elementary School for a bake sale and face painting at the Bridge Street Art Fair and the money we raised was donated to the Mad River Community Fund.
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Our lesson today discussed friendships and what we bring to a friendship and what we would like to receive from our friends. We took some time to do an activity that helped us learn more about a team mate. The girls took 4 minutes to ask as many questions as they could so they could get to know their partner and their partner could get to know them. The girls were then placed in either group A or group B. We then stood back to back a question was asked such as What is group A's favorite color? The girls would then run to the other end in opposite directions fill out their answer on a index card and then run back to their partner and see if their answers matched. If they did then they would give a high ten if they did not then just a high five. All groups had a good time with this activity and they all really liked getting to know more about their teammates.
During our run today we all took an index card with a characteristic that we either bring to a friendship, a friend brings to a friendship or both of these occur and when we got back to the start for 4 laps we would have to either do squats, push ups or jumping jacks. Another great practice. The girls are pushing themselves a lot. They should all be proud of how they are training. We do have our practice 5K in just a few weeks. I will be missing practice this Thursday but I want to thank Mrs. Boyden and Mae for holding down the fort. I really appreciate it. This lesson was not told to us right off at the start of practice today it was shown to us through out our lesson, activity and run time. We started by talking about how when we put words out into the world there is no way to take them back. These words can be kind or not so kind but once they are said it is very difficult to take them back and so we need to think about what we say. We were so grateful Mrs Boyden could join us today.
Our activity today was a spin off of Sharks and Minnows a tag game where there is 1-2 sharks and they stand in a certain spot then the minnows have to try to run past the sharks to the other side. In our game the sharks were clouds or words that might hurt us and if the girls were tagged the girls had to remain still and think about how words can even stop someone in their tracks and really hurt their feelings. The only way they could move again was if another girl tagged them. We did have an issue at the end of the game where one or two of the girls found the game to be unfair and they were even shouting at the taggers saying they were not playing correctly. This was actually ok because then we could talk about how playing this game made us feel and how sometimes we may need to adjust to others around us and we may not always like how things are going. We hope the discussion we had made everyone feel better. During our run today Mrs Boyden and Mrs v wrote letters on the girls as they ran their laps to spell out the lesson. This was also a way to show how again words matter because the letters we put on the girls skill will need to be washed off but may take time and this is true about words we speak and why what we say matters as sometimes it takes a lot of time for people to heal from what we might have said. In this lesson we discussed empathy. Many of the girls knew what it meant to have empathy for someone and explained when they have shown empathy towards many people in their lives. We played a game in order for the girls to remember the steps for showing empathy. Check in with your daughter to see if she remembers the steps.
We also were able to have our first day of practice running on the recess field. Oh the warm weather is so nice to run in. Let's hope for more beautiful weather. Again if you want to come join us when we run we usually start around 3:15. Today's lesson was about how to express our emotions both comfortable and uncomfortable. Why do you feel it is important to express your feelings. The girls all stated how holding emotions inside is not healthy. We also went over the 4 phrases you can use when expressing both comfortable and uncomfortable emotions. I Feel, When you, Because and I would like for you to. I feel - Lets the other person know exactly how you feel. When you - You are telling the person the exact behavior that is making you feel the way you do. Because - This gives the person a better understanding of exactly why you feel that way. I would like for you to - This explains what you would like the person to either continue doing or do differently. The girls had a lot of fun playing line tag today while I set up for our activity that unfortunately had to be reworked as I was missing a key ingredient. I so appreciate the girls being flexible. We did do 25 minutes of running and tried to run outside but the rain started to come and so we were back in the gym. We want to thank Mr Green for joining us during line tag the girls love having people stop by and have some fun with us. Today we talked about emotions and all the different emotions we all have even in one given day. Some of the girls shared today and said they experienced up to 6 different emotions. That can be a lot and sometimes we are not sure if our emotions are good or bad when actually all of our emotions are good. We discussed how if you keep your emotions inside all the time they will just boil up inside of you and then you might let out an emotion you did not mean to. Thank you Emoji movie you were one of our references several times today.
