Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Easter Hops into Lab 4

Lab 4

I thought this week’s lab went extremely well. My group and I were assigned to the Pre-K class, and so far this has been my favorite age group to work with. They are all so cute, and so enjoyable to be around. They ask you questions, tell you stories, and are excited to do your activities. All said in done, they simply are fun. My group and I made a large poster, and we also printed out different Easter images to have the students color. We then took the images and put them inside the cross that was on the poster. The poster was then hung in the gym inside the Pre-K area. I felt this craft was nice because it added some color to the gym; it wasn’t just a sheet of paper the students colored and brought home, but rather something they could see everyday hung in the school. Our game was a success too, and the students seemed to enjoy it. It was surprising to me how much they liked the eggs we used for the tossing. Hah at one point several students all bombarded me seeing if they could have one to take home. And not only were our Pre-K students taking part in the activity, but I noticed that several of the older children were watching and wanted to know what we were doing. For another lab it seemed that music really helped the involvement in the games, and helps the children to cut loose and have fun. Our group really did our best to incorporate the Easter theme into our plan for the lab, and this too seemed to get the children excited. I hope that for the last two labs our class can continue to involve the theme. All said and done it seemed like everyone this week really did well. We all had our activities planned out well, involved music, and got into the Easter spirit. This in my eyes was our most successful lab yet, and I hope the rest follow suite! I really did have a blast, and I hope the kids did too.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Childhood Growth and Development

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Dinosaur Train Rolls Into St. Mary's

Lab 3

Yesterday was Lab 3 at St. Mary's and the theme was Dinosaur Train. The kids were very wired and energetic, and it seemed that the first two groups to teach struggled with getting the students focused. I think this lab showed all of us (Cortland students) how important it is to think through how you will explain your games. And it seems the best method of teaching is to incorporate specific instruction, use demonstrations, and language that is understood. The Pre-K group did well giving clear instructions to their students, they used hoops, jump ropes, and instruction to get the young children to understand and stay involved in their games. The younger the children are, the more it seems you have to use visual instructions, and verbal explanations. This week, my group was in charge of putting together an ending game, song, and cheer. I felt that our activities went great, even better than we had hoped. We did our best to really incorporate the dinosaur theme, and the kids seemed to love it. Ben created a good visual tool for the Dinosaur Hokie Pokie, and I thought it really helped the success of the dance. I thought the lab ended on a very positive note, and it was nice that our classmates helped increase the enthusiasm of the students. This lab was a lot of fun, and I think each one of us learned some valuable teaching lessons from it.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Textbook Assignment 1

Out of the many issues facing children in the U.S. today, the most crucial include the rapid raising of childhood obesity, in-school and community violence, and early puberty. There are several aims and goals that branch from the development of physical education. Some goals include affective growth, movement skill acquisition, cognitive learning, physical activity, and fitness enhancement. Biology of the individual, conditions of the learning envirnoment, and requirements of the movement task are all factors that explain the relationships that lead to the development of the whole child. Individual appropriateness is based on the concept that each child has unique timing and patterns of growth and development. These activies are geared towards each child's particular stage of development. Age-group appropriateness is based on both age and grade level. This develops a pattern of behaviors to emerge that are typical of specific age groups; this is benchmark type of concept, basing what children are taught off of what is normal for that age group.
Fundamental movement skills of locomotion include hopping, jumping, and leaping. Examples of manipulative include throwing, kicking, and bouncing. Axial, static, and dynamic movements are all patterns of stability that can be observed. Bending and turning are included in axial movements, while rolling and dodging are examples of static and dynamic postures. Physical fitness is defined by the combination of health and performance related fitness.