Danbury 'Girlz Rule' at Shelter Rock Elementary School

Press release:

DANBURY, CONN. — At Shelter Rock Elementary School, Girlz R.U.L.E. ® is helping to build strong girls through leadership and social skill building exercises.

Girlz R.U.L.E. ® (Respect, Understand, Lead, Empower) is a registered name for the program sponsored and led by Girls Scouts of America, a non-profit organization that benefits and promotes girls. From the end of September through October, girls in third- through fifth-grade at the school spend 45 minutes a week in the program that takes place during school. This is the program’s second year at the school. Several other elementary schools have also participated in the program and Morris Street School has used the program for the past seven years.

Some 35 third-grade students on an October morning learned about “Respect” and “Words to Live By,” printed on giant posters before breaking into four groups of eight and engaging in an ice-breaker exercise where they learned what they have in common with their group.

“Does anyone have a dog?” asked a GSA leader. Students with dogs ran to the leader, looked at each other and laughed before moving on to the next ice breaker. The next exercise involved tossing around a beach ball with the goal of keeping it off the ground. This exercise promoted skills of working together, listening and compromising.

“We give them rules, not directions,” said Michelle Crespo, who works with GSA. “We allow them to get the wheels in motion so they can make their own decisions.”

As a result of the program, each student’s circle of friends grows and incidents of negative behavior go down, said Donna Lellis, also of GSA. Lellis said the local Girlz R.U.L.E. ® is funded through the Perrin Family Foundation.

When the girls were done with their activities, they sat in a circle with their respective leader and select Chiji cards – picture cards used by educators. Students used the cards to reflect on their activities through metaphor.

“You sometimes hear things that are awesome,” said Crespo, such as comparing a picture of a rose to the fact that they are blossoming.

On this morning, one student held her Chiji card with a wrapped present on it and said that her reflection was that it feels like Christmas morning “because we are all having fun.”

Another student held up a card with a light bulb on it and said “we all had brilliant ideas.”

Third-grader Deborah Frois said that the program and activities help her feel like she’s not alone, and she is making friends more easily.

“It helps me not be shy,” said student Lexi Barton. “It helps me to just be more comfortable at school.”

Lellis said the goals are to help the girls appreciate each other’s differences and cut down on negative behavior by learning to respect each other. She said the teachers have reported that exclusion is down and students are learning to become friends with students they didn’t think they had anything in common with prior to the program.

While the program is designed for girls because it is run by the Girls Scouts, the boys who remain in the classrooms while the girls are in the program work with their teachers on similar skill-building projects.