Lab Six: Christmas Lab

In this lab I was taken from my normal group of classmates and rearranged into a new group. In this group I worked with the Pre-k. This was the same group that I had in my very first lab. In my first lab things did not go as I wanted, because I was not too comfortable working with children of this age, but this time around it was much easier.
My professor gave me an electronic matching game that I could use with the children inside of the classroom. This game was a hit. As soon as I walked into the class with a bag the children seemed instantly drawn to me. In each classroom I had about seven kids that were constantly around playing the game. It was kind of difficult to explain the concept of space to the children, because the game called for an open playing are. The children tended to bunch up around me, so I made use of the carpet we were using. I use a circular carpet with different shapes around the outside. I instructed each child to seat on a shape and that would be there shape. I had never really thought of using a technique like that before, but it really worked and allowed for a nice structured environment.
After the classroom we went to the gymnasium. Here our professor instructed me to create a type of course for the children to do different activities on. We had only about ten minutes to come up with an activity and put it together. With help from my lab assistant we accomplished this goal. The activity was a great success and all the children enjoyed it. I combined a bunch of fun activities like tumbling, jumping, and balancing to make a kind of "mini-gymnastics" course. I gave each child a bean bag and this was considered a present, and when they had completed the course they would go through a tunnel(chimney) and delivery it to Santa. This story was included to go along with the Christmas theme, and help keep the kids going.
In all my Experience during this lab was positive. I will miss going to St. Mary's; the knowledge I have gained from there will most definitely be something I will keep with me forever.