Only 5 more days left! Only 5 more days left!
This is the line I keep repeating in my head as I am reaching for that bottle of Tylenol in my cupboard.
Of those five days, only four are with kiddos. Yes, I have a PD day the last day before Holiday break… (grumble…)
This time of year really wears me down! But we’ve been busy working through my gingerbread man unit and the kids are having a blast. That’s what it’s really about isn’t it? 🙂
I blogged earlier this week about our sampling/graphing of gingerbread and of course the overwhelming response was they LOVED it. 🙂
In addition to our reading of the “traditional” telling of the Gingerbread Man, we also read “The Gingerbread Girl”
(LOVE!)
This quickly became the “must read” of the day.
We used the two stories to flex our compare and contrast muscles and worked together to find the similarities and the differences.
Students filled out this chart from the pack and then shared it with a neighbor. We then glued it into our Reading Response Journals for future reference.
Later in the week, as a culminating activity, I had students compare two of their favorite Gingerbread stories in teams of 4-5 students.
Gingerbread books we had read this week…
Each team choose a gingerbread book and took a moment to reread their chosen tale.
(Reading finger! WOOT!)
(Trying to read like a teacher with some help from a friend! :))
(Wish this pic had sound! He was singing the Gingerbread Girl’s little “catch phrase”! Fluency? Common Core? Check! Check!)
Once they finished rereading their story, each team received an “Alike and Different” poster.
(Forgot to make these in advance… so they are pretty simple…)
Working together, they gave *at least* 3 similarities and 3 differences between their version and the classic retelling of “The Gingerbread Man”.
(Don’t worry, I reminded them about capitalizing proper nouns and story titles, but looks like we need another quick review lesson.)
Here’s a peek at some of their finished posters.
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Math time was just as sweet!
One afternoon, we used gingerbread boys and girls to measure items around the classroom.
(Don’t judge the teacher’s desk! This is a real working classroom people! Not a Pinterest page!)
Seriously? How cute is this girl?! <3!
On Friday, we put our addition and budding subtraction skills to the test with creating a gingerbread house using items purchased from the “Sweet’s Shop”.
You can use a mini milk carton and cover it with graham crackers, but I’ve found it more fun (and completely editable) to use spice flavored cupcakes and cover them with icing.
I gave each student a budget of $1 to spend on candy to decorate their “house”.
Using the price list
students filled out their order forms…
Before they could go “buy” their candy with their dollar, I came around and checked their math. Great way to grab a snap shot of who is solid in their addition/subtraction with grouping!
Then, they got in line to make their purchases!
(Thank the lord for my amazing parent volunteer!)
Some pics of our finished cupcake houses!
Told you this activity involved one exhausted teacher! LOL!
All of this activities(and Oh so mcuh more!) can be found in my “Can’t Catch Me!” Gingerbread Unit.
Click the pic or here to check this out!
Now it’s time for me to clean (UGH!) and get things ready for my little guy’s FIRST birthday!
#wherehasthetimegone?!
