Tuesday January  25th, 2022

Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash

Today happens to be...Opposite Day

How can you celebrate opposite day?

• Wear your left shoe on the right foot, and the right shoe on the left foot
• Wear your clothes inside out or backwards
• But socks on your hands instead of feet
• Walk backwards
• Eat dessert first
• Write your name backwards
• Any more ideas?

Check-In - 5 Minutes

What did you have for dinner last night? What changes or upgrades have you made to your work space to make it safer?

Show and Share (5-10 min)

Have you ever taken part in a civic observance or taken part in an advocacy day? Share your story or photos from the event or date.

Thematic Activity 01 (10-15 min)

Thinking about our communities. 

• What is your city proud of or known for?
• Can you think of any landmarks?
• Is there a particular food the city is known for?
• A special person?
• Share ideas in the chat or on a white board.

After the group has brain stormed together imagine this screnario- A new person has joined Hope Services and it's their first day in your city. They came a long way and just moved last week. It's your job to show them around town. Lot's of fun right?! What items on the list that you created earlier in the group would you talk about or show the new friend?

• Which locations would you prioritize?
• What means of transportation would you take?
• Where would you have lunch or take a break?
• What things would you talk about first?
• What area's of town would you warn them about?
• How creative can you get with this scenario? Share thoughts!

Thematic Activity 02 (10-15 min)

There are many public calendars that help us participate in our communities. Did you know that your city council has a calendar of public meetings? Your local community center also has a calendar. So does your library and the parks department. 

PRESENTERS: chose 1-3 items as a group and share screen to demonstrate the process of an internet search. Then navigate to the calendar and look at what is coming up. Note that during Covid the calendars are sparse or things have moved online.

Choose one or more of the following calendars to look up. Anyone who is good at using the internet can help presenters find community calendars. Can you identify any important discussions or community decisions that are listed in the calendars? 

• City Council public meetings
• Local college events
• Library
• Community Center
• Theatre
• Parks Department

Skills Focus (5-10 min)

Changing an inspiration into an action requires planning. Read about the following situation and figure out a good plan for Jodi.

Jodi uses a wheelchair. While watching the local news they heard that the city council is going to vote on a whether to let businesses put wheelchair ramps far away in the backs of buildings because it saves money. Jodi is upset because the handicapped parking spaces are all in the front of the buildings and it would be very tiring to have to wheel the chair all the way around  buildings just to get inside. The city council is having two public meetings to hear what people think. One of them is during Jodi's work day. The other one is at the same time as their music lesson. 

1. What kind of planning does Jodi need to do to be able to go to that city council meeting and give their opinion?
2. What might Jodi need to cancel or reschedule to go to that important meeting?
3. Why is it important that Jodi go to that meeting?
4. Can you share a recent time you had to reschedule or when someone had to reschedule on you? How did that feel? Was it hard or easy?

What did we learn today?

What are we doing this afternoon? 

Wednesday January 26th, 2022

Photo by Guilia Gasperin from Unsplash

Today happens to be...Australia Day

Intrested in learning a bit more about Australia's popular traditional food? Check this out.

Check In — (5 min)

Share with the group (5-10 min)

We often feel stressed out when we don't have control or information about how our time will be spent. Can you share a time when you felt stressed out because someone else was deciding everything and you didn't have a say? How can we advocate to get a say in how our time is used?

Body Break (5 min) MOVE IT DRINK IT ROCK IT move that body!

Thematic Activity 02: Planning For Health Challenges  (10-15 min)

Challenges to health are usually conditions we have like allergies, asthma or diabetes. These are things that don't really ever go away. Doctors call this a "chronic" condition. (If people want to share conditions they find challenging that's fine but only talk about your own, not someone else's)

If you happen to have a chronic condition you can manage it best by being a smart planner. If you don't have such a condition there is probably someone in your life who does and it helps to understand what they need to manage it. 

Review these slides. 

See if you can identify the things that require planning for a chronic condition.

Presenter Note: Use the PRESENT button in the upper right to make the slides fill the screen. ESC key will close presenter view.

People with chronic conditions also need to think about their schedules a lot. They often have more doctor visits and pharmacy errands than others and can't always participate in everything they would like to. For each condition, can you name something that person should probably avoid?

• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Chlorine allergy
• Pet allergy
• Narcolepsy-a disorder that causes one to fall asleep suddenly in the middle of doing things

<Body Break - let it be, make it free>

Number #1 Alternative Music Song

Did you know on this day back in the year 2000, the number 1 song was by blink 182? Popular Hit called All the Small things! Check out this lyric video. 

Covid Mitigation Moment (5 Minutes) 

We have spent a lot of time on ways to keep COVID-19 contained. It's more important than ever to review simple ways we can all help with battling Covid. This is a potentially serious illness and many people have died of it. It is our community duty to do everything we can to protect one another. 

Social Distancing 

Want to know two easy ways to protect yourself and those around you? Practicing social distancing and wear a cloth face covering when around others.

Social Distancing Explained

Skill Builder Activity (5-10 min)

Challenge oursleves!

Challenging ourselves to learn something new or trying something new has mental health benefits. It helps build up our wisdom when we do certian activities with purpose. 

Here are some ideas:

• Try yoga- look for an app that you can add to your phone or some youtube videos of yoga
• Take on a DIY Project at home or a project you can do along with peers in your group on zoom 
• Try a new Recipe every week- Many videos and articles online
• Listen to a new podcast- they are just like the radio!
• What other activities would you like to take on?

