Circus Comes To Town

This time at St. Mary's we did a circus theme with many people wearing clown type hair. The kids seemed more interested in wearing the hair than anything else. Being a circus theme the kids sure acted that way. This was the first time that I had ever seen these children so hyper and amped up. When my group was in the gym we had a very difficult time trying to claim these kids down. They were running everywhere and didn't want to sit down when we spoke to them or quiet down. It was interesting to see that some children really wanted to listen to the games we had planned for them and so to get the rest of their classmates quiet they would scream BE QUIET!! Ultimately, this just created more noise and we found that by saying "if you can hear me clap twice", and gradually they would quiet down. Luckily, our group came in with lots of different games to play and it's a good thing we did. Since the kids were mostly doing what they wanted it was hard to play a game for very long so we kept modifying games and switching to new ones to keep the kids guessing and on their toes. This week in lab we were assessing how well the kids could catch and throw. We played a game similar to messy back yard which allowed us to see how well they threw over hand and to see if they could catch. After that game we switched it up to a slower paced game where they threw underhand and had to try and hit and land in a target. Since they were around 1st and 2nd graders we used hula hoops as their target but if they were older we coul

d have used poly spots. After seeing some of the kids throw we knew not to make the targets any smaller because they had a hard time as it was. Overall with the kids being so wild this week it was good to see in a way. This just shows you what you will really face when you teach. Sometimes the children will not always behave the way you want them to so it's important to know how to deal with it and adjust to the situation.

Lab 3

Last week at St. Mary's was yet again another fun time. The kids are really starting to get to know us better and this makes it easier on the college kids for when we want them to play a game. This time at St. Mary's my group was in the gym first and we played a game called Zanny Zoo to look at their locomotor skills. We were primarley looking at leaping,horizontal jump, and sliding. Working with the 1st graders I was impressed that they were quick learners. Overall they struggled the most with leaping but when we put the poly dots on the group and made them leap with a purpose they did much better. This made them slow down and think about how to actually do the movement. Whenever someone gave the kids intructions on how to better their skills they really listened and tried hard to do it right the next time

Different Perspective at St. Mary's

This morning at St. Mary’s was very different than the typical afternoons I normally see. It was unusual to see all the kids so calm and mellowed out. Since we always go in the afternoon I’m just used to the kids being all high strung but in the morning they are quite relaxed. It was nice to see that if parents wanted to drop their kids off before school started they were able to. The school provides them with free time in the gym and the classroom. Last week when I was there I went to the pre k morning class. When I got there I recognized some familiar faces so it was nice to see them. The children are very welcoming and right away they wanted me to play games with them. Many of them were playing in the “kitchen area” or on the carpet playing with different activities and some were practicing writing their names and drawing pictures. Some of the routines I saw were before class started the kids had “free time” and could do whatever they want like playing games or drawing pictures and they also practice writing their names. After free time all the kids go to the bathroom and when they get back they sit on the carpet in a circle. First they go over what day it is and count the number of days they have been in school. This is good because the kids are practicing mathematical and literacy skills. Next they went around passing a ball to the person next to them and they had to say the “good morning” followed by the next person’s name. Once that child receives the ball then it keeps going around with everyone saying good morning to the person next to them. Since I was only there for a short time this was all I really got to see but it was interesting to me to see the kids so quiet in the morning. My favorite part of the morning was when about five different children drew pictures for me and seeing how proud they were of their drawings, even though it looked mostly like scribbles I was still happy to receive them.