Week 6 - Our last practice!

Today was our last practice before the race!  We started by talking a bit about the race and answering any questions the girls had.  They all seem very excited to run.

After talking about the race, the girls set their goals for race day.  They should have brought home a sheet showing their goal, and the steps they were going to take to achieve it.

After setting their goals, the girls traced their feet, and wrote their goal on that sheet of paper.  I'm going to take these to the race on Saturday, and there should be a place for them to hang along with all of the other Mini Mermaids.

I can't wait to run with the girls on Saturday!!

Week 6!

Today was our last Sunday meeting of Mini Mermaids.  These 6 weeks went fast!  We started by talking again about our Siren vs. Mini Mermaid messages.  A few of the girls had real-world stories to share with the group...mean boys at school, and some mean big brothers.  We talked about how we should handle those negative messages, the girls seem to have that down.

After our discussion, the girls got into groups of two, and I gave them each a scenario to act out.  One girl was Siren, and one was Mini Mermaid.  They are all such cute actresses.

After our stage performances, the girls did a couple of warm-up laps, we stretched, and then we did 4 sets of sprints.

After our sprints, the girls set out to jog.  We tried to get 6 laps in, but we ran short on time.  We finished up the running and worked on a journal.  The journal activity had the girls write down how they plan to stay active once Mermaids is over, set goals for the future, and write a sentence about something they will always love about themselves...all good things to think about!

See you Wednesday!

Week 5, Day 2

Today's lesson continued the concept of pacing ourselves while running.  We talked about strategies for pacing themselves on race day, even though they'll be excited and want to run fast from the start.   To reinforce this idea, the girls were put in pairs to run two laps.  On each lap one of the girls was to talk and tell stories to the other.  The idea being that if they can still talk, they are running at a good even pace.  All the girls said they were able to run and talk the entire lap.

After these two laps, some stretches, and inchworms, we did sprints!  The goal of this workout was to show the girls that they can be uncomfortable for a few seconds and it's OK.   The girls did about 6 sprints each, and then checked their heart rate to see how fast it was beating.

For our final activity, the girls did a journal activity to show themselves doing their favorite physical activity.

We have just one more week of lessons, we'll wind things down and prepare for the big race next week!
 

Week 5, Day1

This week focuses on body training, and teaching the girls that it's ok to push ourselves and feel some discomfort.  We also want to teach them how to pace themselves, and hold back from all-out effort so that they can sustain something for a longer period of time.

We taught the girls how to check their heart rate.  This way they can slow down if their heart rate gets to high in order to enable their bodies to sustain an activity for longer.

We then had the girls do various activities for one minute at a time, and then record their heart rate after each activity to get an idea for which activities made them work the hardest.

We tested jumping rope...

Dancing...

Hopping on one foot...

Doing inch worms...

Clapping...

Toe touches...

Jumping Jacks...

Skipping...

And Hula Hooping...

After each activity we had the girls measure their heart rate, and then they did a journal activity to record the highest and lowest heart rates, their favorite activity, and which was the hardest.

After the heart rate activity, the girls ran.  The goal was 8 laps today, but we ran short on time, and it was very cold, so I don't think most of them finished all 8 laps.  We will run again Wednesday!

Week 4, Day 2 - Food

The lessons this week dealt with food, and some of the issues that girls and women face whether it be eating too much, or not enough.  On Sunday, the girls learned what can happen to their bodies when they don't eat enough, and why their bodies need fuel to keep going.  They played a fun game of tug of war to demonstrate how not eating affects their ability to be strong.

Today the discussion continued, with talking about reasons why we may over eat, or choose food that isn't the best for us.  The girls talked about reasons why they may choose to eat bad food, and then alternative solutions to handle those issues that may arise.  They had many great ideas for ways to handle stress or uncomfortable feelings other than eating.

Today's activity had the girls practicing making complete, healthy meals.  There were plates laid out with all of the various food groups.  The girls were to each get a plate, and then group together to form complete, balanced meals.  They were very eager to grab their plates...

And they formed two healthy meals!  Good job girls!

After the game the girls ran 8 laps.  They are all doing great.  We have just 2 1/2 more weeks until the big race!

Week 3 - Practice Race!

We had another great Mermaid lesson today!  All of our mermaids completed 12 laps - just barely shy of what they'll run in the official 5K race.  Great job girls!

Thanks to all of the parents and siblings who joined us today, and helped keep those girls going!

Run girls, run!

Week 3 - Day 1 - Service Project

We gave the girls an assignment last week to go do something nice for someone else.  Today we spent the first part of our meeting talking about all the cool things the girls did.  Their good deeds included helping brothers with homework or Legos or making them cake pops, taking in neighbors trash cans, baking cookies for fire fighters, donating diaries to their sisters, bringing packs of gum to pet adoption workers, or volunteering to pet sit for friends  A few girls hadn't had a chance to do their nice deed yet.  We talked about how it felt to do something nice, and the great responses they got from the people they did nice things for.  Hopefully we can all continue doing nice things, and hopefully the recipients of our good deeds pay the niceness forward!

For our workout today, the girls did 5 laps of running.  As an extra part of the lesson, we talked about ways to get exercise when you aren't able to run.  So, in between the running laps, we had the girls do push ups...

Lunges...

Sit-ups...

And step-ups!

The point was to show the girls that you can find ways to get your exercise in even if your usual tools (such as room to run) aren't available.

At the end of the meeting, the girls wrote in their journal about their service project...what they did, and how it made them feel.

Up next...the practice race!  See you all Wednesday!