Focus Story:
The Gingerbread Man
 as retold by Robert McCracken

Day 1

Old Favorites: Reread charts/poems from previous stories.

Prior Knowledge: Eat gingerbread cookies, graphing which body part children ate first (make together in class if time allows or prepare ahead of time).

New Story: Introduce title and author; Show the cover and discuss what the story might be about and whether it is real or fictional.; Take a picture walk making predictions on each page. (Make sure to stop  before last page.); Read aloud for enjoyment and to see how story ends.

Day 2

Companion Rhyme:Introduce companion nursery rhyme 'Old Mother Hubbard' -Intro words such as 'cupboard' and 'bare'; Read aloud for enjoyment.

Story: Reread- Shared Reading; Comprehension-What happened at the beginning of the story, middle, end?; Introduce the  interactive retelling chart with pictures of characters to help retell the story and to read/repeat refrain.

Run, run, as fast as you can.
You can't catch me,
I'm the Gingerbread Man.
I ran away from
(picture of character) (name of character).

 (from Building Literacy with Interactive Charts by K. Schlosser and V. Phillips, p. 72)

Day 3

Companion Rhyme:Reread companion nursery rhyme 'Old Mother Hubbard' – Echo read., Discuss Mother Hubbard's problem and make a list of ways she can solve her problem ('She can…").

Companion Story: Introduce companion story I Can Read -Introduce title, author, cover.; Take a picture walk.; Read aloud the story.; Stress how students are able to read various items and types of print- just like in the story and encourage them to help 'Mother Hubbard' by bringing in environmental print for her cupboard. (HW Letter: Help Mother Hubbard)

Story: Remind students that the gingerbread man can do something too- run fast! Review beginning, middle, end of the story by using the interactive retelling chart.; Highlight/Mask letters m, r, c, f, a.

Day 4

Companion Story: Reread companion story I Can Read -Mask sight words 'I' and 'can'.

Companion Rhyme: Reread companion nursery rhyme 'Old Mother Hubbard' (choral reading ½ class) Have each student come up and read their environmental print that they brought from home and then say a complete predictable sentence "I can read environmental print." Let them attach the print to a large version of Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (below).

Story: Hold up the names of the animals in the story and let students read them. Review the story by performing and acting it out by letting students wear picture/name necklaces of the character they are to be. 

Predictable Chart: Discuss with students other things that they can do. Then write "I can ____." sentences. Start by writing "I can run fast." (the Gingerbread Man)  Write each sentence on chart paper, writing their name at the end of the sentence.  Reread each sentence tracking the print.

Day 5

Companion Rhyme: Reread companion nursery rhyme 'Old Mother Hubbard' (choral reading ½ class); Read longer version aloud, pausing to see if they can fill in the missing rhymes.

Companion Story: Shared Reading- I Can Read

Predictable Chart: Have each child reread his/her sentence, tracking the print.  Cut apart one sentence and let students 'Be the Words' and organize themselves into the correct order. Read together. Model how to place each word in the correct order at the top of the page and then to draw a picture of them doing what the sentence says. Have students complete their sentence page as their small group writing activity today.

Story: Ask students to share their favorite part of the story or their favorite version of the story from this week.  Reread the story using the interactive retelling chart.

Take Home: Work with students to make their own interactive retelling booklets that have the same wording as the class retelling chart. Students work to write in the missing beginning or ending letter of each character from the story (w, m, n, h, k, d, c, p, f) and then color the booklet.   Reread as a class and then students take home the booklet to share with their families over and over!

Focus Story: The Gingerbread Man by Robert McCracken
Companion Story: I Can Read by Rozanne Lanczak Williams
Companion Rhyme: Old Mother Hubbard
The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
The Gingerbread Man by Karen Schmidt
The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone
The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylseworth
'Pat a Cake'

Art:

Make a Gingerbread Man or Mother Hubbard (from lessons in TLC Nursery Rhymes and TLC Beginning Lessons books - both from TLC)

Music/Movement: Move and sing to the 'GingerKids' number rhyme

Math: Use the Gingerbread Man Counting Chart

Words: 1 little gingerbread man lying on tray. 1 jumped up and ran away! Catch me, catch me, if you can. I run really fast. I'm the gingerbread man! (manipulate the numeral cards and the gingerbread men)

Literacy:

1) Sequence pictures from the story
2) Set up flannel board or book at the listening center
3) Create a Venn Diagram comparing versions of The Gingerbread Man
4) Focus on the word family of 'an'
5) Focus Letters - m, r, c, f, a
6) Sight Word Focus - -as, you, can, me
7) Oral retelling using the beginning, middle, end of a story
8) Use environmental print to graph which restaurant Mother Hubbard should eat at for dinner

G is for Gingerbread-a wonderfully detailed unit from KinderKorner!
K-Crew's Gingerbread Man Unit-ideas for all curriculum areas
The Gingerbread Man - a ton of great Math and Language ideas for this story from Kindergarten Connection!
Gingerbread Man: Escape Preventions- cute predictable booklet to have your students make
Gingerbread Man Picture Recipe - free printable from Bry-Back Manor
Gingerbread Baby Animal Masks- masks to print out from Jan Brett's Site
Gingerbread Baby Coloring Sheet- from Jan Brett
Gingerbread Baby Board Game - from Jan Brett
Gingerbread Man 5 Day Theme - from the Kid Zone