Time for Gingerbread: The Planning Stages

So I didn't do so well in November getting back to posting...I had great intentions just never got around to it. But as I sit on the couch now and savor my last two days of Thanksgiving break, I am going to try to get back on track. I admit I'm still on a bit of holiday high due probably to post black Friday gift success, hours spent exploring pinterest and blogs for Christmas fun, and a VERY inspiring trip to Christmas wonderland (aka Hobby Lobby). So here it goes....

During the month of December my class completes a very extensive study of all the Gingerbread Man stories. A couple of years ago I took it as a personal quest to track down as many gingerbread stories as I could. In my opinion I was quite successful and now am the proud owner of over 15 different tales. The kids LOVE hearing all the different tales. The never seem to get tired of the gingerbread man's antics and catchy refrain: "Run, run as fast as you can!" Over the years the two favorites have emerged: The Gingerbread Girl (a great one for the verb activity below) and Stop that Pickle! (use to spark ideas for new versions of the story!) You should definitely check these versions out!

I met equal success on my recent internet quest for gingerbread ideas. Goodness- there are so many creative teachers out there! The best post I found by far is Mrs. Attaya's First Grade Website. She has some really creative ideas I haven't seen before. Here's a rough list of ideas I have so far.  I apologize there are no pictures (as I have none). I'll post pictures once these have come to fruition!

Reading

·      Bubble maps describing Gingerbread Man

·      Venn Diagrams comparing stories

·      Assign each characters noises and have kids make them when rereading the story (ex. everytime you say cow, the kids say, "Moo!")

Literacy Workstations

·      starfall gingerbread activity

·      making words using letters in Gingerbread

·      sightword/cvc word bang game(gingerbread men cards and fox cards to end game)

·      writing room to find words starting with letters in gingerbread (g- green, i- is...)

·      writing room: categorizing nouns and verbs (post pictures of nouns and verbs and have students write words under correct heading on recording sheet)

·      recipe cards (students follow simple directions to create gingerbread man as described)

·      gingerbread word family sorting with spatulas (http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas)

Writing

·      can, has, is writing map

·      write own version of the story

·      introduce speech bubbles and quotations

·      How-TO: making a gingerbread man

·      Labeling gingerbread man body parts and/or decorations

·      verbs: rewriting refrain- " Jump, jump as high as you can!" "Dance, dance as graceful as you can!", have students act out new refrains

·      adjectives, nouns, verbs (finding and sorting from story)

·      LOST signs describing gingerbread men to match gingerbread men created

Math

·      Math stations (Check out DeeDee Willis math stations on Teachers Pay Teachers)

·      Number Words: roll a gingerbread with number word dice (http://www.littlegiraffes.com/gingerbread.html)

·      Graphing: Which part did you eat first? (head, arm, leg, body)

·      Measurement: create gingerbread men and measure them with non-standard mesaurements

·      Comparing measurements: have students find items that are the same, bigger than, and smaller than a given gingerbread man

·      Problem solving: counting by 2 (problem solving gingerbread legs)

·      Measurement: Use gingerbread men chains (cut out from Ellison die cuts and taped together to measure items in the room- i.e. the easel is 4 gbm high, the door is 6 gbm across, etc.)

·      Money: Give students a preset amount of

·      Number Sense: Hide a small gingerbread man behind a number on a 100s Pocket Chart, have students ask questions to determine the placement of the gbm

Science

·      Things that Sink/Float

·      Soggy cookie experiment (What would have happened if the GBM had gone for swim instead of taking a ride on the fox? Would he have made it?)

·      Animals and habitats

·      Making boats (Make boats for the GBM to use to cross the river, examine materials, explore buoyancy)

·      Sorting things that dissolve

Social Studies

·      Create gingerbread town (Have students examine wants and needs and decide on the most important businesses needed for their town, then let them go crazy decorating!!)

·     Use Gingerbread Town to practice giving directions (cardinal directions)

·    Create maps of favorite gingerbread stories (by examining setting and sequence from stories)

·     Make a map of classroom/school and mark with an x. Have students find gingerbread man using classroom map- mark with an x (http://www.littlegiraffes.com/gingerbread.html)

Hope this list gets your creative juices flowing! I don't know if anyone else plans like this but this is how all my units begin with lists...I LOVE a good list. =) I'm generating a few other lists for fun activities planned for the last week before break. We go until the 23rd!! I know the kiddos are going to be going bananas those last few days so I'm planning on filling the days with all kinds of themed excitement to help the time fly by! Check back soon for those list!

Happy Christmas!
Jessie