The activity today was for the girls to stand on a shower curtain/plastic table cloth and figure out a way to flip the table cloth over. The girls could not pick each other up, jump or step off of the table cloth. I did give the girls a couple of minutes to come up with a plan. The girls worked as a team and came up with a great way to move from one side of the cloth and then start flipping over the other side till they completed the challenge in under 3 minutes. GO TEAM! Today's warm up was about how our emotions can make us feel comfortable or uncomfortable. Many girls shared during this time about how our emotions can make us feel uncomfortable but they have come up with strategies in their lives of how not to feel uncomfortable when dealing with their emotions. During the start of our laps today the girls had to write 2 emotions on index cards and while running their laps they had to connect with each of their teammates and share what emotion they were given they then would explain to the each other a time when they might have felt this emotion. Another great practice. Thanks again for joining us Kim. Just a reminder there will be no practices over break. Today's theme is about beauty. It was great to have Savannah's mom Kim join us today. We love having parents or really any family member come and join the group. We discussed what outer beauty and inner beauty mean to each of them. I introduced the girls to Velveeta. Velveeta has a really bad scar down the center of her face however she is a really outgoing and kind person. Does this mean she is not beautiful on the outside? She is true to herself and her friends does this mean she is not beautiful on the inside?
Our activity was wrapped around our inner beauty and what characteristics we see in ourselves and we shared these with our teammates. The girls felt it was nice to tell people how they see themselves and having those people agree with them. During our run time today the girls played a tag game and only a few did not participate. It really helps pass the time and laps. Today we focused on self-talk and what some positive or negative self talk might sound like. The girls were given 3 index cards to then write down 3 negative talk statements and then we talked about those statements. They were then given 3 more cards to write 3 positive self talk statements.
During our activity we used our 6 index cards and took a moment to read them and reflect about when we use a lot of our self talk. With Family With Friends/Peers At School During Activities Or Other times in their lives Many girls felt that they use self talk the most during activities and that they use both positive and negative self talk during activity times. We did get in a good 20-25 minutes of run time today the girls are really pushing themselves. During today's lesson we will be discussing what goes into our star. We will be showing them a activity sheet that will show 5 parts of their star.
Physical Health - Taking care of our body Brain - Learning new things & decision making Activities - Hanging out with friends, being on a sports team & baking cookies People - Family members, teachers, coaches & friends Emotions - Happy, Sad, Confused, Nervous or Excited The activity today had the girls listen to ideas and then find the star that that this idea might go in such as parents well some said people others went to activities as many feel they do activities with their parents. When eating healthy was said the girls went to all 5 star points as they felt eating healthy is helps with all 5 points. The girls also welcomed Mae Murphy today. Mae will be our junior coach this season. She may not be able to make every practice but she will come to as many as she can we are happy to have Mae helping us out. Lindsey showed us a really great activity where you had a partner and needed to try and make the shape that was called out. The girls found that the shapes were easier to hold when you were lying on the ground. We also played a few rounds of bipidi bopidi boop it's a fun game where someone stands in the center and then spins with their eyes closed when they stop they point to someone and that person and her teammates on either side of her have to create a pose for what is called out such as fire hydrant and charlie's angels. Check out our photos on this. Todays lesson was about Star Power we started by asking the girls whom are new to GOTR what they think we mean when we say Star Power. The girls said It's when your happy about everything in your life. We then did a visualization - while the girls laid on the floor with their eyes closed I read a visualization script. Many of the girls love this as they feel it is like meditation after a long day of your brain going going with school work and they could just relax listed to my words and concentrate on their breathing. During the visualization the girls are picturing themselves in their room at home looking out their window at the night sky and imaging that one of the many stars outside is theirs. They to are much like these stars in that their is only 1 of them, they are unique and unlike any other star. It is then suggested to them that when their Star Power is activated they look and act differently. When their Star Power is covered by a rough day/ clouds they should try and come up with something that can activate their Star Power again. After visualizing we took a brainstormed with the girls on what kinds of things might cloud their star (rough day at school, no one to sit with at lunch, disagreement with a good friend, forgot your lunch at home) and then ways they could activate their Star Power (read, horseback ride, talk with a friend, talk with a parent, draw, RUN) We played a fun game of Star Tag in this the coaches (myself & Amanda) were the taggers and if the girls were tagged by me they had to stay still till another girl came and tag them they then had to jump in the air doing a star pose and shout a way to make their cloud disappear. If Amanda tagged them all they had to do was do their Star jump. This group really loves tag games. Before we started our laps the girls and coaches took a moment to write on a cloud card 1 or 2 things that might cloud our star and as they ran their laps they were given either a cloud or a star and they needed to find a girl with the opposite card. If they were the star then they were to help the girl with the cloud turn her cloud into a star. It was so nice to see our small group working as a team and making sure they went to a new person each time they grabbed a card. We have a really good team of girls here. We also started our bands during this practice. We hope everyone was honest about the laps they did but with encouragement and keeping an eye on everyone it is hard to monitor that. We love any extra help if parents want to stop by. |
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