Week 5 Just be you

We had a small group today but that did not put a damper on the fun we had.
Attendees were: Greta, Mia and Isabel.

We began by finishing up our bracelets and homemade cards for the girls at Dakota Woodlands. They really turned out nice! We have six made and when the rest of the SuperGirls are here and can make one we should have twelve to donate. The girls also made a picture for themselves so we were at the craft table for nearly an hour.

Then we went out to the deck to enjoy some homemade rice krispy treats and some grapes while we talked about our focus for the day: 


Being your unique self

We talked about different styles that people have like what color they like, how they wear their hair or what kind clothes they put on each day to express themselves. We brought up examples like boys with mohawks or the fact that I have tattoos and some people really don't like tattoos (no worries, the girls all agreed they would never get one because it would hurt too much). Most of the SuperGirls gravitate towards wearing pink. In fact, Traci likes pink so much that she has pink highlights in her hair. Neat! 

Then there is Mia who loves the color blue and how cool is it that she doesn't feel the need to wear pink to be like everyone else in the group?

As SuperGirls we don't ever want to look down on someone because of the way they look or any other personal choices they make. We were all created to be different and look different and that is why there isn't one other person on the planet that is exactly like you. So, embrace being YOU!

To put this into play we moved onto our activity which was going to be an individual thing but the girls wanted to work together in a team and that was fine too. I like to see them having to discuss their ideas with one another, listen to each other and compromise to come up with the end result.

Today they had to be confident and put on a performance for Peyton and I. I gave them a choice between two songs and they had five minutes to come up with some choreography and also put on some "props" which included various hats, a vest, necklaces, scarves and a boa.

They worked well together and came up with some great moves. They showed confidence and creativity. Their popular move was to walk (I would say strut) with hands on hips across the room in a group so they now call themselves "The Walkers". 

After three different performances we were ready for some outdoor running at the park and then back to the house in time to finish up a craft or do some lip syncing. 

Next week we will be having our own SuperGirl Olympics. I would like to encourage you to let them watch some of the Olympics throughout the week either during the day or NBC will air the competitions every night at 7pm. Gymnastics seems to be the most exciting to them so it would be great if they could see one or two of the USA girls team events since they are favored to win the gold medal.

The final pose

See you next Friday!

Week 4 Grateful

Today's SuperGirls attendees were: Greta, Mia, Isabel, Angolina, Traci, Nina and Lily. Unfortunately Peyton wasn't able to make it and I really missed her help but I was happy to have a good sized group.

Today's message was about having an attitude of gratitude or a grateful heart. I like using the term "grateful heart" because I feel like what you truly feel in your heart will be seen and felt by others around you. We talked about what it meant to be grateful and then we all shared the things were are grateful for in our lives.
Making the list were:

Good friends
Good sister
Cousins
Our families
Healthy bodies to run and play
Warm beds at night
Food
Toys
That we can go to school
That we have the SuperGirls group

After we made our list and talked about how much we have to be grateful for, we circled back with how many people aren't as fortunate as us. Lily brought up the kids in Haiti and other far away countries that really have nothing. We talked about kids right here in our area that may not have homes or don't have cupboards stocked with food. So, let's think about these things the next time we start to complain!

Examples:
It's too hot to play outside, I'm bored.
Think about the kids laying in hospital beds who would give anything to be outside.

Ugh, I don't want to clean my room!
Think about the girls living in a shelter who would love to have their own room to clean.

What are ways we can reach out to people in need?

Donate clothes we don't wear anymore
Donate money to places where people need food
Learn about the kids and what they need
Make special things and give them away

The girls really are very thoughtful and they have some great ideas. Our discussions are always filled with lots of comments and we have a good group of problem solvers with a willingness to help. All of this talk of giving back brought us to the craft for the day:  make two beaded friendship bracelets, one to keep and one to give away along with a hand made card to a girl who is without a home right now. Dakota Woodlands is right here in Eagan and they provide shelter and services for women and families who are homeless and need to get back on their feet. They always have young girls staying there and these will be a neat surprise for them.




