Max, our storyteller

Max told us a Russian version of the Gingerbread Man, about a dumpling! He did a wonderful job telling the story using his book he brought in and the props. It was a lovely addition to our Gingerbread stories. If your children ever have a book or story they would like to share, please send it in.

Farewell Gingerbread Man

After searching and searching, we could not find our Gingerbread Man. We looked everywhere, asked everyone and tried to use all the clues to help us find him. Here were some of the children's suggestions throughout the week:

"to catch him with a net"
"we should hide"
"We should run and look for him"
"Look for him with a bucket"
"Sneak on our tiptoes"
"Use a blanket"
"Use a crane to catch him and pick him up with a hook"
"we can scare him....but he may runaway again"

At the end of the day on Thursday, we decided to have one more look on the 3rd floor and ask around. We came back to our classroom without any answers. As we were going to get ready to go home, we thought we should water our plants before the long weekend. And that was when we saw what had happened......... The Gingerbread Man was eaten (there were still some crumbs), by, we think, a bird (there were some more white feathers by the crumbs).....we had learned that Ms. Spain had left the window open the night before (oops!). Ash class was a little sad, but then one of the children piped up and said, "That's ok, we can bake some more!"  (Believe it or not, this also led to some interesting discussions about what animals eat and our food chain!) Alas, this is the end to our story, and please remember, that it is not much different than the original story, when the Gingerbread Man got eaten by a fox :0)

Where are you Gingerbread Man?

We came back into our classroom the next morning to discover a note from the Ginberbread man! It went something like this:

Dear Ash Class,

Sorry about the mess. I was hungry. But you can't catch me, I'm fast! (Unfortunately, he left another mess!)

Love,
The Gingerbread Man

But the curious thing was, there were some white feathers by the snack table as well.....we had never seen them before. The children put on their detective glasses and tried to solve the mystery. They studied the feathers with magnifying glasses and a couple of them decided that they may be feathers from an owl.

The children then wrote back to the Gingerbread Man:

Dear Gingerbread Man,

You left another mess. Come back and clean up!
We miss you. Do you know anything about the feathers?

Love,
Ash Class

P.A. day Friday

Just a reminder that Friday Jan. 24 is a P.A. day and there is no school for students.
Have a great long weekend!

Gingerbread Man update

This morning, we were surprised to see The Gingerbread Man's footprints on our snack table, with a half eaten cracker and crumbs all over the place. What a mess! The children looked for him everywhere, but they could not find him in our room. There was also one more sighting in the Davinci office. They have come up with all sorts of things to do, such as, hide, so he won't think we are here and he will come back, catch him in a bucket, catch him with a net and make signs. "Ginger Power!", one of the children exclaimed.

Today we wrote him a letter. This is what the children wrote and posted in the hallway:

Dear Gingerbread Man,

Clean up this mess! Come back!
Don't be afraid. We are your friends.

Love,
Ash class

So we will await until tomorrow to see what happens...... we are hoping to find him before the long weekend!

Gingerbread Man sightings

We are working 24/7 looking for our gingerbread man! We have made "Missing" signs and posters and have enlisted the help of other teachers. We know there has been 3 sightings of the gingerbread man - 1 in Ms. Farquar's room, (our grade 5/6 teacher) yesterday morning (she came and told us about it!), 1 on the first floor by the playground doors, and 1 in the gym! He is just too fast though. We will keep on looking. Please be on the lookout and let us know if you have seen him!

Some new winter rhymes

Snowflakes
Merry little snowflakes
Dancing in the air
Busy little snowflakes
whirling everywhere
Blowing in our faces
Falling at our feet
Kissing all the children
As they run along the street

Jack Frost
Where'd you get that little red nose?
Jack Frost kissed it, I suppose
Kissed it once
Kissed it twice
Little red nose as cold as ice.

The Gingerbread Man
Mix it and stir it and put it in the pan
I'm going to make a gingerbread man
With a nose so neat
And a smile so sweet
And gingerbread shoes for his gingerbread feet

Buckets of snow
Heave Ho
Buckets of snow
The giant is combing his beard
The snow is as high
As the top of the sky
And the world has disappeared
POOF!

Help! The Runaway Gingerbread Man!

Today Ash class had a lot of fun baking gingerbread men and women. We thought of what we needed to get started and looked at the recipe. We followed the recipe, made the dough, rolled it out and made the cookies using gingerbread men and women cookie cutters! I put them in the oven while Ms. Spain held down the fort in the classroom. After 8 minutes , the timer went off and I could smell the ginger aroma in the air.  I opened the oven door, and as I was taking them out of the oven, I couldn't believe what happened! One of our gingerbread men jumped up, hopped out of the oven and ran right past me....right out the door. I tried to catch him, but he ran so fast..... I called out to him, but he just kept on running!!! I was in disbelief. I could not believe that it was possible for this to happen, just like in the story. I told the children what had happened, and they were in shock. I had many responses, but mostly, they want to look for him tomorrow! So that is what we will do. I think we will make and post some signs around the school to see if anyone has seen our Gingerbread Man, and we will ask around. So please, if you happen to see him, try and stop him and bring him back to us! We will keep you posted......

The Gingerbread Man

Ash class has had a lot of fun enjoying the Gingerbread Man/Boy story. We have read many versions of it and the children are retelling it using the felt board props. We also read the book, "The Gingerbread Girl." They are drawing Gingerbread men and writing about their favourite parts. I will be orally telling them a Norway folktale called The Pancake, which has the running theme of the Gingerbread Man story. We have also been looking at rhyming words and trying to rhyme everything we can, with the word man! Start playing rhyming games with your children - It is fun and great for language development.

Playdough

I am looking for a volunteer to make playdough at home and bring it into class. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

How long will it take for the snow to melt?

Ash class has been enjoying the snow outside and have been using yogurt containers and larger bins to build all sorts of structures. (If you have extra yogurt containers you can bring in, that would be great!) They have been keeping themselves so busy doing this, they do not even realize how long we are staying outside. They also do not realize that Ms. Spain and I are using these opportunities to incorporate math activities...shapes, numbers, counting. It becomes so meaningful because they are truly learning through play, and even better, outside! To top it off, we are bringing the outside in....The children wanted to see what would happen if we brought ice and snow inside. So we followed their lead, brought it in, and inquired about what will happen. We talked about what we already know about ice and snow,  made predictions and observations. The children were so excited to watch it change and kept going over to our buckets throughout the day to observe the changes. Ask them what they saw happen.......

High Park trip

Our next High Park trip will be on Monday Feb. 3. We will be leaving at 8:45 and returning around 1 pm. If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know. If you are leaving with us from the school, please remember to bring in $1.50 for the TTC by Jan. 23. Please let me know if you will be meeting us there, so I know not to expect you in the morning. Please remember to dress appropriately for the weather!

Finger Knitting and Weaving

We have begun our finger knitting and weaving projects!! It is amazing how quickly the children are catching on and they are so excited! They are making bracelets (which you have probably seen on their wrists), headbands, and necklaces. These activities will be set up as centres and the children will come to it during our learning centre time.