Week 9 Last day

I'm so happy that all of the SuperGirls were able to make it for our last Friday together.



Attendees were Greta, Mia, Ella, Nina, Lily, Isabel, Angolina and Traci









We decided to have a free day with not a lot of structure. After doing some painting and coloring at the craft table the girls told me to stay in the kitchen.  A few minutes later I was presented with a big card with an SJ on it for Super Jenny. Peyton helped make the card and typed up the message inside and they each signed their name and added a sticker. What a nice surprise! We had a big SuperGirl group hug after I read the card.

Peyton in a stack of hats and boa

We moved onto picking out a stencil or two for our shrink art. They did the tracing and coloring and Peyton and I did the cutting and it wasn't long before they were in the oven. We had a penguin, some dolphins, flowers, butterflies, flip flops, a cupcake and Lily did an original SpongeBob. Somehow I didn't get a picture of any of them.

Time to dance. I put on some of their favorite songs and out came the cowboy hats, scarves, the boa and a tiara. They had some good moves and danced as a group for one song. There were all kinds of interesting hand movements and dances I'd never heard of, although I did show them my version of the "shopping cart".

The Cupid Shuffle

Silly Faces!

Even though it was pretty hot out they all wanted to play at Deerwood Park. There were a lot of brave girls climbing high and swinging high too. Once we had run around enough to get sweaty we decided to head back to the house and have a water and cool down in the fort.


Our time was coming to an end so we headed outside for some chalk drawing and jump roping.

Then we gathered back on the deck to hand out the SuperGirl books Peyton and I made for everyone. I had the girls come up one by one and the other girls made comments about what qualities that girl had that made her a great SuperGirl. Being kind and nice, sharing and being helpful and a good friend applied to all. Greta got a special shout out for bringing so much fun energy to the group.

It was fun to see them look at their books and compare pictures and say "remember that?".

And so comes the close of SuperGirls Summer 2012. We had a great time and I hope to keep the momentum going by having a pizza party or an after school get together every few weeks throughout the school year.







Thank you for letting your daughter participate and please keep reminding them to be a SuperGirl and...

Be kind, creative, helpful, brave, confident, happy, respectful, truthful and a good friend!

Week 8 Bake and frost

We had some energetic SuperGirls today!

The fearless leaders

Attendees were Angolina, Lily, Nina, Isabel, Greta, Mia and Ella.



We began the day by gathering in front of the computer and looking at the blog to reminisce about all of the fun things we've done this summer.
The girls enjoyed talking about the games we played, like telephone, when were talking about being trustworthy. Or, when we looked at paintings and there were different opinions and we all didn't have to agree.
I told them about the thank you card we got from the staff at Dakota Woodllands and how they were so happy with the bracelets we made for them.

In keeping with our SuperGirl theme of being kind and giving to others, our project today was to bake and decorate sugar cookies to give to a neighbor, a friend or even the mailman.

I had made the dough but the girls rolled it out and did all of cutting out. We had butterflies, flowers, stars and hearts. 

Once we got all of the cookies in the oven (47 in all!) we headed outside for our snack.


First, we sang Happy Birthday to Angolina!

We then talked about how we'd like to spend our last Friday together next week. The unanimous decision was going to Deerwood park, dancing with costumes and making shrinky dinks in flower and animal shapes for our craft.








Then we went back inside to the craft table where they decorated some takeout boxes to put their cookies in. The boxes went from plain ol' cardboard to glittered, painted, feathered and stickered.

Then it was back to the kitchen to get frosting and sprinkling our cookies. Everyone washed their hands and I told them the importance of wiping extra frosting on a paper towel and resisting the urge to lick their fingers. I think they did pretty well but there were no guarantees.

The cookies turned out great! 

They each chose one to eat and we packed up the rest. 

Greta went a little crazy with the frosting

While Peyton and I had the monumental task of cleaning up (really, it looked like a bomb went off) the girls went down in the fort to play. It gets very loud and crazy down there but they have fun and it's good for them to have some free time.


Another fun day and we'll see you for our last SuperGirl Friday next week!

Week 7 The great outdoors

It was a perfect day to have our SuperGirls meet at Blackhawk Park!

Attendees today were: Greta, Isabel, Mia, Ella, Angolina and Traci.

