BIG MOUTH FROG
Big Mouth Frog Flannel Board Story
Submitted by Jan
The Big Mouth Frog
You will need: 1 frog (or you can use two-one with a big mouth and
one with small mouth), 1 giraffe, 1 elephant, 1 crocodile,
Once upon a time there was a little frog with a Very Big Mouth. The frog use
to drive everyone crazy with his big mouth. He was always opening it and hollering
at people. "HI! WHO ARE YOU? I'M THE BIG MOUTH FROG!" (as you say it make your
own mouth big and wide) One morning he decided to find out what everyone ate
for breakfast. He hopped out of his frog pond, hopped to the zoo, and began
to pester all the animals. The first animal he met was a giraffe. "HI! WHO
ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU EAT FOR BREAKFAST?" The giraffe looked down. "I am a giraffe.
I eat leaves for breakfast." "Well, I'M THE BIG MOUTH FROG! I EAT FLIES FOR
BREAKFAST!" He stuck out his long tongue, and SLUUUUURP, he caught a fly. Continue
with: elephant - leaves; monkeys - bananas; The Big mouth frog went to visit
the crocodile. "Hi! WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU EAT FOR BREAKFAST?" "I am the
crocodile. I eat BIG MOUTH FROG for breakfast. Who did you say you were?" I'M
THE BIG MOUTH-Ooops! I'm the small mouth frog. (have your mouth go form wide
open I eat FL-Ooops... mo-o-squi-i-to-o-es for breakfast. "And the small mouth
frog hopped right back to his pond. oooh...ooooh(his mouth is making a tiny "o")
BIRTHDAY CAKE, THE
These are some activitites that I like
to do with The Birthday Cake.
- recall and sequence color order, use ordinal numbers
- TLC style art project (just round corners of rectangles
and layer by color), finish with sentence: My birthday is on _______________.
- Building Blocks style sentence strip dictation made
into class book: I will have ____ (#) candles on my
______ (color) birthday cake
Centers:
build cakes with unifix cubes (using reference sheets
that have the cake colors in order, or the color words)
-given play dough and number cards, make cakes and stick
correct number of birthday candles in each cake
- given a baggie full of small cakes cut from colored
paper, build a graph, use again to make patterns
- follow color order in book to make "cakes" using vanilla
wafers and colored frostings
- use colored blocks to design and build birthday cakes
BLUE BALLOON, THE
A wonderful book is The Blue Balloon
by Mick Inkpen. The kids love it. After reading
the book, I give them each a cut out of a balloon to dip in
soap (Dawn Detergent and water) that I've added some blue paint to. I
teach them how to blow into a straw to make bubbles in the soapy water. They
then gently lay the paper balloon on top of the bubbles, and it
makes a beautiful design. When they are dry, I add a ribbon
(string) to the bottom and put a little typed blurb on it
that says: Today we read The Blue Balloon Mick Inkpen.
Ask me about it!
BROWN BEAR COLOR BOOK
Submitted by Peta
I made a Brown Bear color book that I do with
my kids at the start of the year during our color theme.
Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?
I see a.....
red apple looking at me (sponge paint red apple)
blue bird looking at me (blue collage)
green leaf looking at me (leaf print)
yellow star looking at me (finger-paint print on cut
out star)
orange balloon looking at me (staple orange balloon onto
picture of bear holding string)
purple grapes looking at me (bubble wrap print)
pink lollipop (squeeze bottle paint swirl)
black spider looking at me (scrunch black paper to glue
on - draw legs)
We do one page a day and they turn out great! The
kids love reading them! The cover has a picture of a bear which they color
brown and brush over with dye.
Submitted by Karen
We use this popular book as our model to make our own version for our new class
each year. Take a picture of each child, along with a picture of each
teacher. Place photos individually on pages (the teachers' pictures will
be on the last pages) and bind with rings to form your book. Begin with
the first page, and add the words of that child's name, followed with the next
page's child's name.
ex. "Christopher, Christopher, who do you see? I see Jonathan looking
at me!" On the next page you would continue, "Jonathan, Jonathan, who do
you see? I
see Melissa looking at me." Your last page will be that of the teacher and
will read, "Ms. Karen, Ms.
