The Brown Bag Teacher

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Celebrating the Kentucky Derby in 1st Grade

The 141st Kentucky Derby is in the books, and our 1st Grade Kentucky celebration was a blast. I’ll have to admit Derby is one of those topics that as a former intermediate teacher I said – “Really?!” It’s one of those topics/themes that gives Primary Land the rap of fluff. So, over the course of our week, I intentionally surrounded us with great literature and integrated our learning – math and writing – as much as I possible.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working hard on learning to write compare and contrast paragraphs looking at texts, characters, and things around us. This week was the perfect opportunity to compare and contrast Race Horses and Domesticated Horses. We used Reading A-Z’s Wild Horses for the base of our comparison.

Since our school is officially out of white bulletin board/chart paper, we used an online Bar-Graph generator to chart our Derby predictions. We chose 5 horses (obviously the ones that had the coolest names) and then, took a class vote. This is a perfect math tie-in, as we’re starting to learn about data and graphs next week!
In preparation for running the Derby, we took time to create our own racing silks. I then printed pictures of the kids, cut their faces out, placed them on the silks, and put together a “Run for the Roses” bulletin board for the hallway. The kids love seeing their faces like a ‘real’ jockey!
Now for Derby Day (Friday, that is) – at the school where I taught last year, the grades not racing made and wore Derby Hats to the races. This year, only the 1st graders and their families attended the race and when we finished the other grades greeted us in the hallways for a Derby Day parade. 
Each 1st grader parent made a shoebox float to drag/pull down the hallway for our parade. The older students did a fabulous job of cheering on our students and shouting praises. It was such a sweet moment. Our 1st grade friends rarely go upstairs to Intermediate Land, and they felt so special to hear the BIG kids cheering for them. One of my sweet littles said to me afterward, “My eardrums are so fragile. I was worried they might break!” #blessthem

To keep the actual races fair, we ran girls heats and boys heats. The top 2 boys/girls from each class raced the other 1st grade winners. Ultimately, two 1st grade winners were name – a boy and girl. As you’ll see below each student race with a stick horse that they decorated and named. They attempted to gallop, but in the end, running was what actually happened. 🙂

Since my friends knew all about the Derby being nicknamed “The Run for the Roses”, I awarded my top girl and boy winners with 4 roses. It was such a special moment!
After an afternoon of racing and parading, we came back to the classroom. We enjoyed a final Derby book together and a sweet Derby treat. I would have loved to served Derby pie, but with food allergies we opted for nut-free mini-cupcakes from Kroger. #ohtoteach1stgrade
Well friends, it was a fabulous Derby Week. Although not completely educational, we kept it as focused as possible, and we throughly enjoyed a 1st grade rite of passage – racing the KY Derby. 
Do you celebrate the Derby at your school? I would imagine only my KY friends would, be who knows?! Are their other state-specific events your school celebrates? If so, I love to hear about them! 🙂

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