Mission Hill: Grade 7-8 Program
Session 2: October 23 - November 13
Week 4: November 13, 2013
Following the same formula as last week, we focused on blocking skills throughout the warm up. In groups, we worked hard on hops, on kicks, and on the Garden Form. It seems like many students are coming along nicely in learning all nine moves. We continued with our sprout lesson. Everyone had the chance to help plant some pea sprouts that we'll get to use for a recipe next time we meet. The favorite part of the lesson was the Self Defense Smoothie. This group really loves the recipe side of Green Dragons, so we brought some extra ingredients to let them show a little creativity with the smoothie. Substituting ice for frozen fruit and adding a small amount of honey and yogurt really made this smoothie delicious!
Week 3: November 6, 2013
We took a new approach to learning this week. After our warm-up run and some martial arts practice, we split into groups. While one group was working on their Garden Form, the other practiced their kicking speed. We were impressed with the efforts of both groups. This class has shown us their passion so far: they are really into the food! We pioneered a new recipe this week, the energy crisp. With a mix of apples, dried fruit, honey, lemon, cinnamon, and pumpkin seeds, we all got some good energy that will last us all day. They also seemed to like that they could change the recipe to their liking. Most of them just wanted more honey!
Week 2: October 30, 2013
Week 2 was a blast. We worked up a sweat with several laps around the gym. We kept up the pace with some kung fu fundamentals. From there things got more exciting as the kids practiced the blocking techniques from the Garden Form. After the first workout we made our refreshing Dragon Water: water infused with lemon, cucumber and mint. While the Dragon Water was infusing with flavor, we practiced the first few moves of the Garden form. At the end of class we discussed the growth of the wheatgrass planted in week one. All the plants sprouted tall and had strong root structures.
Week 1: October 23, 2013
New session, new students, still Green Dragons! We had three familiar faces this week as Josh, Imanol, and Melissa decided they wanted to continue working with us. They should provide some strong inspiration and be good role models for the new students. Our fame preceded us this session as a few of the new students were already asking about smoothies! They were excited, but we stressed that while we enjoy ourselves, the program is also about effort and personal growth. Hopefully we pushed our slogan home: Work Hard, Play Fair, and Grow Well! All students enjoyed testing their martial strength and were intrigued by the wheatgrass seeds they planted. The Wheatgrass Challenge kits will go home next week. Here's to a new session!