We started out by talking about what role models are and why its important to have role models. Each girl was asked to think of a role model in her life and write down four characteristics about her that she admires. Some of these characteristics were:  kind, smart, determined, humorous, modest, brave, honest, happy, encouraging, loving, mature, understanding, friendly, successful, a good leader, creative.

Some of the characteristics that came up the most with each girl were: kind, smart, honest, and loving. For our warm-up the girls played a game called The Role Model Blob where one girl would walk up to another and state what positive trait she was bringing her. Then the two girls would walk to a third and state another positive trait they were bringing, then the three girls would walk to a forth, etc. In the end all girls were part of a blob of positive influence.

For the workout the girls used the four characteristics they defined at the beginning of the lesson. Each characteristic was written down on a sticker, and as the girls ran around the track in a relay they’d add a sticker with a characteristic written on it to a baton before passing it on to the next girl. At the end of our lesson we had a baton covered with tons of great positive characteristics! The girls were challenged with running three miles as a group during this relay, and they did it! Together as a team they worked together to accomplish a goal and also learned about passing traits from one girl to the next. Ask your daughter “What traits do you have that you’d like to share with others?”

To didn’t run as much as usual today since the majority of the lesson would be spent working on the community project plans. The girls ran laps for a bit to get warmed up, but then came back to the group circle to discuss the community project. The girls were split into small teams and each team had to brainstorm and present their favorite community project idea. The challenge for the community project is that it is something that has to be completed in one session at the normal GOTR meeting spot.

The girls came up with 3 or 4 ideas per group, presented their favorite idea to the other groups, and then voted as a team on their final project. The projects will vary from site to site based on what the girls have decided to do. Ask your daughter what her community project idea will be next week, and what other ideas she had to help her community!

We started out by asking the girls if they knew what a “movement” is and if they knew what the “green movement” is. Did they think that Girls on Track was a movement? Most said no, although after pointing out how some girls encouraged others to sign up the following season showed that the effect GOTR had on them lead them to affect someone else’s life. The girls started out trying the group circle-sit challenge. The girls had to get in a tight circle and all sit at the same time. Hopefully one would support the other in the chain. We made a few attempts and weren’t completely successful, but the girls had fun giving it a try.

For the warm-up we played “Green Tag”. The girls got to run around until a coach yelled GREEN and a body part. As soon as they heard the word GREEN they had to stop an touch the called out body part to another living thing such as a plant or person. For our workout we played a game that armed the girls with a variety of green tips. There were nine tips total that the girls exchanged as they passed each other around the track. After the lesson was over we let the girls take these home so they could remember them and share them with others.

1. Anytime you and your friends can safely walk or run somewhere instead of taking a car, you should!
2. Is there a new book or magazine you want to read? Check it out from your local library instead of buying it on your own.
3. Use your Girls on the Run re-usable water bottle instead of buying plastic bottles of water. Encourage your friends and family to do the same!
4. If you go to the grocery store with your mom or dad, ask them to bring a cloth or reusable bag to carry groceries instead of plastic bags. 
5. “Green” your gifts! Instead of using store-bought wrapping paper to wrap presents, use recyclable brown bags and decorate them yourself. You can even use a cute scarf to wrap a present.
6. Don’t let the water run when you are brushing your teeth. Every little bit helps!
7. When you are doing homework or taking note in class, use BOTH sides of the paper.
8. Use your MySpace or Facebookpage to share “green” tips with your friends!
9. Have a younger sibling? Be a good role model and teach them some of these “tips” – educating others is one of the best things you can do for the environment!

When viewing an ad the girls were instructed to ask themselves the following questions:

• Who created this message or picture?
• What is the purpose of this message or picture?
• How might different people see this message differently from me?
• What information are they leaving out?
• Is this a healthy message for girls? Why or why not?

The girls were split up into groups and each group received an ad and a sheet with the questions above. It was interesting to see which ads the girls thought were healthy or not. Next time you’re looking through a magazine you should stop and ask your daughter to answer these five questions above about the ad. You might be surprised by what she sees in it! 