The girls got a bit wrapped up in making the first bracelet so we will continue with this craft next week and make the second bracelet along with the card. I will wait a couple of weeks to deliver them until all of the SuperGirls have created a card and a bracelet to contribute.

Isabel's creation with Hope and Joy charms

Then it was time for a snack and some jump roping and then onto our scavenger hunt. The girls were split into three teams and had a list of 20 animal pictures that they needed to find in the yard. I must have hid them pretty well because it took them quite a while to find them all. In fact, they all ended up with 19 and couldn't find the giraffe until Nina finally spotted him. They were asking for clues and I must admit, I didn't even remember where half were hidden so I was looking right along with them!

We decided to make a run to the park again with little time to spare before the rain hit. Again, I'm amazed at how much these girls can spin on things. It made me dizzy watching them.
By the time we got back to the house they had a few minutes of free time in the fort and then they gathered up their jounrals and crafts and they were heading out the door. The time always go so fast!

Our SuperGirl goal for this week: Have a grateful heart and stop yourself if you start to complain

Feel free to give a friendly reminder if there are complaints during the week. Or, if you notice them stopping themselves from complaining please give them a pat on the back and have them jot it down in their journal so we can talk about it next week.  I would love to be able to have some concrete examples of how they are incorporating SuperGirl actions into their days.

Until next Friday...

Week 3 What's your opinion?

We had another fun Friday at SuperGirls. Attendees were Greta, Mia, Angolina and Traci. Others had summer school and vacations but I hope we can get everyone together at least one Friday before the end of the summer.

First thing on our agenda was making SuperGirl shrinky dink necklaces. Do you remember those from when you were a kid? I had traced the stencil and cut them out but the girls colored them and then we watched them shrink in the oven in only 2 minutes. Magic! After they cooled off we tied a blue string on them and everyone had a necklace to wear.

Whenever they have a chance the craft table is a hit where they glue, paint and glitter. Today they each made a painting and none of them looked anything alike which was a great transition into our next activity.
I chose four paintings that were done by famous artists like Cezanne and Van Gogh and put them up on the computer screen so they could see them nice and big.

I put up two images with similar content , one above the other, and instructed the girls to observe them without making any comments. 
Then they whispered in my ear which one they liked the most so they wouldn't be influenced by each other. We discussed who liked which painting and why.

They had great comments about color, things looking more real than blurry and the way the shapes looked.
This lead us to talk about what an opinion is.

In the case of the Horses, Traci liked the top one and the other girls liked the bottom one. I asked some questions like:

So, you probably won't like Traci now because she doesn't like the same painting as you right?

If you're still going to be friends with her, then you all need to talk her into liking the bottom painting because that's the right one and she has to agree with your choice?

The girls overwhelming responded with comments like:

Of course we would still like her, that's silly!
We don't need to all like the same thing.
People can disagree on things.


We looked at another set of images that were flowers in a vase. This time Angolina was the only one who picked the bottom one while the others picked the top image and right away I said :
Oh great, now we can't be friends with Angolina!
Everyone got a big laugh out of that comment.
We had a nice discussion about how everyone has likes and dislikes and opinions about things that may not match everyone else's and that's okay. We can agree to disagree and respect others opinions.

After a quick snack on the front deck we had our team cookie baking activity. Angolina and Mia were on Team Peyton and Traci and Greta were on Team Jen. I had set up a mini store with ingredients in labeled containers. They needed to look over their shopping list and get all of the ingredients. They then had to follow the recipe with proper measurements in the right order to make the dough. The egg cracking was pretty interesting (I think I got every shell out)! And, I'm not sure the cookies are as full of chocolate chips as they normally are since there were a lot of hands sneaking nibbles as we were mixing.

After our cookies were out of the oven we walked up to the Deerwood School to check out the new playground. There are so many new fun things to climb and spin on. They wanted to stay longer but we ran out of time.

We didn't talk about a goal for the week but if you notice them doing something helpful, saying something kind, sharing, etc. please tell them that they are doing a great SuperGirl job. Or, if there are times when they are feeling discouraged or getting frustrated you could ask them to think about what would SuperGirl do? They could write their thoughts in their journal too.

They laid down and traced their bodies and colored themselves in. So cute!

See you next Friday!