Kindergarten Gingerbread Man

This is one of my favorite lessons of the season, mostly because of the joy the kids get out of the story. The way it worked out was kind of a flook - I couldn't find the actual book, so I made a Power Point of the story using clip art as pictures. This ended up working out even better than the book, because I added a few extra "custom" parts. Here's how I tell the story (each line is a new slide):

The Gingerbread Man: Retold by (You)

Once upon a time there was a little old lady and a little old man who lived in a little old cottage.

The little old woman decided to make a gingerbread man for her little old husband for Christmas.

She mixed the ingredients.

She rolled out the dough.

She cut out a gingerbread man shape.

Then she put it in the oven.

The kitchen smelled SO good as the cookie baked. The little old man was very excited. "Is it done yet?" he kept asking.

Finally, he couldn't wait any longer. He peeked into the oven...

And out jumped the gingerbread man! He ran right out the door! "Stop! We want to eat you!" they yelled.

But the gingerbread man kept on running. He shouted, "Run, run, just as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man."

**At this point, I have the students read the "You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man" part whenever it comes up.**

On the path he saw a dog, who happened to be very hungry. "Stop, I want to eat you!" shouted the dog.

But the gingerbread man kept on running. He shouted, "Run, run, just as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man."

He ran through (your school's town). "Stop! We want to eat you!" shouted the townspeople.

**I used a photo of our town I found on our chamber of commerce's website... someday I'd like to take my own.**

But the gingerbread man kept on running. He shouted, "Run, run, just as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man."

He ran through (your school). "Stop!" yelled the students. "Stop!" yelled the teachers. "Stop!" yelled (your principal).

**The kids LOVE this slide. "That's OUR school!" they yell.**

But the gingerbread man kept on running. He shouted, "Run, run, just as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man."

He came to a forest where he saw many animals. "Stop!" yelled the raccoons. "Stop!" yelled the deer. "Stop!" yelled the squirrels.

But the gingerbread man kept on running. He shouted, "Run, run, just as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man."

Soon the gingerbread man came to a wide river. "Oh, no! What am I going to do?!" cried the gingerbread man.

A sly fox came along. "I will take you across the river," he offered. "But you will eat me!" said the gingerbread man. "No I won't. I've already had lunch. Grab onto my tail," the fox insisted. And the gingerbread man did.

But the river was too deep. "Oh, no! My body is getting wet!" cried the gingerbread man.

"Well, climb onto my back and you will be safe," said the fox. And the gingerbread man did.

But the river was still too deep. "Oh, no! My feet are getting wet!" cried the gingerbread man.

"Well, climb onto my head and you will be safe," said the fox. And the gingerbread man did.

But the river was still too deep. "Oh, no! My toes are getting wet!" cried the gingerbread man.

"Well, climb onto my nose and you will be safe," said the fox. And the gingerbread man did.

Suddenly, the fox snapped his head back and gobbled the gingerbread man right up!

The End

I would be happy to e-mail you the Power Point with clip art if you contact me. It's not exactly pretty - but it does the trick. I have dreams of illustrating it myself (or at least making a gingerbread man that doesn't always have a white box around him), but we all know how much free time art teachers have. : )

After the story, we complete a crayon-resist gingerbread man - all wrapped up in a lovely 35-minute session.

1st Grade - Owls

This is a good lesson for directed-drawing and combining shapes to make an object - an owl! We also use crayon-resist, which is always like magic for my little first graders. We start out by drawing the owl together in steps:

We also draw the moon - students can choose either a full or quarter. We then outline the drawing with Sharpie and color it in with crayon (except the sky!). We then use a yellow crayon to make the stars while pressing VERY HARD. If they don't know how to make a "star," I just tell them to make little "scribbly circles." We finish it off by painting black paint over the sky, and the stars appear under the paint like magic!

I like to incorporate literature and writing wherever I can, and with this project, I had good opportunity to. I started the lesson by reading the chapter "Owl and the Moon" from the book Owl at Home. We finished the lesson by doing some writing. I typed up a sentence starter that said, "It was a chilling night in (our school's town). The spooky owl spied on a ______." and the students completed the sentences with an adjective and a noun. It made for an awesome display!

Bats at the Library

This book is super adorable, I must say. Brian Lies has a whole series of Bats at the (Somewhere).... I also enjoy Bats at the Beach. This lesson is very versatile... another version I like to do is with cut paper and glitter for the stars. Either way, it's a good combination of art and literature, and is simple enough that it can be completed in the midst of Halloween party craziness. I once had a sub teach this lesson and he really took off with it and discussed some fun facts about bats with my class - I thought that was wonderful!

"C" is for Chameleon

These cute lizards are what we make during the letter "C" week for kindergarten.

We start out by reading "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni. The story is about (warning: spoiler) a chameleon who wants a color of his own like the other animals, so he decides he will stand on a leaf forever so he will be green. But, as we all know, leaves change color, so that didn't work out too well. Eventually another chameleon comes along and says that even though they will always change color wherever they go, if they always stay together, they will always be alike. I find that the children have great empathy for the chameleon in the story and really understand the message of friendship (I usually get a rousing "awwwww!" at the end). The book itself is also a great review of colors.

I have stencils for them to use, but the different colors/designs create a lot of variety in the finished product! We also talk about how pressing hard with crayon makes a fun effect when painted over with watercolor.