Karen, who do you see? I see beautiful children looking at me!" I recommend
that you laminate the pages because this book will get a lot of use! (Kids
love looking at themselves! o) ) In our class,
we take turns sending it home with each child. Not only do they begin
to recognize their own name, they start to recognize their friends' names
as well, and the parents get to know the classmates.
Brown Bear Visual Memory Activity
Submitted by Judy Haskin
I found these ideas on the internet-sorry I cannot give credit to the originators.
I have used these ideas and they work.I have flannelboard pictures for
all the "Brown Bear" animals. After chances to tell and retell the story
with the pictures, I put all the animals on the flannel board. I ask
the kids to close/cover their eyes-no peeking! I remove one of the animals
and the students try to remember and guess which is missing.Sometimes
I remove more than one. They love to play!
Math Game #2
Make a game board in the shape of a circle, and section it off, placing a
picture or drawing of one of the "brown bear" animals in each section.
In the center of the circle place a spinner. A spinner can be purchased
or made with a paper clip and a pencil holding it in place. To take a turn
the student spins and the others ask-"Brown bear, brown bear, what do you
see?"The student tells what he "saw" according to where the spinner
stops. We then "tally" using marks or cubes. Students take turns spinning
and tallying. We then use this information to make a Brown Bear graph.
CAT IN THE HAT
Find a large hat and round up small things from the house/classroom
to put in the hat..if you really want to get into it..only put in things
that ryhme with hat..i.e. small cat from dollhouse, or word cards
with ryhming words that get acted out charade style..then either blindfold
kids if they are taking items out and have them figure out what it
is..then maybe match to a corresponding word card. Or if it is
cards in the hat, choose a card and act it out...
CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM
Submitted by Alice
After reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, I use contact paper to make
palm trees on two small cookie sheets. Magnetic letters and
numbers can then be used on them. For the math idea, I give
the children magnetic numbers and Coco Puff cereal (coconuts). They
choose a number and put that many coconuts on the tree. Then
they eat their coconuts. This is great for number recognition. Later,
I use it for number words. It can also be used for addition
and subtraction practice.
Bring in a real coconut. Let them feel and shake it. Draw a large coconut on
butcher paper and hang it on the wall at their eye level. As the children feel
and explore the coconut, write down the words they use to describe it and hang
these words around the coconut.
Use a hammer and nail to pierce the shell and drain the milk. (If you are also
studying community helpers, ask your school custodian to come in and help open
the coconut.) Allow anyone who wants too to sample the milk.
(Have water on hand) Chart who likes it and who doesn't. Next break the
shell open with the hammer. (Cover it with a towel) Scrape off the meat for
the kids to sample. A potato peeler works well and is safer to have at circle
time. If the children don't like the taste, then let them try shredded baking
coconut. Again chart their reactions.
Day 1: WE pass around and discuss a real coconut - what's inside, how it
feels, etc.
Day 2: I open the coconut up with a hammer in front of the children and we
pour out the milk and we feel and smell the inside of the coconut.
Day 3: We taste the real coconut and the shredded coconut and graph our favorite.
Day 4: WE make a coconut fruit salad : 1 cup of cherries, 1 cup of mandarine
oranges, 1 cup of pineapple chunks, 1 cup of sliced banana, and 1 cup of
shredded coconut, mix and eat!
I also use science journals and everyday we write and draw about the acitivity
we did in science.
Submitted by Eilleen
Here is an activity that I did with my kinders this year and it turned out
great. I had half the class finger paint brown and half green. I
told them that we would be using them to cut out trees and leaves so they wouldn't
necessarily get 'their' paper back. When they were dry, I traced leaves
on the back of the green and trunks on the back of the brown. Each child
got 5 or 6 leaves and 1 trunk to cut out. Then they glued them to a white
paper to make the tree. Then, they sponge painted letters all over the
tree and paper. It really looked like the tree in the book. They
were thrilled, the parents loved them, and the children got practice in finger-painting
(fun), cutting and pasting.
