Week One: Cassidy Gustafson: SDC (10/21)

On Tuesday we visited Cleveland Elementary and worked with a 1st-3rd grade Special Day
Class. These kids were very energetic and were very excited to have us there to play and learn.
The students we had included two students with autism, and one boy who was deaf.
Regardless of these disabilities the children were very developed, and were able to perform all
activities with a significant amount of effort and skill. At first, I was very nervous, because I had
never worked with children with disabilities outside of my family. But when I saw these 13 kids
come out, I knew exactly why I chose the major that I did! A few members of our team started
with a game of Simon Says to give the kids a dynamic warmup, following by I See I See, a
game where the children imitated an animal that they heard us state. This made the kids very
excited and well engaged. Then, La-Toya went over the COTS for an under hand toss (tick,
step, tock). The kids followed La-Toya's movements perfectly, and some even came up to
demonstrate (they all raised their hands). After discussing the activity, which was to toss a ball
or beanbag into a hulahoop, the kids were told to find a partner (one of us). The one child that
didn't have someone was the little boy who was deaf (unfortunately I do not know his name). He
was completely hard of hearing, but that didn't stop me from trying to communicate with him. I
grabbed a ball and hulahoop and handed him the ball. When I placed the hulahoop on the
ground he knew exactly what to do and executed the task perfectly. I would either clap or give
him a thumbs up whenever he did it right, and after a few, he clapped because he realized he
had done the task correctly. I would run with him to pick up his ball, and he would have a habit
of pointing to where it was, to reassure me and himself that that was where he was supposed to
throw the ball. He was very excited and always had a smile on his face, always wanting me to
make the task more challenging. And he succeeded. I would definitely love to work with him
again when I go on Thursday 10/23. What I took from this day was that I can work with anyone,
and these kids want nothing but to have fun and keep moving.
Week One : Cassidy Gustafson: SDC (10/23)
Thursday at SDC was even better than the first time that we had went. I had Bryan again (the
little boy who was deaf), and it was such a fun time! He had absolutely no problem learning our
games that we had planned out. I even got the opportunity to try some sign language with him!
Our activities included a warmup with a game of Red Light Green Light, and then we reviewed
what we had done on Tuesday (Underhand Toss). We had them do underhand toss for about
10 minutes before we continued into our main activity. We decided to do a color coordinated
game that would involve underhand tossing into a hulahoop. We had three stations, each
containing 6 poly spots, a hulahoop, and the color coordinated cones and bean bags to throw
into the hoops (we selected red, yellow, and green to match our game of Red Light Green
Light). The goal was for the kids to run and find their designated color, bring it to their spot, and
toss it in their hulahoop. We did it three times so that the students can be all three colors. It was
another successful day, and I am looking forward to next week!
Week Two: Cassidy Gustafson: SDC (10/28)
On Tuesday I spent another time with the Special Day Class at Cleveland. Today was definitely
a little more hectic than most. We first started with Hot Potato, where I thought they would pass
the ball around the circle. However, the kids threw the ball across at each other, which caused
kids to fight for the ball, and if a kid wasn't paying attention they would most likely get hit ( most
times in the face). We did this for about ten minutes, with La'Toya playing music.
Next we introduced the parachute, which went very well. We played a few different games, one
of them was called Mountain Climber. This was consisted of having your color called, and when

the parachute would come down, the kids would have to "climb" up the parachute to the center
of it. I preferred this game only because though the modified balls were soft, kids were still
getting hit.
Bryan (the first grader who is deaf), have definitely made a strong connection. Though I cannot
sign, he is able to follow my instruction and example. He has recognized me since Day 2, and is
very comfortable with me teaching him.
Week Two : Cassidy Gustafson: SDC (10/30)
Today was my final day working with SDC at Cleveland Elementary. We planned to teach the
students how to dribble a basketball, using a volleyball as the modification. We started with
Simon Says as a dynamic warm up, incorporating things you would do in basketball (squat,
jump, shuffle side to side). After that we teamed up with our students and had them practicing
dribbling, and with my student, Bryan, I had him walking and dribbling towards me. Afterwards,
we made the drill more difficult by dragging a hulahoop with a jump rope as a moving target for
the students to dribble in. For our final activity, we had the students dribble in between running
cones. Some kids thought they were supposed to hit the cones instead of run around them, but
other than that it went very well.
I had the best time with Bryan (our one student who was deaf). I didn't think it'd be easy to work
with him, but I'm really glad I did. He really wanted to try and understand what it was he was
learning. I'm really glad he recognized me every time I showed up, and he seemed to only want
to work with me. He would get upset if another kid came up to me, and the funniest thing was
when Mark was talking to me today and he got very upset with him. He was a great child to work
with and it was hard to say goodbye. For those working at SDC next, Bryan is definitely a great
student to work with.
Week Three: Cassidy Gustafson: PCS (11/4)
Tuesday was my first day at PCS. It was definitely different than working with the 1st graders at
SDC, however we still had a really great time. We walked in and the athletes were all ready
warming up and stretching, and the task of the day was volleyball. We were not told to bring or
plan anything, because they had all the equipment and an itinerary for the 2 hours we were set
to be there. After they stretched, we immediately broke into groups and started with bumping,
then setting, and finally spiking. In each group there were about 5 students and 2 of us. Brittnie
and I worked together, and we put the group in lines until they performed the skill right, then we
moved into a circle so that they can work on doing the skill and working together. Overall it went
very well. They were high skilled, and were excited to work with us and have a fun time. Can't
wait to go back!
Week Four: Cassidy Gustafson: PCS (11/18)
Tuesday was my final day of fieldwork, and I am glad I ended at PCS. Especially on a day such
as ours. We focused on assessing the athletes in order to place them in teams for the Special
Olympics. After they ran, stretched, and had a pre-talk, we immediately divided them into four
volleyball stations. There was a serve station, a set station, a bump pass station, and an
interview station to get to know the athletes. We were split up into groups to determine scores
for each individual. I was in charge of the bump pass station with a couple classmates. Each
athlete had to set from two different spots a total of 5 teams each, and their goal was to make it
to a certain cone marked on the court. Each cone is worth a different number of points. Each
group took from a range of 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how skilled the athlete was. Some
just forgot the COTS of the skills, some didn't want to participate, and others scored perfect 5's.
So we definitely had a wide range of skill level. Sad that it was my last day, but this class has
definitely been a good experience, and I wish I could do it all over again!