Girls Night Out:  Part Two

Our first Girls Night Out with 3rd and 4th grade girls was a success!  They enjoyed the pizza dinner and both girls and moms seemed to really connect to the movie.  We gave them about 5 minutes to talk over a few discussion questions with each other and it was really great to see them communicate about girl bullying issues and share personal experiences with each other.  There were a few moments of panic before we started as we discovered out sound system was only playing the music and background noises---not the characters voices!  With the help of our media specialist we eventually figured out to play the video with a different media player and that solved the issue.  Other than that slight glitch the night went off without a hitch! 

Girls Night Out:  Part One

The school year is off to a great start!  It's been a busy year thus far, hence the lack of recent posts, and I think I'm in desperate need of a Girls Night Out...so I decided to host one at my school!  I first heard of the idea to have a Girls Night Out with dinner and the American Girl Movie Chrissa Stands Strong on the discussion forum ASCA Scene and have read about it on a few blogs after that.  The movie tells a great story about a girl who is dealing with relational aggression.  I am teaming up with my school counselor sidekick, Stacey Rothaupt, from one of the other elementary schools in my district.  We are hosting the event at my school for 3rd & 4th grade girls and their moms (or any other adult female relative/family friend).  So far 32/60 3rd and 4th grade girls have signed up from my school!  I am so psyched for this event! 

Want to host this event at your school?  Read on to see how to prepare for the big night out!

Prep Work:

• Get the OK from your administrator and set a date
• Obtain rights to show the film outside of school hours---this cost us $100 for a one time showing, but splitting the cost between 2 schools helps
• Send home information and sign-up form 2 weeks prior
• Advertise every way you can---morning news show, show the trailer to the girls to get them interested, reminders in school newsletters, etc
• Write up and make copies of parent information sheets and discussion questions for the night of
• Send home reminders the day before the event
• Order food for the event---we chose pizza as a safe bet
• Set up movie and all necessary equipment

We are looking forward to providing the opportunity for discussion about relational aggression and for moms and their girls to share their experiences with each other.  I'll be sure to follow up and post about how this event turns out!