Girls Night Out, weeks 1 and 2

Last week, Girls Night Out started. It's one thing I really look forward to every week, and makes Mondays a little less "Monday." Start watching for Monday posts about GNO, in addition to other weekly(ish) posts. This is one  thing that's consistent every week, so I can almost guarantee a post a week will be dedicated to my Monday evenings with my girls.

Week one: The very first session is mostly getting to know each other. The volunteers meet each other, we briefly go over what to expect in the program with the adviser, we get to know the girls, and of course, the girls chat it up with each other. We made a "quilt" for the class for one of our ice-breakers. Each of the girls, including   us volunteers (my favorite part of the program is participating in the activities with the girls), decorated a square of paper. We had to write our name, and could decorate it to show our personality. When we were all done, the squares got put together into a quilt.

Our physical activity of the night was line dancing. The girls learned the Electric Slide, the Cupid Shuffle and one or two other moves.

Week two: This week's theme was goals, hopes and dreams. For the very first part of the night, we had a guest speaker. Miss Teen Wisconsin came in to talk to the girls about winning the pageant, and what it took her to get there. After explaining what the pageant was like, and how hard she had to work to raise the money herself and work towards her goal, she opened the floor to the girls to ask questions.

Then we broke into two groups for a small group activity. I was only a leader for one activity, so maybe next week I'll have more insight into the other small groups' work. The activity I was in charge of was to write a letter to themselves. The girls had to answer what a goal for themselves was for a week from now, two weeks from now, six months and a year. Some even went an extra step to add in a life-time or more long term goal. If there's one thing I've learned from last spring's session and tonight, it's that kids in this age have a very hard time answering questions about themselves on their own. They constantly ask what the right answer is or what they should put. I make sure the girls answer all the questions on their own, and make it clear that there is no right answer. Whatever they feel is the right answer. I do, however, help them if they're really stuck by asking them open-ended questions to start prodding them in one direction or another.

The girls did some more line dancing tonight, which I don't think they were too fond of. They didn't seem too thrilled to line dance in the first place, let alone doing it two weeks in a row. We did the Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle again and also learned Amy's Dance, which was to the Saturday Night Fever song. Just like last week, the volunteers enjoyed the Cupid Shuffle more than the sixth graders.