Gingerbread Unit - Day 3

Read Alouds:


1. The Gingerbread Boy by Richard Egielski - In this version the gingerbread boy runs the streets of NYC and meets interesting folks along the way. Cute.


2. Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett - charming Jan Brett style. One of my kids noticed that she always puts borders around her illustrations and she thought that was cool. I thought it was cool that she noticed....it's always refreshing to have students develop an interest in different authors and pick up on small details.


Gingerbread activity:

I introduced the topic of symmetry to my students with the help of different gingerbread pictures and the use of FABULOUS worksheets found on TeachersPayTeachers.com. Click on the picture below to the link for this activity. ABSOLUTELY worth the small investment!

Hope everyone is having a good week. Take care.

Gingerbread Unit - Day 2

Read alouds for today:

1. Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett...it's Jan Brett, need I say some? Her stories are so endearing and I get lost in her illustrations.


2. The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers by Lisa Campbell Ernest - This book was so worth going to the book store after a long day's work and paying hardcover price. My kids LOVED the book and so did I.


Gingerbread activity - Gingerbread Man Perimeter and Area


I had cutouts of gingerbread men printed on card stock and laminated for future use. I found this great activity online for perimeter and area. Right now we are working on division in math but we work on area and perimeter later in the year. I thought this would be a perfect, hands on learning lesson for this skill that will hook my students for future instruction. We used mini marshmallows and peppermints to measure the perimeter and area of the cutout. The students kept saying, "I love this because I am having so much fun, yet learning at the same time." Comments like those are what keep me motivated to push myself as an educator each day. I use the textbooks and practice books provided by the district but I also incorporate different styles of teaching to reach my kids.


Note to self...2 bags of marshmallows were NOT enough for 18 kids...we just barely made it! Actually some of my kids had to get creative and cover half of the man with marshmallows, count those, and then cover the other end. HEY PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS..NICE!


Below are some pictures of our great math lesson....

Good day with the kiddos, tomorrow gingerbread symmetry!

This post is for you Becca. Thanks for the supportive comment. :)

Gingerbread Unit - Day 1

Read aloud books for this unit –

1. The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires. My kids really enjoyed this book and so did I. It’s a new addition to my gingerbread collection.

2. The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernset – ADORABLE!!!! My kids (even my boys) loved it! It is so darling and there’s a female HERO in the story, so I was sold. Again, a new read aloud for me and for sure one I will use in upcoming years. I then remembered seeing The Gingerbread Girl character in a new book in a Scholastic Book Order. I called Books-A-Million and they confirmed that there is a new gingerbread book by Ernset. I had the store hold the book and I picked it up on the way home. It’s a hardcover and I usually NEVER buy hardcovers for obvious reasons but I fell in love with this character. It’s called “The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers” and it is truly a gem.

Gingerbread activity – Graphing Gingerbread bites

First, I gave the students 3 gingerbread cookies. They were asked to bite each cookie but in a different location (head, body, leg, arm). Then we graphed the different bites. In 3^rd grade we worked on pictographs, bar graphs, tally, and frequency tables earlier in the year. Below is the link to the worksheet I used with the kids. Everything turned out great…it was a good spiral review in math and the students loved the mini snack. J