The Gingerbread Man

Who Stole the Cookies?

Our theme this week was The Gingerbread Man.  We read lots of versions of "The Gingerbread Man."  We compared each of the stories and talked about characters and character traits.  Our class compared all of the stories we read and discussed how they were similar and different.

Incorporating math, we made a graph of our favorite versions of "The Gingerbread Man."  The book that had the most votes was "The Gingerbread Girl."  We use this graph to compare the group that had the most votes and the fewest votes.  We also compared the groups and looked at how many more or how many fewer votes were in each group.

Going along with our Gingerbread Man theme, we made our own paper cookie jars.  Then, we made a class list of all of our names.  Students made paper cookies and wrote their classmates' names on the cookies.  We put our cookies in the jar and used them for a game.  Everyone sat in a circle and sang the song, "Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?"  Each person chose a cookie with a name on it, and then it was that person's turn.  We had so much fun!

Gingerbread Man Search

On our way to class after block time, we discovered a little note on our door.  It turns out that a Gingerbread Man had visited our classroom while we were gone! We were on a mission to find him!  Our first clue led us to the library, but he was nowhere to be found.  He left us another clue, which sent us to the cafeteria.  We didn't catch him there, but another clue sent us to Nurse Klahs.

Nurse Klahs read us a note left by her door.  She told us the Gingerbread Man had already left and went to visit Dr. Parker.  We headed to the office.

Dr. Parker told us that we had just missed the Gingerbread Man!  He was so fast!  Our last clue led us back to our classroom.

When we returned to our classroom, we found a new note from the Gingerbread Man.  He left us some gingersnap cookies as a treat.  We decided to try them after lunch and they were so yummy!  The students really wanted the Gingerbread Man to come out of hiding.  Someone suggested that we write Snowflake, our shelf elf, a note asking him to find the Gingerbread Man for us.  

When we returned from recess, we found the Gingerbread Man!  He was sitting right next to Snowflake!  They must be friends!

Gingerbread Houses

At the end of the week, we got to decorate gingerbread houses!  We made patterns with our candy and our designs were so creative.  Here are lots of pictures of us busy working on our houses!

Powder Valley Field Trip

We visited Powder Valley and attended a program called, "I Like to Move It, Move It!"  Students learned all about different animals, their habitats, and their adaptations that allow them to survive in their habitats.  When we first arrived at Powder Valley, we were greeted by our guides.  Next, we split into groups and went with our guides to explore Powder Valley!

We listened to a silly song about animals.  In the song, all of the animals' noises and actions were mixed up!  

We also acted out how some animals moved.  

The guides let us move around to different centers to get a better understanding of how animals move and survive in their environments.  Here are some students acting out how snakes shed their skin.  As a snake slithers, it's old skin starts to peel off, revealing it's new skin underneath.

Here are students demonstrating how long, sticky tongues can help some animals catch insects to eat.

We got to touch fish!

On our hike, our guide taught us all about lots of plants that grow in the area and animals who live here.  We even got to see some Whitetail Deer up close!  This type of deer have white fur under their tails.  When they sense danger, they will stick their tails up (showing the white part of their tail) alerting the rest of the group.  We got to see this in action.  After the deer saw us, they ran away.

Before we left Powder Valley, we saw a toad up close.  It was so interesting to watch the toad move around on the floor.  Our guide taught us about where toads live, how they move, how they get food, and their defense mechanisms.

We got to pet the toad!

Here we are looking at a snake up close.  We also got to pet this snake!