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My best moments as a mover :)
This is a presentation of how Kayaking has motivated me as a mover and has contributed to my development of self. Hope you enjoy!

Last day at St.Mary's Elementary

This past week was our last time working with the children at St.Mary's. We all designed Christmas-themed games and activities which created a happy an joyful experience for everyone that was there. First my group started downstairs in the cafeteria with the older kids. After they had their snack there were a few minutes until it was time to go back into the gymnasium. This was the perfect time to play a quick activity while the children were all sitting at the tables to keep them occupied. We played Heads Up 7-Up (which I remember loving as a kid in elementary school). It is very important to know of little games to play during extra time at the end of certain activities so that everyone can stay on track and the class is organized and structured. We went outside for a little while on the playground and played various tag games that really got the kids (and us!) running around like crazy.
Once we returned back into the gymnasium we played a fun games with the younger children pretending to "chop down the christmas tree" (which were cones) with foam balls. With the older kids, we played a variation of soccer but with a football and basketball hoops. It was a fun and easy variation that kept the game interesting and I was pleased to see all of the children participating and enjoying this game. We ended with the younger children singing and dancing as well as doing a Christmas chant about santa coming. Overall the time at St.Mary's has been a pleasure. I feel far more comfortable in front of my peers as well as the children. I have learned how to communicate with different groups of kids and better understand how to explain certain games to various age groups and how to check for understanding in a sufficient way so that I know everyone understands and is ready to play. I've learned how to get the kids excited about participating as well as specific ways to hold their attention and use variation for different levels. This has definitely helped me feel more confident and has influenced me to be more enthusiastic with the children. This experience has inspired me to become the best physical educator that I can be and has really shown me how I can impact the growth of motor development in growing children for their own improvement in so many ways.

Children Give Thanks at St.Mary's!

This week at St. Mary's my group worked with the Pre-K children. It was nice to work with the kids in the classroom for the beginning of the afternoon. While some children listened to a story, I worked with near 10 Pre-K students making turkeys out of pine cones. Not realizing in advance that the children did not use scissors in that classroom, it was a little difficult to prepare the construction paper "feathers", but in the end we had more than enough feathers for all of the children to use. I learned that the kids are going to do the craft their way- which is interesting to see their unique minds work. They all understood the Thanksgiving concept and all of the kids were excited to participate in my craft which made me feel good about it and happy to share it with the children but also wish that I had had more time with it. Our activities were based on pretending to make apple pies by kicking balls ("apples") into curved jump-rope (the pie crust). We also incorporated other ideas such as Pilgrim tag games and waddling turkey activities involving music to move around to. I really enjoy incorporating music into play. I believe it is a great idea to get your students moving. Last week in Prep-Lab I had a great time playing the games while Professor Yang played upbeat songs that were fun to move to. This is something I certainly want to bring to my future Physical Education setting.  We assessed a group of first to second graders on their kicking and dribbling abilities in which I was surprised to see how well they could control the ball with their bodies. You can check out my assessment and further explanations of this week's lab here! Overall the day was exhilarating with lots of great energy.  

Halloween at St. Mary's!

Today was a wild experience with the children at St. Mary's. Since this is an after-school program, many of the kids were very excited to go trick-or-treating after their activities. To maintain organization throughout the gymnasium, we worked on keeping the children interested and focused on their individual fun Halloween-themed activity. My group lead the children at the end with a group chant, song, and dance to dance out some of those jitters. I enjoyed playing a game with the younger group of children by walking around with a bin while they worked on throwing beanbags into the bin. Today's activities were focused on overhand throwing and catching skills. Check out my analysis for Lab 4! 

St. Mary's Interaction

This past weeks experience at St. Mary's school was very fun and exhilarating. I was able to make up tag games with the kids on the playground and really get them running around. I learned that changing up the rules and using variation in different tag games can really keep the children moving as well as keeping them interested and having fun. Once in the gymnasium, my group had the older 3rd graders, who were all vigorous and full of energy. We played a fun combination of handball, basketball, and soccer called Speedball. Every kid interacted well with this variation and one young boy was able to punt the ball from one end of the gymnasium into the basketball hoop at the other end. It caused for an energetic commotion and a giant smile on the boy's face! We played other goal-oriented games with scooters which made it so everyone had to use different cognitive skills and muscles. Lab 3 Analysis!

Let's Play some Dodgeball!

Dodgeball is a fun game that is great for conditioning, agility, arm strength, and hand-eye coordination. I think is crazy for people to say that this should not be played in physical education. Come on…. It gets kids moving around, using their psychomotor skills, using strategy, and improves ones competitive position.  Competition is part of life, and dodgeball certainly teaches kids to give it their all or they can simply quit and lose. Don’t we want to teach children to take advantage of being competitive and how that is a part of life? Oh of course- the elimination factor. As we evolve in the PE setting, we know that we can alter any sport, game, or activity to fit the needs and equality of all students. There can be a penalty for “getting out” such as a side activity in a “jail” so that the students want to come back in. They may need to catch a ball thrown by their other teammates from across the gymnasium to return to the main floor-which creates an awesome, intense competition and excitement when numbers are close. As for safety-I do not see a safety or injury factor to dodgeball. Maybe years and years ago when they did not have such a variety of balls to play with such as nerf balls and smaller foam balls. Injury is obviously a risk in all sports, exercise, and athletics. I honestly think people need to stop being such babies about this topic. To say that it is a dangerous activity is just unreasonable.
                There is absolutely a place for dodgeball in the physical education curriculum. It is how the activity it structured and modified that relates to our goals in overall fitness, athletics, and fun. There should always be a goal in mind when planning activities for students. The physical educator must ensure that students are learning about target heart rate, agility, throwing mechanics, catching skills, etc. while playing any game. When taught from this perspective, dodgeball becomes a valuable learning tool, not a lesson in humiliation.