Lab #6- The Finale!

It's hard to believe that the spring 2012 semester is coming to end. With the semester coming to a close, it also means that our time at St. Mary's is coming to an end. Overall, I enjoyed lab #6 the most. I had a great time at our last visit to St. Mary's and I know the kids had fun as well even though we had a couple of injuries during this lab. The first thing we did at lab was play with a huge parachute with all the kids. They all seemed to really enjoy it and had fun playing all the games. I remember back when I was in elementary school and we played with the parachute during Physical Education class; it was one of my favorite days in PE and I have great memories of it. I hope that we were able to make great memories for the kids of St. Mary's. After we finished playing with the parachute, I played knockout for a little with some of the older boys. Once again, I'm always amazed at how well these boys can play basketball. I also played jump rope with some of the girls and played tag with some of the younger boys. Throughout the day one boy seemed to keep following me around the gymnasium and kept playing the same activities that I was participating in. I finally asked him if he wanted to play any game in particular, he told me he wanted to play the statue game. He made up this game and it was so incredible to see him use his imagination and think of his own game to play. He had so much fun playing it. We also played Simon says together and then soccer for a little bit. At the end of the day, It was really nice to see all the kids playing the game we organized and that they were having fun. I'm so sad that our labs at St. Mary's are over. This was a great experience and the kids were so much fun to work with. I'm glad that I got to know the kids and that I was able to learn things about most of them. They were a great group of kids and working at St. Mary's has just made me even more excited to become a Physical Education teacher in the future. I would like to thank St. Mary's for having us at their school this semester and for everything that they have done for us.

Check out my Lab #6 Write Up!

Bouncing Our Way Through Lab #5

It's hard to believe that this was our second to last trip to St. Mary's. Time has gone by so quickly! We observed a boy and a girl's dribbling and kicking skills. They were both in the 1st grade. Both children seemed to struggle with kicking the ball. Both of them didn't really have an approach when they kicked it. They also stood very close to their target. They both just stood next to the ball and kicked it with their toe. As for their dribbling skills, the girl seemed to have more control over the ball. The boy would lose control over the ball after attempting to dribble it once or twice. My group went outside for a little and played with the pre-school kids on the playground. It was such a beautiful day and the kids had so much energy. I was running around with all of them. I was playing, hide and go seek, red light green light, and tag. When my group had to go back in the gym the kids were so upset. They were having so much fun with us. We didn't get a chance to play our games that we had organized for the older kids. There were only about 5 or 6 boys there so we decided to play basketball against them. It was boys vs. girls and the St. Mary's boys got really into the game.They took it very seriously and played hard. These boys can play basketball so well. They took some amazing shots and almost all of them would go in. The boys knew how to communicate well and pass the ball to each other. It was interesting to see the boys interacting with one another. We played basketball for such a long time and everyone was exhausted. However, the boys didn't want to stop playing. They would of played all afternoon if we didn't have to stop. I actually had a lot of fun playing with the boys. Overall, Lab #5 was very successful and I enjoyed it a lot. Before we left St. Mary's everyone signed the posters on the door and thanked St. Mary's for having us at their school. I'm excited for next Monday, but I'm very sad at the same time because it is our last lab for the whole semester! 

Lab #5 Write Up

Performing Live At Poolside

On Wednesday, April 11th my group, "The Powerpuff Girls" performed our song "Baby Move." I was shocked when I saw how many people came to watch our performance at Poolside. There was a lot of falculty there and a lot of students from different classes came to watch as well. Professor Yang had a huge screen set up that played our music video and song in the background as we sang our song. I was extremely nervous to perform, because I have never sang in front of this many people ever. I thought it was scary to sing in front of just the class, but there were so many people at poolisde that I was even more nervous. Once I got up there to perform my nerves went away a little bit. Our performance went well and afterward many people came up to me and told me they really enjoyed our song. They said our song was catchy and they couldn't get it out of their head. Overall, this was a good experience for me, because it gave me confidence to stand up in front of a group of people and do something that I am not too comfortable doing.  

Using Technology in Physical Education

Using technology in Physical Education can be very beneficial for students. I had the opportunity to use a toy called the Hyper Dash. This toy can be used by holding the Hyper Dash in one hand and spreading the color spots out. Each color spot is a different color with a different number on it. Students listen to the Hyper Dash and it would say either a color such as "blue" or a math problem such as "4+1" depending on the level the Hyper dash was set to. This toy could help pre school students who are learning their colors or older students who are learning math equations such as addition or subtraction. I could use the Hyper Dash in my classroom by creating a relay race. I know relay races aren't the best things in physical education classes, because many kids stand around, but this relay race would be different since it would also involve concepts students are learning in the classroom. In the relay race, the first student would perform a locomotor movement to where the the Hyper Dash was set up. The student would listen to the Hyper Dash and answer the question. If the student got the question right they would perform the locomotor movement back to the next person in line. If the student got the question wrong they would have to do ten jumping jacks before they could do the locomotor movement back to the next student in line. If the questions on the Hyper Dash were too easy for the students I would set the Hyper Dash to a harder level.

