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 - Color Mixing Turkey Collage

This is one of those lessons that I really feel is a keeper. I'm the kind of art teacher who could never do all the same projects year after year, but there are some that I have cemented into my curriculum, and this is one of them.

This takes me two 50-minute sessions. In the first session, I start with a 12x18" piece of white sulfate paper, and have the students fold it into 8 long rectangles. With first grade, this can be quite an experience, but if I take it slow and I check them after each step, I usually only have one or two per class that don't fold it correctly the first time.

We then go through each rectangle and make a pattern of shapes with crayon. The first is blue, second is yellow, third is red, fourth is red/yellow, fifth is red/blue, sixth is yellow/blue, which leaves two blank. I then tell them to watercolor each rectangle with the colors they used in their patterns. If there are two colors in the pattern, they have to mix them, starting with the lightest color first. I love this step because it allows them to discover the secondary colors on their own to see which colors make what. I then let them paint the blank ones however they want, or they can use them to make a color they messed up on before.



During the second class period, we turn the watercolored paper into feathers and create a turkey collage. I happen to be at the Michigan Art Education Association Conference when it was time for my classes to do this part of the lesson, so I made visual posters to direct the students through each step.





I tested it out with a few classes before I left, and I loved how self-directed and independent my little first graders were. I did give them stencils for the body, head, and feathers, and then pre-cut the beak and feet paper into two-inch yellow squares. I then added the googly eyes as a fun way to finish them off.

I love me some googly eyes...



Let me also share with you that I followed up this lesson with my own version of Deep Space Sparkle's Color Mixing Fish. I thought it was a great way to tie up my turkey lesson because they were still mixing colors, but with a slightly different medium (tempera). Hopefully I'll have some of these results up soon!

4th Grade - Aliens!

I was inspired by a post from one of my favorite blogs: That Artist Woman.

Hers is a frog, but at the end she shows a picture of her son's take on the project - a monster/alien/creature. I took this kid's idea and ran with it.

I started out by having my students trace each of their hands on the sides of a 12x18" piece of white sulfur paper (watercolor paper would be good, too). Then they drew the alien's head in the middle, keeping in mind that they would later weave either one or two eyes (their choice) and glue them on. I had stencils that were the size that the eyes would be on hand so students could be sure they would fit. They could also alter the hands to make them more... out of this world, if you will. After they outlined it heavily with crayon, they had to choose a texture (i.e. watercolor technique) : salt, plastic wrap, marker, crayon or oil pastel. We've experimented with all of these before, so students were aware of the effect the technique would make.

Once the paint was dry, they cut out the alien's head and hands and glued them onto a black piece of construction paper. Then, it was time for the weaving. I simplified the weaving a bit compared to the inspiration project... I just have students weave around the tag board itself, making sure they cut 5 slits (an even number will not work... 5 seemed to be the best amount for the size we were working with).


I also had them use yarn that was already multi-colored. I had several choices for them to choose from - most wanted the bright rainbow. Psychedelic, indeed. Once weaved, the eye(s) are glued on and voila! This project was definitely a hallway crowd pleaser.

I still have a few classes to finish this project with, and I think I'm going to have them oil pastel a space background.

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!