Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Defending Dodgeball + Kickball to the Max



I pick to defend kickball and dodge ball but the modified version of the game like bonzi and jail ball. The games to me aren’t really about teaching physical education but more on instant action. I can have kids play this game for 10-15 minutes and teach a lesson or have them play for 30 minutes on days I want them to be extremely active. Jail ball is like dodge ball but more fun for the kids and everyone plays even if you get out. It starts with two lines near the middle of the court that have a neutral zone all the students can go into. If somebody gets hit they go to jail and have to catch a ball from their teammates who throw it to them to get them out of jail. You can make the game more interesting with having a foam football that is the ultimate get out of jail ball that lets everyone in your team’s jail get out. I love this game because everyone has fun whether you’re the less active kid in the world to the most active, everybody plays and moves around practice the skills of throwing, aiming, timing, catching, and dodging. As a future p.e. teacher I only us Rhino balls that are soft foam and half the students only throw at other students from the chest down. Even if someone where to get hit in the head they really do not hurt, I have seen my fair share of students getting hit right in the face and all of them were fine. For kickball I loved to play bonzi. It is mostly played indoors and instead of having one base runner you can have as many people that can fit onto the base. When a student rounds home they can call out BONZI and they can then go toward first. This game is for all ages and the best part is everywhere in the gymnasium is fair game. If a child kicks and just nicks the ball it’s a fair hit and they can run to first avoiding an embarrassing swing and miss in kickball. I would use the Rhino balls again because they would great and are soft. Students can only get out if they get hit from the chest down, no shoulders or head.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Heroes!

We had a fantastic day at St. Mary’s last week. The theme was super hero’s and the kids and my fellow students had a blast. We had to incorporate running, hopping and galloping in our games. Myself and my group helped the first group with their game. They had a bunch of cards in the middle of a hula hoop and on those cards were movement task the kids had to do back to their lines or groups. The group first started to make such the kids could run, hop and gallop. We were working with 1st and 2nd graders and I was surprised that they all could do the gallop well. Those that had trouble picked up on it incredibly fast. There was music playing so when the kids were not going to the middle to get a card some of them decided to dance and they were not shy about their dance moves. It was a lot of fun. Next, was my groups game called Batman tag that we made up. We had a lot of rules and I thought it was too much for them to handle but to my surprise they understood the rules well. The kids that got to be Batman and the Joker had a great time and we made sure that they all got a chance to be one of the two before our time was over. Gender and ability didn’t seem to be much of a difference. All the students did well with the running, hopping and galloping but there was a difference between the age of the children and the willingness to play. We played a freeze tag game next with another group and they a mix between 2nd graders and I think maybe 4th graders. The older children did not was to participate. I recall there was a boy and four girls that just stood in the corner in the gymnasium and I tried my hardest to get them to play because they seemed shy or thought it was just a dumb game. The older children though were much better at hopping, jumping and gallop than those younger than them.
The first good teaching strategy was for the first game we played. Instead of throwing them into the game they had the students try and practice the skills needed for the day’s games. When it was time for the game every child was prepared. My group during our instruction to the kids we checked for understanding to make sure that they all understood the game. It went really well I thought but of course there were a few that didn’t know but once I helped explain it to them they got it and participated in the game. One thing that stood out to me the most was at the end of class when all the children were load, Tyler said “clap once if you can hear me” and then said “clap twice if you are quite.” That stood out because it worked with the kids and it is a strategy I will have to use one day.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Taking That First Step

October 5 was my motor development classes first lab at St. Mary's Elementary School in Cortland and it was great. As was our first visit the children pretended like they didn't want us there saying to each other "Oh no, not the college kids" but secretly we all know they love us. We started the day with a game by one of my classes groups. We played this game called enlist bucket. Each card has a movement task that the child has to complete in order to move on to the next bucket. We broke off into smaller groups to each of the four buckets and helped the children understand and modify the task to make it a challenge for the children. The grade levels looked to be first and second graders and there were differences between there motor movements and developments. It was so much fun helping them along the game. When task were to simple for some we modified the task for them, such as if jumping ten times was to easy we had them try touching our hand at a level that they really had to load up and jump. Modifying the task made it into a whole new game for them. Some children didn't know how to do some of the task on the cards and it was fun teaching them. Some of course were wild when teaching them but as time moved on they got better and better at the skill as I watched them move on to the other buckets. One little girl didn't know a word on a card and I helped her sound the word out until she got it. It's awesome working with children of all ages. This game is great because one can look at the diffrent levels and motor skills these children are at in stages of there lives. The game did however drag on a bit and you could see kids getting tired and bored of it and moving on to something else. After that we played some games on the scooters which is always a blast. After our time in the gym we moved downstairs where the kids got to play with legos, board games, snack, or draw. I found a boy to play a marble game with and he beat me pretty bad but i got some revenge in checkers. We finally concluded the day with free time in the gym, where i learned a new type of box game. It's pretty cool that I learned a new modern game that I can now teach to others. I had a blast and am looking forward to the next lab. Until next time, have a good one.