The Gingerbread Boy: Days 1-5

Day 1 - We did our first reading of The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone. We've checked this one out from the library before and my kids really enjoy it. Then I spread out all the characters from the story which I had previously cut out, colored, and laminated (I found those patterns here). And I gave Lincoln clues, such as, "I have four legs and a tail. I say Moo!" And he had to guess which character I was eluding too. Once I'd given clues for each of the characters, Lincoln put them in order of how they appeared in the story. Then we taped them up to the side of the fridge. We couldn't keep them in order on the fridge because they took up too much room, but you probably could if you had a hallway available.

Day 2 -

The lesson suggests drawing the story, but I knew I'd never get Lincoln to be interested in doing it on paper. He's really not all that much of a drawer/colorer. But it was a beautiful day, so I thought we'd give sidewalk chalk a whirl. It was a hit. I'm not sure why sidewalk chalk is different than crayons, but it is, and Lincoln loved it. I thought he did great on his drawings too. On the top row from left to right is his drawing of  the fox, in the middle is the cow which he named France, and in the right corner is the little old man. Lincoln explained the the LOM has a frown because the gingerbread boy got away. On the left in the middle is the thresher, the big picture in the middle is the mower. Just underneath the little of man is the horse. Underneath the horse is the little old woman and the gingerbread boy hopping up out of the pan. Bottom left corner is the fox swimming in the river with the gingerbread boy on his tail, and next to that is the gingerbread boy in the pan. (You can click the picture to make it bigger.) I was pleased with how much Lincoln got into this. He had a fun time retelling the story while he was drawing, and telling me what everyone's emotions were, or what they were saying. It was fun. 

Day 3 - Lincoln has been showing more and more interest in reading. I often find him trying to sound out the words that he sees all over the place. So I've decided that we probably need to be a little bit more proactive about teaching reading. Not pushy, but just allowing for some more opportunity. Lincoln also really likes rhyming words. One of the games we play in the car is that I give Linc a word, and he has to tell me another word (real or made up) that rhymes with it. We have a good time with it. For preschool today, I made up some rhyming word sheets. They have a list of words that rhyme on the left side (ex. man, can, van, fan, pan) and pictures of the words on the right side (in a different order). Linc had to sound out the word and then draw a line from the word to it's picture. I made him four sheets, and he did them fast. I was surprised. So for the rest of the preschool day, we read BOB books. Lincoln got through books one and two in the beginning reading set. When he said he was tired of it, we quit for the day.

Since then we've been playing another game in the car. I ask him how to spell a three letter word, such as rat. He usually says, "I don't know." And then I tell him to try sounding it out. "rrrrrrr- R. aaaaa- A. tttttttt- T! Mom I spelled rat, r-a-t! Right?" 

Day 4 - Time for some imaginative play. I took the pictures of the little old man, the little old woman, and the gingerbread boy off of our fridge, and also collected an assortment of our animal hand puppets, and gave them all to Lincoln and asked him to tell me the story of the gingerbread boy using the puppets. He did a great job, and I filmed him. Let's see if I can get this video to upload, it's king of long. 

*video will go here when internet starts cooperating*

Day 5 - As the grand finale of our unit, we made gingerbread boys. Lincoln was an awesome helper.

After we'd stuck the first tray of gingerbread boys in the oven to bake, I sent Lincoln upstairs to have a quiet time while the other kids were napping. While he was gone, I wrote up little clues starting inside the oven on an empty cookie sheet, and leading all over the house, and eventually outside to the mailbox. I put a plate of gingerbread cookies in the mail box too. When Lincoln finished quiet time he came downstairs just in time to hear the timer go off (I'd reset it.) I told him it was time to take the gingerbread boys out of the over. He walked over and helped me open the oven door, and we found an empty tray and a note. The gingerbread boy had run away! *wink, wink* We followed his trail all over the house, and eventually caught up with him in the mail box. And it's true, gingerbread boys are made to eat. :) 

 Ginger Bread Boys

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2/3 cup coconut milk
6 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs

Combine spices with flour and add sugar to shortening. Add molasses, eggs, milk. Mix all together and knead until thick and all flour is absorbed. Roll dough 1/2 inch thick cut out with cookie cutter. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool, store covered to keep soft.