Tuesday March 15, 2022

Check In (5 min)

What did you do after program yesterday?

Today happens to be...Pears Helene Day!

Recap Yesterday:

What did you learn yesterday?

Thematic Activity: Affirmations

Using affirmations can help us keep our inner positive self talk! Affirmations drive a postive change in our thinking, career, and life!

• As a group, take a poll to see if anyone knows what affirmation means. If you need to, have a volunteer look up the definiton online. You can also search for videos that may help with understanding.
• After everyone has a clear idea about Affirmation's, think of places, objects, or situations where you may find affirmations written or used. You can use the white board feature to track down ideas.

Here are a few examples of when an affirmation can be helpful:

• Raise self-confidence before a presentation
• Control Negative feelings like fear, anger or impatience
• Improve Self-Esteem
• Finish up projects you've started
• Improve Productivity 
• Overcome a bad habit

What places or situations in your life do you think you may use affirmations?

Find some examples online as a group and use the few below for some inspiration:

•     I can do this!
•     I am successful.
•     I like completing tasks and projects on time.
•     I'm grateful for the job I have.
•     I enjoy working with my team.
•     I am resilient.
•     I am not afraid to stand up for myself.
•     I am proud of myself.

Client Led Exercise

Have a volunteer lead the group in some stretching

Show & Share (10-min)

 An adventure I went on: Sharing my journey. Some questions to consider while we share our adventures:

• Did your journey to that place take long?
• Were there speed bumps or roadblocks along the way?
• What did you learn while you went on this adventure?

Skills: Making Connections

Did you know that our values and morals we find important to our lives can change over time? It all depends on where we are in life or who we have in our lives. We are going to try to make some connection's today with our peers to see if we share the same values. If you need some examples, you can look at this image for some inspiration. 

Give an example of one of your values or morals that you hold true and dear to your heart. You can only pick one value. Give the group a few minutes to think about it. Remember that values are ideas or customs that you consider to be important. Answers will vary. Once everyone has had the chance to share at least once, you can repeat it again, saying other values. 

Body Break

Theme Review

What's the theme for the week?

What did we learn today?

Quick Fun Activity

Anyone in the space have a birthday in March? If so what is their zodiac sign? If you need to search google for the sign, just type in March Zodiac Sign. What are some common triats that this zodiac sign say's that may be related to a person you know who believes in their zodiac sign for march?

Wednesday March 16, 2022

Check In (5 min)

What are you grateful for today? 

Today happens to be...Artichoke Heart's Day!

Theme of the Week: 

What's the theme? What have you learned so far?

Thematic Activity: How to use self-talk daily

The other day we talked about self-talk and our inner voice. Have you used positive self talk yesterday or today? If yes, share with the group why you used it.

• What are some ways that you can increase the postivity of your inner voice?
• What strategies can you share?
• Create a list using the white board annotation option.

Below is a short list of  simple ways you can add positive self talk to your daily routine:

Don't fall for negative self-talk traps: You need to be able to identify negative thinking which usually falls into the following categories. 

• Personalizing: This is when you blame everything on yourself.
• Magnifying:  Here you would focus solely on the negative aspects of an experience or situation without acknowledging any of the positive. 
• Catastrophizing:  You always expect the worst. 
• Polarizing: With this type of thinking, there’s only “black” and “white” and no “grey” area. 

Treat yourself like you would a friend

• Be gentle with yourself and don't say anything to yourself that you wouldn't tell a friend.

Make self care a priority 

• Take time to do this daily, even if it's for a short time. Engage in activities that help your health and well being. 

Limit your exposure to negativity

• Avoid toxic friends or social media. Set up boundaries

Add other tips to this list!

Client Led Exercise

Have a volunteer lead the group in some light stretching

Show & Share (10-min)

Do you plan to wear green tomorrow?

Skills: Connections to live longer

We made a few connections with our peers with our other talk on values that are important to us. Another part of our life is living long and healthy lives. How can we as a group support each other and provide new connections or ideas to live longer?

• How can we practice strategies to assist us to mitigate bodily changes as we age?
• What are some ways to help our bodies while they change over time?
• Remember, everyone ages, and all our bodies are going to age with us, but we can use multiple ways to help our bodies age gracefully and keep our bones, joints, and skin safe.

Identify a few ways to keep our bodies healthy as we age (use sunscreen, stretch, stay active, get outside)

Body Break

Theme Review

What's the theme of the week?

