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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Gingerbread Unit Activities for First Grade

Hello, teachery friends!  I just thought I'd interject my normal posts with some holiday themed activities we did this past week...

Our focus skill in reading this week was comparing and contrasting, so this unit went great with our reading series.  I made this large graphic organizer that we added to throughout the week as we read different stories.  Unfortunately, my printer wasn't working, so the book covers I printed aren't in color...and my handwriting is super sloppy (major pet peeve of mine!). 

We had a gingerbread taste-test (I just bought Keebler Gingerbread Men from Kroger) and we graphed our results.   I also had the kids complete speech bubbles with their responses to the flavor.   Afterwards, we discussed adjectives and completed a whole-group graphic organizer describing the gingerbread men.


My favorite activity was decorating the crafty gingerbread boys/girls.  I collected a bunch of craft supplies (odds and ends from The Dollar Tree, mostly) and let the kiddos have it!  I love their creativity.  Afterwards, they wrote about their gingerbread person.  They turned out darling :)



Today, we observed what would happen if the gingerbread man had gotten wet.  The kids loved touching the soggy cookie and many asked if they could EAT it!  YUCK!  You can find a printable for this activity here: Gingerbread Science

I also made up several gingerbread-themed activities for our literacy centers.  You can get the printables here: Gingerbread Literacy Activities

Here's how I used the activities:
You can use the first one for a variety of things, but since we were working on beginning s- blends this week, I wrote an s- blend on the right hand and the word ending on the other.  The kids then had to say, spell, and write (with a vis-a-vis marker) the word on the center of the laminated  "gingerbear."

The second activity is a sticker story.  I gave the kids a variety of stickers to make a story rebus-style about the gingerbread man. 

The third and fourth worksheet go together and are self-explanatory (draw and write about a gingerbread man).

The fifth activity is a spin-off of "write-the-room." I hid 10 numbered gingerbread men throughout the room and the kids had to search for them and then write down their location next to the right number. 
Tomorrow, my cafeteria has generously offered to bake gingerbread men for us to decorate - as if my kiddos need any more sugar reason to be wound up on a Friday! 

I hope these are helpful to some of you out there!  I now how much fun it can be to scramble for activities/units/worksheets!  Feel free to use them and alter them if need be :)

{PS.  I've never used Google Docs before, so if you have trouble with anything just holler!}

41 comments:

Jamie said...

Oh what a cute gingerbread unit! Your kiddos are so lucky...they have the best teacher!

Brittany said...

So cute! Love it!!

Ariane said...

Are you loving Google Docs? I think it is so handy! I love your teacher posts...they always make me want to go back to 1st grade! haha.

Desiree Wong said...

cute stuff! i'm going to borrow it and tweak it for my pre-k class! :) thanks!

Gladys said...

So very cute! I loved it!

Confessions of a Northern Belle said...

YES! This is awesome - I am totally trying it out next week!! Thank you =0)

According to Ashley said...

Cuteness! My team has been so excited coming up with little holiday crafty things to do in the next few weeks! Oh, and I need to get on the Google Docs bandwagon.

California Wife said...

I love that you're posting teaching units/ideas on here... such a cute gingerbread unit! I definitely see how I can tweak things a bit for 2nd grade!

Jenni said...

This so cute! We're doing gingerbread for the next two weeks in my room and I cannot wait!

Stephanie said...

They work great!! I love the read the room. We have started read the hall at our school and the first graders search for words out there. It is so cute!! :)

Smith Family Forum said...

A cute graphing activity I do (not fortunate to have homebaked cookies so I just use Little Debbie's) is called "The Best Bite". I ask the children to take one bite of their gingerbread man then we graph which "body part" they ate first: head, right leg, left leg, right arm, left arm? The kids love this but don't tell them ahead of time or they tend to bite whatever their neighbors bite!

Love,
SGA Debbie :)

Michelle said...

I love your ideas. Especially the adorable gingerbread house story elements stuff. That will be perfect for what we're doing in Reader's Workshop right now.
Michelle- fabulousinfirst.blogspot.com

Stacey said...

Abby,
How do you create such cute documents?

Abby said...

Stacey - Thank you for the compliment!

I make my documents in word, using clip art from online, DJ Inkers, or Scrappin' Doodles.

I have a TON of fonts downloaded from DJ Inkers and various free sites on the web.

As far as inspiration goes, sometimes I find an idea on the web and tweak it to meet the needs of my students or sometimes I come up with them on my own :)

Cara Carroll said...

Girlfriend! I am SO copying you!!! LOVE that Gingerbread story comparison chart!! DARLING! And, of course, I'm lovin' all the rest of it, too!!!! Can't wait to do some of this with my kids this week!! Thanks for sharing!!

MrsKinne said...

I printed out your little gingerbread for a consonant cluster activity. Too cute! :)

Kathleen said...

I love it! Do you teach at a public school? Just curious because my school is so darn PC that we can't do anything holiday- as in no class Christmas or even Holiday party- it's the Winter Solstice party.

Abby said...

Kathleen - that makes me sad for you :( Yes, I do teach in a public school. Right now, we have no restrictions. We are doing a "Christmas Around the World" in 1st grade next week and each teacher (there are 5 of us) are teaching about holiday celebrations in different countries :)

Kat5562 said...

Love your site and thanks for sharing the wonderful gingerbread activities with us!!!!

Smith Family Forum said...

Our local communtiy college has several international students who are coming next week to talk to our 1st graders about their holiday traditions. Great community resource!

Love,
Aunt Deb P. :)

lovetwoteach said...

Love it! I am doing Gingerbread all next week and this will go perfect with my stuff!

Kristen
first-grade-teachers.blogspot.com

Sarah said...

Love this!! Anyway you can share that gingerbread writing sheet?

strawberrysh@hotmail.com

absees123s said...

Just found these and want4ed to say thank you so much!

Brandy said...

My daughter's teacher cut gingerbread men shapes (similar to yours) out of sandpaper and then had them rub a cinnamon stick across the rough side before decorating. That way it smelled as yummy as it looked. Just an idea.

Brittney said...

Just wanted to say thanks for the idea and student page! We just did this last week! I revamped the back portion of your sheet for my kiddos in Kinder. THEY LOVED IT! THANK YOU!

http://mykinderlife.blogspot.com/2011/01/gingerbread-science.html

Books4Learning said...

Love your ideas! I am linking this post to a related post on my blog. Thanks! http://books4learning.blogspot.com/2011/03/picture-book-gingerbread-girl-by-lisa.html

shirleyb said...

Your ideas are always so good. The students love doing the activities. Can't wait to get back to school after Thanksgiving to try these out! And, yes, Google Images worked great! Thanks for all your hard work!

Marie@Procrastinating in Pink said...

Thank you so much for sharing your awesome gingerbread activies! I'm loving all of them!! :)

CC said...

I love these ideas!!!!!! Thank you!!!!

Courtney M. said...

I would love to get a copy of the gingerbread house writing paper: courtneymcalpin@gmail.com. Thanks for all of your amazing activities!

Brandi Hewell said...

I would love to get a copy of the gingerbread writing paper it is too cute! :) doodlebugbrandi@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I would love a copy of the gingerbread writing paper as well if possible. Thank you and happy holidays!
charlottecornel@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

I love your gingerbread activities. I also would love to have a copy of your gingerbread writing paper. I love the idea! cramer@wanee.org

Anonymous said...

I would also like to get a copy of the gingerbread writing paper: jmsallaz@hotmail.com. Thank you for sharing this!

Literacy & Math Ideas said...

Okay now, it looks like you are having too much fun teaching. Cute ideas!
Dawn
http://literacymathideas.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Kilpatrick said...

Love your ideas!

Anonymous said...

Hi Abby,

These activities are so cute! If you don't mind, please email me your gingerbread writing paper. Thanks so much!

Tiffany
barr.tiffany@gmail.com

Kelly Thigpen said...

I mentioned this adorable unit in my blog... Check it out at
http://acreativeprocessforfirstgrade.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for your fun ideas!

Anonymous said...

Love it! Is there any way I can get a copy of that gingerbread house writing page?
Thanks!
decastrost@elizabeth.k12.nj.us

Erika said...

Could I also get a copy of the gingerbread house writing activity? Thanks! erikajean@gmail.com.

Unknown said...

I would love to get a copy of the gingerbread house writing paper: rachel.emily.ruane@gmail.com. Thanks for all of your amazing activities!