This season, Girls on the Run Greater Boston will post an overview of each week's lessons for families/guardians to follow along with their participants over the next 8 weeks. 

Girls on the Run 

Lesson 3: I Can! Power

In Lesson 3, the big idea was I Can! Power. This very special lesson introduced the season theme. Inside each Mountain Mover is I Can! Power – the confidence to believe in ourselves and do hard things. Throughout the season, each participant will learn about different GOTR tools to activate their I Can! Power so they feel more confident trying new things, taking risks, making mistakes, and sticking with something, even when it gets tough.

To introduce I Can! Power, we began practice with a visualization activity that allowed everyone to consider a mountain they wanted to move (like making a new friend or completing their first 5K) and how they could use their I Can! Power to move it! In the workout, we thought about how our I Can! Power has been with us since we were little and all the hard things we already know how to do. The GOTR Goal was: Try to activate your I Can! Power when something feels hard.

Questions and Conversation Starters

1. What is I Can! Power?

2. When does it feel hard to activate your I Can! Power?

Lesson 4: Happy Pace

In Lesson 4, the big idea was Happy Pace. We learned about the importance of pacing ourselves to keep going when things feel hard. We practiced finding our own happy pace – the pace that was just right for us, not anyone else – throughout the workout. Happy Pace is one of many GOTR tools we will learn and practice throughout the season to help us build stamina and endurance for the end-of-season 5K!

At the end of each practice, we reflect on how the GOTR tool we learned that day activates our I Can! Power and helps build our confidence to believe in ourselves and our ability to do hard things. We learned that finding our happy pace and pacing ourselves is one way to activate our I Can! Power. We wrote or drew one thing about this tool in our journals. Over time, our GOTR toolbox will fill up with what each team member has learned and will take with them after the season ends! The GOTR Goal was: Practice finding your happy pace as you move.

Questions and Conversation Starters

1. How did it feel trying to find your happy pace?

2. What does finding your happy pace have to do with your I Can! Power?

Heart & Sole (2x a week)

Lesson 3

The Big Idea for Lesson 3 was setting goals is SMART.  Today we taught girls to make SMART goals—the H&S way. In H&S, SMART is an acronym that describes how to set goals: a goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Rewarding, and there must be enough Time to complete it. The first Activity (to get a ball across the finish line) showed that even seemingly impossible goals are reachable with some planning and teamwork.

In the Workout, they set their first lap goals by making them SMART. Finally, in the Journal, they set a personal goal for the season in their Girl Wheel.

Their Take Home Challenge for this lesson was to work on their Girl Wheel SMART Goal.

Questions & Conversation Starters:

1. How can setting SMART goals help us reach our goals? (Share your thoughts or an example from your life.)

2. What goal did you set in your Girl Wheel? Can I help you?

3. Share some important goals in your life and how you’ve reached them, as well as obstacles you have encountered along the way.

4. KEEP MOVING: Set a SMART goal to train for the 5K using the Heart & Sole Tracker with your girl! For example, you can set a goal to move together for one day or for multiple days each week.

Lesson 4

The Big Idea for Lesson 4 was pressing pause helps us understand and manage our emotions.  Today, we focused on how girls experience emotions and that people might have different responses to similar situations. We also focused on how to deal with emotions in healthy ways. Girls learned how to handle potentially challenging situations by “pressing pause” and thinking through their reactions. Pressing pause, or stopping before responding, allows people to take stock of how they are feeling, better understand their circumstances, ask for advice if they need it, etc. In the Activity, girls learned how to handle potentially challenging situations by “pressing pause” and thinking through their reactions. During the Let’s Talk, girls identified some situations where pressing pause was or could have been helpful in their lives.

Their Take Home Challenge for this lesson was to practice pressing pause, especially in situations they usually don’t, and to see what happens.

Questions & Conversation Starters:

1. Tell me what it means to press pause.

2. What are times in your life when you most need to press pause? (Share examples from your own life.)

3. Why do you think two people might have a different emotional response to the same situation? (Share your thoughts and/or an example from your life.)

4. KEEP MOVING: Ask your girl to teach you how to do interval training (and get moving together)!

Heart & Sole (1x a week)

Lesson 2

The Big Idea in Lesson 2 was that we all have a Wheel. Last time, the girls learned more about Heart & Sole and the Girl Wheel. In the beginning of today’s lesson, they thought about who they are in relation to their Girl Wheel. Later in the lesson, they turned their view outward to other people’s Wheels and acknowledged other people’s feelings and needs are important to recognize and respond to. In the first Activity, they thought about things that help them know who they are by agreeing or disagreeing with certain statements (such as, I know what kind of friend I am; I am physically strong.). Before the Workout the girls put together puzzles of other people’s Wheels to signify that everyone really does have a Wheel. The girls then get to know the Wheel of one of their teammates on a deeper level as they complete the Workout with a Partner.  

The Girl Wheel focuses on developing self-awareness as well as empathy. During the season the girls will become more knowledgeable about their Girl Wheel and “add to their Wheels”—increase their competence in the different areas (Brain, Body, Social, Heart, Spirit) as they learn new skills. It will be exciting to see!

Their Take Home Challenge for this lesson was to see if you can find out more about the Wheel of the person you chose in your journal.

Questions & Conversation Starters:

1. Why do you think it’s important to know who you are? (Share your thoughts.)

2. What does it mean “everyone has a Wheel?”

3. Whose Wheel did you choose to learn more about? (Share something from your Wheel that your girl may not know about you.)

4. KEEP MOVING: Ask your girl to pick a movement activity from the Heart & Sole Tracker you can complete together this week!