Friday, November 20, 2009

Next Point Wins !!

Zone B was the name of the game, and it was definitely intense. This week we were with the older kids in the cafeteria to start, then went outside to the playgrounds. It was a pretty nice day outside, so a bunch of the kids were playing kickball, or playing on the playground. We started playing kickball, and the teams were pretty lopsided so we got some of the other Cortland students to even up the teams. Unfortunately they game ended pretty quickly due to a kid kicking the ball on the roof, but it was still fun. After that I went to the playground where it was mostly girls, and got most of them to play tag with me. After about tagging two people, and getting tagged twice, it appeared that I was the only one the kids were tagging, and just wanted to run away from me. All the bricks were safe zones, so it made it really hard to tag them running through the little play area. After everyone got all sweaty and tired, the teacher brought everyone into the gym, where we started our activity.

By the time we got into the gym, most of the girls already started playing and didn't want to be involved, but mostly all of the boys were willing to participate. The first game we played was with a basketball and the rules were pretty understandable, and the kids got it quickly. The rules were you can only take three dribbles and any direction then it has to be passed off. I told them that they want to stay spread out so that it makes it easier to pass, but that didn't work out so well. The goal area was marked off by cones at each end of the gym, and the object was to move the ball down the court, by passing and dribbling, without getting it stolen. Then you want to pass it to your own team in the goal area, where he touches the wall with the ball and drop sit for the other team. This game is similar to wall-to-wall football, but it can be used for Lot's of games as well. We had an even 5 on 5 game going on for awhile, and once the kids started to really grasp the concept of the game, it went very smoothly. One thing I noticed when working with this age group is that, yes, they can dribble good, but they are not that good at keeping their head up while dribbling. This cause a lot of turnovers, and kids to pick up the ball and get trapped by the defense. The score was 8-8 and we called time, to introduce a new game with the same concept except with a soccer ball. We called time when it was tied because the kids were so into winning, so we figured if we said same teams for the next game, and same score, they would still be very into it and willing to play. The soccer activity was very hard, because we had to use only a quarter of the gym for 10 kid game, making it impossible for them to spread out, and even score a goal. Once the game started to get really crazy, we decided to end it, and let them play something else. To end the day, we did a modified version of the chicken dance, and made it the Turkey Dance. Unlike last week, their were still a bunch of kids their, so it went very well, and they were very into it. All the kids has smiles on their faces, and were having a great time.

1 comment:

  1. Nice job, You made a game like Zone B appropriate for the children. I was very curious how you were going to set up the game and it worked. Once you started the kids were involved. Also it was good that you stopped the game when you did cause you could see how fast things shift in a matter of seconds. This was just another learning experience that you handled well and will prepare you for anything like it later on.

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