CAPS FOR SALE
Read the book Caps for Sale. I pin lots of hats on
top of each other, and wear it as I read the story.
For an activity I have the children make a hat, I cut strips of paper to go
around their heads. I put on a table many different items, like pompoms,
feathers, stickers, yarn, foam shapes etc. to decorate their hat and then ask
the children at circle time to tell us about their hat. I then write
down their comments and we make up our own caps for sale story. great You
will be amazed at the creativity and interesting hats as well as a great
story. I also have children bring in hats for us to look at, beach hats, sport
hats, winter hats. etc.
Have Fun!
CHARLOTTE'S WEB
Submitted by Raymel
After reading the book Charlotte's Web have your sudents choose a character
from the book .Write his or her name in the middle of the Web . With
a partner , brainstorm ideas about what the character is like -what
he\she does the way the character acts,etc. Write different ideas
in each section of the web.Share your character Web with the class.
CHICKEN SOUP WITH RICE by Maurice Sendak
Read it once. Read it twice. Read it with chicken soup
and rice! Serve small bowls of chicken soup with rice to accompany
Maurice Sendak's Chicken Soup With Rice that features the months of
the year and some pretty unusual uses for chicken soup. As a follow-up,
create rice collages. Prepare the rice in advance by soaking it in
bowls of water and food coloring for about five minutes. Drain the
rice and let it dry overnight. Provide each child with a construction
paper circle to represent a bowl of soup. Encourage each child to squirt
or spread glue on his circle as desired and then cover it with colored
rice. Any month of the year, art with rice is mighty nice!
CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG
Submitted by Tammy
Clifford graduation hats. I am a preschool teacher and every year we
plan a graduation for our jumpstart class. This year we will be doing
the theme Clifford. I wanted to do something out of the ordinary
so I took a look out the average graduation cap and cut one out of
red construction paper. I add ears and for the tassle I am using
a dog bone with the year 2003. It is sooo cute! I showed it to the
5 year olds. They had a fit they wanted to wear it now. They
can`t wait for graduation day.
Submitted by Adrienne Sprecker
My class had a really great time making Clifford Fridge magnets. Materials
needed : Mini - dog biscuits (red) ,Small Red pompom, extra small black pom-pom,
2 wiggly eyes, red felt for the ears and magnetic tape.
First you choose a red dog biscuit that looks like a small bone and you glue
on the red pom- pom. Then you glue the little black pom-pom on top (this
is Clifford's nose). Above this you glue your wiggly eyes and then make the
ears out of the felt ( Clifford's ears are quite big and floppy). Glue
on the Fridge magnet on the back. Put it high on the fridge so your pet doesn't
eat it!!!
Submiited by Maryann
We used red plastic cups (large size) and added long red ears, squiggly eyes,
small pom pom nose and drew a mouth with marker. We used our puppets
when we sang Clifford songs and Do Your Ears Hang Low.
Submitted by Margaret
You could paint with red paint, finger paint with red paint, paint with dog
bone cookie cutters, paint with dog shaped cookie cutters. I also have painted
with small, medium and large milk bones. Just a few.
Submitted by Jan
Cut out a large, red heart; a large, narrow pink heart; two small, white hearts;
and a black heart.
To make Clifford, turn the red heart upside down to represent his face.
Cut the pink heart in half; then attach one half to each side of the red
heart to represent ears. Finally glue on the white heart eyes and the
black heart nose and you have Clifford.
Submitted by Bobbi
I have used a bone cookie cutter and made bone cookies for them to eat. They
thought it was such a hoot to eat Clifford's bones. We used a package sugar
cookie mix and added cinnamon to make it darker. Then they cut out the
bone shape and we cooked them.
The next day, in the play dough they made bones and started to count how many
bones they would need to feed Clifford.
We have also painted big red dogs on big pieces of paper.
We have gone on a Clifford hunt following Clifford's tracks around the school.
We would stop at the office, library, cafeteria, gym and nurse to see where
he went. It was great because the kids would say how can you not have seen
him-he is a BIG RED DOG? We would follow the tracks back to our porch
where a friend of mine would be waiting with a Veterinarian, who always
comes up with a Irish Setter or Red Golden Retriever. The kids love it
and really get into pet care afterwards.
