Gingerbread Part 3!

Yes, I know this is a bit late, but file it away for next year!  We kept it simple this last week, since we did have a 4 day week!!

Literacy Centers:

The kids drew a peppermint from the candy jar and used real candy peppermints to push out the sounds in the word – sorry, you can’t see the peppermint mat in the picture!

This was a super simple beginning sound dice game.  The kids just rolled the dice and wrote the beginning sound.

Keeping it super simple with Julie Lee’s sound sort.

This center also game from Julie.  The kiddos flipped over the tree cookies with a spatula and wrote the beginning sound of the picture on the reverse side.

Here’s the graph that we did for our “what part did you eat” lesson.

This was SUCH a hit!  I have been using Julie Lee’s “Build your Rainbow” positive reinforcement system since the beginning of the year.  I love it, and the kids love building their rainbow.  For the last week before break, I thought we could up the anty a bit.  Throughout the week the children could earn pieces to their gingerbread boy or girl!  They loved it! Kids that had lost their interest in building rainbows were suddenly much better behaved.  On Thursday, I made sure everyone had all of their pieces on their gingerbread by the end of the day.  I’m already brainstorming other themes that I can use throughout the year!

This is the gift that the children brought home to their parents.  We made the snowmen in art class and the handprint reindeer were a cinch to make. 

Here are our math centers for the week:

The children drew a gingerbread card from the basket and write the three numbers that came next. 

Here they counted the number of candies on the house and graphed their results.

We sequenced numbers by 5s.

And we played a fun color word/number game from Julie Lee!

And here are the gingerbread retelling cards that I promised! I THINK all the cards are there – it’s been a while since I last looked at them – my brain has been on vacay! Would love to hear from you if you download them!

Gingerbread Part 2

Last week, we were still going strong with our gingerbread adventures!  Here are some of our centers!

Literacy:

We practiced writing our alphabet neatly and then matched gingerbread felt pieces to the matching uppercase felt house.  We even practiced putting them in ABC order!

 

Ooohhh….this one was SO much fun!  The children stamped sight words into gingerbread playdough and then wrote the word they stamped.

The children hunted for missing gingerbread boys around the room and solved the letterbox puzzles.  Those gingerbread boys can be tricky!!

We pulled “candy” out of jar and listened carefully for the ending sound.  We dobbed the correct ending sound.

This is our weekly pocket chart center.  This one is from Julie Lee’s gingerbread unit.

 

Math Centers:

At this center, the children rolled a double dice (you can’t see it in this picture!), counted the number of dots and then counted that many candies onto the gingerbread man.  Then they graphed what they rolled by dobbing the correct number.  The candy is from a Lakeshore counting box.

At this center, the children practiced counting by 10s and sequencing the numbers.

Here the children measured different size gingerbreads with peppermint and gumdrop “rulers.” 

The next 2 centers are also from Julie Lee’s gingerbread pack.

We also got to decorate our gingerbread cookies! Shoot! One of them ran away – more on that on another day

I made this little planning sheet for the kids to plan out how they wanted their cookie to look.  It was quite successful – no mounds of candy in one spot here!

If you would like the planning sheet, you can download it below!

Gingerbread Fun!

Phew these days are flying by! I am SO behind in my posting! I’ll catch you up with a little gingerbread fun!

Here is a peek at our week from last week:

Literacy Centers:

  

The gingerbread lane ending sound activity is from Julie Lee’s Gingerbread pack.

 

Math Centers:

I loved this number word center when I saw it on Mrs. Mayas blog! I totally had to copy it! Thanks for the inspiration!

The kids LOVE the double dice!

Penny and nickel discrimination.

Count the room.

And of course we read lots of traditional retellings of the Gingerbread Man/Boy.  The kids are having SO much fun with this!!

Here are some things we did in our reader’s workshop notebooks:

You can download these pages below.  I reduced them by about 78% so the kiddos could glue them into their reader’s workshop  notebooks.

 

We also have been comparing the characters and the endings of each story we read.  Here is a sneak peek of the retelling cards:

When I finish all of them, I will post them here!

And I just had to share this beautiful board that is across the hall from my classroom.  This was done by our amazingly talented reading paraprofessional.  She puts my boards to shame! ha!

I would love to read a comment if you download something here! They make me so happy

Give yourself a Christmas Gift!

It might be too late for most of you, but if you don’t have your own personal laminator – you have an hour to snatch one up!  Right now, they are only $17 at Amazon!  I snagged this deal a few months ago and so happy I did – now, I have one at home and one at school.  I’ve had this laminator for years and LOVE it.  I couldn’t teach with out it!

So, run, run as fast as you can to Amazon.com and grab this little beauty!

December Calendar Songs…and a new blog!

So sorry this is so late!  I’m still recovering from my vacation and we had report cards due today! To top it all off hubby is out of town on business for 2 weeks! Thank goodness he gets to come home on the weekends.

But, before I share the goodies with you, I want to introduce you to a new blog!!! This blog is written by one of my fabulous kindergarten friends.  I am so lucky to be able to call her my friend – she is amazing, guys!  She has such a kind heart and is a fantastic teacher.

So, stop on by to Live, Laugh Love K and say hi to my friend, Sheyna.  While you’re there click that little follow button, and leave her a comment, okay?  It will make her (and me!) ever so happy!

 

Last month, I shared with you some of the lines that did not make it…this time I was rhyming with cheer…..and ending up with beer….. hmmmm…..

And the calendar book pages:

    

Enjoy!

PS – I read each and every one of your comments, so if you snag this, please leave me a little note! I would love to see how many of you are downloading and using these in your classroom!