It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!!!

For our final lab this semester my group was designated to organize the two equipment rooms they have at St. Mary's , as well as put together two extra shelves to create more open space. By the time we had finished with the closets they were immaculate with more open space then ever before. We were also given the task of performing a closing song for the last day of labs, and we chose the famous YMCA song and dance. The children reacted favorably to our song choice and dance and we all had a great ending to our fantastic semester and especially the amazing times we spent at St. Mary's and all the children that made our time there so rewarding.

Who's Got Skills????

For this lab we had to make sure that the activities that were played demonstrated the children's dribbling skills. My group and I devised a game that would really challenge the students ability to dribble in various tasking environments. We asked the students to bounce the ball inside of numerous hula hoops making sure they only used their fingerpads not their fingertips to dribble the ball. The children then had to walk on top of gymnastics pads and bounce the ball on the side to vary the levels of the activity, finally the kids were forced to dribble underneath a soft foam tube, which was much more congitively demanding for the children. Everytime they would repeat the task I would constantly make it lower for them and challenging them more and more so that they would not be able togo through the entire course without having to perform the tasks we asked of them.

Bounce, Bounce , Bounce

For this lab day , my group and I created an obstacle course for the students to take part in. We set up numerous environments for the children so that the activity would be fun and entertaining for them and remain that way until we decided to change it up a little bit. Our activity required the children to crawl through a tunnel , bounce a ball on star spots, as well as bounce on an over sized ball from one end of the obstacle course to the other in order to start. The students reacted very well to our variations in this activity and kept their attention at all times. We also placed targets at the end of the obstacle course for the children to attempt to hit the center in order for an added bonus at the end.

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Pre-K

Bright and early I headed off to St. Mary's Pre-K class where I was able to observe the students behavior , as well as how they listened to their teacher's orders. What became evident at first was the way the students actually did listen to their teacher. As the day started, and more and more students arrived at the classroom , and the first thing they did was grab their first ditto they had to complete. They all started off with writing their name on five lines, and then progressed to coloring in different triangles, finally they ended with miscellanous animals that they had to color in. Once the students completed these three sheets ( some taking longer than other) they were then allowed to play freely until the entire class had arrived and finished their worksheets. It amazed me at how docile most of the children were in the morning, yet you still encounter some of the wilder ones as they warm up to you. This day gave me a great insight into the lives of teachers, as well as how the students perform in the classroom rather than playing with us in the gymnasium.

Pre-K, here we come!

Today was the best lab so far, pre-k students are the ones who I have noticed socialize more with us the "College Kids" and are willing to go out of their comfort zone to introduce themselves to you. These students actually never complained once while I was in their presence, which shocked me to the point of astonishment. Everything they were told to do , they did with a smile on their face. When we moved onto the playground to have a little recess, the kids created great variations to old school Tag and Hide and Seek.

To Play or Not to Play - That is the question

Dodgeball, a highly controversial game in today's physical education setting, is a game with multiple dangerous flaws in it. With just a few minimal adjustments to the rules it has the ability to return to its history of being one of the most played and revered games of physical education as a whole. One of the major controversies in dodgeball today is the fact that the game creates targets out of its participants. Most of all , when an individual in the game is eliminated from the game they must sit out and wait for the game to end. Instead of causing unwanted unoccupied time for the students to become restless and possibly even start to be mischievous , once someone is eliminated from the game they should either be placed in a jail that will allow them to catch balls from teammates to be released. In order for the game of dodgeball to be successful in the future, teachers must be innovative in their ability to manipulate the rules and regulations of everything that they teach so that they provide maximum enjoyment and physical exertion as possible.

Nanananananananana - BATMAN!!

With Gotham City in dire straits, team 5 - Alive rose to the occasion and introduced Batman tag as the last resort to ridding Gotham of the Joker and his other criminal acquaintances. For this week's Superhero themed lab , my group and I developed a tag game that would incorporate as much fun as possible , as well as go along with the theme of the day. In my opinion, this was to date, the most enjoyable lab day that I have taken part in so far, due to the fact that the children had an amazing time with us and wound up passing their enjoyment right over to us for the entire day. The game consisted of the students playing a conventional tag game , with the twist of one team being the criminals who would tag and cause the civilians to freeze until the team of Batmans would free them from jail with a soft ball that would cut the rope ties around their hands so that they can run away again. With the integration of specific themes into our lab environments I feel that the students will become even more enthused and will only react in a more positive way.

Lab 1 Reflection

From participating in these labs at St. Mary's School , I feel as if I will gain so much more from this experience rather than any other I could take part in. From just sitting and talking to these students, you can easily see that they all have already developed their own personalities and will be sure to let you know how they feel. These one on one interactions help develop teaching and social skills at a much higher rate than in a classroom. You also have the ability to really see the differences in students capabilities throughout the different grade levels and genders. I also feel that since these students look up to us as older brothers and sisters it gives us an upper hand on getting into their world and further helping them succeed.