Run, Run As Fast As You Can

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. It is Sunday evening, and my mind is turning back to school and the very busy month of December.

This week, we will focusing on the story of The Gingerbread Man. I love this theme! All week we read various version of the famous fairy tale and compare the stories. We role play, create gingerbread artwork, bake gingerbread cookies, and write our own gingerbread stories. The children love the song, The Gingerbread Man by Jack Hartmann. We recite beloved gingerbread poems. On the computers, the children play the gingerbread game at Starfall.com.

My centers are saturated with years of gingerbread-themed activities. LessonPix has an article with some free Gingerbread Sample Materials as well as gingerbread clip art to make your own custom materials. In my centers, I include:

• gingerbread lacing cards, 
• matching games, 
• sorting activities: colors, attributes, 
• gingerbread and chef dress-up clothes, 
• puppets, 
• coloring sheets, 
• magnet activities (math sets- gingerbread man picture cards printed on magnetic paper, 
• homemade gingerbread play dough with cookie cutters (2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 tbsp. ground ginger, 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon, 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, 1 cup water, - Mix together and knead until smooth.)

For our culminating activity at the end of the week, the students discover the class gingerbread man is missing. They use questioning and clues to follow a (well-planned) path around the school, eventually locating the gingerbread man on the playground. And the gingerbread man has with him, a plate of gingerbread cookies for the class. We recall the experience in a class story on chart paper and map the gingerbread man's path. It is such a fun and memorable gingerbread week.

Also, looking for a good gift for a teacher, speech pathologist, child care worker, or parent of a young child? LessonPix will soon offer gift certificates! What a great idea!  (I'll write more about this...soon)