This week we will begin our holiday festivities with gingerbread fun! We will read several versions of The Gingerbread Man. Outside we will act out “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man.” We will use our fine motor skills when we grind cinnamon. We will measure and mix flour, oats, and spices in our sensory table. This is a fun way to explore volume and it makes our classroom smell yummy! We will paint gingerbread men and eat some for snack.

Here is one of the songs we will learn this week during circle time.

Stir a bowl of gingerbread, smooth and spicy brown.
(Pretend to stir.)

Roll it with the rolling pin up and down.
(Making rolling motions.)

Take a cookie cutter and make some little men.
(Use imaginary cutter to cut imaginary shape.)

                                                          Put them in the oven 'til half past ten.
                                                               (Pretend to slide cookie tray)

We will be busy over the next three weeks baking gingerbread men, reading and retelling the gingerbread man story and painting some ginger folks to decorate our classroom. We will jingle bells and sing and dance to the rhythm. We will read holiday stories and sing holiday songs. We will measure ourselves with candy canes, paint a candy cane with peppermint paint, smoosh minty playdough and of course taste candy canes. We will collage and glitter and make merry in every way.

Our sweet families are so generous and loving. Often families want to give out holiday treats, gifts and goody bags to the children in their child’s class. While this is a festive act of holiday giving, NAEYC asks that we refrain from this practice as it puts children at risk from choking hazards and allergy exposure. If you are inclined to give a gift to the children in your class, we ask that you consider giving a toy, book or game that we can keep in the classroom for all the children to enjoy. Board books, playdough, stickers, balls and Fisher-Price Little People sets are all good options. If you have any questions or would like help thinking of an idea, please feel free to ask. A class holiday gift is, of course, completely optional.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We appreciate all the books you purchased at Book Fair and donated to our class. We are thankful for your sweet children and are excited about spending the holiday season with them.