Gingerbread Hunt in Kindergarten [Free Gingerbread Hunt Cards Included]

Last week we spent the week reading TONS of gingerbread books. We read the Gingerbread Man, Gingerbread Boy, Gingerbread Girl, The Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Cowboy, the Gingerbread Bear, the Gingerbread Pirates....you name it, I have it!! I probably have and read WAY too many gingerbread books this week.  Is there such thing of too many gingerbread books?

Well, on Friday we had a guest reader (a student's grandmother) in for our 'book and cook'.  We read, The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School. 

When she was done reading we talked about what we would do if a gingerbread man got loose in our school.  The kids said, ' no way that could ever actually happen!' I agreed ;)

Then, each table was given a gingerbread cookie kit.  They had to work together to create a gingerbread man, girl, baby, boy, pirate, anything their little hearts desired!

I found the kits at our local Publix; however, you can also find them HERE.

When they were done, we had 4 delicious looking cookies! But, it was our playground time so we went out to the park and I promised the students we would be able to eat our cookies as soon as we got back!

On our way to the park we realized we forgot to tell our gingerbread cookies to stay put! So we turned around to tell them, just in case they were going to run!  

(I had our guest reader hide them for me in the classroom next door).

But, when we got back to our room to tell them, they were already gone! We found a clue on our front board and followed the clues around the school.  The kids LOVED it!

You can download these gingerbread hunt cards for free by clicking on the image below.

 

While we were on our 'hunt' the grandmother put our cookies back into our room.  The last clue led us back to our classroom and there they were!  We ate them as fast as would could so they wouldn't run away again!

Delicious!

Gingerbread Craft

This afternoon we decided to relax with some Christmas music and make a new craft to decorate our empty hallway bulletin board!

As soon as I showed the kids my example and described what we would be making, I sent them to their seats. Right away one of my little girls said, "Can we listen to music?" I was like YES! Great idea! Pandora's Kids Christmas Favorites was the perfect station!

I passed out the gingerbread pieces one at a time so I didn't overwhelm the students, or bury them in scrap paper! 

They turned out super cute and the kids fell in love with them! I think my girls love anything with a bow ;)

Of course the boys came out adorable too! They kept asking me for a hat for their gingerbread man...haha, maybe next time!

Beautiful!

I added this craft to my store this afternoon if you need a last minute bulletin board idea! 

The gingerbread man craft is also included in the Gingerbread Combo pack or the Gingerbread Math pack if you already purchased that! 

Gingerbread!

My kids always LOVE reading any story about Gingerbread! I have The Gingerbread Boy, The Gingerbread Girl, The Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Bear, The Gingerbread Pirates, The Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Friends, The Gingerbread Cowboy, and I could literally go on, and on!! The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School, The Gingerbread Loose on the Fire Truck, and The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers. Okay I am sure you get it....hahaha I have an obsession with buying books and the gingerbread books are fun!!

We spent a lot of time last week completing story maps and really comparing and contrasting the story lines and characters in the different stories. My kids also enjoyed lots of gingerbread themed centers!

Just like the gingerbread man, their sight words escaped! The students had to look around the room to find their words and record them. 

 When they were done, they had to use some of their words in sentences on the back.

 We are also working on simple addition facts right now. In this simple math center, students had to roll two dice, add the numbers up, and dot that number on their page.

 They also put their numbers in order counting by 5s and recorded them. This was our first time doing this at a center (even though we count by 5s and 10s during calendar everyday) and they did beautifully!

At their writing center they worked on labeling. This may be the last month that I let them cut out the words and glue them on. They are definitely more than ready to start writing the words on their own! I will provide a word bank for those that need it!

 They just love when I take pictures of their work, so I had to snap a few!

 I love when they are proud of themselves for doing an amazing job!!

 I also had students writing CVC words at the word work center. They are doing this completely independently now which is awesome! So this is another center that may be 'retired' soon! Time to move on!

Today we packed up, printed our boarding passes, and prepared our passports! We are ready to start traveling the world tomorrow! I can't wait!

Cyber Monday Sale... Started Early!!

Thanks Ashley for the super cute graphic!! I just love that Penguin stuffed in at the bottom (right where my diet coke goes!!) I am actually buying that penguin pack during the sale so I can start creating my next unit!! Yay!!

Everything in my store will be 20% off. Then, if you enter the code CMT12 at checkout (Monday and Tuesday), you will get an additional 8% off! That is 28% off all items :) This doesn't happen often so it is time to stock up!! I have been adding to my wish list all week!! (I found lots of great clip art too!)

I combined my Gingerbread Unit into one big COMBO Pack...

It is the Yummy Batch of Literacy Centers...

with the Yummy Batch of Gingerbread Math...

I also have my new Christmas Unit on sale...All Wrapped Up! There are plenty of centers to get you through the month of December!!

If you don't need the entire unit, I did split the crafts up into one pack. So you can get all the crafts for only $3 during the sale!! I have to get a couple of these crafts done during this week. I took down EVERYTHING in my class before Thanksgiving...now it is definitely time to redecorate! 

and if you already spent way too much money at the malls on Black Friday, then don't forget to download this new freebie...

Getting Ready for December!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

After Thanksgiving, my kindergarten team and I are going to spend two weeks on our gingerbread unit. Then, we are going to move into discussing the holidays before break!! I am super excited! Gingerbread is one of my favorites--my kids always have a blast reading and comparing the different books (and of course searching for the gingerbread man around school)!

I just re-did my entire gingerbread unit, A Yummy Batch of Gingerbread Math! If you've already purchased this from me, just head back over to TPT and download it again under 'My Purchases.' I updated some of the pages, made sure everything fits into Common Core (with the exception of the pattern activity), and I added in the cutest little gingerbread glyph!!

You can check out the whole unit by clicking below :)

I also added a brand new unit, Math, Literacy, Crafts, And More...All Wrapped Up!!

A couple people have emailed me asking if I would include the Christmas craftivities in a separate pack for them to purchase, so I will be working on that as soon as I beat my family in a game of cornhole ;)