Bunnyfull Day!

In today's lab the Easter Bunny paid a visit to the youngsters at St.Mary's School. The days skills were catching and throwing. I was able to watch the catching and throwing of a young boy and a young girl. They both seemed to do extremely well. I was surprised that they did so well at the age of six. There were props posted around the gym and the kids seemed to be drawn to them. Although I never got a chance to teach the kids my game I still had a great time as the other members of my class had great games in store. There were team races where the Cortland student was paired with a St.Mary's student and had to race against other teams. This was a lot of fun because I really got to bond with the little girl that was my teammate. At first she refused to do any activity but when I told her how much fun we would have and then walked away from her she quickly followed. I am beginning to catch on to the kids and the way they are. I have learned to not let them "fool" you and to continue to teach what your teaching with all of the encouragement in the world but to not dabble on one subject for a long time because they have a weak attention span. Overall today's Easter theme was a great success as the kids all left with smiles and a few drawings that were shared between the Cortland and St.Mary's students.

Dinasour Galore!

In lab day 3 we had a dinasour invasion at St. Mary's. The kids were roudy and ready to run around so it was a difficult day to grasp their attention but we all did our best as we incorporated dinasours into our games. I was excited to share my game with the kids but I also had to make a few adjustments while they played. For my game there were six different teams and at each team's seperate spot in the gym there was a hula hoop also known as their "nest". Inside each "nest" there were 6 different balls also known as "eggs". The object of the game was to have your team work together to gather as many eggs from the other team's nests and place their eggs in your nest. To get from nest to nest they had to listen to my voice and change their locomotor skills such as leaping, jumping horizontally and sliding. The kids did a great job although there were some cheaters. Part way through the game I had to make adjustments such as, if you cheat and bring more than one egg to your nest at a time you will have two eggs removed from your basket. There is also no throwing of the eggs from one basket to another otherwise that egg will be taken back out of your nest and put into the opposing team's nest. I thought overall I had a great game and the kid's had a blast. They grasped the dinasour concept well as they continued to come up to me saying "look how many eggs we have in our nest!". The rest of the lab was fun as we had blaze the dinasour come in to entertain the kids. Playing dinasour hokey pokey was also fun and exciting for them. There was a great group effort and a lot of involvement from everyone in the gym.

Motor Development Prezi:



http://prezi.com/lsbla6yfaecv/edit/

Observing and Teaching at St.Mary's Day 2

Last week at St.Mary's School I had a blast. I had a good handful of games for the kids as well as a song and activity at the end. They all seemed to enjoy what they were doing and all of us college students had a great time as well. The activity at the end was a little challenging for their age group but a couple times through it and they caught the hang of it. I was also surprised that a few of the even knew the son, "down by the banks". It was extremely funny to see them all just get so excited over music. As soon as we finished the ending activity the music came on and they all gathered in the circle to have a dance of as everyone around them cheered them on. It was a fun bonding and teaching experience. Although it was great fun I also had to lay down some rules on them such as no holding my hand and no hugging me. Some of them can be clingy but just telling them strictly no helps to set the boundaries.

I also was able to observe in the beginning of class a couple students and their motor development skills. I observed a male, Garrett (six years of age) and a female, Maddie ( 5 years of age). I observed their ability to run, gallop and hop. As garret ran there was a period where both feet were off the ground and his foot placement was on or near a line. He did not run with his arms in opposition to his legs but instead they were flailing all over the place. He also didn't have his knees bent at a 90 degree angle while running but instead he shuffled them. For galloping he stepped forward with the lead foot followed by a step with the trailing foot and their was a brief period where both feet were off of the ground. His arms were also bent and lifted to waist level. He didn't know how to lead with both of his feet, only his right one. When he hopped his non support leg wasn't carried in the back of his body but instead the front. His non support leg did swing in a pendulum fashion to produce force. He also bent his elbows and swung forward on take off. He was also not able to hop on the right and left foot, only his right.

When observing Maddie i thought she was a very skilled five year old. She ran great having both of her feet off the ground for a brief period of time, swinging her arms in opposition to her legs, placing her foot on or near a strait line and having her non support leg at about 90 degrees and close to her buttocks. She was also a great at galloping. She was able to step forward with her lead foot and follow it by a step with the trailing foot to position adjacent to or behind the lead foot. There is also a brief period of time where both feet are off the ground and her arms are bent and lifted to waist level. Although she could do all of these steps, she was not able to lead with the left and right foot, only her left. She was also great at hopping. Her foot for her nonsupport leg was bent and carried in the back of her body. Her nonsupport leg swung in a pendulum fashion to produce force and her arms and elbows swung forward on take off. She was however, not able to hop on her right foot, only her left.

I had a great time at lab and I am excited for our dinosaur theme next week. My group has planned and organized our thoughts on this class grid.

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.