UNIT

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UNIT 1--INTRO TO TEACHING/PHYSICAL COMPETENCE IN
YOUNG CHILDREN

• Chapter 5-Development of the Physical Self

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It is the body of the child that serves as one of
the most important signifiers and conceptual
filters through which any particular childs
childhood and social identity is understood.
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OUTDOOR PLAY

• Double classroom space without remodeling.
• Use daily -- once in the morning and once in the
  afternoon!
• Open air activities educate and rejuvenate the
  spirit.
• Mental health is enhanced.
• Sparks the childrens intellect and curiosity.
• Boundless array of hands-on learning activities
  for overall development.

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Maintenance of Physical Emotional Well-Being

• Good food.
• Reasonable toileting procedures.
• Adequate rest.
• Health.
• Safety.
• Maximum opportunities for bodies to grow and
  develop.

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Promotion of Health and Safety

• Provide safe transportation to school! (Seat
  Belts!)
• Immunizations required (rubella still a problem).
• Physical exam prior to enrollment -- vision,
  hearing screening.
• Help parents find health care during year.
• Teachers do daily health screening
• dont hear well
• awkward
• seldom talk
• unusually apathetic
• excessively active
• Referral for care of sick children -- isolation
  from center.

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Promoting Health and Safety (cont)

• Know what to do when a child is ill.
• Send home
• Isolation -- lie down, rest
• Be firm but gentle
• General health precautions observed consistently
  by children staff.
• nose blowing
• wash hands before eating, after toileting
• no sharing of food, cups or utensils
• toothbrushing
• teachers model
• medication administration procedures
• appropriate dress and clothing for children

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Maintaining Physical Safety

• Liability insurance for the children carried by
  the center.
• One time insurance fee upon entrance.
• Broken/damaged equipment removed and repaired
  regularly.
• Adequate supervision around swings - danger area
  marked.
• Wait on bottom step of slide (paint red).
• Keep chemicals and cleaners on high shelves --
  locked cabinets.
• Stop activities which look dangerous.
• Never lift a child onto equipment the child cant
  get on himself. (swings are exception)
• Most accidents 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Mondays and
  Fridays 2s.

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Safety (cont)

• High places (monkey bars and slides) are
  dangerous. (3/4 of emergency room treatments from
  falls from high places)
• Soft deep surfaces -- sand, rubber or bark --
  beneath outdoor equipment. (Grass not suitable)
• Avoid overprotection.

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Basic Principles of Physical Development

• Occurs in predictable patterns and sequences.
• Skills (run, jump, throw) go thru number of
  substages of competence before they emerge as
  mature physical abilities.
• Learn to recognize stages -- so can plan
  curriculum accordingly.
• Development moves from head to tail --
  cephalocaudal.
• Course of development moves from large to fine
  muscle control.
• Need ample opportunities to use large muscles and
  practice finer muscle, eye-hand skills.

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Fostering Large Muscle Development

• School provides large assortment of big, sturdy,
  durable equipment that provide many opportunities
  for physical activity.
• Crawl through, climbing, balancing, hanging from.
• Lift, haul, shove around -- test strength.
• Construction, rhythmic activities -- bouncing,
  jumping, swings.
• Sensory experiences -- mud, sand, water.
• Usually -- more movable and versatile the
  equipment, the more stimulating and interesting
  it will remain for the kids.
• Utilize parks, wading pools, trike expeditions
  around the block.

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Role of the Teacher -- Large Muscle Play

• Enough uninterrupted time for satisfying play to
  transpire.
• Participate not as a companion in the play -by
  observing and being alert to ways to make the
  play richer by offering additional equipment.
• Integrate children into the groups of play.
• Awareness of children with special needs
• Wide pathways paved with crushed brick --
  wheelchairs.
• Slides with handrails.
• Straps and extra-thick pedals on tricycles.
• Portion of sandbox and water table waist-high --
  crutches or wheelchairs can reach.
• Physical barriers around swings -- visually
  impaired.
• Equipment for two or more children -- inclusion.
  (rocking boats, trikes with wagons, round
  swings).
• Keep children directed in play.

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Even one hour a week of instruction in physical
skills can make a real difference in what
children are able to do!Contributions are made
to improved self-esteem and the foundations these
skills lay for the development of more complex
motor activitiesProvide a range of large motor
activities that help children gain command and
satisfaction over what their bodies can do!
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Perceptual-Motor Abilities

• Most schools dont offer enough scheduled
  physical education time and recess times provide
  inadequate physical education experience (ages
  6-9).
• Offer wider range of activities.
• Encourage children to participate.

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Planning for Perceptual Motor Activities

• Locomotion
• Balance
• Body and space perception
• Rhythm and temporal awareness
• Rebound and airborne activities
• Projectile management
• Management of daily motor skills
• Obstacle courses!!!!

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Fostering Fine Muscle Development

• Sewing
• Working with pegboards
• Puzzles
• Beads
• Put-together materials
• Manipulatives
• Block building
• Pouring and spooning
• Art materials -- pencils, brushes, scissors,
  crayons
• Woodworking

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Presentation of Fine Muscle Activities

• Range of challenge in levels of difficulty
• Offer two levels of otherwise identical materials
  -- large and small wooden beads
• Activities of short duration
• Several activities available at the same time
• Children free to get up and move around and shift
  experiences
• Alternate quite and active periods
• Watch out for frustration

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Relaxation and Tension-Relieving Activities

• Reduce external stimulation -- darken the room,
  play quiet music, provide regular, monotonous
  sensory experience as rocking or rubbing backs.
• Yawning, breathing slowly, shutting eyes, lying
  somewhat apart from other children.
• Teacher moves slowly about.
• Use imagination -- quiet place in mind.
• Movement and dance sense own body -- floppy doll
  or boiled noodle, melting ice cream -- make
  bodies still and hard, become limp and soft.
• Stretching, holding the stretch, relaxing.

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Physical Activity -- Promote Creative Thought and
Self-Expression

• Challenges
• Show me how youd walk like a duck.
• Show me how youd eat like a dog.
• Show me how youd climb a tree like a bear.
• Beginning signal -- ending signal
• Plenty of space
• No single, correct response
• All children can participate at any dev. level

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Creative Dance

• Moving rhythmically to music in variety of
  relatively unstructured ways.
• Folk dances are not creative. (Usually too
  complicated for preschoolers.)
• Array of records or tapes.
• Selection of moods and tempi.
• Take off shoes.
• Props extend the activity -- streamers, ears or
  tails to wear, etc.
• Teacher participates.

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Sensory Experiences

• 80 of what we learn comes to us thru our eyes
• People are starting to tune out hearing -- music
  in supermarket
• Stimulate all the avenues for learning
• Science displays -- feel, smell, touch
• Auditory discrimination -- telling sounds apart

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Close Physical Contact

• Require reassurance and comfort of being pattted,
  rocked, held and hugged from time to time!
• Needed for healthy physical and emotional
  development.
• Related to attachment.
• Parents can come unannounced-climate of trust.
• More than one person in room - witness of
  behavior.