Dinosaurs Roar into St. Mary's

Today my group was with the pre- K class. The theme was Dinosaur Train and from the looks of it, all the kids love that show. I read the class a book from Dinosaur Train. It was about how the main character Buddy was trying to figure out what kind of dinosaur he was. The kids seemed to enjoy the book becasuse every time I got done with a page I looked around at all of them and every single one of them was listening intently with a smile on their face. Once we got into the gym, I set up a hop scotch course using the polly spots. I was simulating the polly spots being dinosaur tracks and the kids were only allowed to jump in the dinosaur tracks. It seemed to work well but the only thing I think I needed to change was to make it longer with more variables or to make two sets of tracks because there was a little more standing around than I wanted. Overall, it was a good experience and I had a lot of fun!

Cowboys invade St. Mary's

In lab this week was a western theme. The kids loved the way some of us dress up as cowboys. As for the group's games, it went a lot smoother this week compared to last week. When one person was done with their game someone else jumped right in to do theirs. I feel like I am getting better and more comfortable each week. I think my directions for my games are faster and more clear for weeks past. I am looking forward to the next time we go to St. Mary's becasue now more than ever I feel like this is where I belong and this is what I want to do for a long time.

Capturing St. Mary's

Today, lab at St. Mary's was a very fun and sucessful one. My group was with the older kids and we started the day by playing board games with them down stairs in the cafeteria. I played checkers with one kid who was really good and beat me both times we played. Once we got upstairs in the gym it got a little crazy. Our group had problems with trying to figure out who was going to go first and by the time we got situated the kids were already out playing their own games with their friends. Once we got them gathered up Will and I lead games using the scooters. The kids went nuts for the scooters. When it was my turn to go we played capture the flag on the scooters. I thought it went very well and it seemed like the kids were enjoying my game. The tough thing about trying to teach and explain things in the gym is all the other distractions and the noise level from everyone else. I felt like I had good control and command of my kids and my game ran smoothe. I definately felt a lot more comfortable this time around compared to the first lab. Overall, I thought it was a pretty sucessful lab day.

1st Game at St. Mary's

My first game was with the kindergarden and first graders. As I expected their attention spans were nonexistant. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to explain my game to all of them without them wandering. I think I took to long to explain the rules and how the game works becasue towards the end of me explainning a few were looking off at other things. Overall, for the first time I think my game was a sucess. I will hopefully improve in my explainning for next time and not have wandering eyes.

1st Lab Class

Going to St. Mary's school for lab was not what I expected. I actually really didn't what to expect. I quickly learned that it was going to be a great experience and it was going to be a lot of fun. We started out by going to the pre-k room to play with the kids. I ended up playing house with a little boy and girl. I thought that it was going to be uncomfortable playing with young kids I didn't even know but the feeling was the exact opposite. It was very easy to talk to them and it kind of brought me back to when I was young. The teacher assistants then showed us around explainning how things work, where everything is, and what to expect for the lab year. They were a big help answering questions and getting us prepared for what to expect. Overall, the day went really well and I know it will be a great experience.