The Gingerbread Man

Last week during Reading Workshop, we launched our Gingerbread Man unit.  Throughout this unit, we will read several different versions of The Gingerbread Man.  Through these books, we learn more about characters and the beginning, middle, and end of a story.  We will spend time comparing and contrasting the different books.

Last week, we read The Gingerbread Man, by Jim Aylesworth, The Gingerbread Baby, by Jan Brett, and The Gingerbread Bear, by Robert Dennis.  We learned that, although the books follow a very similar pattern, they have several characters that are different and they end differently.  This week, we will read The Gingerbread Cowboy and The Gingerbread Girl.

During Reading Workshop last week we also learned that:

• readers get ready to read a book by looking at the pictures.
• readers get better at reading by rereading the same book multiple times.
• there are five letters in the alphabet called vowels.  These letters make two sounds.

During Writing Workshop last week we:

• learned that writers can write an opinion pattern book.  They can think of something they like or dislike and write reasons why in a pattern.
• reviewed that some sounds are made with more than one letter.  
• chose a book that we want to publish.
• learned about editing.  I gave children an editing checklist and we edited our chosen book for finger spaces, capital letters at the beginning of each sentence, and punctuation at the end of each sentence.  This week, we will edit our books for correct spelling of word wall words.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Last week during Math we:

• reviewed shape attributes and played a game called Find the Block.
  
• played Guess my Number.  Children were given several clues to help them determine the mystery number.
• played Monster Squeeze, a game to help us practice comparing numbers with "greater than" or "less than."
• worked on building patterns with craft sticks.  We recorded these patterns in our new math journals.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Last week during Science we continued our study of rocks.  We spent time looking closely at river rocks and sorted them by different attributes.

For the next two weeks, we will spend time talking about winter holidays and traditions.  I look forward to learning about your family traditions.

Best,
Katie