What did we learn today?

Quick Fun Actvity

Do you like poetry? Listen to a short spoken word by Naima Penniman called "Being Human"

Thursday March 17, 2022

Check In (5 min)

What sorts of things are you creating right now? Do you have a garden? Are you drawing? 

Today happens to be...Saint Patricks Day!

Recap from yesterday!

What did you learn?

Thematic Activity 

Where would you start if you wanted to write and create affirmations? Would you start by brainstorming? Researching? Thinking? Talking with a friend?

• Before moving on to the next part, share with the group what you think you would do.

Affirmation statements usually target a specific area, behavior or belief that you're struggling with. 

• Can you think of an area of your life that you may find challenging right now? You can share with the group or keep it to yourself.
• If it helps, write down it down. 
• After you have pin pointed that area, review tips below, as a group.

The following points can help you to write the affirmation statement that best fits your needs.

• Think about the areas of your life that you'd like to change
• Make sure it goes with your core values.
• Be sure that your affirmatin is credible and achievable-but remember they are not magic spells. You have to believe in the affrimation.
• Turn negatives into positives
• Write your affrimation in the present tense. Why? Cause it will help you believe that it's already happening in the moment. It helps encourage you.
• Say it with feeling, you need to want this change to happen. The statement will mean a lot to you, since you will repeat it daily. 

Client Led Exercise

Have a volunteer lead the group in doing light exercise 

Show & Share (10-min)

Share your green colors if you are wearing green today!

Skills: Phonics letter S

The letter S is at the beginning and end of a lot of words. Seem's like a popular letter. Praticing your letter hunting skills on the second link below or practice your phonics skills on the first sheet.

What sound does the letter S make?

Look for the letter S

Body Break

Review theme

What have you learned so far with this week's theme?

What did we learn today?

Quick Fun Activity:

Two sheets below to get you thinking about Saint Patrick's Day!

Saint Patricks Day Multiplication

Saint Patrick's Day Word Scramble!

Friday March 18, 2022

Check In (5 min)

What is something that always makes you laugh? A movie? A youtube video? A joke? 

Today happens to be...Awkard Moments Day!

Review this weeks's theme

Thematic Activity: Creating a Super Hero to help with Positive Talk

Imagine that Marvel Productions had a super hero that can help other with their inner voice!  This super hero would help support people that need help when the inner voice is just feeling a bit negative. Using the skills and connections that you made over the past few day's, what strategies would this superhero use? You can use the white board to  keep track of the ideas.

After the team figures out which superhero they would create, use the questions below to add some more narrative to the super hero's life! Remember to use your imagination!

• What made this superhero a superhero? 
• Was there a specific event that gave this superhero powers?
• How did the superhero experience their transition into becoming a superhero? 
• Was it easy or difficult for them?
• Were they nervous about getting powers? 
• How is a superhero journey similar or different from our own personal transitions?

Client Led Exercise

5 minutes of light exercise!

Show & Share (10-min)

Who is your favorite superhero?  What makes this superhero so special? Does this superhero have any powers? What are they?

Skills: Shake it off-counting game

Purpose: Lift the energy of the group and practice  our counting skills.

As a group, players must count down from 8 while shaking out each of their limbs. The order of shaking our limb is right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg. If anyone is not able to shake one of the limbs, its okay, you can still count along with the group. You will count down from 8, then 7, then 6, etc. until they reach 1.

Heres how to do it as a group, count down out loud:

Right Arm: "8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" 

Left Arm: "8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" 

Right leg: "8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" 

Left leg:"8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" 

Right arm:"7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"

Left arm:"7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"

Right leg:"7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"

Left leg: "7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"

Right Arm: "6, 5,4, 3, 2, 1!"

Left Arm: "6, 5,4, 3, 2, 1!"

Right leg: "6, 5,4, 3, 2, 1!" ....etc. counting down from each number you left off on until you reached number one, since that is the last round.

Right arm: "1!"

Left arm: "1!"

Right leg:"1!"

Left leg: "1!"

You can also play Taylor Swift's song "Shake it off" during the activity.

 Body Break

Review the theme of the week!

What did we learn today?

Quick Activity

March is Women's History Month. One way we can honor this is by learning about the historical events in the United States that women fought for! Check out this video on this webpage and if you want to talk more about it, read the article.  (Please describe the visuals and text on the video since this video does not have a narrator.)

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