For the workout the girls focused on interval training. They were challenged with running one lap as fast as they could without stopping. They could then stop and take a break before trying again. Each time a girl stopped she was asked to write down one word that described a strong woman. After the girls completed their laps we shared the words the girls had written down in the group. Its important for the girls to understand what defines a strong women, and to keep in mind thet part of being a strong woman is knowing what you believe and being able to see through the messages that we see each day on TV, in magazines, on billboards, etc.  Ask your daughter five ways she defines a strong woman. Are they similar things that you would say?

We started out by talking to the girls about “community” and asking them to describe what they think community means. The girls started out with a trust exercise where a circle of girls would support a free-falling girl in the center. Together as a team the outside girls were able to protect the inside girl.

For the warm-up the girls had to run a relay in pairs with one girl each time acting out a disability while the other girl ran with her by her side. The girls went one by one and ran as a girl who couldn’t use her right leg, a girl who couldn’t see (with a blindfold) and a girl who had to crawl to get across the field. After this exercise we asked the girls how they thought they worked together as  a team to get across the field. How did this relate to community? Could they think of a situation in their community where some members need help?

It is important for the girls to understand that we all have strengths and weaknesses, and while its important to knjow what our own are, its also important to recognize other strengths and weaknesses so we can all help each other. For the  workout the girls were aksed to run around the track while thinking about things that they are grateful for. They also had a chance to start thinking about community project ideas for the community project that we will execute next week.

Ask your daughter how she, as an individual thinks she can improve the community. What are some small things she can do everyday? What are some bigger things she wishes she could do?

These examples lead into the warm-up where the girls were asked to reword a negative statement into a positive statement before running one lap around the track. After each girl had run one lap we asked the girls what this statement had to do with changing our culture so that all girls feel strong, safe, embraced and connected. Could it be that approaching each situation with positive thoughts and positive talk could effect change? Could one girl’s positive energy affect another’s and help her become more positive as well?

The workout involved running around the track and stopping at one of six stations on the track which included instructions for a task which required a physical activity or a written challenge. The girls were assigned to work the various stations 1-6 while completing six laps. These stations were:

1. UNPLUG and PLUG IN – reach above your head and unplug from the negative chord and pop in the positive chord.
2. GRATITUDE is an ATTITUDE – write down one thing for which you are grateful.
3. KEEP A JOURNAL – Write something in the journal that you want to scream out to the world.
4. MEDITATE – Practice one of the breathing or relaxation techniques that you have learned for at least one minute.
5. OWN YOUR MISTAKES and LEARN FROM THEM – Take a minute to think about a time you made a mistake and write it down here.
6. DANCE – Take a few minutes and dance to your heart’s content!

After the girls completed their workout we brought them back together to look over the six actions from the six stations. How could these six actions help them unplug from the negative chord and plug into the positive chord? Could keeping a positive attitude, being grateful, expressing our feelings, taking time to think to ourselves, admitting our mistakes, and just taking time to be silly and have fun improve our lives? Could doing these things help us be the change we want to see in the world? Ask your daughter what she thinks she can do each day to help make the world the way she wants it to be.

The girls were instructed to do their best, try their hardest, to stay positive, and to keep moving forward during the whole sessions. If they were tired they could walk, but they needed to try to keep moving the whole time. The girls did a great job keeping themselves motivated, supporting their teammates, and showing us what it means to be a Girl on the Run!

At the very end of our session it was exciting to see that almost all of the girls had run further than they had ever run at GOTR/GOT before,  and for some girls this was the farthest that they had ever run in their life! To celebrate their accomplishment each girl was given a certificate of completion for the Girls on the Run Practice 5K. When she was brought up to receive her certificate she was asked to say one word that described how she felt at the moment.

Some of these answers were:

• accomplished
• happy
• refreshed
• exhausted
• proud
• good
• excited
• triumphant
• tired

We are so proud of all of the girls and what they have accomplished today! We have several more weeks in the season until our 5K, and hopefully now the girls have the confidence they need to go out there and have fun at the Sparkle & Shine 5K!

