The best of the best portfolios

I checked out the portfolios that were being showcased and I wasn't disappointed. All of the portfolios were good in their own respect. It was interesting to see everyone's individual style in their portfolio, and the creativity of all these portfolios was off the charts. I was asking for advice from the students who owned these portfolios and they told me to decorate your portfolio with tons of pictures of you teaching. John Modena had the best portfolio in my opinion and he got my vote. From the looks of it I have a lot of work to do on my portfolio to make it nearly as impressive as their portfolios.

A sad goodbye to Saint Marys

This was going to be our last day of our labs at Saint Marys. Knowing that is was our last day, I wanted to go out with a bang. My group duck, duck, goose started in the gym with our game elves and raindeers. It was a modified version of tag where one person the tagger(elves)starts out in the middle, while the raindeer crossover to the other side. If the tagger gets to you, you must become one and help tag the other players as they attempt to get to the other side. The game ends when everyone is tagged. From the beginning to end, the kids had a relentless amount of energy. The first game ended pretty quick as the students were able to run and tag each other. For second game everyone had to crawl like a raindeer, which slowed the pace of the game down drastically. I joined the game to help speed things up a bit. We then would throw another variation to the game by having the kids get as low as possible to the ground like elves. This game would prove to be interesting because its up to the kids preference on how low to the ground they would get. I found that majority of the kids were just running with their body close to the ground, kind of like a crouch run. Our last game would be the longest out of all of them. To end the day at Saint Marys, Amanda performed a simon says song with Santa in it. I got a lot of laughs out of the song. It was a good way to end the labs at Saint Marys. I'm going to miss working with those kids, as well as working with the other stuedents in the class. If I had the choice I'd do it all over again.

Giving Thanks For P.E.

It was a warm day at St. Marys for our last day of lab before the break. My group duck, duck, goose started outside with the kids in a game of kickball. It was impressive how well they were able to kick the ball. At one point one of the kids roofed the ball, which caused a twenty second timeout as we went to find another kickball. The game must go on, so we started the game back up. Me and Jen played outfield for both teams to make it even. They made it difficult to play outfield because they were kicking the ball with such strength and precision. The pitchers were putting a spin on the ball to make it harder to hit. In the end the score of the kickball game was pretty even before we headed to the gym.

We then got our opportunity to play our game called Zone B. It was like ultimate football. We had our own variation of the game using a basketball. The kids had to catch the ball within the goal line and tag the wall with the ball. They could only take three steps while dribbling the ball. The game was fast paced and the kids had fair dribbling skills. At the end of the basketball game the score was tie, so we introduced the soccer version of the Zone B. It was difficult to play because we only had half the gym. The only difference was the kids had to trap the ball within the opposing team's goal line. This game ended up in a tie as well. In conclusion to our lab at St. Marys we did the turkey dance. It was a fun ending to a long day.

Who says doing inventory isn't fun

It was circus day for our four lab at St. Marys. My group duck, duck, goose was assigned to the P.E. equipment room for the day. We knew we would get limited time with the kids, but we made the best of out of our time with the kids. To start the day at St. Marys, we helped Jenna's group the leaping lizards with their modified version of handball. The kids would have to line up and throw the tennis balls into the target zone, which was a square. The line I was in had no trouble overhand throwing the tennis balls, but they weren't very accurate. They were throwing the ball so hard against the wall that the next person in line couldn't catch it, which made the game a little hectic. I found that once they switch to bigger balls for the activity, the kids accuracy increased and the game ran smoother because the kid next in line could catch the ball easier. After the game we had to count the inventory in the P.E. equipment room. We separated the equipment, counted it, and wrote the number on a piece of paper. Doing the inventory helped us to see the importance of knowing how much equipment you have. For the song closure, we used choose to do the chicken dance at the end. It turned out great considering we had no music because the radio was low. Jen really pulled it through with her chicken dancing skills.

