I Want To Be An Astronaut! Huh?

Monday was our last time going to St. Mary's and I really couldn't believe how fast the semester went.  We first opened up playing with the students using the giant parachute.  We played games like making chicken noodle soup, sharks and life guards, and moved around the parachute depending on what color we were holding.  There are so many different games that you can play by just using the parachute and the students will be fully engaged.  It is a great warm up activity to get the students moving.  For the remainder of the day I worked with the pre-kindergartner's again for the second week in a row.  I went into there classroom and played with a few girls and boys in their play area.  They wanted to play house and they cooked me up a fruit salad.  Then I had them join me to color and they had me draw the different students in the classroom.  One of the girls loved the picture so much she wanted to keep it because she said "I was a natural artist."

 Then I read the students a book called "I Want To Be An Astronaut."  The book was a very short story with a lot of pictures.  Although the students did not respect me while I was reading the story.  Every sentence I read they all in unison would say "Huh!?" I smiled twice and then told the students to pay attention and to be quiet but they continued to do it every page for the remainder of the story.  After I went into the gymnasium and played with the students in builders and bulldozers.  I had a student that wanted to play with me individually so we were having a pass.  Then she wanted to pass to me off the wall and try and catch it.  I was impressed with her ability although the ball slipped between her hands a few times.  Then she wanted to carry her ice cream cone around the area.  We both tried to pass the ball from cone to cone because we did not want to get sand on our ice cream.  The day went by so quick and before I knew it it was the final activity of the day.  One young student wanted to be my partner for the activity so we ran around and tried to grab their flag that was attached to the other teams belts.  He was more successful than me!  I had a blast at St. Mary's and would do the semester all over again.  It has been such a beneficial learning experience and it was fun at the same time.  Thanks again St. Mary's School!
Click here for lab six!

Crocodile Tag!

Monday was such a gorgeous day and what better way to spend the day than at St. Mary's.  As soon as we got there we had to observe the different levels of skill amongst the kindergartner's and first graders.  I was extremely impressed with the skill levels of the students.  Any way today my group and I worked with the pre-kindergartner's.  We went outside to their playground and interacted with the students.  Three young girls wanted to play tag with me and they were very good.  They refrained from telling me all the rules because apparently every fence, chair, and tree were "base".

 I had them join me on the bars and they wanted to play a climbing tag which I modified so it wasn't as dangerous.  I had two crocodiles starting in the middle of the circle and every body else moving around the bars.  You could only be off of the bars for five seconds then you had to get back on.  The students loved the game so much it had gained attention of other students that joined.  Before I knew it there was about six students playing the game with me and the game even attracted Dave to join in too.  Next we went inside where the students had a snack break and story time.  While this was going down I was setting up mine/Ryan's game.  His game went well although it was not a game that involved dribbling/kicking which were the two skills that were being assessed.  I decided to have the young students focus on dribbling and if they lose their dribble they would shoot the ball.  The young students did not find the game interesting at all so then I had them just freely dribble/pass with one of us college students which they seemed to enjoy.

 Before I knew it the day was almost over and we were told to clean up and get ready for the last game/song/cheer.  Everyone had a good time playing Toilet Tag especially when they got to flush someone's toilet.  I cannot believe how much I have grown at St. Mary's and I am not shy to run around a break a sweat.  I was tired at the end of the day and I think that that is important to work hard in every activity and be involved because it is boring standing on the side just blowing a whistle or shouting go as a cue to begin.
Click here for lab five!

Relay For Life!

Rest in peace Court<3
10/08/1991 - 12/13/2008

This past Saturday night my field hockey team and I went to relay for life in park center to raise awareness and celebrate those who have fought, survived, or lost their battle to cancer.  I walked around the track celebrating one of my friends Courtney Tomkin who past away almost three and a half years ago.  She had brain cancer and lost the fight after just nine months of fighting.  She was only seventeen years old.  I miss her so much and I was so proud to walk in her memory.  I also walked around the track in honor of my Uncle Kenny who had survived lymphoma cancer but now has terminal pancreatic cancer and in honor of my Aunt Dorothy who has melanoma cancer.  What really touched my heart was seeing the cancer survivors walk around the track holding the relay for life banner.  As a future educator I really hope I can host one of these events to raise awareness and money for cancer research.  I think that it is extremely important to get all of the students involved whether they be involved in different clubs, athletic teams, or if they just want to come support.  I really hope I have the opportunity to do this because this would be a great event to bring the school and community together as a whole.

Sommersaults Live!

The Sommersaults killed it live at Pool Side this past Wednesday afternoon in Park Center. All of the groups went in order of the chapters. I thought that all the groups did a really good job performing in front of an audience and nobody seemed nervous at all. Some groups had choreography which was nice to see and some different props involved as well. As soon as we got up there the crowd was getting a little rowdy. I was a little bit nervous because we were last and I felt the pressure on. Once the music started to play my nerves just magically disappeared and I felt comfortable infront of the crowd. I think we did pretty awesome and I am proud of my group!

Registering Took Way Too Long

The Sommersaults took on the scavenger hunt and completed it first. We ran around Park Center and looked for the clues outside of the box.  Some were underneath tables, on the ceiling, and some just weren't there at all. We ran back to the exergaming lab and figured out that the answer to the riddle was "Red Dragons".   I was pretty disappointed that I did not guess that to begin with.  I unfortunately did not get to participate in the games in the exergaming lab because I had some scheduling issues I needed to take care of with Mrs. Wright. She helped me register for my classes for about an hour changing and moving around different classes/labs to help me get into the ones necessary.  By the time I finished I came back to the lab and everyone was leaving.  I was pretty disappointed that I did not get to join in so I am hopeful that I will be able to have another opportunity before the end of the semester.

The Older The Students Get - The Harder The Control

When we first got to St. Mary's we were assessing the younger students on how to throw and catch. I was really impressed at how strong their abilities were. They were able to throw pretty much on target and many were hitting Oscar the Grouch directly in the head which was pretty entertaining. One student I noticed could sort of throw a curve ball. It discouraged me because I obviously cannot do that! Afterwords my group and I were told to work with the cafeteria group or the older students. We first went downstairs to play some board games. Two students were showing me how to build a face mask out of leggo's to protect my self in any emergency. They said that my face mask was decent for my first time building. Then we all moved upstairs where my group and I introduced our games. The students really were not interested and some of the boys were trying to see how much they could get away with and was pushing us as instructors. When it came time for my game I was a little intimidated because the boys were being rough and loud. I told them we were going to play earth ball and the object of the game was to throw small balls at one large yoga ball and see if they can get it across either teams side to score a point. But some of the students were kicking it and picking it up and throwing it at one another. After about five minutes I had to stop the game because they were out of control. So Dave, Ryan, and I decided to play basketball with the boys to try and control them more which we succeeded. They were trying to cheat a bit and pushing one another. It was not one of the better days at St. Mary's and I am actually glad it happened because now I know I have to be prepared for anything to happen because I will never know the mood of the students I will be getting. Next time I will be working with the pre kindergartener's so hopefully my game will work next time because after this past lab we got some advice from one of the past 201 students saying that the younger ones love to chase. In the event I have the older students again I will try to make my game more team oriented and more sport similar so I gain more interest and trust in the students to follow the rules. Click here for lab four!

Head, Neck, And Body

The Sommersaults are at it again! Ever hear Wiz Khalifa's Young, Wild, and Free?  We wrote our own remix that went along with Rudimentary Movement Abilities.  Listen and let me know what you think!
Be sure to check out Dave and Ryan's blog as well!