Nutrition

   With Halloween and Thanksgiving right around the corner, we need to start watching what our children are eating.  As Physical Education teachers it is important to encourage healthy eating and make sure that we don’t give out candy to them.  Some ideas for healthy eating can be found on http://startcooking.com/blog/275/9-Healthy-Halloween-Treats.  Healthy eating is an important key to getting the best results out of the body.  Children need to learn the proper foods to eat starting at the elementary level so that as they get older they are able to make good choices and maintain a healthy lifestyle.  There are ten foods that canadianliving.com say are the most important foods for kids.  These ten Superfoods are:

*Whole grain bread~ provide fuel for kids without increasing blood sugar levels.

*Blueberries~ Give kids antioxidants which neutralize harmful byproducts which can lead to many diseases, they also provide sweetness for kids without refined sugar.

*Yogurt~ An excellent source of calcium and protein.  Also helps the immune system.

*Sweet Potatoes~Have disease fighting elements, and are loaded with carotene, vitamin E, vitamin B6, potassium, and iron.

*Natural Nut Butters~ Not loaded with sugars and fatty acids.

*Beans~ Have a lot of fiber and iron.  Include chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, and lentils.

*Broccoli~ Filled with vitamin C! Introduce it at an early age so that kids are used to eating it, try not to add dressing or cheese.

*Omega-3 eggs~ Can improve skin, allergies, moods, and most importantly mood in children.  Children with ADD show signs of omega 3 deficiency.

*Avacodos~ Offer the good kind of fat for children (60% of a child’s brain is made up of fat)

*Organic Chicken~ Harmful additives are not found in organic chicken, gives kids good protein. 

My e-portfolio!!

My e-portfolio

Last day at St. Mary's!!

The last day that we spent at St. Mary's was a day where the kids were able to just have fun, and play games without having to be assessed on one particular set of skills.  Andrew, Jess, and I tought parachute games, and the kids really seemed to like them.  Jess's game was played by tying a box tied to the center of the parachute and the kids pretended that they were elves and had to shake balls into the box.  For Andrew's game, the kids sat down with the parachute and had to crawl under it to trade places with someone else.  My game was called cool down the elves and the kids shook the parachute to make a breeze for the other kids.  They all seemed to enjoy the games, the only problem with the lab was that the kids had a really hard time not touching the parachute and getting distracted by it. 

St. Mary's Turkey's Dribbiling Away!

Monday at St. Mary's, the kids were tested on their control skills.  They practiced both dribbling a soccer ball and a basketball.  The kids did very well with the basketball skills, but not so well with the soccer skills.  I think that a lot of the games that were played at this lab singled kids out, and made them nervous.  This is because the skills we were assessing are skills that need to be done one at a time.  I think that when I teach I will try to eliminate this feeling for kids.  One child in particular, Adam, was not participating in the soccer drill, and when he was asked to kick the ball, he was nervous.  I personally remember being in PE class, and being afraid to do certain skills in front of the class.  I will try my hardest as a physical educator to make kids feel comfortable, and not scared to perform skills.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1TzKVode2cDuUBmzHPp0AbM4ccYZTX0_bgwT5-XDJu5Y

St. Mary's Video!

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Thank you St.Mary's!!

Happy Halloween at St. Marys!

October 25, St. Mary's participated in a Halloween themed after school program.  The focus of the program was throwing and catching, but as teacher candidates, we altered games so that they had a Halloween theme to them.  The kids loved playing all of the games, and the Halloween twist just peaked their interest.  I worked with the older kids. and they picked up on the games really well.  They were able to understand semi-complicated rules, and were able to grasp the concepts of the games.  The game that i taught, "Pumpkin smash", the kids were in groups of 2 and had to knock a basketball off of a cone by throwing another ball at it.  It was really interesting to see the way the boys interacted with the girls.  There was one pair that had to be one boy, one girl and they didn't want to play together so the boy tried to leave the game and not play.  There was also a fight between three girls over which direction they would throw the ball in a different game.  Instances like this remind me that besides teaching, an educator must act as a mediator between students who don't get along or who may have negative attitudes about class.  Overall the lab went really well and I think all of the teacher candidates did a very good job teaching.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1ub8cXmuf3F8QYPHcqYrPQUDhM0hK3x-jUlisviCkb9o