The Circus Came to St. Mary's School

Lab this week was a lot of fun. The theme of this lab was circus and many of my classmates and I dressed up as clowns. This week in lab our games and activities incorporated throwing and catching skills. My group, the leaping lizards, started off by playing wall ball type of game. We put up squares of tape on the walls and the children would all get in groups of three to four and line up facing a square on the wall. The children would stand about four yards from the square target and try to have the ball hit within the square. Then the next person in line would run and get the ball and throw it within the square. The game continued on in this pattern. After the children got used to the game we increased the distance of the throw. We also changed the size of the balls we used. We started off with larger foam balls and then switched to tennis balls. We also played a game where the children got into two teams and each would line up on one side of the floor facing each other. Each child was given a ball, which varied in size. Pins were lined up between the two teams and the objective was to knock down the most pins. This was a great game and I think the children really enjoyed it. We then went downstairs with the children where we played with toys and board games. Mike and I played legos with a few children. We then went upstairs and played some more games with the children. We then finished the day by doing the chicken dance. I had a great time at lab today and I am looking forward to the Thanksgiving Lab.
Also this week I was able to go into the classroom in the morning and work with the pre-K students. I noticed a great deal of difference between how they behave first thing in the morning to how they behave in lab after school. They are much calmer in the morning then they are in lab. This is understandable considering some of them arrive at the school before 8:00am and don't leave until 5:00pm. When they come into the classroom in the morning they go and take off their coats then the teacher gives them their first worksheet. I helped them with their worksheets. The first one was to help them write their names. Once that worksheet was completed they would bring it to the teacher and they would get the next worksheet, which was on shapes. They were working on triangles so they had to trace a triangle then draw one and then color all of the triangles. After that each child cut out two leaves. Once each child was finished cutting out the leaves they got to play with some of the many different toys of the classroom. I had a great time in the classroom with the children. It was really nice to interact with them in a different setting.