YMCA!!

For the last lab of the semester it was our groups turn to help out organize the closets. We built two new racks to try to take some stuff off of the floor and make the most used equipment more easily accessible. It made me feel good that I was able to help out St. Marys and put in my time to make their physical education program better. After we finished cleaning the closets, we got to go into the pre k classrooms. I got to build a "big huge wall" with a garage of course for the cars. After the pre-k classrooms cleaned up it was our turn to do the song closure and we did the YMCA it was a lot of fun and a great way to finish the semester at St. Mary's.

How low can you go???

During today's this lab session our group got the chance to set up and obstacle course to test the motor skills of the students. What we had them do was dribble a ball to different polly spots in the gym floor. Then they had to dribble around a cone and go underneath a noodle and get back in line. At first they seemed a little skeptical to do it cause they thought it was going to be boring so i bet the kids in my line they couldn't get low enough under my noodle. Before I knew it there were kids that weren't even in the group coming over and asking if they could give it a try. It just showed me that if I ever get into a situation where my class doesn't want to do something, if you just bet them they can't do it they be willing to show that they can.

Pre K all the way!!

In this lab I finally got to work with the Pre K students and I loved it. We started in the classroom where I got to draw with some of the students. I asked them if they wanted me to draw them a ghost for Halloween and instead I got a request for "Mr. Pizza Man". Then our class went outside to play on the play ground. One of the biggest differences between the older kids and the pre-k kids was their imagination. In any game we were playing you can say imagine you were this or imagine you were that and they actually thought they were what we were playing. It made everything so much fun and I had a great time. I was pretending that i couldn't see the kids when we were playing hide and seek and they were really enjoying the fact that they thought they had the best hiding spot. I really enjoyed working with the pre-k and i can't wait to do it again.

GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!

One of the most frowned upon games in physical education today is dodge ball. Although i think dodge ball can be incorporated into phys. ed. classes and taken out of the PE hall of shame. The problem with the regular game of dodge ball is that students can get singled out and picked on, and not everyone is forced to participate. With a few altercations I think you can play all sorts of different dodge ball games that are just as fun and work better in phys. ed. Some rules to change could be you can only hit someone below the waist. This will prevent any head hunting or more serious injuries from happening. Also you can make a buffer zone between the two sides, forcing the students to be further from each other and also forcing them to move around in a more confined area.

A dodge ball like game that could be played is called star wars. The way the game works is you split your area into two sides and two teams, just like regular dodge ball. Each team has one person as the designated "jedi" who gets a light saber (you can use a noodle for this). At the back of each side there is a hula hoop, this is the only place where the jedi is safe. The point of the game is to hit the jedi with a ball when he is out of the hula hoop. If you get hit in the playing area you need to sit down where you were hit, and your only way of getting back into the game is if the jedi tags you with his or her light saber. So both teams need to protect their jedi at all costs while trying to dodge balls at the same time.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's TEAM FIVE ALIVE!!

this weeks lab was superhero day at St. Mary's. The students had a lot of fun as well as everyone in our class. Our game of superman tag went over pretty well. I think it would've worked better if there were more students to play but overall i think it was a good game for the theme of the day. We got to see the kids run, gallop, and hop during the game and i made sure to watch how the students differed when performing such tasks. One of the most memorable things from the day had to be when my group when outside to the playground. I made my own sort of obstacle course that went from one end of the play ground to the other only using monkey bars and rings. After a few tries at it i couldn't complete it and then one of the students decided to try it. she got up went down the playground and back without touching the floor once on her first try. it really opened my eyes and showed me that these kids are amazing and you can never under estimate there abilities.