1st Day at J. M. McDonald!!

       I was so excited to get a chance to help work with kids in the CHAMP (Cortland/Home Afterschool Mentor Program) today through my PED 201 Lab! This program is at the J. M. McDonald Sports Complex right here in Cortland. Today was mainly introductions to the kids and observing how the program runs. Right when I arrived they were headed right to the turf to play a game! Today’s schedule was a little different because some of the kids had half days or the whole day off from school because of staff days. But once they got the turf they began a game called “Builders and Bulldozers”, which is a game I had never heard off. This game was a move little way to get the kids moving while concentrating on particular movements they had to do to either “build” or “bulldoze” the “buildings”. The instructor would give then certain cues like you only can tip over the cone or tip the cone back up with your left knee or something like that, which is a good way to have them work on their left and right. Next we all went to the classroom where the kids were supposed to be working on homework or worksheets if they didn’t have any homework. This is when all of us mentors moved from table to table meeting all the kids. Some of the kids were shy at first so it took a little work to get them to open up but other kids would be willing to tell me their life story! The last table I was at was with Luke and Jonathan. By the time I got to there table it was time for a quite classroom game. John and Luke pick Jenga to start with then we eventually got to play with Legos.  They all seemed like great kids and I can’t wait to get to know them more and more as the semester goes on. It was a lot of fun having this opportunity to be with all the kids. Right before we all had to leave all the mentors got assigned 2 to 3 kids for the next classes. I got assigned Jonathan and Vinnie.  This was a fun opportunity to have and I’m excited to see what next Tuesday will bring!!