Kindergartners at Friendship Elementary School recently hopped on hobby horses at a hectic hoedown, all in celebration of the letter H.
The hopping of hairy horses was more than just about having a good time, said Friendship Elementary kindergarten teacher Shanda Millwood. The hootenanny helped the students learn about the letter, its sounds and how letters form words.
"It helps them make those connections a lot better," she said. "It's about thinking on their level to help them remember."
The ongoing letter party started with A earlier this year, and is gradually working its way through the alphabet.
On Wednesday, for example, kindergarten students came to school with curlers and pipe cleaners tangled in their hair for "Horrible Hair" day.
Another day, earlier this school year, kindergartners celebrated F with a visit from Flowery Branch High School football players.
The kids learned all about B by having a teddy bear picnic where they brought their stuffed bears from home. At the picnic they enjoyed a snack of biscuits and honey and blew bubbles. They learned the letter A by making apple pie, V by making vegetable soup and P by making pizza.
Mikki Cosson, a kindergarten teacher at Friendship, said the hands-on activities and their lessons stick with kids.
"This gives them an opportunity to get up and participate and take ownership of their learning," she said. "They're not sitting at a desk with paper and pencil; this is more meaningful to them. ... Even though we have a curriculum, we still try to remember they're 5 years old and can only do so much sitting. It's important to make it fun."
Millwood said building a good foundation of the letter sounds before first grade is important.
"Kindergarten is like the new first grade. We are learning reading and writing," she said. "If they don't have a solid foundation with their letters and sounds and numbers and writing, they will suffer later. It leads them into being good readers and writers and all these activities support that."
The hoedown chili snack that accompanied the celebration Thursday translated into another new skill for students. Students learned how to make graphs by categorizing who liked the chili and who didn't, Millwood said.
She said half of the fun for teachers is coming up with plans for letter days.
The holy grail of letter days comes on Valentine's Day, when a wedding ceremony is held to marry students dressed up as Miss Q, the bride, and Mr. U, the groom.
Millwood said Publix always provides the wedding cake and parents are invited to the reception.
"They remember then that Q and U are always together," she said.
During the wedding ceremony, the kids not participating in the ceremony dress up as other letters of the alphabet and wear laminated letters strung around their necks.
"We ask them, ‘Does everybody support Miss Q and Mr. U in forming words like queen, quick and quiet?'" she said. "Then they all say, ‘We do.'"