The Gingerbread Man 2012

We had a blast this year with the Gingerbread Man!

Make your own greeting There is a really funny clip in this video!!!!  We searched for the gingerbread man all week and we always find him napping on the roof on the last day before winter break (pajama day). We walk to lunch and wait for the kiddos to discover him on the roof. Sometimes it's takes a while. You will notice in this video, we said, "Shhhh", A LOT (we didn't want him to run away since he was sleeping! HAHA).  After we discovered him, I climbed up the ladder to finally get him. When I tried to pick him up and "trap him", he completely fell apart (you will notice in the video I am just standing up there wondering what to do)! Usually, he is hard enough that I can pick him up and pretend to have a struggle with him before he runs away from me! There was no chance this time! You will hear me say, "I think I pulled a Carol!" She is our wonderful custodian who is holding the ladder. About 3 years ago, she tried to catch the gingerbread man while he was napping and when she picked him up, HIS HEAD FELL OFF IN FRONT OF ALL THE KIDS! I thought it was so funny but she was mortified and never wanted to catch him again. It's been a running joke ever since. Well, I could't pick him up and I needed to distract the kinders, so I said, "Oh NO! He RAN AWAY! Go Get Him!" I am not sure what I was thinking. I thought the kids would look away or maybe just go "a few" steps. Oh NO! All 75 kindergartners RAN AFTER HIM! DOWN THE HALLS! SCREAMING! I was stuck on the ladder. I have never laughed SOOOOO hard! The video really doesn't do justice but you get the idea. Good thing our school is completely gated because the kiddos just ran around the building. But all the teachers came out of their classrooms wondering why 75 kids were screaming down the hall screaming, "The Gingerbread Man!"  Another great memory in KINDERWORLD!

Gingerbread Man Play-Dough is a must during the holidays or gingerbread unit!

I made a Gingerbread Man recipe card you can download for FREE HERE.

Gingerbread Unit and Christmas Fun

I am so excited!

I put my first items on Teacher Pay Teachers!

Check them out below!!!

 CLICK HERE to see My Gingerbread Unit

Here are some pics of my little cuties using some of these activities:

 Baking Up Some Sight Words! Students scoop up gingerbread cookies

and match the sight word to the candy.

These are the ingredients and the gingerbread recipe. 

We made a gingerbread man together as a class.

We made our very own gingerbread man!!!!

While were making him, the students wrote the cooking steps.

 How many words can you build with the words "Gingerbread Man"

 Building CVC words with magnets and tiles.

Baking up rhyming words!

Rolling Pin and Tally Game!

Writing

Comparing and Contrasting all the Gingerbread stories

On the last of school before winter break, I set up gingerbread man literacy and math stations.

Almost all these fun activities can be found in my

  Gingerbread Man Pack on TPT HERE.

Here are some of the activities we did:

 We used gingerbread man play-dough and gingerbread play-dough mats from Sparklebox.com

to practice counting.  

Matching letters with pictures that make the same sound

Sight Word Practice (scoop a gingerbread man from the tray and search for the matching candy)

Roll a Gingerbread Picture (woman, gumdrop, fox, gingerbread man, etc)

 and find the matching letter

Put a gingerbread baby puzzle together

Ipods: Play "Oven Break" (a gingerbread App)

Computers: Create a gingerbread man on Starfall.com

Click HERE to see I SPY Christmas Words: Write the Room

                              

Click HERE to see my I SPY Winter Words

    

\http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/usa/#.UNiHaI7R2FI

Gingerbread Man

Every year, without fail, the GINGERBREAD MAN is always a favorite in kindergarten!

The kids talk about him all year and every noise in the room MUST be from the Gingerbread Man!

This year, I incorporated a lot of math into this unit.

We painted a giant gingerbread house pink!

Each day when we searched for the gingerbread man in a new place, he left us clues and candy.
This day he left 6 candy canes. The kids had to show different way to make 6 (i.e., 3 and 3; 5 and 1).

This day he left 7 gumdrops. Again the students had to come up with different ways to make 7 (i.e., 3 and 4; 2 and 5)

8 Butterscotch

9 Peppermints

The kids were able to READ in the house for the rest of the month!

Each day the kids used their Gingerbread Man Counting Book to create new ways to make numbers.

At the end of the week, we finally found the Gingerbread Man.

He was napping on the roof. He was so tired from all his running!

He still escaped but he left us gingerbread cookies and a letter about how he was going to travel the world. We had a pajama party that day!

The Gingerbread Man's letter led into our GINGERBREAD MAN EXCHANGE PROJECT:

Each student gave us an address so we could send their gingerbread person and letter to.

We sent letters all over the world including: Japan, Hong Kong, Tailand, Italy, Spain, New York, Louisiana, Washington DC, Texas, Florida and many more.

Every time we received a letter, we looked at the location in our giant Atlas and marked it on our class map.

We saved all our letters and photos in this binder so we could continue reading them all year long.