First Day at St. Mary's - AWESOME!

Going into our first day at St. Mary's I was really anxious.  I was nervous I would not interact well with the kids and would feel uncomfortable.  However once we got rolling it was unbelievable.  The kids are wonderful and full of energy, and it was really great to have such a positive first day as I now really truley know that I am in the right field. 

1. Based upon observation, what are the differences in motor behavior and  social between the St. Mary’s students you observed?  What differences did you observe between grade levels, gender, and ability?  Do you think that grade level, gender, and ability have any influence on motor behavior?

I noticed that the younger kids were definetly a little "rough around the edges" with their motor skills.  The tag game we watched at the beginning worked perfect for them however, they were able to run, gallop, and skip around and no real skill was needed.  This game also helped their social skills as they would have to help out others to "Unfreeze" them.  The older the the kids, the less enthusiastic they seemed to be, however some were still pretty excited.  The abilities of the older males seemed to be the most mature, one of the kids I was working with could dribble a soccer ball better than I could ever have imagined, as well as shoot three pointers and was just a real athletic young kid. I do feel as though the gender plays a role, and ability as well.  If the child is not as skilled as others they get down on themseleves. 

2.  Based upon your observation, what fine motor activities did you observe (describe these) when watching the St. Mary’s students?  Were there differences between age?  Gender? Ability? 

One of the fine motor activities I noticed is what I mentioned in the previous question, with the kid able to dribble a soccer ball.  He without a doubt had a complete understanding of the skill, and had the mental plan for the skill well developed. There was definelty differences of skill set in the younger kids compared to the older kids.  The kid who was really talented was probably 2nd grade, where we had some younger kids, maybe kindergarden kids who would struggle a bit with soccer.  A few girls game over and played but they did not stay long and did not seem interested, however from what little bit I saw they could have easily participated and were capable of doing so.