Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween Fun at St.Mary's!



The theme of our lab this week was HALLOWEEN!!!



We all came dressed in costume and as soon as the kids saw this, they all became really excited for what was in store for that afternoon. We started off the afternoon by observing the gym group teach a couple of games to demonstrate the locomotor skills of an overhand throw and a catch. It took us a little longer than usual to observe the skills this week because everything was kind of crazy in the gym since there were so many kids in the gym. It was very clear that there is difference between the kindergarteners and 2nd graders when observing the skills. After we observed the locomotor skills we all split up into our groups. My partners and I were in charge of the Special Projects group this week but there wasn’t much work for us to do. Steve went around and observed the other groups teach while taking notes. Andrew was in charge of taking photos. I kind of just floated around from group to group, and when some groups needed some extra help, I would step in to play. Everyone did a really great job and I definitely think that each one of my classmates has improved a great deal since our first time at St. Mary's. For the closing activity we played a game of capture the flag. It was all of the children of St. Mary's against all of us. The students really seemed to love running around and half of them were simply chasing the older Cortland kids rather than trying to capture the "trick-or-treat candy". For the final closing I taught the class a dance to the song "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. Although all of the children could not pick up the dance perfectly, I think that they still enjoyed it and I had a lot of fun teaching it!

This is a picture of the group while
I was teaching "Thriller"!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Cortland Superhero's!!


The theme of this week was SUPERHERO'S! We began the lab by observing the gym group teach a couple activities to have the students demonstrate how they leap, horizontally jump, and how they slide. The group that was participating was absoultely huge and I thought that the lab teachers did a really great job. My lab partners and myself were assigned to work with the cafeteria group. Yet we never actually were in the cafeteria. We started out outside. Here we played some kickball with the kids. It was very different working with the older kids since last time we worked with the pre-k students. I was well prepared for the older students different attitudes. After we played kickball for a little while, we went inside to the big gym. My partners and myself knew that the kids would not want to play a little tag game like we would have played with the younger kids so we suggested playing a big game of capture the flag. Although some of the students were not as enthusiastic about this idea as others at first, they all agreed to play. And it turned out that they all loved the game! Even when we told them they could go play their own games, they all wanted to keep playing capture the flag! It was a great activity to get them moving, breaking a sweat and get their heart rates up. I also think the fact that it was a competitive game helped and they also seemed to enjoy the fact that my lab partners and I participated as well! After playing for quite a while, we cleaned up and I began playing a game of football with some of the boys. They were very knowledgable on the game and I was very impresses with their skills. I also played jump rope with some of the girls which was a lot of fun too. I was definitely tired after all the days activities!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Ahoy there, Matey!

This week was our first real lab at St. Mary’s. I was really, really excited but a little nervous at the same time.  The theme of the week was pirates!! My teaching partners and I were assigned to work with the pre-k students. We met twice the week prior to lab to make sure we were ready for the lab. We planned our lesson, made posters and a treasure chest, and also bought pirate accessories. I picked out a book called “How I became a Pirate” to read to the students while another one of my partners planned a craft and my other partner designed a pirate themed games. Even though we were dressed a little bit ridiculous, I really think that the pre-k students liked seeing the way we were dressed. They really seemed to enjoy the book I read and loved interrupting to ask questions and point out different things they saw in the pictures! Although we didn’t have time for the coloring craft, I really think that the kids enjoyed the games. The last game led the kids to a treasure chest full of mardi-gras bead necklaces and each kid got to take one home. I think they really liked this!
 During this lab we also got to observe the students playing three games right when we got to the school. We were asked to observe the students locomotor skills in terms of running, galloping, and hopping. It was interesting to see where the younger children were in terms of development. I think it would be fair to say that the students had the most trouble with the hopping, but did a good job with running and galloping.
Overall I think that this lab went well! I am excited to go to St. Mary's again in 2 weeks!