#itisjustabowkowyadventure: Term 3: Athletics Carnival

2K ready for the day.

The second day of this term we had our Athletics Carnival. I had been still not feeling great, but had luckily been assigned to be a floater for the whole day so I could experience the most of the day so I could not pass up this chance to see another great event for the kids at Girraween Public School. It was one full day 9:15 to 2:50 of activities and games. I love sport day at school and have been really missing that part of teaching here in Australia so this was going to be a fun day for me. The schedule for the day was 6 activities for 30 min and the students from K to 2 moved around in groups by grade of boys and girls. Students are also allocated to house groups: Gould, Newcomb, Cuthbert and Bradman for the year and they were to wear their house colours for the day and they got to earn points for their house for cooperations, sportsmanship and hard work. I am on Gould so I was dressed in blue for the day.

Over under/ Tunnel ball

The first activity that I landed up helping with was the K boys at tunnel ball. Picture lines of 10-12 4/5 year old boys trying to pass a ball from the front of their line to the back and then repeat by running to the front until every person has ran to the front. Well, this group had not played this before and I had a great time repeating "spread your legs" and "push the ball through your legs." I did make it back to see the Year Two's at this groups and they had progressed to Over/ Under version of this same game.

Sack races

Sack races

Next up was sack races. Awesome traditional jump in a sack and hop as fast as you can. I followed that up with some time at the egg and spoon races. Very simple games that these group of students had a great time doing.

Egg and Spoon

Running Races

Next up was the Rob the Nest game that got very competitive with the Year Two boys. The teams were made by house groups so each team was out to win point for their team by playing fair and winning the game. After that I watched a bunch of races on the top grass area which were traditional running races. They went through heats and semi's, and eventually a final heat with the fastest runners earning more points for their house group.

Bean Bag Shotput

The last rotation that I watched was bean bag shot put. Shot put style launch the bean bag as far as you can and perhaps hit the wall or the teacher standing in the way.

The big finale was the Tug-O-War. Class versus Class. 2K and Mrs. Bowkowy versus all the other Year Two classes. It was serious. Round One: 2K succeeds with a quick victory over the first class we faced. We were onto the next round. Our strategy was girls and one side and boys on the other. Seemed to work for us. The 8 Year Two classes had been broken down to 4 remaining classes. Semi Finals was much harder and we fought through nearly being pulled over off the start to remain in the contest. We were onto the finals! It was a quick turn around, the students were complaining that their legs were tired and their hands hurt. In all honesty my hands hurt too! But me being just slightly competitive got them pumped up and ready to go! Final round here we come! It was a long back and forth battle between us and 2HD. We got the upper hand and came away victorious! Here is the celebration: