Mrs. Rachel's Kinder Prep: Off to the Races!

Hello friends!

I can truly say that I miss everyone more by the day. Every week, when I sit down to write this and think about the things that we would have done together, I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel a wave of sadness come over me. I treasure all of the days I was able to spend with these sweet kiddos and truly wish we could have had more time together.

I do hope all of you are continuing to do well at home. For me, it has been interesting how some days I feel like we're doing great, thriving even. Then the next day, I feel like a disaster! However, each day I have been trying to literally mentally count my blessings. One of the blessings of each week is definitely getting sweet pictures from you all, so keep those coming! :)

Anyway, it is crazy that we would actually be nearing the end of our year. We usually have some Derby/horse fun the week before Derby, so Anna and I will be doing fun horse activities! Here are some ideas that we would have done this week together. I have also included a challenge I thought might be fun for this week if your family is up for it!!

1. The Challenge: We always do a horse race as a class the week of Derby! I thought maybe it would be fun if any of you want to help your kiddo make a pool noodle horse (or a "stick horse" out of any materials). We just always use pool noodles because they are easy and cheap... There are tons of ideas on Pinterest. Maybe you could hold your own "race" at your house and share a picture of your horse! Then I could post all of the pictures (and maybe even let everyone vote for the favorite horse to have a WINNER)!!

Pool Noodle Horse Race | Activities for Seniors

2. Teen Numbers: I am sending a file by email of this fun horse fence number ordering activity. I did this with Anna (1-10 version) this morning to build a fence for her horse out of Popsicle sticks, and she enjoyed it! If you want to extend beyond matching, you can always have them write the numbers themselves as well! If you don't want to print the template, you could also practice outlining by making their own (which is excellent fine motor practice and much harder than you might expect)!

3. Letter Work: This is just something fun that I had Anna do a couple of weeks ago... We took plastic letter squares, put them in ice cube trays with ice, and then took salt water and droppers to let her rescue the letters. We are just working on letter ID with her, but you could use this to also work on building words... Intentionally freeze letters that make lots of CVC words and see what your kiddo can come up with!

4. Poetry/Sight Word Work: This is a poem I have used in the past... Our new sight word this week is "said". You could use this to have your child practice writing "said" and look for "the". This is also full of great CVC words to stretch out, write, and read (dog, cat, pig, duck)!

5. Writing: If you do make any sort of horse (or even just color in a horse), these questions would be great to have your child fill in. You can always write out the word with a highlighter to let them trace or write it on another paper for them to copy. I stole this from Mrs. Laura and thought it was fun! It even throws in some color words!

If I had a horse its name would be _______________________

The color of my horse would be _________________________

My horse would live ____________________________________

My horse would love to eat ______________________________

6. Artwork: We always have fun making a clothespin horse... It usually turns out something like this (or at least this is the goal)! Anna and I are going to try one tomorrow! I also usually send home a piece of paper with a shirt outline on it (which can just be hand drawn) to let everyone design their own jockey silk. This is always fun! We look up pictures of jockey silk patterns and designs and talk about the job of a jockey in horse racing. This might be fun to try! If your kiddo draws one, make sure to send me a pic!

This Clothespin Horse Craft is super easy to create and also helps your Bright Tot practice fine motor skills!

7. Sensory: Our sensory bin in our classroom is usually full of dry oats this week! I am going to get a tub of oats for Anna, use small baskets (or something of the like) as fences, and let her play with her plastic horses in it!
Our Horse Learning Set is full of hands-on learning including counting, matching, sensory play, baking, gross-motor play + a sensory pre-reading book to name a few! | Bitty Beginnings

Our Horse Learning Set is full of hands-on learning including counting, matching, sensory play, baking, gross-motor play + a sensory pre-reading book to name a few! | Bitty Beginnings

And now for a peek at what some of your friends did last week! A very happy birthday to Ginny (who turned 5 last week) and Riley (who turns 5 on Sunday)!!