Lab 4 at St. Mary's - 3/26/12

This week at St.Mary's my group was the Special Projects group. We were responsible for creating a bulletin board and closing activities- game, song, and cheer. We didn't have a theme this week. The skills we assessed were the overhand throw and the catch. (click here to see my observation worksheet)

The gym group did a great job with opening activities. I didn't think the Trash Can game they played would've turned out as well as it did, they had to force the kids to stop playing because they were having fun!
Once the kids broke off into their different stations my group updated the bulletin board in the gym. Lauren came up with the design and had all of the supplies, the rest of us helped her put it together. It turned out great!! After we were done, we played with some of the kids until it was time for our ending activities. One of the kids we played with was a 12 year old boy that was very good at soccer. I was very impressed with his skills (and so were the other girls in my group).

Christina's ending game was a mix between rock, paper, scissors and tag. There were two teams, each team had to disscuss what they were going to throw (rock, paper, or scissors), then the teams lined up. Which ever team lost had to run back to their base line without getting tagged, if they got tagged they had to go over onto the winning team. The kids liked this game. After the game I did the song Herman the Worm. A few of the kids already knew what it was from camps they had gone to (this is where I learned the song originally). I think the kids thought that the song was entertaining, but not very fun...it didn't go over as well as Ryan's Baby Shark song went the other week (Lab 3 I think). Kendra did an ending cheer.

The Great Debate

In Monday's class (2/26/12) we had a debate in class about which type of curriculum we should use-  Sticks in Sports, Lifetime Activities, or Skills Theme Advocates. There was a mock school board and a mock media crew on top of the three advocating groups. The group I was in was the Skills Theme group. I am a big fan of lifetime activities and stick sports, but I believe that at the elementary and middle school levels of PE the curriculum should be skills theme based. Children need to learn these fundamental skills to be more diverse with their bodies. Having these fundamental skills helps with the other two groups- which I would incorporate into the later levels of education (late elementary, middle and high school). Our group's statement was that we are the basis to all sports (the other two groups).

Having a Skills based curriculum is easier for younger learners. It doesn't focus on a couple of specific skills, it focuses on a bunch of locomotor skills that create more opportunities to try different sports/activities if the child chooses. By learning these skills at a young age it helps with performing more difficult skills later in life and helps a child be more coordinated.

Week 3 at St.Mary's (2/27/12)

Week 3 at St.Mary's was sports themed.  Many games used Olympics, medals, and sports poses to og along with the theme. Some of us also wore sports jersey's to help set the mood. The fundamental movement skills that we focused on this week were leaping, horizontal jumping, and sliding. Click here to view my lab report!

Opening games included many relay races using these fundamental skills. What I found from watching the kids during the opening games is that the  kids would do the skill for a short period of time and it was hard to assess them on the skills. Some kids did the skill for a longer period of time, showing that students really are individuals and are all on different skill levels.

My group was with the Pre-K kids. We read them a few books and helped them make their own first place medals in their classroom; and we played games with them in the gym.  The  game I had the kids play was called "Crossing The Brook". The kids had to jump over  (leap over, skip over-whatever skills I told them to do)  ropes that were on the ground (representing brooks) without stepping on the ropes. If they stepped on a rope they had to tap their shoes 3 times to pretend that they were drying their socks and shoes off. At first I didn't explain that they had to stop at the other side to wait for everyone to cross the brooks, so they were going back and forth creating clutter-but I got their attention and fixed the problem. Another game we played was like London Bridge. After that I came up with a race that included the arches from the London-Bridge like game becase they loved trying to get captured under the arches. After that fizzled out me and my groupmates played with the kids in whatever activity theywanted to do. I played with a boy and a girl playing basketball with them and playing catch with the boy. I had him try different sized balls and trying to catch/throw with just one hand and with two hands. The Pre-K group was fun to be with, they're all so energetic and they really want to do whatever you have for them.

After being there 3 times now I have learned that you  have to face the kids in a direction that doesn't face other activities, otherwise they'll get distracted. Also, being on their level, yet high enough to show that you're in control helps while instructing.