Following cross curricular activities submitted by Anita
Read about CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG.
Have a large poster sized Clifford that the children color red by tearing red
pieces of construction paper and gluing onto him.
Title: Clifford the Big Red Dog (Tune: Bingo)
Emily Elizabeth had a dog
And Clifford was his name -o
Clifford was his name
Clifford was his name
Clifford was his name
And Clifford was his name - o
Emily Elizabeth had a dog
And Clifford was his name -o
He was R-E-D
He was R-E-D
He was R-E-D
Clifford was a big RED dog-o
Make this on large chart paper with a big red clifford drawn first and the
letters written on it..the letters are all done in black except the work
red which of course is done in red.
Make red dog ears and attach them to a red head band to wear. Sing "if you're
a red dog clap your hands..." Paint their noses black and paint a few
freckles on their faces.
Start with a red circle for his face. Use the children's red hand prints
to make his ears (hands upside down). Then sing "Do your ears hang
low?"
Read a different Clifford book everyday.
Draw a giant Clifford, and have all of the kids help color him red.
Make Clifford cupcakes by frosting the cupcake red, then adding M&M
eyes, a whopper nose and red thin string licorice for ears.
Title: Puppy Chow
Melt in microwave:
1 stick margarine
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 pkg. chocolate chips
Pour over 1 12 oz box Chex cereal in a large bowl. Stir. Give each child
a zip lock baggie with a little powdered sugar in the bottom. Add one spoonful
of cereal mixture and zip bag. Then the children shake it up until it cools.
Be sure the servings are very small as this is very sweet.
Use a projector to blow up a picture of Clifford on white butcher paper.
Give students strips of red construction paper to cut up and glue inside
of the shape to make it red. When the shape is covered, glue on eyes and
a black collar.
Use a dog bone cookie cutter (Wilton makes them - Walmart sells them) to
cut out play dough, sugar cookies or peanut butter play dough bones.
Make big Cliffords with red paper, ie. an oval for the body out of 12 x18
paper, a circle for the head out of 9x12 paper, ovals out of 41/2 x 6 for
the long ears, and smaller pieces for the tail and feet. Cut, glue together
and draw the face on with black.
Clifford's Counting Song (tune this old man)
Clifford the big red dog
He ate zero and was a hero
With a knick-knack paddy whack
Give that dog a bone
Then lets all go rolling home
...one and had some fun
...two and then he grew
...three up a tree
....four down on the floor
....five and took a dive
....six and chased some sticks
...seven and looked to heaven
...eight and cleaned his plate
....ten and started again
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS
Read aloud Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. After reading
and discussing the story, create this impressive child made mural to
display in your classroom. Provide a long sheet of bulletin board paper.
On the lower portion of the paper, have children draw elements of a
town, such as houses, stores, gas stations, and a post office. Then
have them paint or sponge paint scattered raindrops and clouds in the
sky portion. While the paint is drying, have each child make a construction
paper food item or cut out food pictures from discarded magazines.
Then glue the food creations and/or pictures in the sky area. Display
the completed mural with the title "Cloudy With a Chance of…"
COOKIES WEEK
My favourite follow up activity is (and this is not original!!) to
finish the story. As a class we discuss what Cookie the cat might
do on Sunday. Then each child is responsible for illustrating
their ending and finishing the sentence "On Sunday Cookie .......".
This is made into a class book to be shared and then put in the class
library.
CORDUROY
This month, we made a Corduroy class book. After spending
a lot of time doing activities relating to that book, I copied and
enlarged a picture of Corduroy. On each page, I pasted the bear's
picture and left half the paper blank. Underneath, I wrote Corduroy
and so and so. Each child will make a picture of themselves and
color in Corduroy. We will compile all the pages
and make it available for each child to take the class book home and share
with their families crossing the child's name off in the back once they had
a turn.
