[tammych]

Anyone have any ideas for a gingerbread unit?
I participated in the gingerbread exchange last year and am signed up for one this year too.
I read the gingerbread man, the gingerbread baby and the gingerbread girl. then compare
I give each child a person shaped pattern to decorate at home. Then we write stories about their gingerbread people. Where they ran to and what they did kind of stuff.
I'm thinking about gingerbread shaped cinnamon applesause ornaments for a parents gift.
I also do a gingerbread glyph, and taste gngerbread cookies. You would be surprised how many kids have never tasted gingerbread.
We sent gingerbread pictures to Iraq with other christmas goodies.
Can you think of any thing I could add this year.
I start the first of Dec. and use the theme all month.

[Eydie]

i was able to get a few gingerbread ideas off www.thevirtualvine.com . Look under themes and units. I remember a list of links to other good gingerbread sites too!

[MrChapp]

I also made a gingerbread town to practice both map skills and economics. We would have a gingerbread town planning meeting and decide what businesses we NEED and what businesses we WANT. I usually shot for about five of each. I had three different building patterns-- a basic house, a tall building for wants, and a short, long building for needs. Each student was responsible for one building or house.

They traced the patterns onto brown construction paper and decorated them with basic office supplies-- white reinforcements are frosting, bright garage sale stickers are gumdrops.

Then we'd put the buildings on a bulletin board designed to look like a map-- all the businesses went on Main Street and the houses went on Gingerbread Lane or Peppermint Path. We made sure to include a map key and a compass rose.

I would do that at the start of our gingerbread unit, then base activities off of it. For example, when we wrote stories about where the gingerbread man ran, we included locations on our map. The students also made their own maps and we would practice writing directions on how to get from one place to another using cardinal directions.

I got a lot of this out of an older Mailbox magazine for primary grades. I don't remember what year, but if you search the archives on the website, you may be able to find info.

[azfarkas]

Can you post a copy of your gingerbead glyph? I would like to use it. Thanks!

[tbsrwilson]

I have some things posted at www.welcometothepond.com

[QueenRosie]

Jan Brett's website also has some great ideas and printables for a gingerbread unit, including masks for each of the characters and a printable game board.

www.janbrett.com

After reading the more traditional Gingerbread Man stories, you can read some of the other versions, like The Runaway Tortilla by Eric Kimmel and The Stinky Cheese Man. Even my PreK students have enjoyed reading these stories and have been able to do Venn diagram comparisons.

Does anyone have a recipe for the cinnamon applesauce ornaments?