Overview
The children will race along a road as they recognize and name the letter R.

Literacy Activities
R Race

• Set up a road using masking tape placed on the floor in lines.
• Place the small letter cards in a path along the road and place the large letter cards at the end of the road.
• Write the letter R on a whiteboard, name the letter, and have the children write the R in the air with their fingers.
• Allow the children to race along the road and pick up the letter cards.
• Encourage the children to name the letter each time they pick up a letter card.
  • If the letter is an R, have the children place the small letter cards next to the large letter cards at the end of the R road.
  • If the letter is not an R, have the child place it in the discard pile.
  • If a child misidentifies a distractor letter as an R, have him or her look at the R on the whiteboard and compare it to the letter he or she picked.

Race in reverse

• Have the children either run in reverse (backwards) or run the race in reverse by going back along the road, replacing and naming the letter cards as they go.

R Relay

• Divide the children into two groups and have each group line up at opposite ends of the road, then give one of the children at the front of the line an R card.
• Have that child race to the end of the road and give the first child in that line the letter card, then have that child run back to the other line and so on.
• Encourage the children to cheer each other on by chanting, "R, R, run!" and cheering, "R, R, rah!" when the last person reaches the opposite side.
• This can also be done with two teams split to run on two roads as a relay race.

More Practice
Identify the target letter in a text

• Read the Ready to Run target text to the children.
• Have the children circle the letter R every time it occurs in the text.
• Read the text again and have the children raise their hands in the air every time they see a letter R in the text (support as needed).

Write the target letter

• Have the children write the letter R on the road graphic.