Read Corduroy by Don Freeman's
Make brown craft foam bears & overalls out of a differant color. Hot glue
overalls on each bear. Gather pairs of large craft buttons-hot glue one button
on each pair on a differant bear. Place remaining buttons in a container in
center . Invite children to match buttons by placing the corresponding button
on the bears overalls.
Circle Time (Discussions)
Read the story to the children and involve the children in talking about the
story. Tell the children they are going to pretend to be Corduroy
searching for his button. Review the spatial relationship concepts
that are a part of the story: up the escalator, on top of the bed, on
the shelf.
Tell the children the area in the room in which they can move while
searching for the button. Ask the children to act out the movements as
you retell the story about Corduroy searching for his button. Expand on
the story adding words describing spatial relationships, such as jumps off the
shelf to search for his button; walks up the escalator; searches (looking on
the floor); searches under, on top of, behind and between furniture; squeezes
between furniture; climbs on the mattress and falls off; hears (put hand to ear)
the lamp crash; climbs back onto the bed and falls asleep; blinks because the
night watchman's flashlight shines in his eyes; gets carried back down the steps;
plops back on the shelf; and smiles when he gets carried home by his new friend.
Cognitive (Math Concepts/Critical Thinking)
Have a tray out with all kinds of different colored buttons. Have the
children match the colors of the buttons. Use this as an extension
activity to Corduroy's missing button.
Cooking (Snacks)
Make round shortbread cookies, poke four holes in each cookie to look like
a button. You can also put icing on the cookies and have the children
decorate it with four raisins as the holes of the button.
Creative Arts & Activities
Cut a Corduroy bear and an overall pattern out of tag board for the children
to use as tracers. They trace the bear on brown and the overalls onto
their
choice out of wallpaper book. Glue them together and add buttons. For
smaller children, precut and have them choose the color and paste.
For "A Pocket for Corduroy", make pockets. Sew a little muslin pocket
(just two squares sewn on three sides, with a ribbon attached to wear as
a necklace), and the kids decorate them with fabric markers. They love to
wear
their pockets, and fill them with odds and ends.
Button Pictures - Discuss Corduroy's missing button. Ask the children
where they think it might be. Give children a button, drawing materials,
glue, and some paper. Encourage them to use the button as a part of their
picture.
Language & Literacy (Puppets)
Discuss the events in the story and encourage children to talk about their
favorite part of the story.
Make a flannel story using simple bear shape, little girl, button & overalls. Practice
reading story to self and then tell it to children as an alternative
storytelling experience. Afterwards the children can tell the story to themselves.
Fine/Gross Motor Development
Make a bed for Corduroy out of a sheet of heavy paper, or tag and 4 toilet
paper rolls. Quilts (patterning) can also be made with squares of
different colored and printed papers glued to a square or rectangle of
butcher paper. The beds are durable enough for a small teddy bear
from home too.
Music & Movement
Original Song used in Corduroy
Tune: Are You Sleeping?
Corduroy, Corduroy
Searched for his button, Searched for his button.
He looked on the floor. He looked on the floor,
Of the department store, Of the department store.
Corduroy, Corduroy
Searched for his button. Searched for his button.
He walked up the escalator. He walked up the escalator
To the furniture department, to the furniture department.
(Add other verses in sequence to the story.)
Circle Time & Group Activities
Pass the Button - Have children sit in a circle. Play music, and teach the
children to play "pass the button". Periodically stop the music, and the
child who is holding the button when the music stops can stand to continue
the game. Keep playing till all are standing, and then play again, having
them sit when they have the button this time. The children really need
to focus on listening and body movement to pass the button to a sitting
or standing friend
Social/Emotional
Ask the children how Corduroy might feel at different stages in the different
books. Ex: How do you think Corduroy felt when he lost his
button? How did Corduroy feel when he was finally picked to be someone's
special teddy bear? Etc
DO YOU LIKE MY HAT?
I like to read the book DO YOU LIKE MY HAT by Dr. Seuss. Mother's
day week. We then make a mother's day hat for our moms.
Take a white paper plate and make to small slits on the plate,
big enough to
slide a ribbon through, that make the tie for the hat.
Then give the children lots of silk or make paper flowers, ribbon, scrapes
of material, sequence and any other creative material you have and glue it
to the plate.
I invite moms to school for a Mother's day tea and just before we present
the hat, the teacher tape on a small balloon on top and then have each child
give a hat to mom. Get the cameras ready and have some great laughs.
We recite this poem:
What a mother means to ME
M is for the many things you do.
O is for the other things you do.
T is for the tons of things you do.
H is for the hundreds of things you do.
E is for everything you do.
R is the the rest of the things you do.
ELMER THE ELEPHANT
Review Colors
Art Activity:
Cut out pieces of paper in the shape of elephants. Provide several
colors of tempera paint, sponges, bristle blocks, combs, strawberry
baskets, etc. Have children dip the sponges, etc., into paint and paint
the elephants colorful!
What Will Happen Next?
When reading the story stop after Elmer turns himself "elephant" color
and have the class make predictions about what will happen next. Write
the predictions on chart paper and have the children vote on what
they think will happen next. Turn the voting results into a
graphing activity using little elephant cutouts on the graph to show
the results.
Patterning
Give children an ouline of an elephant. Tell them to fill in
the outline by creating a pattern such as stripes, colors, etc. Use
the last page as an example for the class in the patterning. Make
an "Elmer Day Parade" book. Accordion fold for a long,colorful
parade of Elmers'. the cover should be a simple gray elephant
to lead the parade.
Art
Give each child a large outline of Elmer. Cut many colors of
tissue paper into 1" squares. Glue the tissue squares into
the outline to completely fill it. When dry cut it out and
talk about the similarities and differences with the creations.
EVERYBODY BREAKS BREAD by Norah Dooly
A rainy day errand introduces Carrie to many different kinds
of bread, including chapatis, challah, coconut bread, corn bread Italian
bread, pocket bread and pupusas. Includes recipes.
Circle Time (Discussions)
Point out the different types of bread in the pictures.Tell the
children that people living in all parts of the world eat bread
but that bread doesn't always look like the bread we eat.Show
them the different types of bread you have brought to share with
them.Discuss the differences in the breads and the cultures they
have come from.Invite the children to taste small pieces of the
bread you have brought.Talk about the differences in the taste
of the bread and which type of bread the children liked best.
Art
As an extension, make baker's hats. Let the children decorate
a 3-inch strip of white (sturdy) paper, that will fit around their
head, with sponge prints or with food stickers. Staple a
sheet of tissue paper around the top of the strip. Put tape
over the staples on the inside of the strip so it won't scratch
the children's skin. Gather the tissue paper into your
hand and tie with a piece of yarn on the inside or outside. Let the
children wear their baker's hats throughout their playtime. [Erna] a..
Let the children find pictures in magaines to cut out and glue on bread cards. In
addition to cutting out food items they like on sandwiches, the children
could cut out pictures of items they think would make a silly sandwich.
Language
Own Book Extension. Make a book and ask each of the children
to finish the sentence . . . "Everybody Eats . . . " Then,
have the children paint or draw a picture of an item they like
to eat. Put it all into one neat book and read it to the
class. If you wish, you could also let the children take
turns having the book at home for a night or two. You could
also put a picture of the child on their page.
GET TO ELEVEN
This book is excellent for helping children learn how to
count in twos and threes and so on. It starts out by counting to twelve,
but leaving out eleven and asking where's eleven. Then throughout the
rest of the book you count to eleven using two or three different objects.
For example picking up nine acorns from a forest floor and two acorns,
equaling eleven. This book will help chilren understand the concept
of adding and subtracting better.
Lesson Plan
This lesson plan could be used for ages 3-5
To begin lesson first introduce the book to the children and read
it once. Then I would explain the concept of adding different things
and still getting the same number. While explaining this I would
show examples from the book. Then i would let the children take
turns counting all the examples from the book.
Activity!
Materials: glue, construction paper, cut-outs of shapes, animals,
etc. (in the book there are rabbits, flowers, cars, apples, frogs,
turtles, stars, and others).
When explaining a math concept to young children it helps them understand
it better if you can give them some sort of visual activity to go along with
it. I would give the children each a piece of paper and let them each count
11 different shapes of objects from the book to glue on their paper. This
activity would help them practice counting and adding plus it makes a cute
picture for them to take home.
GINGERBREAD MAN
Submitted by Marilyn
I have been having fun with my 3's class with a gingerbread theme. I
have repeatedly read the story of the gingerbread boy by Karen Schmidt. I
precut out 6" gingerbread boys (from brown construction paper) and
put them on craft sticks. I handed one out to each child at circle
time. Then when I was reading the story, they could participate
by pretending that their moving their gingerbread boy stick puppets
to "run, run as fast as you can". They enjoyed using a prop with
the story. We had gingerbread cookies for snack. The
next time I did the story using pictures from the story. I xeroxed
key photos and put them on crafts sticks. Then I told the story
orally (using just the stick pictures) and the children loved that
too. We baked gingerbread that day and enjoyed it for snack. Tomorrow,
I will have the children tell the story to me using the stick puppets. I
have purchased large gingerbread cookies and the children will decorate
them with pink icing and m&ms, sprinkles, gumdrops. This
will be a hit, I am sure!
For art, we decorated large, brown construction paper gingerbread boys. Another
day, we used gingerbread boy cookie cutters dipped in white or pink paint and
printed onto brown paper. It came out so cute. At the easel, I precut
large gingerbread easel paper shapes and they used different types of brushes
with brown, white and pink paint.
Flannel board
5 small brown gingerbread boys cut from felt
5 little gingerbreads sitting on a tray,
one jumped up and ran away,
"Catch me, catch me, catch me if you can"
"You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man"
(continue with 4, 3, 2, 1 gingerbread men)
Every time you say "little old lady", the children say "Oh, Dear" (in a very
soft high voice) and when you say "little old man", they say (in a very DEEP
loud voice) "I'm hungry". Every time you say "ran" or "run",
the children hit their hands on the top of their legs. After each animal
that is met along the way, they make the appropriate sound. When you say "fox",
they can say "swish, swish" for the sound its tail would make.
Five Little Gingerbread Men
Five little gingerbread men in a row (Hold up five fingers, waving back & forth)
Not gonna' eat one no, no, no. (shake finger and head side to side)
But they look so sweet from head to toe (hand binoculars at eyes touch head
then toes)
Crunch, munch...uh oh! (slap thighs on crunch, clap hands on munch, then put hands
over mouth on uh oh)
Continue until...
No little gingerbread men in a row
Wasn't gonna' eat one, no, no, no
But they looked so sweet that it's sad to tell (binoculars on sweet, then index
fingers run down cheeks to represent tears on sad)
Crunch..munch... oh well! (slap thighs once, clap once, then throw hands up
and shrug shoulders)
Home project for The Gingerbread Man
Draw a gingerbread man or woman on a piece of large cardboard - one for each
student. Send the cardboard gingerbread person home with the children,
along with the following note written on a smaller gingerbread paper explaining
the project. When the gingerbread creations come back to school, take pictures
of each one individually. Put the pictures on pieces or oak-tag to form
a booklet. Give each child a chance to talk about his/her creation. Write
what the child says-exactly as the child says it- on both the booklet and the
large gingerbread person. Send any duplicate pictures and the original
creation back home.
Dear Parents,
I am sending home a gingerbread boy/girl shape for the entire family to decorate. Use
your imaginations and anything else that you have sitting around the house.
Please return your creation by_________________.
Thank you, _________
Take Care
(Name of teacher)
We made Gingerbread Houses that turned out real cute.
Take graham crackers. You need seven.One for the base, for for the walls
and two for the roof.
I used Royal icing and they stuck really good.
Royal Icing
4 cups icing sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tarter
Beat about 7 minutes.
I made the house and the children decorated them with candy canes, fruit loops,
coconut (for snow) and gum drops.
They turned out adorable.
We also made a giant gingerbread man. We let the children roller paint
him and added facial features and buttons.
We also made gingerbread cookies from the Jan Brett website - from the book
Gingerbread Baby and they turned out good.
