Teachers & Librarians
Before I became a children's author, I was an Elementary school teacher with a specialization in Early Childhood education. I am so grateful to the incredible teachers I have known through the years, not only for helping me love learning, but also for creating a desire to follow in their footsteps. This page is dedicated to all the enthusiastic, loving, creative teachers and librarians out there! Thanks for the wonderful job you do! Here are some book-related activities. Enjoy!
> Classroom Gingerbread Man Extension Ideas and Activities
> Printable clues for a School Gingerbread Man Hunt
- Gingerbread Hunt Printable Clues
> Teacher's Guide for “The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School”
Click on the link above for lesson plans, activities, and printouts linked to curriculum standards.
> School Visits and Presentations
Click the link above to see my list of presentations, where I'll be presenting, or to schedule an upcoming visit.
> Readers Theater for “The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School” (Coming Soon)
The Gingerbread Man Unit and School Hunt
The Gingerbread Man unit is often done at the beginning of the school year as a way to introduce students to the school and staff in a fun and friendly way. Students get a tour of the school while chasing the Gingerbread Man.
Classes spend the week doing “all things gingerbread” across the curriculum. For example, during Language Arts, we compare and contrast different versions of the Gingerbread Man story; for Math, we may graph the characters or settings that show up in each story; for Art, the children may cut and decorate cardstock Gingerbread cookies to look like themselves. At the end of the week, they mix and bake real gingerbread man cookies. If real cookies can't be used, cardstock Gingerbread Men can be substituted.
After the cookies are baked, the children go out to recess while the cookies cool, but they always disappear by the time the class gets back. So the children hunt through the school,
visiting important places (like the office, clinic, gym, lunch room, art room, etc.)
and meeting important people (like the principal, janitor, secretary, nurse, music
teacher, etc.) According to the staff, the Gingerbread Men usually have “just”
passed through these places, leaving footprints or candies behind.
Sometimes this hunt is done throughout the week and the
Gingerbread Men leave rhyming clues each day in different
places (these clues can be found in the Teacher's guide.)
But eventually those smart cookies always find their way
back to the classroom.
Teachers also use the Gingerbread Man chase during
the holidays, with emphasis on the gingerbread/
Holidays around the World theme.
Here are some helpful links for the traditional
Gingerbread Man School Unit:
