1-2-3 Come Do Some Gingerbread Activities With Me!

Gingerbread activites are like Pinterest; does anyone ever get enough?   My daughter frequently asked me why I "reinvented the wheel" each month, spending hours creating new things, when I already had "a ton." 

The easy answer was, I simply LOVE designing stuff!  I'm always looking to improve, as well as keep things current, fresh and interesting.  There must be quite a few teachers who feel the same, as I continue to get requests for "more-more-more" gingerbread goodies. 

I hope you enjoy the newest FREEBIES on the blog today, plus a few old favorites that you might not have been aware of. 

"I need a glyph!" is probably one of the most frequent e-mail requests that I get.  The gingerbread glyph is very popular.  Glyphs are a great way to get to know your kiddos, at the same time whole group assessing listening & following directions. 

Because each one is so different, they make a cute December bulletin board. If you'd like to see my entire glyph collection, click on the link to zip on over to the Glyph Section of my site. 

Many teachers are also in search of worksheets that help reinforce and review a variety of standards, so that they can use them for practice, whole-group assessing, games, something for "early finishers" to transition to, or homework.

With that in mind, I designed a variety of simple, quick and fun gingerbread-themed worksheets that I think your kiddo's will enjoy. 

Plug a few into your Daily 5 activities or sub folder.   Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Worksheet Packet.

One of the most popular stories read in December is The Gingerbread Man.  I enjoy collecting various versions, with different endings.  Introducing story elements by reading a favorite book, is a simple way to grab students' attention.  

Give them a list of things you want them to listen for,  then when they realize where the setting is, they shoot up their hand.  When a new character is introduced, they do it again etc.  This is fun for children and keeps them focussed.

You'll be able to cover quite a few Common Core Standards with The Gingerbread Literacy Packet.  I've included picture cards, a graphic organizer, and a story slider "craftivity"  to help students sequence and retell the story.

The slider is my personal favorite.  I updated this old favorite. Adding "frosting" with puffy paint gives it an "awwww-dorable" finishing touch.

There are also pocket cards, 40 traceable word cards as well as a Venn diagram activity.  Click on the link to view/download The Gingerbread Literacy Packet.

For more Gingerbread Venn diagrams, click on the link for some fun ways to compare and contrast a variety of things. 

The Gingerbread Sentence pack is also great for reviewing the story, as well as practicing end punctuation and capitalization. 

You can use the pocket chart cards for a whole group activity and correct the sentences together, or have students do the individual worksheet.

Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Punctuation Packet.

Finally, K-teacher Jill, from Georgia, asked if I had time to make some gingerbread activities that involved colors and color words.  I hope you like them too.  Click on the link to view download the Gingerbread Colors Packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. It's my hope that my efforts bring a smile to your students and more quiet time for you.  I enjoy hearing from my visitors; you can leave a comment below or e-mail me at: diane@teachwithme.com

"Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread." -William Shakespeare.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Gingerbread Activities With Me!

I really enjoy it when teachers contact me with special requests, so when Carol in Wisconsin, asked me for some gingerbread alphabet cards to go with her big themed-unit in December, I happily got to work. 

To help reinforce Common Core State Standards,  I also included a trace and write upper and lowercase worksheet as well as a match the uppercase letter to the lowercase letter one.

There's  5 different assessments + a 3-page tip list of what to do with the cards, including games like Kaboom.  

If you too have a request, simply email me at: diane@teachwithme.com and I'll see what I can do.  Click on the link for Gingerbread Alphabet Cards

To review even more standards I designed 2 gingerbread sliders and included slider strips for counting numbers to 30; counting backwards from 10 to 0 and 20 to 0; skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's; shapes, + upper and lowercase letters.  You can use these to review, assess, and play games with. 

Students trace the numbers/letters/shapes.  I encouraged an ABAB pattern using red and green markers.

For that finishing touch allow students to decorate with wiggle eyes, ribbons, rhinestones, buttons and glitter.  I used white puffy paint for the "frosting."  My kiddo's loved that; so easy, but so "Wow!" Click on the link for the Gingerbread Sliders.

I also started working on the winter time cards, and completed the gingerbread ones. The packet includes digital and analog time to the hour and half hour, with a cover to make an Itty Bitty booklet + a tip list of how to use the cards.  Click on the link for the Gingerbread Time Cards

I tried to graph every day with my Y5's.  Pretty soon the light bulb comes on for everyone.  A graph was always part of our table top lessons, and I think my kiddo's really enjoyed coloring and filling in their worksheets. 

By switching things up via a theme, interest remained high.  I often used shapes inside the themed-item, so that I could review yet another standard.  This packet also includes a game.  Click on the link for the Gingerbread Graphing Activities

Finally, I also designed the ever-popular shape matching game with a gingerbread theme.  I feel as with the above lessons, if you change an activity with a new theme, things stay fresh.  Students also feel empowered because they know what to do an can get right down to business.  Click on the link for the Gingerbread Shape Games

Thanks for visiting to day.  Feel free to PIN away.  If you'd like to take a peek at all of the creative-educatonal items that I spend way too much time pinning, click on the big heart to the right of the article. 

I design and blog daily so I hope you can pop in tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES.  I have lots more gingerbread goodies that I'm excited to share.

"A cookie a day chases sadness away; an entire jar brings it back!" -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Make a Gingerbread Glyph With Me

I enjoyed making glyphs with my students each month. Glyphs are a pictorial form of data, also known as a pictograph.

They are an easy and interesting way to help reinforce listening and following directions and make a great display for a hallway.  My Y5’s enjoyed making them + they provided an opportunity to learn more about their classmates.

If listening and following directions, is a report card standard for you, glyphs are a wonderful whole group assessment tool for that.

Because of the variety of questions, you can also turn some of them into graphing extensions. i.e. Do you like gingerbread? Have you ever made Christmas cookies? etc.

Turning your students into glyph detectives is also a fun way for them to learn how to collect data and analyze results.

Give students 10 minutes to see how many gingerbread glyphs they can figure out. By using your personal glyph as an example, take a moment to explain how they would go about doing this.

When the glyphs are complete, number them, and display the gingerbread in the hallway. Write a list of student names at the top of a pre-numbered sheet of paper.

Give students 5-10 minutes in the hallway to try and figure out the gingerbread glyph mysteries.

When the timer rings, flip up the glyphs to read whose glyph it is, and have students self-correct their papers.

The person with the most correct, gets a gingerbread sticker or whatever you deem is appropriate.

I’ve included my purple gingerbread glyph as an example. The coloring didn’t come through the scanner as bright as I wanted it to.  Click on the link to view/print the Gingerbread Glyph

If you are looking for other glyphs, I have made one for each month. Click on the link to go to the glyph section.  Scroll down to view the examples and click on whatever else you want to download. 

Thank you for visiting today. Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.

Do you have a glyph you could share with us? I’d enjoy hearing from you.  diane@teachwithme.com or post a comment here.

“Little by little does the trick!” -Abraham Lincoln.