What a whirlwind December has been! My little firsties have been working so hard this month, but they barely notice because it’s “so fun” (being Christmas related and all). Last week we read several different gingerbread stories. There are so many great ones out there! We made this story comparison chart (same as last year except I made gumdrops this time). I saw this idea on another blog- I did NOT think of it on my own! Does anyone know where I got this cute gingerbread house idea? Please tell me so I can give them credit! 🙂
As a class, we compared two of the gingerbread books. I used this as an interactive writing lesson.
Then we used our Venn diagram to write about these two stories (comparing and contrasting them). Sorry for the pencil. You can’t see that very well! This was also an interactive writing lesson. Each student got a turn to hold the pencil and write a word.
After practicing comparing stories together, students had the opportunity to compare two other gingerbread stories. They completed a Venn diagram with some guidance. Then they used their Venn diagrams to write about these two stories. Made for First Grade has a great Gingerbread pack that has the perfect Venn diagrams and story comparison paper to guide your students while writing about two stories.
We also made these books.Students chose a setting for their gingerbread story. Then they chose characters based on that setting. Below we have a story set in the jungle and in the ocean (her gingerbread had a special swim suit to protect him of course). Some others include fairy tale land, the forest, the city, the rainforest, and a farm. It was a great way to show how setting can affect a story. I got the book from a friend a while back. She used it to practice retelling the story.
I made a new one so that I could share it with you all. You can click on the pictures to download.
(There are 4 pages of this one)
(Ending page)
We also did some writing to practice retelling. We did sequencing for one version of the gingerbread man. We talked about using transition words (then, next, first) when retelling the story in order. I made a rubric to use while grading this assignment. I also made a rubric for comparing gingerbread stories. I thought I’d upload them to share with you all. There are a couple of choices for the sequencing rubric.
You can get this freebie at my TPT store.
Last, we wrote our favorite ending from all of the Gingerbread stories we read. You can download this freebie with the other writing prompts and rubrics.
I’d love to hear from you! Do you do a gingerbread unit? What’s your favorite activity?
If you are looking for more gingerbread activities, click here:
