Holiday Theme: Gingerbread Boys and Girls

As many of us head into our last week of teaching, I wanted to share one of my favorite lessons with kindergarten and first grade students. 

I love using Richard Egielski's The Gingerbread Boy. I first read the story to the class. Then I have a loosely structured dance with the students dancing around town avoiding all those trying to eat him. We jump, skip, run, and tiptoe around town (lots of great locomotor movement). I love using the song "Watermelon Man" by jazz musican Herbie Hancock. All of the students easily catch onto the recurring verse, "run run run as fast as you can….". I have simple actions to go with this verse.

I recently discovered the version The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst. I love how the words "jump" and "twirl" are in the recurring rhyme. 

Check out your local library this week to use these books before winter holiday breaks from classes.