Week 5, Day 1 - The legs

Today we discussed the topic of personal strengths and how everyone has different things that they are good at.  We had a small group of just 4 girls today.  These girls were good at many things! 

Esha can twirl a hula hoop on her arm twice as many times in 30 seconds as she thought she could.

She also showed us how she can hop on one foot, and hula hoop.

Sanjana can jump rope backwards!

She also can twirl the hula hoop on her arm, and hula hoop.

Katie hopped on one foot for an entire 30 seconds...

She can also do jumping jacks and push ups.

And, Bailey zipped around the tree 8 1/2 times in 30 seconds!

She also showed us her hoop twirling skills and did sit ups. 

The girls had fun choosing activities they were good at, and estimating how many of that thing they could do in 30 seconds.  I think everyone beat their estimate every time.  We talked about all of the other things that they are good at, whether it be reading, doing math problems, etc.  They all have so many strengths.

After our estimating game the girls did a bit of work in their journal.  They wrote about 3 things that surprised them about themselves today, and 3 things that they learned about their team.  We didn't do much running today, the estimating game was their workout for today other than one warm up jog. 

Wednesday we have something fun in store...see you then!

Week 4, Day 2

Today we reviewed our nutrition talk.  We talked about how fruits and veggies provide vitamins and minerals that keep our body running and help our brains develop.  It sounds like a lot of the girls really put some effort into eating 5 fruits & vegetables each day!  We reviewed our MyPlate for those who missed Sunday, and went into more discussion about the benefits of fruits and vegetables, and the importance of eating many diferent colors of these foods.  The different colors have different functions:

• Red - Healthy Heart
• Orange/Yellow - Healthy Eyes
• Green - Healthy Tummy
• Blue/Pruple - Healthy Brain
• White - Healthy immune system

The girls drew their own food rainbows in their journals, showing all the fruits & veggies of various colors that they like.  I was impressed with how many fruits/veggies they wanted to draw, and how in demand the only two green pencils were! 

After journals we played a short game to reinforce the various colors of the foods and their benefits.  The discs represented the various fruits, and when I yelled out a function such as "Healthy Eyes" the girls ran to grab the appropriate colored disc until each team had a full collection of healthy food choices.

After the game, it was time to run!  The goal for today was 8 laps, or two miles.  I can't believe our race is just two weeks away, this has gone by so fast!

Week 4, Day 1 - The Belly

Today's lesson was focused on nutrition.  We discussed the five basic food groups, and MyPlate.  Most of you probably remember the food pyramid, but the pyramid has changed to a plate in order to help us think about healthy food choices and how they relate to our daily meals.  You can learn more about MyPlate here.  We talked about making healthy food choices, and the importance of eating fruits and vegetables.  We set a goal for the girls to eat 5 fruits & vegetables every day until our next meeting! 

After our discussion, the girls drew a picture in their journals about what their own "MyPlate" would look like. 

After the journal we played a fun game.  We had a backpack filled with weights to represent foods that provide zero nutrition for us, and weigh us down.  One girl wore the backpack at a time, and they ran down the basketball courts and back.  Each girl had a chance to run with the weighted pack.  The rest of the girls carried colored rings to symbolize items from our MyPlate that are good for us.

It was a lot of work running with the weighted pack!  The girls much prefered the MyPlate food items when running.  Lets hope they remember that when they choose what they eat this week!

Today was supposed to be an easy running day, but these girls were begging to run more!  So, we let them run for as long as we could before we stopped for snack.  We will finish out the belly week on Wednesday with another related game, and a 2 mile run.

Week 3, day 2 - Practice Race!

What a fun day today!  The girls were absolutely amazing out there.  Each and every girl ran 3 miles today!  I think everyone completed 12 laps in 45 minutes or less.  They were so determined, excited, and proud.  We really enjoyed watching them.  The official race is going to be no problem at all for our Dashing Dolphins!

Having a couple of Dads out there today was a big help...thanks Dads!

Thanks to the big brothers (and little sisters) for joining us also :)

The girls ran...

And ran...

And kept such positive attitudes the entire time...

The girls all received their race shirts today, and did a bit of celebrating after their runs were complete!

Could these girls be any cuter?! 

Looking forward to the official Mermaid race on February 11th!!



Week 3, day 1 - Service Project!

The weather teased us today, but thankfully we were able to complete our entire meeting with no issues.  The girls did some running today, and we played a few of our running games.  But, the main focus was putting together our service project.

The girls really worked hard to make nice cards for the soldiers.  They put a lot of thought into them, and they came out beautifully.

Everyone also brought such great care package items!  We were able to stuff two boxes.  One will be shipped to the USS Sterrett which is currently deployed, and we're working on getting in touch with another ship to receive the second box.  I can only imagine the smiles on the soldiers faces when they receive all the fun cards and goodies.

We worked a little bit today on pacing ourselves.  Coach Karin ran one lap at a slow pace, and the goal was for all of the girls to be done before her.  They could sprint and walk if they wanted, or just run at a slower more consistent pace.  They did great!  They all ran the entire lap.  Go dashing dolphins!

We have one professional runner on our team...pretty sure the coaches will not be able to keep up with her in the official race...

Wednesday is a big day.  We will be doing an entire practice race out at the park.  And the end of the race, the girls will get their race shirts!

Week 2, Day 2

We started our day today with a quick review of our positive talk, and then dug right into our first activity...letters from Siren!  The girls wrote a letter to themselves as if they were Siren (the one who sends us negative messages). 

They had a bit too much fun with this...but...after we let them share some of the messages they got to destroy those negative letters.  They shred them to pieces and then threw all of those negative thoughts into the trash...whew!

And then...time to get moving!  We started with some suicide drills...

Then did some stretches...

And then we ran!  The girls ran for 15 minutes today.  They wanted to keep going!  I'm excited for next week when we'll do a full practice (3 mile) run!

To finish out our day the girls wrote a letter to themselves in their journals as Mermaidia would write to them.  This was their chance to demonstrate what they had learned about positive self talk.  We felt much better after this one than the one from Siren!

Thanks girls, see you Sunday!

Week 2, Day 1 - The Heart

To start off our meeting today we did a team activity.  The girls did some role play about having a bad day.  They paired up and acted out scenarios of difficult days, and then offered each other encouragement.  They then took turns coming up in front of the group and re-enacting their scenarios.  Such a compasionate group of girls! 

Up next was the "Pat on the Back" activity.  The girls traced their handprints on a plate, and then passed it around so that each girl could write something nice about them.  The girls can keep these plates as a reminder of how special and amazing they are. 

And then, time to run!  The girls did an easy lap to warm up, along with some stretches and their favorite inchworms. 

Next they did two laps of easy running, followed by laps with sprints, and then two laps of easy recovery.  Many girls kept on running as we waited for everyone to finish.  We had girls run as many as 10-12 laps today! 

To finish out the meeting the girls wrote in their journals.  Today they wrote about their 5 proudest moments in their life.  This was easy for some, challenging for others, but they all completed the activity. 

We also brainstormed our service project that we'll be doing next Sunday.  We have some good ideas, so we'll make a final decision and let everyone know on Wednesday what (if anything) the girls will need to do to prepare and/or bring to our next Sunday meeting.

See you all Wednesday!