Saturday, September 13, 2014

The Gingerbread Man Welcomes us to Southside!

I always like to start the year with The Gingerbread Man.  This gives us an introduction to folk tales. With different versions of the same story, it gives us a chance to make connections between the texts.  We discuss the different characters and settings in the stories, as well as the different endings.  We can make predictions based on what happened in other versions.  All of these are a good introduction to working with books and beginning comprehension skills.  The Gingerbread Man also gives us a chance to visit different places in our new school as we become more familiar and comfortable with our new surroundings.
 We start off in the cafeteria, where Miss Monica gives us the bad news that the Gingerbread Man has hopped out of the oven and run away.  He does leave a note behind which leads us to...
 The Library,  where Mrs. Graph has another note and more bad news for us.  He was there, but she was unable to catch him.  We read the next note which leads us to...
 The Clinic,  Mrs. Makenna hands over the next note and lets us know he cannot be found until the next day.  We should be able to find him in the office.
 Mr. Dragon gets in on the fun while we explore his office and finally find the Gingerbread Man.
 It is always fun to finally find that  Gingerbread Man.  I love how into it the children get.  They truly believe he has been running around the school and continue to look for him as we wait to go find him in the office.
 No one really ever asks how he gets back on the tray...ahh the magic of a 5 year old!
 We just know that we got him and he looks ready to eat.
 I always like to cut him up, but leave the head intact, just for fun! 
 Finally he goes the way of all Gingerbread Men...We get to eat him!
 Opinions on how he tastes are usually mixed, but I am encouraged because all of the children are at least willing to try!

No comments:

Post a Comment