Week 3, Lesson 1

This lesson was a great one with the girls.  We first talked about how the tools in our treasure chest can be used to help strengthen our community.  I had the girls collect sticks and then demonstrated how one stick alone can break pretty easily, but when we gathered a bunch of sticks to represent everyone working together in our community, it was much harder to break.  (The girls took the challenge and did manage to break the group of sticks, but it was nice to see that it at least took a lot more effort!)

We talked about how our community members have helped each and every one of us - from emergency situations, to returning dogs, to helping pick up something that we've dropped.  It was fun to see the girls really understand this concept and want to make efforts to be great community members.

Our next activity was a craft.  We made shell necklaces with powerful messages on them.  The girls were to think of who the necklace (or shell alone, they wanted to make more, so I let them use the extra shells) would be for, and then think of a word that represented them.  The goal is for the girls to give away these necklaces and shells, and then teach the recipient how to accept a compliment (Stop, look, and listen to really take the message in and allow it to empower them).

The girls loved this activity...

Hopefully each of you was a recipient of one of these lovely shells, and now knows how to accept a compliment!

After our craft it was time to get moving!  We talked a bit about other ways to exercise, should they not have a nice track to run around.  We demonstrated squats with the benches, and push-ups on the bench, as a few examples.  Then, they ran!  The girls did 5 laps today, and were working toward pushing themselves a little bit, and running complete laps without stopping.  They did great, as always.

Our last activity of the day was in our journal.  The girls wrote about three people that they were going to give their shells to, and why.  

See you all next time!