First Experience at St. Mary's

On monday afternoon we entered St. Mary's expecting the unexpected. Once we were in the school we split up into our groups and headed off to beging our first day. My group was assigned the pre-K kids. The kids ranged from the ages 2-5 and there were two different class rooms. Our group split up to cover both classrooms at once. While in the classroom, we just needed to interact and communicate with the children. The main goal was to get them to communicate back with us, and really start to get to know them. To my surprise the kids reacted great and were not just giving me yes and no answers. There were a few that all they did was talk, which was great! I played with blocks, ate pretend cookies, drank pretend orange juice, read books and colored with them. After snack time it was our turn to go play in the gym. The kids were running up and down the walls. They had so much energy from being cooped up in classroom the whole day. Our group didnt really have set games, but we were creative and made up some games that i felt they enjoyed. One game was where we put a bunch of hola hoops in a circle and then had the kids jup through them. we had them do one leg and then we also picked some of the hola hoops up so they could craw through them. Another game i thought the kids liked was that they would get inside the hoops and then we would pretend we are driving then around in cars and steering them. Before we knew it time was up and we had to go.

All in all i had a really great first experience at St. Mary's. I think i had just as much fun as the kids did. I cant wait to work with different levels and create new activities.

Dodgeball

“Dodge, duck, dip, dodge and duck” are a few great words from the comedy Dodge Ball. The game dodge ball has become a subject of controversy in schools all over the United States. Should dodge ball be removed from the Physical Education curriculum completely?

My opinion on the subject of dodge ball is no, dodge ball should not be removed from the curriculum completely. I believe that it should be removed from classroom Phys. Ed. but I think that when students are not in school hours that they should be allowed to play. The reason I believe this is because from past experiences, dodge ball is a very popular activity amongst the students. Although there were a few stragglers in my class during high school, almost everyone participated. It is a great workout that consists of running, throwing dodging and catching, and some students really do enjoy playing it.

Some variations of the game could include foam balls so that no one will end up getting hurt if they get hit hard. You could also play that students can only hit below the waist, and if they hit above it then they are out. Reducing risk is always good. Another variation could be having people hit an object instead of other students. Finally, you can split up the teams so that the more skillful people are competing against each other on one side of the gym, and the people less skilled on the other side competing against each other. This also helps keep students from bullying on others, and everyone can participate more.

There are many pros and cons of playing dodge ball, but I feel if you do some of these variations, and keep students involved and safe then dodge ball should be allowed during out of school activities. Keeping a safe environment and keeping kids active will produce a healthy Physical Education Program.