Jump Rope

Everyday, I have morning recess duty in the MPR and the students play and have a great time. This morning while at work I had the privileged to witness memories in the making.  For the past week I have been observing the play time with the jump rope games between the Kindergartens and the older students.  The older students keep creating games and the little ones seemed to be pushed out.  This morning I found a large jump rope gave the extra one to the kindergarten students.

This was a magical moment.  The three students who couldn’t jump with the older student were teaching each other how to jump.  It was an amazing moment. I heard one on the little girls singing jump rope songs like a pro. She stopper and showed the smaller girl when to jump. I watched for several minutes then offered to hold the rope. The girls were excited to have the attention and to show me what they learned. The three girls made me smile and changed my whole outlook for the day. 

The best part of this experience for me was the joy on the girl’s faces when they were actually able to jump without being told by the older students that their time was up. The girls were able to make their own rules. They decided it would be more fun if everyone knew how to jump rope learning to jump rope is fun. So, each child got to jump until they could do it three times without making a mistake. The students used the alphabet and numbers in their songs. They have no clue that the game songs were actually helping them with the phonics of reading and the counting for math.  This really made me make the connections between learning and having a good time. You can have both if done properly.  I look forward to being a teacher and sharing the magic of learning.