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 10: Sticking Up For Yourself & Others
The big idea for Lesson 10 was Stick Up for Yourself & Others. This is our first lesson in the season where we practiced using the tools we have learned to activate our I Can! Power to do hard things - to move mountains. In this lesson, we learned about the importance of sticking up for others, even when it’s hard. In our warmup, we thought about why you would stick up for someone versus what might keep you from sticking up for someone. In our workout, we practiced using our Stop & Take a Breather strategy to stick up for ourselves or others in different situations. The GOTR Goal was: Use your I Can! Power to stick up for someone or yourself.
[Insert council/site-specific information here.]
Questions and Conversation Starters
1. What did you learn about sticking up for others?
2. Tell me about some things that might make it hard to stick up for someone.
Lesson 13: Choosing Friends
The big idea for lesson 13 was Choosing Friends. We learned how to use our I Can! Power to choose our friends. In the first activity, the team explored what makes a good friend. During our workout, we thought about what someone might do or say to boost, test, or break a friendship. The
GOTR Goal was: Talk with a friend about their actions if they boost, test, or break your friendship.
[Insert council/site-specific information here.]
Questions and Conversation Starters
1. What is one thing that stuck with you about being able to choose your friends?
2. Let’s both share the name of one of our good friends and why we chose to be friends with them!
Heart & Sole (2x a week)
Lesson 10
The Big Idea in Lesson 10 was that friendship is a two-way street. Today’s lesson was about friendship—specifically what girls look for in a friend and what kind of friend they are to others. In the Activity, girls decided which characteristics are most important in a friend. During the Workout, girls identified friendship qualities about each other (such as honest, creative, patient, and funny). In the Journal, they tied it all together.
Their Take Home Challenge for this lesson was to think about their current friendships and how they would fit into today’s activities.
Questions & Conversation Starters:
1. What characteristics are most important in a friendship? (Share your thoughts.)
2. What does “friendship is a two-way street” mean?
3. What do you like about your current friendships? What do you wish was different? (Share an example or a story of friendship.)
Lesson 12
The Big Idea in Lesson 12 was that we can reduce our stress. Most adolescents deal with stress on a daily basis and often struggle with how to manage it. Oftentimes, it’s social relationships that cause the most stress for adolescents, but there are other areas that girls may find stressful. In the Activity, the girls played a balloon game that showed how stress can mount. The girls learned in the Workout about using physical-activity release for stress. In the Let’s Talk, the girls collaborated on ways to reduce stressors in life.
Their Take Home Challenge for this lesson was to try a new strategy or activity to lower stress.
Questions & Conversation Starters:
1. What are some things in life that stress you out? (Share some examples of your own.)
2. What are some ways to reduce stress? (Share some examples you use.)
3. How can we help each other at home with stress and reducing stress?
Heart & Sole (1x a week) 
Lesson 5
In Lesson 5, the Big Idea was we can get help and give help, especially in moments of stress. Most adolescents deal with stress on a daily basis and often struggle with how to manage it. Today's lesson focused on who to ask for help, how to give help, and ways to reduce stress in their lives.
In the first Activity, the girls played a balloon game that showed how stress can mount. During the Workout, girls partnered to complete a challenging course that gave them opportunities to give and ask for help. In the Journal, girls considered areas of their Wheels where they currently have support as well as areas where they should consider asking for additional help.
The Take-Home Challenge for this lesson was to ask someone they are comfortable with if they can help them with their stressful feelings and if they noticed someone else is feeling stressed, to ask how they can help them.
Questions & Conversation Starters:
1. What are some things in life that stress you out? What are some ways to reduce that stress? (Share some examples of your own.)
2. How can we help each other at home with stress and reducing stress?
3. Why is it important to ask for help when you need it? (Share examples from your life.)
4. KEEP MOVING: Talk about ways you can support each other at home, in the family and during physical activities!
