The Gingerbread Man

Recently, we finished up a literature study on the gingerbread man. We began our study by reading several versions of the gingerbread man. We loved comparing and contrasting the different versions. One of our favorite things to do was retell the original version with puppets.

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One afternoon, we picked and discussed our favorite gingerbread man story. The students then created their favorite part using a variety of materials: construction paper, scissors, glue, crayons and markers. The students loved having the opportunity to share their learning in a creative way!

We created an A-Z chart and came up with characters that the gingerbread man ran away from that began with the letter each student chose. After discussing the importance of setting, each student created an illustration of the gingerbread man running away from their characters. The gingerbread man ran away from an alligator to a zebra!

After reading about a variety of gingerbread characters: gingerbread man, boy, baby, girl, pirate, cowboy, we created our very own gingerbread characters of our choice! Some of the most popular were gingerbread babies, girls and batman!

Not only did we read about gingerbread, but we also tasted gingersnap cookies and played with gingerbread scented play dough.

At the very end of our literature study, our classroom gingerbread man ran away! We decided as a class to make gingerbread houses to "trap" the runaway gingerbread man just like the characters did in Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby. We made gingerbread houses using graham crackers, icing, peppermints, chocolate chips, marshmallows and red hots. We placed the gingerbread houses around the school leading up to a trap set up in our classroom. The plan worked! When the students came back from lunch, we found the gingerbread man trapped under the listening station in our classroom!