ABCD Day

On Sunday the 25th, the was an event held at park center called ABCD Day. ABCD stands for All Beings Celebrating Differences. This event was put on by one of the students here at SUNY Cortland, and it was a huge success. I was there from 9:00 in the morning, until about 3:30 that afternoon helping set up and breakdown the gyms. There was a turn out of around 150 kids from Cortland and the surrounding area. The picture to the right shows some of the activities that were available to the kids in the main gyms at Park Center. There was a giant slide, a bounce house, basketball, football, Kan Jam, and several other games going on, all at the same time. The left court had the bounce house and slide, the middle had the basketball, football, and Kan Jam, and the far right court had exergames and scooter soccer. The exergames were a big hit. There were adults and kids playing them, and they are great because they involve physical activity while playing video games. Some of the big exergames are Dance Dance Revolution and various Wii games. There also other games that involved running, jumping, and moving side to side on a mat, which controlled the player in the game. The games in the center court were also a huge hit because after participating in each game, the kids received various amounts of tickets, which they could put into a raffle to win several different prizes. I think that my favorite prize that was given away was a Spooner board.

In gym D-305 there were wheel chair sports, and in the front dance studio there were mats, tunnels, and other things for toddlers to play with. I was in the gym playin wheel chair sports for a lot of the day, and we played power soccer, wheelchair basketball, an obstacle course, and a little wheelchair whiffle ball. The wheelchair sports where a big hit, and the kids really loved playing power soccer. After a while of playing organized games we just had a free time and allowed parents and kids to play in the wheelchairs and everyone had a great time.

ABCD Day went really well and I'm glad I chose to participate in the event. It was a great experience, and I was able to work with kids with disabilities, which was a first for me. The ages ranged from around 3 or 4 all the way to teenagers, and even the adults got in the mix. I was thanked many times by parents, and they really appreciated us putting this event together.

This coming Sunday, APEM is hosting a Wellnss Day at Park Center, so we hope to have another successful event. I will be presenting wheelchair sports and helping out with a frisbee station. This event is for Cortland teachers, and we hope to have between 30-50 in attendance. The event starts at 11:00 and it is bound to be a great time.

First Day Outside at St. Mary's

The weather for this past lab was nice enough to play outside. The kids were very excited to be going outside, and we also couldn't use the gym because of a play rehearsal. We were assessing kicking and basketball dribbing skills for this lab. In my opinion, I felt that the kids had an easier time kicking the ball, rather than dribbling it with their hands. I think this skill will develop more and get better as the kids continue to develop coordination and better motor skills.

My group was in the special projects area for the lab, so during the majority of the lab we were organizing the equipment closets and tidying up some other things during the lab. At the end of lab our job was to play a game with everyone, sing a song with a dance to it, and yell a group cheer. We did not get to play a game because we were down in the cafeteria, and all the kids were mellowed out watching Toy Story. We just went right into the song and cheer instead so that the kids didn't get all worked up again. Our song was a song about playing with the different characters from Toy Story such as Buzz, Woody, and Rex. It was sung to the tune of the Chicken Dance. The song was pretty good, but our background music was a little fast, so the kids had a tough time keeping up with the beat when singing and dancing to the music.

Overall, this lab was a pretty good one. I feel like the class has come a long way since the first lab we had, and most of us really know how to effectively get the kids moving. We have one lab left, which will be superhero themed. We will be using the big parachute to play games and the kids are definitely going to have a blast with this one.

Easter at St. Mary's

This visit to St. Mary's was the Monday before Easter, so our theme was Easter. All of our games were mostly based on throwing and catching "Easter Eggs" because the skills we were assessing were the overhand throw and catching. I came up with a simple game that allowed for the kids to be very active, and also to practice these skills. I called my game Scrambled Eggs. I set the game up with balls and poly spots, and only had enough balls for half of the class to get one. I had music playing, and during the music the kids had to perform a certain movement such as skipping, hopping, running, leaping, etc. When the music stopped they had to get a ball, and who ever got a ball ran to one line of poly spots, and who ever did not get a ball ran to the other line. Each person was lined up facing someone with a ball, and on my cue they threw the balls to their partner. To make sure each student was able to throw and catch I had them throw the balls back a forth a few times to get them to do both skills, and to also allow for practicing of the skills. I think that this was my favorite lab so far, and it is due mostly in part that my game was so successful. The kids were totally out of breath and sweaty, and they told me that they liked playing my game. This was such a simple game, however it worked perfectly to show the throwing and catching skills, and the kids loved playing it. One of the other groups decorated a giant cross and wrote Happy Easter across the top in celebration of the holiday, and the kids loved this too. The pre-k students were able to color in some Easter pictures to help decorate the cross, and it came out looking pretty good.

I hope that next lab goes as smoothly for me as this one did, and I am looking forward to going. The theme is Toy Story 3, and the skills assessed will be basketball dribbling and kicking. I am interested to see what kinds of games our class comes up with and I think that it will be another great lab.