This month, Shannon led the meeting. It became evident right away that Shannon is a teacher!! Wow, I got some great ideas from her. After our opening prayers and handing out the badges from the month before, she had the girls sit on a big, comfy looking quilt. She asked the girls what courage meant. There were lots of hands going up to answer.
She then read the book, The Story of Ruby Bridges. This was an excellent example of courage and faith. I had never heard of Ruby Bridges before. Just briefly, Ruby Bridges was a 6 year old, African American girl during the 1960 who attended a New Orleans school after court-ordered desegregation. The book talks about the mobs of angry people that Ruby had to walk through each day. Wow, talk about needing courage. It also told of her praying for the people. The girls all seemed to enjoy the book.
After the story, Shannon handed out little smiley faces on popsicle sticks. On one side, the face was smiling with the word, courageous. The other side was a frowny face with the word, foolish. Shannon read several situations that they might encounter and the girls had to decide whether it was courageous or foolish. One of the examples was about peer pressure. Since I know some of our Little Flowers have been experiencing peer pressure lately, it was great having the idea of being courageous and doing the right thing reinforced.
It was then time for a craft. Shannon shared a bracelet that she was wearing that she had made. She said that it helped to remind her to be courageous. The girls then got to all pick out beads and make their own courageous bracelets. Before the girls got to work, Shannon hung a large list of ideas up of what they could do after they were done with their work. She had brought a bunch of books that they could read on courage. She also included some of the badge activities. It was nice to get a couple of the activities done before we even got home from the meeting.
This is my daughter's bracelet. She was so funny. It took her forever as she searched for all the animal beads and one flower. The girls definitely liked making the bracelets. Both of my daughters wore them to school this morning.
The meeting ended and the girls were able to play outside a little while. It's great when they can get outside and just have some free time to play. I think it really helps them to bond. Now it's on to getting everything ready for our big sleepover on Friday!!
