The PE mini conference

Last Saturday I attended the PE mini conference at park center. I watched 3 different presentations of games. These games weren't ordinary games however, they were new fun games. Games that were exciting and kept people's interest. The first presentation I attend was a game with a gigantic pink ball. I forget the name of it but the object of the game was simple. Their were 3 different teams on the floor: green, black and red. The object of the game was to hit the ball in the air, swinging your arms like a baseball bat. The team color that is called out has to catch the ball without it hitting the ground. This was cool because it was something that I have ever have seen before, and it was a new game that kept my interest and a game I will defiantly keep in mind when teaching my physical education class.

The next presentation i watched was another game/activity that kept everyone moving. There were cones set up in a huge box. The object of the activity was that everyone had one sheet of newspaper. The idea was to run around the cones so fast that the newspaper stuck to your chest and didn't fall off. The faster you ran, the more the newspaper stayed on. This was a great concept because it was a fun game where everyone was laughing and smiling, but it was also health related; trying to achieve a goal. The idea that I was really impressed by was that how everyone their was having so much fun: with a sheet of newspaper. It's just being creative, things I never even thought of before and it really opens my eyes and mind as to what I should think for as games.

The last station I went to was just all about health. It was different and fun ways to do push-ups, sit-ups and relay races. In one relay race we ran back and forth, but while waiting on line, you had to do jumping jacks or sliding. This was a great idea because even the people waiting their turn were still being active and that's the way the game should be played. we also learned a variation of push-ups where u get with a partner and give each other a high five while your arms are extended. It was just good to see the different ways that you can make all the old boring exercises fun for kids, knowing they wont be to thrilled to do them in the first place. They now have something else to concentrate on.

The mini conference really opened my eyes as to what i should be striding for to become a PE teacher. The ideas, the games everything was so great. It was the first one I ever attended seeing that it is my first semester here and i was really blown away. I hope to attend as many as I can and come with as many great ideas and concepts as I did from this one.

Saint Mary's

It was another good week at Saint Mary's. The three skills that we observed were the leap, horizontal jump, and the slide. My group worked with a lot of different ages actually. At first we were working with pre-k outdoors where we played a few different tag games trying to incorporate different movement patterns. Being outside really limited the children because everyone was cold and not really into the games just wanting to go back inside. We actually ran a version of our group activity called the Dora the Explorer Adventure game. We set up different stations along the playground and the the kids had to follow the two leaders. We had fake trees which were just batons covered in green paper to make it an authentic game.

Once we were inside though, we were with a lot of different grades playing the Dora the Explorer game. We had children from the ages of pre-k to 8 playing and enjoying this game. The age difference was obvious seeing that the 8 year olds were stronger and were faster with their movements. The pre-k children were also holding there own in executing the skills once you showed them how to do it and what the exact movement was.

This was a great game to play with the children because it was new and exciting. The children were curious as to how you played this game and could relate because they watched the show Dora the Explorer. I think if they could have, they would have done this game for a full hour if we didn't stop them, that's how much fun they were having. It was an overall great day for the kids and the instructors because we knew we had done our part and succeeded for the day.

Saint Mary's

My first few weeks at Saint Mary's I have really enjoyed. I love knowing at the end of the day I don't have to sit in a classroom but I can actually make a difference in a child's life and be a role model. What we have done is try to take games out of our books and off line, and teach them to the children. While teaching, we also assess and evaluate the skills needed for that day. For example, the first time we watched the motor skills of the kids was when they had them do a run, hop, and gallop. I always think it is a good idea to demonstrate to the kids how to do these skills properly. They may not know how to in the first place, so it is good to give them a good visual. This way, when assessing them, you can get a really good look as to what you need to watch and correct.

My group played a game called Alligator Ally. This is a game with very few pieces of equipment. Hula hoops and yarn balls is all that is needed to make this game fun. The point of the game is to avoid the players with the balls, which are the alligators. If you are on a hula hoop (lillypad in game play) then you are safe. If you are tagged with the ball you then become an alligator. This was a good game to assess because both the taggers and the regular players had to do the movements in the game such as run, gallop and hop.

What I've learned about myself is that I actually enjoy teaching and playing with the younger kids as opposed to the older kids. I feel as though the older kids have seen it all already and for obvious reasons, while the younger kids are so excited to play something else besides regular tag games and they can be their favorite animals or favorite character on TV. All in all it is a great experience helping out at Saint Mary's and making me feel as if seem I have impacted a child's life by making him or her active.