Easter Fun At St. Mary's

This week was the first time we had been back to St.Mary's in around three weeks! The kids seemed eager to see what we had in store. This week was an Easter theme since the Easter holiday had just recently passed. My group had the gym group and special projects. The locomotive skills we had to focus on were kicking and dribbling. My group partner, Brandon and I worked on making "Easter baskets" for two hours. We wanted to make a prop that would really catch the kids eye so they were willing to play and be involved. I taught the first game which was focusing on the kicking skill. It was called "Basket-Ball" and we set up all of our homemade baskets, (which were made of boxes, construction paper, Easter cutouts, cottontails, Easter basket grass and a ton of tape!) The purpose was to help the Easter bunny get all of the Easter eggs (soccer balls) into his Easter basket. The kids loved it and loved the idea of kicking into a basket. I was able to work one on one with a lot of the children because we modified it quite a bit. We told them to kick with the inside of their foot, kick with their laces, and kick with their weaker foot. Overall, I think that "Basket-Ball" was a hit with the kids and it was a success! 

 

The next game we did was "Monster In The Forest". We spread out cones (trees) and jump-ropes (snakes) as obstacles. the goal was to dribble their basketballs (eggs) across the forest without the monster stealing their eggs. We modified it by having them use their weaker hand, dribble going backwards, shuffle, and passing the ball with partners. This game worked perfectly for teaching dribbling because we could give that one on one attention that some kids needed.

After spending time in the gym playing tag, we headed downstairs to play heads-up- seven-up in the cafeteria. Then we headed outside to play in the playground. I was instantly tagged "it" and ran around with the kids for about fifteen minutes. Then we went back inside to the gym for some free time. I played various games including "Snake". I would spin in circles with a jump-rope dragging on the ground and the kids would have to jump over it. It was really fun because they got to know me and wanted to keep playing! Now it was time for the closing activity. My group decided to end it with an Easter egg hunt but it wasn't a classic egg hunt with candy inside. As physical educators we are constantly looking for new ways to keep the kids active. We had about forty eggs placed under forty cones. Each egg had a different exercise or motor skill written on them. For example, some said five star jumps, gallop for ten seconds, ten jumping jacks and so on. they had to pick up an egg and do whatever the egg had on it. Then they had to put the egg in the Easter basket when they were done. This was a great activity because it kept them moving and they seemed to have a great time.

Overall, I thought St.Mary's was a success for all groups. Everyone seemed to have fun and also seemed a lot more confident. Can't wait for next week because it's SUPERHERO day at St.Mary's!    
Lab 5