______________________________

What did we learn today? 

______________________________

What are we doing this afternoon? 

Thursday January 27th, 2022

Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash

Today happens to be...Chocolate Cake day

Cake a brief history

Check In - 5 mins

Show & Share - (5-10 mins)

Planning things we want to do for others. Can you remember a great surprise, gift or outing that you planned for someone else to express your appreciation? When did someone surprise you with something that took a lot of planning? 

Thematic Activity 01: Planning to Ask for Change (10-15 min)

When we want something to change, and someone else has to make that change with us, or sometimes for us, it can be hard to ask. But that is what self-advocacy means. Like our muscles, we get stronger at advocating for ourselves by practicing. 

Watch this video about the 5 steps for self-advocacy. 

• Discuss the 5 steps. If your group is up for it, you can do a practice session about an issue someone in the group wants to solve. Help the person figure out how to do the 5 steps for their situation.

<Body Break> Make it a good one.

A tribute:

Did you know that today is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day?

What do you know about the Holocaust? Have you heard of it before? You may remeber seeing books and movies about this. Before checking out the link, see who may have some information about this. After, take the time to explore this webiste with many resources from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 

Thematic Activity 02: Planning to Protest (15-20 min)

• There have been a lot of protests that are sometimes called "civil unrest." That's a fancy way to say people are not happy with what is happening in their community and won't cooperate with leaving it the same. 
• You are an important part of your community. What happens in your community affects you every day. You have the right to be one of the people saying how things should be in your community.  

Aden is a caring community member too. They are angry. Last year the mayor took money away from the parks department for a parking garage to make money for the city. That money was supposed to make the parks accessible and now it's gone. People with wheelchairs and walkers can only go in a few small areas of the parks in town. The mayor wants to build another parking garage. Aden and their friends want to protest at the mayor's office and get that money for the parks instead. 

Use the information below to help Aden make a plan for their protest. For a protest to work it helps if the news reports about it.

• It is summer time and very hot outside
• Many of the people who want to protest can't walk around or stand for long 
• There is a short time when the mayor will see them as she walks from her car, but she will hear them inside the building

1. What should the protesters wear and bring with them?
2. How can they make sure people know WHAT they are mad about?
3. What can the protesters do to show that a lot of other people agree with them? 
4. How can the protesters get the news to report about their demands?
5. Do the protesters have to be careful in any way?

<Body Break> Do your bod a solid

Skill Builder 

Slogans and Affirmations

Look at these personal slogans and affirmations that people use to inspire themselves. When we have to advocate for ourselves, ask for change, or take on anything that is kind of scary, it helps to have a slogan we believe in to remind us we can do it. 

• Do you have a slogan or affirmation? If not, try some out and see which ones make you feel ready to go!

____________________

What did we learn today? 

__________________________________

What are we doing this afternoon? 

Friday January 28th, 2022

Photo credit: Bianca Ackermann on Unsplash

Today is happens to be...Data Privacy Day

Friday Tech Tip - 5 mins

Do you ever run into audio issues during a zoom meeting? Learn how to test audio during a zoom meeting. If there is enough time, practice as a group on audio issue problem solving in action.

This slide show tells how to test audio in Zoom.

Presenter Note: Use the link to show people where the TEST audio option is in ZOOM. You don't have to go through the whole show unless your group finds it helpful. You can just show where things are located and explain that troubleshooting is a technical skill we can learn with practice. 

Check In - Show & Share (5-10 min)

What Did You Like Most This Week? - 10 Mins

What about this week did you find the most interesting? What about this month? This is the final week  of January in 2022. We've discussed a lot this month, what are some things you are curious about and what do you want to learn more about?

Presenter Note: Review this week's topics. Ask participants what they enjoyed most about the week and if they are looking forward to exploring February's topic. What are they hoping to learn more about?

Body Break - 5 mins

Interesting and Complex Anatomy of a Sneaker

Shoe manufacturing accounts for roughly one-fifth of the fashion industry’s carbon emissions. Sneakers alone generate 313 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of 66 million cars. Take a look at this video that takes a deeper dive into the sneakers carbon footprint.  

Friday Fun: 15 mins

Babies are so funny.

Laughter is the best medicine

Use this one as a <BODY BREAK> to dance to--if you can read Spanish you can sing along. 

Spanish Animated Pop Song

Do you have a SQUISH on someone?

Romance is fun and having a CRUSH on someone is great. But there is another kind of crush you can have that is "platonic." That means you're not interested in being boyfriend/girlfriend-like, but you just really like them—A LOT! It's called a SQUISH. Learn about what a squish is and see if you've ever felt that way about someone. 

PRESENTERS: one way to support client choice is to teach language to describe things in more and different ways. Explain that the word SQUISH describes something people often experience and it's good to have a word that explains liking someone a lot but not romantically.

DRONE Tours

It's expensive to rent a helicopter to see interesting sites. But you don't have to have money to fly high and investigate cool places. Take these DRONE tours and see for yourself.

Mokuluka Island - Oahu

Amelia National Drone Tour (golf)

Santorini Island, Greece

Rome, Italy

South  San Jose

Monterey County Back Roads

____________________________

What did we learn today? 

__________________________________

What are we doing this afternoon? 

Need some help deciding on an afternoon activity?

Spin the Activity Wheel!  

The activities are numbered. These numbers corrospond to brief activity descriptions listen in the linked document below. 

Activity Wheel Details