Kindergarten Disney Cruise/Magic Kingdom Worksheet Packets?

[cruisecrasher]

So we will be missing some school to take our (kindergarten and preschool) children on a cruise next spring. I realize there are a lot of opinions on this, but I'm looking for something I could've sworn I saw last year when I was surfing around the DIS but now, cannot find for the life of me.

Does anyone have any links to either worksheets or educational activities appropriate to Kindergarten that the kids could do while missing school?

I realize that just going to see the real world and the Magic Kingdom for the first time will be very educational (likely for us as well as them), but I'm looking for more something of substance for us to bring back to the teacher afterwards...Or I'll end up making my own.
Thank you in advance.

 

[sissy_ib]

So we will be missing some school to take our (kindergarten and preschool) children on a cruise next spring. I realize there are a lot of opinions on this, but I'm looking for something I could've sworn I saw last year when I was surfing around the DIS but now, cannot find for the life of me.

Does anyone have any links to either worksheets or educational activities appropriate to Kindergarten that the kids could do while missing school?

I realize that just going to see the real world and the Magic Kingdom for the first time will be very educational (likely for us as well as them), but I'm looking for more something of substance for us to bring back to the teacher afterwards...Or I'll end up making my own.
Thank you in advance.

Try the Disney for Family forum here on the DIS. I am pretty sure I have seen things like that posted there before.
http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23

 

[zealandsmom]

So we will be missing some school to take our (kindergarten and preschool) children on a cruise next spring. I realize there are a lot of opinions on this, but I'm looking for something I could've sworn I saw last year when I was surfing around the DIS but now, cannot find for the life of me.

Does anyone have any links to either worksheets or educational activities appropriate to Kindergarten that the kids could do while missing school?

I realize that just going to see the real world and the Magic Kingdom for the first time will be very educational (likely for us as well as them), but I'm looking for more something of substance for us to bring back to the teacher afterwards...Or I'll end up making my own.
Thank you in advance.

My blogger friend has a new book out based on her blog. It's called "magical mouse schoolhouse"

 

[kindsoul73]

Won't the teacher give you a packet? If you give them enough notice, they should be able to.
FWIW, I am pulling my kindergartner and 2nd grader out for a week. They will do hw everyday, and I am A-OK with that!

 

[ctomblin]

We just got off the 4 day dream cruise and my DS missed a week of school, hes in kindergarten. I just gave the teacher about a month notice and she sent home everything he would be missing so that he wouldn't be behind.

 

[cruisecrasher]

It's a small private school, mostly they'll just wave it off, which is why I feel the need to educate.

 

[kindsoul73]

My kids are also in a very small private school, and I just kept asking. There are a ton of websites out there, but how about getting one of the workbooks that they can do pages out of? My kids call them "homework books"- they sell them at Costco and book stores.

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

Have your kindergarten child create an alphabet book by taking pictures around the park starting with each letter of the alphabet.

My kindergarten son did this on a family trip years ago and the teacher and class loved it!

 

[kcashner]

At a K level, you are making serious work for yourself. Unless the teacher demands some work sheets, I wouldn't go that direction.

What I might do is some "real world" education. Make some simple pages with information like "My server's name is _______________. He is from _____________. It is a country in _____________. His language at home is __________________. Look up his home country on the map. Your server will be happy to sign the page and write a small message to the child in his language. This makes a great keepsake, especially if you do the same for the assistant server and stateroom host.

Encourage the child to ask questions of the people she comes in contact with--they are happy to talk about their homes when guests ask. One of the coolest experiences we ever had was at Sea World. DD was 6 (I think....I know she was less than 7) After a show, she called out to a dolphin trainer. When he responded, she asked if he had time to answer some questions. What followed was an AMAZING exchange--she asked him how he got his job and what you had to do to be dolphin trainer. Somewhere in the conversation it came up that we were cruising and doing a dolphin experience....at a location where he knew the head trainer. He gave me a name of a trainer and a dolphin and told us to ask for the dolphin when we arrived. He also suggested the education center at Sea World (I didn't know it existed). OK, imagine our surprise when we got to the dolphin place and asked for the dolphin. We got, "They're here" and got VIP treatment the whole afternoon including a behind the scenes tour! Seriously, all because a child asked a few questions.

 

[believinthemagic]

At a K level, you are making serious work for yourself. Unless the teacher demands some work sheets, I wouldn't go that direction.

What I might do is some "real world" education. Make some simple pages with information like "My server's name is _______________. He is from _____________. It is a country in _____________. His language at home is __________________. Look up his home country on the map. Your server will be happy to sign the page and write a small message to the child in his language. This makes a great keepsake, especially if you do the same for the assistant server and stateroom host.

Encourage the child to ask questions of the people she comes in contact with--they are happy to talk about their homes when guests ask. One of the coolest experiences we ever had was at Sea World. DD was 6 (I think....I know she was less than 7) After a show, she called out to a dolphin trainer. When he responded, she asked if he had time to answer some questions. What followed was an AMAZING exchange--she asked him how he got his job and what you had to do to be dolphin trainer. Somewhere in the conversation it came up that we were cruising and doing a dolphin experience....at a location where he knew the head trainer. He gave me a name of a trainer and a dolphin and told us to ask for the dolphin when we arrived. He also suggested the education center at Sea World (I didn't know it existed). OK, imagine our surprise when we got to the dolphin place and asked for the dolphin. We got, "They're here" and got VIP treatment the whole afternoon including a behind the scenes tour! Seriously, all because a child asked a few questions.

That is very cool that they "rewarded" your child for being inquisitive & wanting to learn new things.

I also like your idea about the questions for the staff. I think I'll do something like that for my kids in January!

 

[flyersfan1129]

Have your kindergarten child create an alphabet book by taking pictures around the park starting with each letter of the alphabet.

My kindergarten son did this on a family trip years ago and the teacher and class loved it!

This is what we did when my son was in Kindergarten. We made the book while we were waiting to "go see Mickey", and then he took the pictures with his little camera while we were on the trip. Each day, we would upload the pictures to our lap top, and we would see what letters we had found. His teacher didn't ask for it, and yes, it was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. Sort of a Disney Alphabet Scavenger Hunt.

 

[angelinaxox]

I am a Kindergarten teacher and have children going away on vacation every year. When a parent requests in advance for work that their child will be missing while they are away on vacation, I tell them, to just send in another note the day before vacation so that I can get together the pages that the class will be doing while the child will be away. I am pretty organized and keep a file for each month. In the file I keep spare pages from the year before dated and labeled with what schoolday number the page was completed. So it is pretty easy for me to know what pages I plan on doing. Some pages I can't send home and have to be done in class and I may make a few changes to what pages we will actually do, but for the most part I am able to send most of the work home prior to a child's vacation. I find the parents are really appreciative. For me, it's not really necessary to see any other work that a parent may give a child when they go away as I have plenty of other work to check. So I would try to request any work that the child will miss from the teacher first, the worst they can say is "no" or "it isn't necessary" and then if that is the case, ask your teacher what she/he will be doing in math and reading/writing that week (such as patterns or measurement in math or certain sight words in reading) so you know what kinds of things to practice. I find many of my parents like to do the work with the kids on the flight or on the car ride to keep them busy. If you are looking for writing experiences for your child, you can bring copies of picture primary journal writing pages so he/she can illustrate pictures of and write about (since you are going in the spring, your child should be writing by then) what he/she does on his/her vacation each day. Hope this helps. Have a great vacation.