Lab 4

Today we took the children outside and played a great game of kickball. I felt like I was back in elementary school. Kickball is my all-time favorite game. They children are competitive, but to my surprise it was all in good fun. There was one child who made a bad play and didn't want to play anymore. I tried to talk him into playing and I realized I gained more success when I was talking him at his level and he decided to get back out there and try again, that was one of my best moments at St. Mary's. Just knowing we can make a differences in these children lives is amazing and it's a powerful gift.

I feel some of the challenges are since my group have been going on Wednesday, it is the second time the children are playing the games. I think it is our job as educator to come up with a variety of games for the kids because another issue is keeping their attention throughout the whole game. My students have been drifting to the side because they are not interested anymore. Also, environment has been a problem as well. During the first sessions, we were unable to go outside, now it’s possible so there is more room for the children to play games that they are interested and not what an adult suggest for them. The children are very excited and anxious to see the college students and it is our job to channel these emotions to positive energy to provide an activate and safe environment for the children. The children like to hug and we constantly have to remind them to keep their hands to themselves. Sometimes in the groups there are many more children than instructors so it is hard to attend to all the children and I feel that’s why they wander off to the side, sometimes it just takes someone to come over and talk to them and encourage them to participate. Well, now that we are able to go outside, there will be a lot more room and other activities available for the children. I think it is important to ask the children what games they want to play, by that I mean give them the choice of one or two games so they could feel like they are choosing for themselves and not being told what to do. The group sizes of the children can be a little smaller so that the instructors could tend to the needs of the children as best as possible. As instructors going on the second day, we should take the time to find out what activities were perform in the class before us so we aren’t playing the same games and they are less likely to lose interest in the game, I think one child not wanting to perform an activity gets contagaious. My objective is to have all the children enjoying the activity and having a great time.