We began with a sit down on some blankets on the grass to talk about our activities for the day. We revisited some of the qualities that a SuperGirl has and one is being helpful. The girls had examples of how they've been helpful recently and Ella mentioned she held the door for people the other day. That's great to hear. I asked the group if they could think of a way we could help out on our nature walk and the answer was "pick up trash!" and to that response was "yuck, we need gloves!".
Luckily, I was prepared and each girl picked out a set of gloves
and I had some trashbags so we were ready to get started.

They sure did have good eyes and found all kinds of little wrappers and pieces of balloon, bottles and other items.
They were eager to help and there were no complaints. Unfortunately we couldn't reach a lot of the trash that was floating in the water near the dock so I may have to return with my long pool net.

 

After our trash collecting was done we went back to the car to get our snacks. I talked to the girls about how fun and easy it is to do little sketches of what you see when you are out in nature. Luckily, I'd packed a notebook and pencils for everyone so we set off on our nature walk. We also had fishing poles in hand. There happened to be a picnic that was being set up with a tropical theme by the shelter and they had a parrot that a lady let the girls pet.

I think a sketch of the bird made it into everyone's notebook.

Off to the dock on a mission to catch a fish or see some turtles. We didn't have success with either, but we had fun trying. The girls are great at sharing and helping each other out.

We walked around the gravel path and they found several "secret paths" to go on, a little bridge to walk under and a hill to climb up and run down. Luckily I didn't need the first aid kit but they were quite the dare devils with Isabel and Greta leading the pack.



 

After quite a bit of walking and sketching there was a group vote to get to the park before our time was up. Some of the girls were feeling tired and started to lag behind but the other SuperGirls were willing to wait and cheer them on until they caught up.  I wouldn't recommend taking a long hike with six girls or you may never reach your destination!

It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

See you next Friday!

Week 6 Olympics

Wow...week 6 already!

Attendees were: Isabel, Greta, Mia, Ella, Angolina and Traci.

Today our focus was the Olympics. Thank you for letting your daughter watch some of the events this past week. There was a lot of excitement about what they'd seen, especially the USA girls gymnastics team winning the gold medal!

We gathered in the living room to talk about the highlights of
what they'd seen and to discuss what kind of qualities the athletes must have to compete in the Olympics.



Was it luck that got them there? No, it was a lot of training and hard work.


Were they pretty sure the girl swimming next to them would finish the race first? No, they were confident in themselves and believed they could win. 


The girls gymnastics team worked together as a very close team and cheered each other on and offered hugs and support if one of them made a mistake. That's why they are called the "fab five".


What happened if a gymnast fell off of the balance beam, did they give up and walk away? No, they got right back on to complete their routine.

Isabel's nest of birds

We then watched a few highlights of the gymnastics and swimming that I'd recorded including Gabby on the uneven bars and Jordyn on the vault. We also watched a young swimmer from Lithuania (where our very own Greta is from) win the gold medal in the 100 meter breaststroke.

Off to the deck for our snack where we kept the discussion going and talked about what everyone wanted to be when they grow up. Then it was time for our own SuperGirl events: balance beam, floor routine and an obstacle course race.

Everyone had a few minutes to practice and then it was competition time where Peyton and I were the judges. Isabel went first and set the bar very high. I could see some of the girls feeling discouraged that they weren't as talented but everyone cheered for the other and they did their best. Isabel took the gold, Angolina the silver and Greta the bronze for the most moves and  for creativity. I pointed out that Isabel is going into 4th grade and everyone else is going into 2nd grade so she's had more time to practice. In two years when they are her age they will be even better at their talent, whatever it may be.

They split into teams of two for the obstacle course race which included jumping rope, hula hooping, crawling through a tunnel, kicking a ball, walking the balance beam and stacking inner tubes on their

teammate. Peyton and Isabel came in first with a count to 46.

It was time to make our medals. The craft table was covered in glue, glitter and paint by the time we were done but they turned out great.

With the time we had left the girls decided together to play in the fort downstairs. I thought it would be a quiet game of house or school but it was good guys vs. bad guys with a "lair" and lots of screaming. That is a really good way to damage your hearing....just put six girls into an enclosed space to run wild!

Looks like Greta is in trouble

After a few minutes of chalk drawing and taking our final picture with the medals, our time was up. It's hard to believe we only have three Fridays left and then school will be starting.

See you next week!