For the warm-up the girls got into a single-file line and we ran around the track with each girl in the back sprinting to the front while the rest of the group moved forward. Each girl one by one would run from the back to the front, and the challenge of the exercise was for the group to stay at a consistent pace that allowed the girl to get from the back to the front.

In our workout we tasked the girls with a team challenge. As a team the girls needed to individually cross off the letters in the statement “I work hard to be a good sport by being gracious even when I don’t agree with everyone”. Each time a girl came around the track she would cross off one letter on the poster. One by one the girls crossed off the letters, and by the end of our session we had crossed off the entire statement!  As a team, the girls accomplished their challenge and had won! Hopefully this lesson showed them that together they can achieve so much more than they can achieve on their own.

We started out by asking the girls what they thought about love and asked them to name the different types of love they have. The girls love their family, friends, pets, sports, to name a few. We then asked them what qualities they looked for in a friend and then asked them what qualities they looked for in a romantic interest. The girls were also asked to share the qualities that they possess they’d want someone else to recognize them for.

For our warm-up each girl was given four cards where she was asked to write down four qualities she believed would be important to have in a romantic relationship. The girls were then asked to number these 1-4, with 1 being the most important. The girls started out by running a reverse “ladder” where they ran for 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, and then one minute. With each lap they turned in one of their cards. In the end we had a great list of qualities!

1.  honest, trustworthy, kind, understanding, likes you for who you are, funny
2. nice, funny, trustful, caring, funny, smart, kind,
3. trustworthy, smart, athletic, fun to be with, energetic, funny, fun loving, encouraging,
4. energized, caring, optimistic, smart, athletic, outgoing, funny 

For our workout it was time to play a big game of tag! We started out by talking to the girls about the three main issues that girls their age might run into in a relationship:  physical and emotional abuse, lack of trust, and sexual pressure. Each of these three issues can hurt a girl’s overall health and happiness, and by having the confidence to communicate how she feels and the tools to try to change the situation, she can make sure that her health and happiness always comes first.

Each girl was given three “health and happiness” stickers which she put on her shirt. She was also given three “confidence” stickers which she carried. When we started running the coaches were taggers and could tag and freeze a girl and take her “health and happiness”.  A frozen girl had to stop and wait until a friend came along and gave her one of her “confidence” stickers. This game was a fun way to show the girls that while someone can come along and take away her health and happiness, but regaining her confidence she can become herself again and move forward in her life. Ask your daughter what qualities she thinks are important in a friend, in a boy, and in herself!

We started out by playing a game were one girl was designated “Energy Girl”. The team was given the challenge of running across the field as a group …. with everyone being in physical contact with Energy Girl the whole time. The team was powering her with their different types of energy! After a couple of tries the girls slowly made their way across the field and back. For their second attempt they were asked to try this again but much faster. The girls helped each other choose a location to ‘hold on with their energy’, and they were off! They made it across the field much faster this time as a uniform group.  The girls were then asked to think about what this challenge had to do with having enough energy to do everything they wanted to do in a day. Did they need energy from a variety of sources? Were there certain foods that they ate which made them feel like they had more energy?

For the warm-up we started off with a brief discussion of the five basic food groups: whole grains, vegetables, fruits, milk/dairy, and meats/beans. (Oils and fats are not considered their own food group and should be consumed sparingly.) The girls were all given cards which had these different food groups written on them and they were split up into two teams with an assignment of coming up with a dinner that contained an item from each of the food groups.

After creating the balanced dinners, the workout involved creating a balanced ”Human Body Recipe”. Each time the girls completed a lap they were given the name of one food that they had to assign to a food group. The object of the game was to get a food from each of the food groups. Once they had filled up their card with examples of different foods from the different food groups, they had to explain how each item powered a person. (For example milk helps create strong bones.) We ended with each girl going around in a circle and naming one food group that she would try  to do a better job of eating each day. Ask your daughter at your next meal what she thinks she should eat more of to become a more balanced Girl on the Run!