Another game we used in lab was called Dance Dance Revolution, also known as DDR. This game was so much fun and I really enjoyed playing it. It was actually quite the workout and by the end of the game I was pretty tired and actually sweating. I believe students would have so much fun playing this game in a physical education class. It would definitely get them moving and tire them out. Also students would be able to challenge themselves by playing the game on the hard level or even the expert level. I hope I have the opportunity to have my students play DDR in my classroom.

                                                                  

Lab #4- Catch That Ball

I feel that every lab we go to at St. Mary's gets better and better. For this week my group was in the Preschool room. This might of been my favorite lab so far, because the Preschool kids were so much fun and they were so energetic. They were a pleasure to work with. I have worked with kids this age before, because my mom is a Preschool teacher and when I'm home for break I always go to her class and help her out and play with the kids. It is always so much fun. Before we went into the Preschool room, we watched all the kids throw and catch balls. I was surprised at how well some of the kids could throw and catch a ball. We had to watch two kids in particular. The two kids that we watched did a pretty good job of both catching and throwing. However, both of them needed to work on a couple of things. They were both still in the elementary level which is okay since they are both at a young age. When we went into the Preschool room the first thing we did was a craft with all the kids. They had to draw on paper that was in the shape of an egg and then we glued on colorful shapes to the "egg" as well. I was surprised at how well the kids did with this project. They all seemed to enjoy it, and it kept them busy for awhile. All the kids kept coming up to me and showing me their egg and what they drew on it. They were all really proud of there work. A lot of the kids drew flowers, bunnies, and crosses. After the project, I read a book to the kids. I read "Rainbow Fish." I picked this book because I remember my mom reading me the story when I was younger and it was one of my favorites. I always loved the colorful scales on the fish. The kids loved the book and they also liked to look at the scales like I did when I was little. Then, we ate a quick snack with the kids and then we went into the gym. First, we played a quick warm-up game with the kids to get some of their energy out. They had to copy everything that we did. If we hopped then they had to to hop. If we slid around the gym then they had to slide around the gym. The kids enjoyed moving around and the game was able to tire them out a little bit. After, we taught them the proper way to throw and catch a ball. Each of them got a partner and practiced with their partner. Then, each of them practiced throwing the ball into a soccer goal. They actually really loved this and we made a game out of it. We counted how many goals the kids could get. They were really into this game, and it kept them entertained for awhile which I was really surprised by. Overall, Lab #4 went very well and it was exciting to work with the little kids. I had a lot of fun. I am looking forward to next lab, because my group will be working with the older kids, and we can definitely play a lot of fun games with them.

Lab #4 Write Up and Assessment!

"Baby Move" (Remix)

My group, the Powerpuff Girls called our video, "Baby Move." We were assigned Chapter 7 in the Motor Development PED 201 book. We used the song "Rack City" by: Tyga. We took out his lyrics, and used the instrumental version. We created our own lyrics using terms and concepts that were found in chapter 7. In this chapter you learn about infant reflexes and rhythmical stereotypes. I learned a lot from this chapter as we made the lyrics. I even learned what the word Babinski means. It is a reflex that is elicited by a stroke on the sole of the foot. There were other interesting words that I learned about in this chapter as well. This project allowed me to learn new material in a fun and creative way. My group had so much fun making the lyrics, recording our voices, and creating our video for this project. It was a great experience; I have never done anything like this in a classroom before. I'm definitely glad we did  this and I am looking forward to seeing everyone elses video's. I am also excited to perform our song for the whole class. However, I am a little nervous, but I am sure it will go great!

Don't forget to watch "Baby Move" CLICK HERE!!

Lab #3- Show me your muscles!

For lab number three at St. Mary's the theme was sports and my group was the gym group so we all had to prepare a game that had to do with leaping, jumping, sliding, and sports. The game I chose was called Oodles of Noodles. In this game, I laid out hockey sticks all around the gym. The students had to slide around the gym and when they got to a hockey stick they had to leap over it and then continue sliding. Once I blew the whistle all the students would stop and pose in a sports stance, such as throwing a ball, shooting a basketball, or kicking a soccer ball. Then, the students continued to slide around the gym, but this time they jumped over the hockey sticks. The students seemed to have fun with this game. They understood my directions and listened well when I explained the game to them. When I started the game only three kids wanted to play, but as the game went on more and more kids came over to join, because they noticed the other kids were having fun. As I was watching the students perform these locomotor skills I noticed that a lot of them struggled with them and a lot of them were definitely on the elementary level. A lot of the students had a hard time leaping and they even had to ask us what a leap was. We described it to them as taking a giant step. My group’s games all went very well and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. After we finished the games we started to play tag for a little, but one boy ran into another boy and one of them got hurt pretty badly. So, we started to play soccer instead. There were a bunch of kids playing and many of them were getting really into it. I was able to see their competitive side come out a little. Later, we went down into the cafeteria and I ate a snack with some of the students and also colored with some of the girls. It was really entertaining and enjoyable to listen to them talk about school, their friends, and their family. Our third trip to St. Mary’s was very successful, and I can see myself improving each time I go there. I feel more comfortable around the students and talking in front of all them. I’m also starting to learn some of their names and learn unique things about each child. I’m looking forward to our next trip to the school; however it won’t be for a couple of weeks due to our spring break. At our next trip to St. Mary’s I will be in the pre-school room which should be a lot of fun. I can’t wait to work with the younger kids!

 Lab #3 Write Up and Assessment Sheet!