THE GINGERBREAD BABY by Jan Brett
We made and decorated a gingerbread cookie. All the
children went with me to put it in the oven. When it was time
to take him out, he was gone. The looks of their faces was of
such surprise. We looked all over the school and
then we made a trap for the gingerbread baby and waited. Before long
we caught him and ate him at snack. The imagination of a child is priceless.
We also decorated a sandpaper gingerbread baby. I used sandpaper because
the first thing they did was rub cinnamon all over the baby so it would smell
like a real cookie and then they used buttons, ribbons and whatever else I
have in the classroom. From the Jan Brett home page I got these Cookie
Award Certificates that I also sent home. It was really a fun day
Read 'The Gingerbread Baby' by Jan Brett
Make gingerbread baby head bands. Staple brown strips of construction paper
in circle to fit each childs head have them decorate their paper gingerbread
baby cut-out. Decorate with glitter paint, rick rack or
other collage materials attach by tape or staples to head band
Cookie Game
Have children sit in a circle. Choose one child to wear their gingerbread paper
head band. He will be the ginderbread child. He walks around the outside of
the circle and taps each child on the head. When he comes to the one
he wants to chase him, he says "Catch me if you can." as he taps
that child. The chase begins. As they chase each other around the outside of
the circle the others chant
"Run run as fast as you can."
"You'll never catch him,"
"He's the gingerbread man."
GRANDFATHER TANG'S STORY by Ann Tompert
Grandfather Tang and Little Soo spend the afternoon sitting
under a peach tree in their backyard, making different shapes
with their tangram pieces. Grandfather Tang uses his pieces to tell
a story about the fox fairies, Wu Ling and Chou. The fox fairies are
an important part of Chinese folklore and are believed to be capable
of changing their shapes.
Activities
1 Have the children make their own tangram pieces out of construction
paper. Have the children try to put the seven pieces back together to form
a square. (Making Your Own Tangram)
2 As they follow along in the story, have the children make the
shapes described with the tans they made.
3 Have the children make up their own designs. They may want to create
their own story using the new designs. Have the children make the initial
of their first name using all seven tans.
4 Give the students a variety of tangrams. Have them combine the tangrams
to make geometric shapes, such as a square, triangle, rectangle, trapezoid,
and so forth. Individually, in small groups, or as a class, ask the students
to make a chart that shows how many shapes were made.
5 Make tans out of flannel for the children to use on a flannelboard.
6. Tangoes is a game that contains numerous designs using tans. Have children
work with these.
7. Other shapes can also be divided to make a puzzle. Using the patterns
in figures 5.4 and 5.5, cut the shapes into A, B, C, and D pieces. Paperclip
all the A pieces together, the B pieces together, and so on. Divide the children
into cooperative groups of four and give each person one clipped bundle of
pieces. The objective is for each member of the group to try to create a
hexagon. No one may take a shape from anyone else, and the person with the
shape must offer it to the person who needs it. No talking is allowed.
Title: Reading Bag
Submitted by Shelley
1. Take a bag and draw a picture of what the book may be about on
the outside of the bag. A simple picture will do. Put
the book inside the bag. We made several "bags" and set them
on a shelf for the children to choose from. BIG HIT!
2. Make a reading hat of some kind and place this in the bag along
with a couple of books. We instructed the children that these books were very special
(pop-up or other interactive books) and that if they wanted to read these books
they had to wear the hat and sit down quietly and read the books. When
they are finished with the books they must remove the hat and place it back
in the bag along with the "special" books. They can only look at these "special" books
when they are using the "reading hat bag". We bring in different books
everyday to place in the bag and this has been quite successful in getting
the children involved with personal reading.
Don't forget to include other books besides children's books in the children's
library. Such as cookbooks, how-to books, simple science or social studies
books, etc.
Book List
Submitted by Kris
Last year I made a poster where I listed my literature selections
all year. The parents could see how many books we had read! I
purchased a poster that looked like a piece of notebook paper, but
anything would do. I bordered it with a "reading" theme border. I
list the books as I read them. It also makes a good reference
for me so I know if I have read a book and how long ago I did --
faster than checking lesson plans!
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