~ the upside of small ~

School vacations can often pose tricky planning for our programming. From the beginning, we've powered through, continuing to meet over breaks. This often results in lower numbers but, the upside is a more connected meeting with the girls. The more relaxed nature of a smaller group (well, sometimes!) lends itself to more conversations, insights and a better understanding of the girls, their processes and how I can work to fine tune the program to meet the needs of that particular group.

And the fun? Well, there's still plenty of that.

We worked with our games list to accommodate the smaller numbers (we had 5 girls in attendance). "Wink" was a popular one with them and they played rounds and rounds...and rounds of that one. Throw in a balloon relay where they invented a multitude of variations capped off by some art and I think it was called a good day by all.

Next up - week 5 where we will already be half way through...time flies!

~ refugee workshop ~

This past Tuesday, 11 girls opened their hearts and tuned into the plight of refugees for a couple of hours. In keeping with the tone of this subject, we kept this fairly low key (although the girls benefited from two initiatives that helped them understand the differences between migrants and refugees as defined by international law). They found empathy and connection through story and crafted messages of welcome and support with cards and posters that will be delivered to the New Mainers project next week along with generous donations given the day of the workshop.

Touching upon the fact that refugees bring many gifts with them that add to our delicious cultural mix, the girls had a chance to sample treats from the Middle East...

Given this was held during February vacation, we had more interest than ability to attend so we'll be offering this workshop again soon. So very glad the girls have their hearts into this.

~ rights of the child ~

Our 4/5/6 session is all about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child this time around, as well as team building and art (of course!). We like to do full on team building the first meeting (even though, in our small town, these girls mostly know each other) as the work we do asks of them a certain degree of comfort and openness with each other.

During our second meeting, we scaled back a bit on the team building games and added some collaborative art into the mix that we'll be building upon throughout the session...

Our third meeting found us delving into the convention itself through story (this one is so good for any child to have on hand) and some guided imagery as well as that well loved art component...

Week four of nine coming right up!

~ forest bound ~

This winter has found us exploring our own backyard - literally. So much to discover out there from woodpecker holes, critter caves, eagles in the sky, snow made slides, rabbit tracks, fairy houses...the list could go on and on.

I've been reading tons of  David Sobel and am loving the place based approach to learning. Some of this was already in place for us and some I'll be looking to add to our Heartwood programs. The philosophy of creating a love and appreciation for a subject before addressing it as an issue just clicks with me so deeply.

~ we march ~

The Women's March saw us at our state capital in support of human dignity as well as spreading the word on how young women and girls can be active participants in the process of ensuring all women and girls have their basic human rights protected...

Early on, our table become a spot for the small numbers of young ones attending to congregate and make signs and decorate some flags we had on hand. Young and old took time to look through our books on display and there was talk of having our Global Girls program venture into other communities around the state.

Best of all, these girls had a chance to stand with 10,000 people and see what advocacy and support look like up close and personal...so much love.