Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Final Lab at St. Mary's



Our last day at St. Mary's was exciting as always, but extra special because it gave us all the chance to reflect on the good memories and the learning experience throughout our journey.  Our group worked up posting up the collages on the doors of the entrance and decorating the wall before we leave.  The theme was Christmas and our group was also in charge of the final activity, song, and dance.  I was handling the game, overall it was alright, but it was not satisfied.  It is much harder to grasp the attention of the children towards the end of the day, especially when they are set and ready to go home.  Also what made it extra difficult was the variation in ages from KG all the way to 4th grade.  So I decided to make a simple christmas game that would appeal to all and be easy to interact and be physical.  I split the groups into the three groups with a different name (related to christmas) and I chose 2 elves to be in the center.  I was santa claus,  so whenever I called the specific group they would have to run across without getting tagged.  If they were tagged by the elves than they would become apart of the north pole and help tag others.  I thought the game would work, but again I realized that their attention span was very low and the older kids were not to interested to play.  I kept on going and modified the game somewhat by adding that if I say Merry Christmas, everyone has to run across.  This way more kids would be involved at once.  The game was not the best, but I have learned from this experience and know where to improve.  Overall, St Mary's has been not so easy, but a great way for us students to jump into the reality of our majors and our future lives and this experience has been a great way of learning and an excellent eye opener.  Thank you St. Mary's! Click here to view my Lab 6

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Lab 5 at St Mary's!

This week's experience at St. Mary's was fun, exciting, and unique to all the other weeks.  The theme was thanksgiving and it resonated throughout the gym.  Our initial activity was very well esecuted by my collegues, especially considuring that the number of students was almost double than we usually have.  They adapted well, the kids enjoyed the game, and we were able to assess their motor skills affectivly. 

Unlike the previous weeks today our group worked on special projects.  So, we were in charge of interviewing the teacher candidates and students on their experiences in order to create an articile for the Newsletter.  It was interesting to hear the different opinions and perspectives on our contribution to the afterschool program.  Since we are coming to an end we also began posting our collages on the doors of the gymnasium to show our thanks to the school for allowing us to be there.  Overall I have come to realize that St. Mary's has contributed greatly to me as a future teacher, and I will definately use my gained knowledge for the good of promoting physically active children in the years to come.  Click here to view my Lab 5.