Gingerbread Unit

The Gingerbread Man

* Make a story map.
* Sequence the events of the story.
* Write a new title to the story.
* Write a new ending to the story.
* Brainstorm other ways to catch the Gingerbread Man.
* Make a KWL chart about the story of the Gingerbread Man.
* Help the students make puppets and use them to retell the story.
* Make a predictable chart: "I liked it when..." "Gingergerbread men taste..." "Gingerbread men can..." "Gingerbread men can't...")
* Discuss cause and effect. (Why did the gingerbread man escape from the oven? Why did the gingerbread man get eaten?)
* Sing "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar"
* Sing "One little, two little, three little gingerbread...ten little gingerbread cookies" (to the tune of Ten Little Indians)

* Compare and contrast this story to the Gingerbread Man story using a Venn Diagram.
* Make a graph to show which story the students liked most.
* Ask the students to write about their favorite character from the story.

"The Gingerbread Boy" by Paul Galdone
* Compare this story to "The Gingerbread Man."
* Make a predictable chart. ("The gingerbread boy is ______.")
* Have the children rewrite the story as if the gingerbread boy was not tricked by the fox.

"The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" by Jon Scieszka

* Make a Venn Diagram to compared and contrasted this story to "The Gingerbread Man."

"The Door Bell Rang" by Pat Hutchins

* This story is about cookies. Ask your class how it relates to the gingerbread stories.
* Sing "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar"

Gingerbread Children

Gingerbread children stand in a row
Very good children always you know

They never will jump or kick or leap
Or start to cry when it's time to sleep.

They never run off or look around.
And no one has heard them make a sound.

Gingerbread children are fine to meet
But much better still, they're good to eat.

Go on a hunt for the runaway gingerbread man. Hide cards throughout the school with this printed on them:

"Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread man. Go to the library/office/hall and look for me. Go to the library. That's where I'll be."

At each location, place another card telling the children where to go next. Replace the underlined word with the new location.