Easter Egg Hunt!

This week at St. Mary's we had a Easter themed lab. Everyones spirits were high because of the holiday. I was a part of the special projects group, meaning we spent half of our time helping the St. Marys staff by making sure everything was in order and clean. This was important because it makes things much safer for the students, and allows the staff to know where everything is at all times.
The other half of the lab we spend outside playing. This was fantastic. Finally we were able to bring the energized students outside and play games with them. They loved tag, and always seemed to make up rules allowing them to win. When the students were brought into the gym our tactical problem was seeing if we could have them properly kick a soccer ball and dribble a basketball. This was challenging at first but once the group was controled they handled it well.

Rawwrrrrr!!

This past week in lab was a little more interesting than most. For starters a curve ball was thrown at us in the beginning of class by our teacher, which really just made me want to do better. Secondly, the students must have had an exsessive intake of some sort of sugar because their energy level was through the roof! From the second we walked in the St. Mary's students were running around screaming and not wanting to sit down. For our observation part of the lab it was a little hectic because you can never really tell what to expect you simply just have to be prepared to adjust. Today was no different. Not only were the students hyper but there was also around double the number of students than normal. It was just another learnign experience for us.
For this lab, I was a part of the Pre-K group. Walking in this was something I didn't know what to be expecting because it was our first time. Overall it went well. We read a book in the classroom, the students immediately were drawn to us, wanting to sit next to us and do everything we were doing. After we read we did a coloring project which also went very well. Once we got into the gym the energy level hit an all time high and it became very challenging to keep their attention to even explain the game.
As always ,it was a learning experience and a great time.

Shoot for the Stars

Thank you St. Marys for allowing us the opportunity to come and teach! It is greatly appreciated.

Staying Fit!

Physical education is so much more complex than what meets the eye. I personally love sports; team sports, individual sports, you name it I will play it. But there is so much more to physical education than just sports and game. It’s an understanding of the body, how it develops, how to control movements, and how to react when your body is telling you that it has reached its limit. Yes, physical education involves sports and games but what about the other aspect of it? What about your actual body. For example, the health aspect of the major. Do physical educators actually discuss with their students the importance of healthy eating, or the importance of the FITT principle? Students should know and understand how important to your health daily fitness and a good diet actually is. Obesity is at an all-time high and we as physical educators have to take a stand and educate students on how to prevent obesity. We also should express to them the importance of the FITT principle and how it can help you in your future years of life by lessening your risk of heart disease. It makes me sad to see over-weight/obese people or adults struggling with health issues and it makes so much sense to incorporate that aspect of physical education in daily lessons. Over the years we have learned so much about our bodies that we need to do a better job of making people more aware of what can benefit them and what can do harm to them in for their future.

Wild Wild Westttt!

Just being part of the swishy pants club? I think not. Being in the physical education program is much more than that. Over the past few weeks I continued to learn more and more on how to properly approach certain situations, and also how to handle an entire class of kids with a short attention span. Granted, there is obviously so much to learn but I feel as though that even with few past few weeks under my belt I am getting closer to becoming a Physical Educator.
This past week in lab we went to St. Mary's but we went in style. The theme of the week was Western so most of us took that as an opportunity to really bring the theme to life by dressing up. We all arrived in our cowboy hats and plaid shirts ready to teach our games.

This week I was with the second through fifth graders. Being in costume really got their attention and made them more excited to participate in your games. We structured games around the Western theme to make it that much more fun! The children were great and loved all of our costumes and games.
Since they are a bit older and more physically developed they really like to play more competitive and challenging games. Their attention is still pretty short so it is important to keep your direction as brief as possible and to the point.

Chapter 1 - An Overview of Developmental Physical Education