Competency Statement Essay

To advance physical and intellectual competence†¦ It is essential to the growth and development of every child to advance their physical and intellectual needs. Preschool age children have a short attention span. They learn by example, and learn by activities that are interesting to them. I keep their minds fresh by including fun games in the weekly lesson plan that improves their physical, cognitive and creative development. I do this on a daily basis. I sing songs, read books and talk about shapes, colors, numbers and letters. I encourage all children to be active, especially, during outside play. I provide the children with opportunities to develop their upper body strength by rolling balls, swinging, and throwing bean bags. I also focus on running, jumping, and balancing to help strengthen their lower bodies. At the center, we come up with all sorts of active games to build up both gross and fine motor skills. I included a game called â€Å"Sleeping Giants† into my weekly plan that is a combination of pretend play and physical activity. The â€Å"Sleeping Giants† game stimulates imagination and multi-directional movement while strengthening their heart, lungs, muscles, and agility. During the game, children will use their large motor skills to run or jump while listening for me to say â€Å"Sleeping Giants†. When I call out, the children will try their hardest to stay quiet to represent a sleeping giant. Then when I call out â€Å"Walking Giants† the game continues and allows the children to be active and freely express themselves.