Superheros to the gymnasium

It was our final day of lab at St. Mary's school.  It is bitter sweet for me.  I am happy to spend more time with my family, but I will surely miss the kids there.  The weather was nice so we went outside instead of down to the cafeteria.  I was glad to be outside.  There was one boy bouncing a ball off the wall.  I asked if he wanted to play a game my dad used to play with me called, "always be ready."  It started out with a few playing and grew quickly.  It turned into hot-potato, because we had so many playing it.  We had to get the ball moving around.  As we were playing in our superman and ghost busters outfits we saw a large group of kids that were really excited about Mario and Luigi. We played with the parachute when we went back in the school.  A lot of the kids were really tired by that time, but we still had a few die-hards willing to play with us.  The kids really enjoyed the costumes.  I think that superheros was a great way to finish the class.  Hopefully we will all  be superheros or rock-stars, or what ever will make the kids want to move when we are out in the world teaching.

Dr. Harlow's Rhesus Monkeys

This video with the monkeys is critical to motor development.  It shows how the monkeys like human are drawn to the soft mother rather than the wire monkey.  The only reason the baby monkey went to the wire monkey was for nourishment.  As soon as the monkeys finished eating they would return to the soft mother.  This had a devastating affect on the monkeys socially, they were not able to interact later in life.  They were scared and confused.  This is just one more reason to love your children.

To Infinity and Beyond

It was a toy story week.  It was a bit different this week.  We were out side and there weren't a lot of kids this week.  We assessed dribbling and kicking.  I don't know if I am just more comfortable with assessments or these were just easier skill to assess.  This week we looked at MM who with a little help dribbling completed all the criteria.  Kicking was a little more difficult to assess with being on the blacktop.  The ball moved fast and MM did a lot of dribbling at first.  The college kids helped by passing the ball to MM making it easier to assess the kicking skill.  Edwin and Jillian had a great activity for the pre-k group.  The stick a part on Mr. Potatohead was so popular, even the older kids joined in.  Once again the props were a hit.

Thank You Easter Bunny!!

It was an Easter theme this week.  We observed throwing and catching activities this week.  The boy that we observed picked up the ball with his right hand first. and threw it.  Then he picked a ball up with his left hand and threw it. He threw with both hands pretty well but, his right hand was the more dominant one.  Neither the boy nor the girl we observed this week rotated their hip and shoulders, or transfer weight by stepping with the opposite foot.  Both could perform all the criteria for  catching.   This week was a lot of fun.  The kids really enjoyed all the bunny ears and the props.  It really makes you feel good when the kids really enjoy the activities that were planned for the lab.

Dinosaurs, Trains and Fun

Jen did a great obstacle course tonight!  She put a lot of work into it.  I wish I had more artistic talent.  I think that is an area that I need to work on.  The kids liked the game that she designed for them.  The activity captivated the kids.  Blaze was scheduled to make an appearance tonight, but couldn't make it and the kids didn't really seam to mind.  I played with a jump rope group tonight, and it brought back some fond memories.  I hope that the kids of St. Mary's have the same fond memories that I have.

Motor Development Prezi

The Prezi is an exciting tool. Its learning curve is just as steep as all over technologies. Once you get going, it work surprisingly well. It doesn't matter how big each of your frames are, they will re-size and adjust as the presentation is run live. Images are embedded though uploading the file to your Prezi.

Check out my first Prezi: Motor Development

Big Issues in the US

Jacqueline Graves
PED 201 SP10

The three critical issues facing children in the US today are, childhood obesity, in-school and community violence, and early onset of puberty.  The physically educated person should be identified as someone who is physically fit, participates in regularly physical activity, knows the implications and the benefits of involvement in physical activities and values and contributes to a healthy lifestyle.
Three factors that explain the relationships that lead to the development of the whole child are biology of the individual, conditions of the learning environment and requirements of the movement task.  Individual appropriateness is based each child being unique.  They will differ in timing, pattern of growth, and development.  Age-group appropriateness is based on a curriculum and not on chronological age or grade; however both influence age-group appropriateness. 
Three fundamental locomotor movements are walking, running, and leaping.  Three fundamental manipulation movements include volleying, punting and kicking.  Axial movements are movements that are non-locomotor movements such as bending twisting or turning.  Some examples of static/dynamic movements are stopping, dodging, and rolling. 
Physical fitness is defined as a combination of health-related and performance-related components.  Health-related fitness includes muscular strength, muscular endurance cardiovascular endurance joint flexibility and body composition.  Performance-related fitness includes balance, coordination, agility, speed and power.

Michelle Obama Tackles Childhood Obesity

Winter Olympics Go for the Gold!

Working with the preschoolers was fun. They were very energetic. In all activities, all the children, but one did not want to participate.  We heard that some kids were singing the alligator song at dinner time, with their family. They talked about the arts and crafts that we prepared for them. They were excited and this in turn made me excited to teach them.

Mr. Alligator can't catch me!

Here we are singing with the St. Mary's Pre-K class.  Some of the kids knew the song and others learned it as we went along.  Either way it was fun for all!

Fun Games

Dodge ball, if done right can be exciting and a challenge  that can be played past high school years.  There are dodge ball tournaments popping up around.  This would encompass NASPE 6, and if played fairly would also have standard 5.  State standards that dodge ball competitions would include are 3a and 3b.  I do believe it should be a game  played by choice, not something that you should have to do in Physical Education.  After all it would be the person's choice to play dodge ball in the community.  I would like to know peoples thoughts and feelings on golf being a sport.  I love to play golf (even though i'm not very good).  I just feel that playing dodge ball was more exercise than golf and golf is something taught in Physical Education programs.  I believe if you make it "fun" for kids then they will get more out of it.  You could have the best game out there but if the kids don't like it they won't get anything out of it!

First use of the gymnasium!!!

Tonight was the first night we were able to use the gymnasium.  The kindergartners and first graders were the first group up.  We played Valentine tag and leap frog tag and one other.  It was interesting when I had to try to go through a little one's legs to try and free them.  I didn't fit so well and my knees hurt.  The kids were really excited when we started.  By the last tag game we played with them they were tired and not so into the game.  Luckily it was time for the groups to change then.  We had to keep the games hopping, and I think it helped that we were playing it with them.  They seemed to enjoy tagging the college kids. 

After that we were broken up into groups.  Our lab assistant wasn't there so we did a project.  Mark and I organized the storage space.  We put pictures on the outside of the equipment boxes and containers.  I think it will make it a lot easier to find the equipment that we need to use.  I just hope the Physical Education teacher at St. Mary's is not mad at us for moving their things around.  That was a fun project.  I hope it helps.  The lab assistants gave some great advice tonight.  Write your blog while it is fresh in your memory.  I am a person that has to write everything down, so this will help me.

Our lab met at St. Mary's school today.  We had an orientation and tour of the school.  The gymnasium was a really nice one.  There were chairs in the gym so we weren't using that facility.  We were in the cafeteria with the older  kids.  I had fun coloring and playing pictionary with a group of first graders.  The sixth graders were playing school.  That was interesting.  I didn't do as well as expected on the test.  I forgot a comma and had points taken off.    We didn't get much time with the preschoolers today.  I look forward to being with them next class. 

Day 1

Today was my first day of EDU201.  It was informational.  I am very excited to learn fun ways to spark curiosity in learning Physical Education for all.  I want to be known as the Physical Education teacher from the cradle to the grave.