Save the Gingerbread Men and More Holiday Fun!

Today was a great way to start the week. I love what 19 hugs and a little holiday fun can do for the soul! Here is a look at a few activities that we worked on today. 

One of my favorite activities for today was definitely our persuasive writing practice. The students were asked to write a persuasive essay from the perspective of a gingerbread man (or woman, boy, girl, cowboy...you get the idea) begging their maker not to eat them. We began by reading one of our favorite gingerbread stories called Gingerbread Pirates. Then, together as a class, they came up with persuasive ideas to convince their audience. I couldn't believe what they came up with (diabetes, cavities, calories, baked with salt instead of sugar). Hilarious. Then, they got to work on their essays focusing on their transitions between paragraphs, as well as their content. These turned out so cute! 

Then we created gingerbread men to bring our writing to life. I gave them their gingerbread man template and they went to town with construction paper. 

I have to say that I love the peg leg and the crazy hair on this little guy! 

After the students completed their writing and gingerbread creation, we got to enjoy a gingerbread cookie. Before we enjoyed our entire snack, the students took one bite, and we graphed the way that we like to eat a gingerbread man. 

You can find this activity in my holiday graphing pack {HERE}. 

After our writing was complete, we moved on in our geometry unit. All I have to say is HOLY VOCABULARY! I think they may have to learn 50+ content words in this unit. Even though it is a lot of new learning, we are having lots of fun in the process. 

We reviewed symmetry by making symmetrical snowflakes. 

I gave them a little example of my own. They completely blew my example out of the water! I was amazed with how complex some of their snowflakes became! 

We also discussed attributes of circles. We stuck with the snowflake theme and created snowflake circles. Then, the kiddos used yarn to demonstrate their knowledge of our new concepts. 

On top of all of this excitement, my guided reading groups also finished up The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Such a super cute book. We laughed the entire way through. A busy day sure makes for one tired teacher!

 If you need a last minute activity, your kiddos will love giving a little gingerbread perspective.  You can pick this up at my TPT shop by clicking {HERE}.

3 1/2 Days...Woohooo!!!! Hope you are having a great start to your week!