Tag Archives: girlstart literacy
After they went to the play…
The girls went to Doodle Cakes to decorate (& eat!) cupcakes of their own.
The girls meet the cupcake lady: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttrwnB1EdzE
The girls make chef hats (cause you’ve gotta have a chef hat…): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuxRn6VCqCw
Getting the frosting flowing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlwlAnmYWZk
Eating the cupcakes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR5IFwBYjNk and eating some more… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlkcuKg2r9I
After they read the book…
The girls went to PINKALCIOUS at the Rose. Here they are on the set. “We didn’t get our picture taken with Pinkalicious, but we did get to go to her house.” – Taylor
It’s Pink Week!
Ms. Mara reads Pinkalicious to kick off Pinkalicious Week for the GIRLStart girls.
1st: Ms. Mara reads the book.
2nd: the girls write advice letters to Pinkalicous
3rd: (tonight!!!) the girls go to see Pinkalicious on stage at The Rose
4th: Tomorrow (!!!) the girls go to Doodle Cakes for a cupcake party.
Be on the lookout for video clips from Pinkalicious Week. You know they’re coming…
A Quiz for you…
Neither of the girls in this video clip has been to kindergarten yet. One of the girls, however, has been in the GIRLStart program at Girls Inc. for a full school year. Her language development over the course of the past year is amazing. She has also developed great skills in alphabet recognition and writing. She is beginning to sound out words – decoding! Can you tell by listening to their oral speaking skills which girl has been with us for one year and which girl just started? Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWl8LIbG5bU
The good news is that ALL of our pre-k girls will be able to great progress in GIRLStart. Next year, (spolier alert: the newest Girls Inc. pre-k member is Jamila!) Jamila will be talking a mile a minute, too. Watching her progress day by day and month by month is an exciting process.
Just in case you aren’t convinced, here is some more of Fatuma (nicknamed “Famo”) dominating the conversation. And we mean that in a good way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdPEtMDq6nA
A lucky winner!
Ariyah won one of the books raffled off at the GIRLStart parent sharing night. We raffled off 3 copies of Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse – the same book we used for the evening’s read aloud activity.
Snackalicious Every Day!
If I were president….
GIRLStart Parent Sharing
Last night was Parent Sharing for the GIRLStart literacy program.
Girls read poetry written in the class. Ms. Mara did a read aloud of Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku3XR0XVXC4) and then each girl (and some of the moms!) decorated her own purse. Ms. Tess, GIRLStart coordinator, had a slide show of the semester’s GIRLStart activities and Ms. Kim, our evaluator, did some one-on-one parent meetings to discuss classroom progress.
Sister 2 Sister
I love the Sister 2 Sister peer mentoring program at Girls Inc. Teen and pre-teen girls volunteer to “mentor” our younger girls in programming, such as our GIRLStart Literacy classes, and also with to help them with life skills. A teen will be paired with a younger girl in the cafeteria to talk to her about her day and to help her with cafeteria etiquette. She might teach a younger girl how to use her utensils, how to use an ‘indoor’ voice, or encourage her to try new foods. The teens also help prepare program supplies and then help the younger girls with their craft projects when the time comes to apply glue or use scissors – new skills for our kindergarten and pre-k girls. Teens will be paired for read aloud with a younger Reading Buddy. Sister 2 Sister was a program initiated by the teens themselves and is supported by the Fund for Omaha through the Omaha Community Foundation. – Tess Larson
PS: In the photo below, Dae is helping get supplies together for a GIRLStart parent sharing night. She’ll help the younger girls decorate their own purses after reading Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse.
It takes a village…
…made of refrigerator boxes to get the GIRLStart girls in a major league design mode. They LOVED creating their own neighborhood and setting the house rules themselves.
A shout out to Nebraska Furniture Mart for the great boxes.
Mariah & Aqila Design their own house
