Sunday, November 1, 2009

Lab 3: Trick or Treat


Lab 3 at St. Mary's was Halloween themed, but unfortunately not many people got dressed up for the kids. I however attempted to do so by making an old man beard out of cotton. All of the kids loved it and asked if I was Santa Claus. Even though it was fun for everyone, it made teaching a lot more difficult. As I rounded up the 1st graders, most of the kids wouldn't stop being silly in regards to my beard. Our group had to tell them to be quiet several times while explaining the directions for the game "Find Your Partner".
Within the game, we had all of the participating kids do different movements, but focusing on leaping, horizontal jumping, and sliding. The rounds lasted longer than some of the kids' attention spans, so I tried to encourage the movements by asking if they can do it in slow motion or if they could catch me while doing the movement. There were some issues with the structure of the game. The point of the game was to partner up someone right by connecting a designated part. You are supposed to remember who you did this with, so that they would find the partner they connected to when we say to do so. The problem with this was all of the kids just stuck by their friends so that they would be ready to connect to them. The game was then less interesting for them when they did not have to find other partners in the game.
The next game we did was called "Magic Carpet". The children were to do the instructed movements during the played music (much like "Find Your Partner"). When the music stopped, everyone had to find a spot on the floor, in which we used hula hoops for the game. The issue with this was the some of the girls were fighting with each other about who got onto a specific spot first. This produced some emotional conflicts. In terms of how well everyone did the movements, it seemed that everyone had an easier time sliding than any of the movements of elevation. Both the boys and girls had the same developed skills, except the boys had slightly more energy. After we finished the games, we resorted to the cafeteria where they had snack and used their fine motor skills.
To close out the day we did two activities with everyone. The first activity was using the parachute which was something all of the kids got excited about. We did a few variations with it such as playing popcorn, hiding underneath it, and rotating around while doing different motions. Everyone closed out dancing like zombies to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Most of the kids got into the dance however it was a bit unorganized and scattered. Everyone had fun, regardless of how it was presented.

1 comment:

  1. Coming prepared with multiple activites and games is the key to success at St. Mary's. Like you said, the children grow tired of one activity rather quickly and want to move onto a new one. Rather than coming up with multiple games, you can come up with multiple variations of the same game. It keeps the activity fresh and most of the time the kids do not know that it is the same game.

    However, you games did go very well in the gym! Like you said, the rain kept them locked inside all day and made they crazy. When they got in the gym, all they wanted to do was run around and play and not listen to you. This comes to the problem where the children do not consider you an authority figure but rather a friend or older brother/sister. It is important to develop this relationship otherwise they won't listen.

    The cafeteria is a fun environment for the kids. Much like the Pre-K, they color and play Legos alongside more complicated games like checkers and board games. But they nonetheless have fun and you all make sure they stay active.

    Michael Jackson's Thriller is always a Halloween staple and I'm glad you include the slideshows in your post. But it would be better if you also put pictures within the text as well. The paint a great picture of what we do as professionals.

    Another great job at St. Mary's, Phil! Keep working hard and you'll see great strides in improvement in no time!

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