Pre K is #1

Thus morning I had the opportunity to go to the pre k classroom and spend some time with the children. This was a lot of fun for me due to the fact that the pre k kids were easily my favorite group to be with at St. Mary's. When i got there i played with blocks and legos and we also played pirates. We then went on to sit around the carpet and sing rudolph the red nosed reindeer, and also a song in spanish! This was very surprising to me that the children already knew all of this. Reflecting back on the year i have had a very good time at St. Mary's and i hope all the best for the students who were a part of the after school program.

Gotta Love Christmas Time!

Today at St. Mary's the lab was a Christmas theme, which is by far my favorite holiday! during this lab my group and i were assigned to the equipment rooms. This was a very valuable lesson for me due to the fact that I have never done it before. It is also something that i will need to know in my future teaching experiences. We then went on to do the YMCA with the kids. They seemed to have enjoyed it very much! It is a sad thing to say but the semester is now coming to a close and there will not be any more time to spend with the kids at St. Mary's. All in all i thoroughly enjoyed myself this semester playing with and teaching all of the kids certain skills and games. This class was a valuable experience for me because it is the first step in field experience toward being a full time teacher.

Thanksgiving Arrives at St. Mary's!

Today at St. Mary's we had a Thanksgiving themed lab. It was a very enjoyable experience for my group and I due to the fact that we had a game planned and ready to go. The game focused on bouncing a ball, and kicking a ball. The game had the kids dribble the ball through an obstacle course which involved them walking over a mat and bending down to go under a fun noodle. After this portion of the game was finished we had the kids try to score a goal on Anthony and I by kicking. All in all it was a very fun lab and I'm looking forward to next week.

Pre-K Rules!!

This past lab it was our turn to work with the pre-k kids. Going into the lab i was a little bit nervous due to the fact that it was our first time working with the pre-k kids. My nervous thoughts immediately left me once i entered the classroom. The moment we walked in all of the kids looked and seemed to get excited. At first i sat down at one of the tables and drew with some of the kids, i drew a ghost that actually scared one of the kids! A young boy then asked me if I wanted to play with the toy cars and trucks on the mat that they had in the room. This was the most fun i've had in a while because i used to love to play with cars when i was a child. We then went outside to go see the other pre-k class. The first thing i did when i was out there was go to the ice cream shop under the slide where i got ice cream, soda, fruit, cheese and crackers, and chips. I also played tag as a pokemon with one of the young boys. The last thing I did with the kids was read them the book "Carmine Takes a Nap." This was a book about a cat that took naps at all different places in the house, this was an enjoyable experience for me because the book got some good laughs out of the kids and this was also good work for me to get used to interacting with the kids and knowing what they like. All in all this was the most fun i've had yet at a lab, just because the kids were not afraid to talk to you at all or tell you any stories.

Dodgeball in the Hall of Shame??

While i agree with kickball being inducted into the hall of shame, due to the fact that there are always kids standing around not doing anything, or not wanting to participate. Dodgeball on the other hand can be modified to be suitable for a physical education setting. The big problem with dodgeball in many schools today is the fact that it is dangerous and that the bigger kids will always have a little bit of an advantage. One major modification that can be made to ensure safety is to exclude headshots and anything above the waist. Another modification is to have the kids play with a softer ball, perhaps foam.
My version of dodgeball which i believe will be suitable to play in schools is divide the class into four equal teams. Have two teams on the court at once playing standard dodgeball with foam balls and all shots below the waist. The other two teams will stand along each edge of the court and act as a boundary. They will also be able to pass balls to their team and be able to try to get the other team out if a ball comes to them.
This version of dodgeball will include the entire class and also leep safety as the number one priority. In my opinion, dodgeball is a game that if played with the correct modifications can make its way out of the Hall of Shame.

Batman saves the day again!

This past monday we completed our second lab at St. Mary's school. The theme was superheroes so it was very easy and fun for the kids to participate in. My group all wore batman symbols on our black shirts to help the kids get excited about the games we were going to play. We organized our own game "Batman Tag," and tried it out on the kids. It was definitely a success just due to the fact that the kids wanted to wear the batman and joker symbols that we brought with us. After the game we went outside with the kids where we ran around and played tag and also made a little obstacle course on the monkey bars and rings. The goal was to go from the monkey bars to the rings without touching the ground. I was having trouble not touching the ground when I got to the rings, and so was one of my group members Anthony. As we were trying to do this a little girl. i think her name was Margaret, hopped up on the monkey bars and went to the rings and back to the playground without touching the ground once! All in all the second lab was very fun and I look forward to all of the future labs that we have.

Lab 1

This past Monday I completed my first lab at St. Mary's. Going into it i was a bit unsure how the kids would react and behave during all of the activities we put them through. My thoughts quickly changed when i arrived and saw how excited all of the kids got that we were there. We started out helping another group play endless bucket, this was a really fun game because there were a couple question mark cards in the bucket. These meant that we could have the kids do whatever we wanted, my favorite was to see if they could rub their stomach and pat their head at the same time. We then moved on to our activity which was scooter races. The kids went crazy when we brought the scooters in! It ended up being a very fun activity to watch and some even participated in it. All in all the first lab at St. Mary's was definitely a positive experience for me. I hope to have many more of these in the labs to come.