Trick or Treat St. Mary's!

      This week at St. Mary's proved to be very different from the other days spent at the school. The Monday at St. Mary's was Halloween and it created a huge buzz inside all of the students. It was great to see many of the Cortland students dress up because it produced a reaction from the St. Mary's students that can not be described. Halloween allowed for a very fun and positive environment due to the excitement all of the children had for the holiday. I could tell the children wanted the day to speed up to the point he/she was home getting dressed up in his/her costume. It is a great feeling to still have the ability to   bring smiles on the children's faces on such an exciting holiday to elementary students.
      
       My group was in charge of the pre-k students at St. Mary's and it was certainly something I am not very accustomed too. I have little to no experience with a very young age group, like pre-k children. When I first walked into the classroom many of the students were involved with crafts or playing with educational toys. I sat down at a table and began talking to the pre-k children discussing his/her excitement for what the Halloween night would bring. For our group, I had to come up with a game which could be played in the classroom. I thought about it and decided to create matching cards with a Halloween twist. The children had to match pumpkins, ghosts, haunted houses, Frankenstein, black cats, witches, bats, and skeletons. I was really surprised with how well the students were able to catch on and match the pairs easily. Each child who was involved with the activity had no problem with identifying the picture on the card. It was a very smart group with a lot of potential. I attempted to read a book to some of the children, but only got two pages in before the class moved to the gymnasium. When I was beginning the book many of the students ended up leaving no space between myself and them. I had to move them back because it made seeing difficult for the children sitting in the back. In the gymnasium, we played games/activities involving the overhand throw and it was a good experience teaching the children how to properly throw an object overhand. Overall, the visits at St. Mary's are becoming more valuable with each lab and I am looking forward to next time.

***Click here to view my lab 4 assessment sheet.