Welcome Back Meeting House Juniors!

Welcome to Meeting House Juniors!  I'm thrilled to report that our first class was a huge success.  It was so nice to welcome back our returning members Stella and Gerry and to welcome our new friends, Avery, Jack and Lucy, to our group.  We are also excited to have a new high school volunteer, Sarah, joining us each week. The kids did a terrific job cooperating and playing together this afternoon and Sondra and I are looking forward to a wonderful year of Fun, Friendship and Community in our Juniors program.

We started off with snack and hangout allowing the kids to regroup after a long day at school. We encouraged them to talk to one another and practice conversation skills. Then we started to play! The kids created and decorated personalized name spots that they will use regularly during our program time to allow them settle in and get to know each other. They used a variety of stickers and drew pictures with crayons and we talked about how each name spot told their friends something about who they were.

We moved to the music room and played a quick name game and get to know you game. Using a beach ball with questions written on it, kids were able to talk about themselves and answer questions about themselves so their friends could learn more about them. We talked a lot about how important it is to get to know friends in order to build relationships with each other.

We also explained that at the Meeting House, we have some things that are choices and some things that are "Have To’s"

We reviewed our first day of "Have To’s" during our Kite Club. Using the Potato Head characters each of your children brought home today, we discussed our most important "Have To:"

Give 5 When at TMH:

This refers to using the following when in a group.

1.  Eyes-we will show we are part of a group by looking at the person talking or looking at the person we are talking to

2.  Ears-by listening and answering, we show we are using our ears.  

3.  Mouth-we will use our mouth to answer questions when asked and we will also keep our mouths closed when our friends are talking.

4.  Hands/Feet-we will show our friends we are listening by having quiet hands and feet.  

5.  Heart-we will show our friends we are using our heart by caring about what they are talking about. We will try and ask questions and not use mean words when they are talking.

We ended the afternoon with a movement activity:  Freeze Dance!  Every time the music paused, the kids had to shout out an answer to another get to know you question.  

Next week we will begin to discuss different feelings using Emojis! We have a lot great activities planned for next month including a craft project and a Bingo game!  

Can't wait to see the children again soon!