Working with the little ones

At the second day of our lab at St.Mary's I was able to pick up on a lot more of how to deal with the kids in the gym. Especially the ones that would be stubborn on what they wanted to do. For example there was one little girl that didn't want to do any physical activity. There were so many tag games going around she didn't want to run like everyone else so instead she sat stubbornly on the bench. I saw that we had hullahoops available and asked her if she would do a hullahoop competition against me. She was estatic and was using gross motor skills without knowing. She had to balance as she moved her hips to rotate the hoop. I made a game out of it and we would go for as long as we could and the first person to drop the hullahoop lost. After getting her to do this she wanted to do somehting else so the rest of the day stemmed from there and she ended up joining the rest of the class on activities that they were all involved in. In addition to working one on one I also had the opportunity to work with a group of kids. I chose to teach them Turtle Tag. I used a clear demonstration to catch their attention and help them understand. When talking to them I got down at eye level and talked with intriguing volume to hold their attention. When two students in the back would not stop talking I had no choice but to talk over them. I kept my instruction short and sweet and when they all scattered to play the game we had a blast. I enjoyed the song that everyone was involved in at the end (if your happy and you know it) mostly because everyone was involved and it was a huge group effort. After this successful second day at St.Mary's I can't wait to get back.

First Day at St. Mary's!!

Walking into St.Mary's school I didn't know what to expect but after the lab ended at five o'clock I was anxious to get back. The little ones were a blast and I love working with them. I learned in just two hours, in order to interact really well with them you have to get down on their level and meet them half way. I spent my time coloring, drawing, playing with legos and playing games that I took from my adventure activities class. I was challenged by a few kids that didn't want to participate but I worked around it and they ended up participating in the end. I thought that the pre-K kids were the cutiest things I have ever seen but I also learned that there are boundaries and I should never pick them up, let them hold my hand or sit on my lap. My first experiance was great and I can't wait for next Monday.