Published: May 03, 2008 12:42 am            

Slate Run hosts own Derby contests

Four third-graders lined up at the starting gate Friday, each holding firm to a stick horse and staring ahead at the finish line. Their fellow classmates stood alongside the makeshift racetrack outside Slate Run Elementary School, chanting the names of their favorite jockeys.

Once they were off, the pattering of their feet against the blacktop mimicked the sound of horses running on a dirt track.

The winner, Timothy Sherrard, walked bent over, trying to catch his breath, after the race.

Grayson Lone, 9, walked up to Sherrard and put his arm around his shoulders.

“You’re going to the Kentucky Derby son!” Lone shouted in an announcer’s voice.

Sherrard just grinned, as fellow third-graders created a circle around him.

Originally, this was supposed to be a day off, but instead it turned into a snow make-up day. So, school administrators and teachers decided to make the best of it and have an Oaks Day for the kids.

“Honestly, we were scared that fewer teachers would show up since they may have already made plans to go to the Oaks,” said Sharon Peyton, secretary who helped organize the event. “But not one took off.”

She spent the past few days baking 400 sugar cookies in shapes of horses, horse shoes and jockey shirts for the students to decorate. After designing the cookies, students got to enjoy them outside with their own version of mint juleps, which were made out of Sprite, green sherbet and a mint leaf.

Other events of the day included Yee-Haw BINGO, which had all Derby related words, horseshoes and their own version of Run for the Rose’ — which had students racing with a glass of water, using a Frisbee as a serving plate to hold it.

In addition to that, each grade level winner in the stick horse races went on to compete in the Kentucky Derby at the end of the day.

Bob Rockey, who teaches third grade and helped organize the event, said this has been talked up for weeks, creating a lot of excitement with the students.

“To be at this point in the school year, you normally have children having trouble listening and behavior problems,” he said. “This morning, my class came in and sat down so perfectly quiet you could have heard a pin drop.”

He said this is also very educational, by teaching children about the history of the Derby, having them participate in physical education and also having students write and illustrate poems about what they’ve learned.

“My favorite part is riding the horses,” Kiarra Green, 6, said, wearing her self-decorated visor she made in class.

“I like it, because we get to do a lot of stuff,” said Chloe Woolsey, 9, as she painted her horse cookie brown with icing. “Like, we get to test our speed against other people in the horse races.”

“I think it’s a great, fun celebration for the kids and it gets them involved in the tradition of the community,” said LuAnne Suer, who teaches kindergarten.

Peyton and Rockey said even though this took weeks to plan and countless hours to put together, they will make it an annual event if school is in session again on Oaks Day.

        

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