Good Morning St. Marys

As a way of seeing the kids morning routine at St. Marys, one person from each group must attend St. Marys to work with the pre-k classes. I was the first out of my group duck,duck, goose to attend the morning session at St. Marys and it was quite an experience. I was put in Mrs. Garcia classroom and welcomed in from the first minute I came through the door. Some of the kids dropped what they were doing and saided "Hey, I know you!". The first thing I did was play legos with the kids, while Mrs. Garcia called the kids up one by one to hand write their name. I noticed that the pre-k kids are much more docile in the morning then are wednesday afternoon labs. My hypothesis on this is that the students are still waking up. After the free time was clean up time and I've never seen a group of kids be so efficient at cleaning up the play area. It was pretty impressive to see the pre-k students work together cleaning up. Next was the bathroom break as the students line up behind the leader and head to the bathroom. After the bathroom break, the kids had a spanish class. I didn't know that pre-k students are now being exposed to spanish class at such an early age. After the spanish class I said my goodbyes as I headed back to motor development class.

Some Halloween fun at St. Marys

You can never have enough fun during halloween and we proved it at our third lab at Saint Marys. My group duck, duck, goose got the privilege to work with the pre-k kids this time around. It was an eventful day as we started out in the classroom with the kids. I started out playing with toys at the table with Chris and Maria. I was conversating with the kids in the classroom and I had found out I was among alot of young yankee fans. After the hour of playtime, I helped set up snacktime for the kids. The pre-k students had big smiles on their faces as they ate their cookies and drank their milk. Our game followed right after snacktime for this kids. Our game consisted of four stations of motor skills and the kids would have to complete each station then repeat. The first station was crawling through the tunnel and the pre-k students did it with ease. For the second station, they had to jump across the mat. Our third station they had to leap in the hula hoop then leap out. Last but not least, for the four station the kids leap over four circular mats layed across the floor. For the most part none of the kids struggle at any of the stations. My favorite part of the lab came up next as we danced to the thriller with all the kids at Saint Marys. To conclude our halloween lab at Saint Marys Pat lead us into a parachute game where we would all have to be under the parachute at the same time. After the parachute game we ended our halloween lab on a good note.

Super hero day at St. Marys

The second lab at Saint Marys was a positive experience. The theme of the lab was superheros. My team duck, duck, goose decided to go with a modified version of capture the flag. We called it superheros vs villans. The capture the flag game consisted on four flags on each side and a neutral zone in the middle. Hula hoops were neutral zones as well. The object of the game is to capture all four opposing team's flags. If you were tagged you would have to lie down like a buffalo and wait to get tagged back in by a teammate. I've managed to incorporate motor skills in the game for the kids to do. The kids were energetic from begining to end. The first couple of games were chaotic until Pat suggested we only have one flag per team. The game was much more organized this way. I found it much easier to manage the game with one flag instead of multiple flags. Overall, I enjoyed the capture the flag game as well as the kids.

P.E. Hall of Shame

Dodgeball and kickball are part of the "shame" games in the P.E. program today. If we modify these two games, they can be saved from the hall of shame. For dodgeball I would divide the gym into four square quadrants. The only equipment needed is 10 foam balls and some jerseys. The game itself consist of two teams, just like regular dodgeball. Each team is divided equally into two quadrants across from each other. Just like its predcessor, the object of the game is to get everybody out on the opposing team. If you are hit you must sit down wherever you are at. A special mod I made was that if your team in the quadrant across from you threw you a ball, which must be caught before it hits the ground deems you back in the game. To win you one team must get the entire opposing team out the game. This new version of dodgeball incorporates cooperation as well as teamwork. I believe the modifications to this game get rids of the kids who stay in the back of the gym not partcipating and it makes dodgeball more team oriented. Kickball is a little more difficult to make modifications to, but this is how I would do it. There would be no changes to equipment, just three bases and a kickball. The team that is kicking would have to everybody kick at least once before someone can go again and there are no strikeouts. For people in the outfield, everyone has to play a different position each inning. So everyone gets a chance to explore the different positions and to keep from discrimating against the weaker players. The adjustments I made to this game incorporates teamwork as well as keeping everyone in the game. Both games have their flaws, but with some adjustments they can remain in the P.E. program.(Photo via libertyk12.org)

Saint Marys lab 1 10/7/09