The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School with discussion questions and activities

I had a lot of fun with The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray.  I used this book for a children's book club book, and found so much that could be talked about and activities that could be done around this adventurous story.

First let me tell you about the book.

I learned that this was Mrs. Murray's first book!  She had been a teacher and this book was an activity she had done with her class at the beginning of each school year!  This is a great book that you can use on the first day of school to start off the year or read it and have fun at any point in the year.

In the book a class bakes a gingerbread man and then they leave for recess, the gingerbread man then explores the school trying to find his class.  He meets the gym teacher, nurse, art teacher and the principle.  I love how the book is an introduction to school and different rooms of the school, and a twist on the original gingerbread man story.  When I presented this book to preschoolers I retold the original story first with puppets, that way they can make guesses about what they think will happen in the book and compare the two stories.

Puppets I made for retelling the original story (condensed) 

Laura does a great job in rhyming and using some great vocabulary words in the rhymes.  I don't think I would have thought to rhyme with "complete" or "explore."  I thought this was very clever and Murray does add in many great vocab words to share and discuss.

The lay out of the book is another point worth sharing.  Unlike most picture books that have one photo per page or page spread, Mike Lowery has done the illustrations for The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School in a comic book style, where there are a typically two to four boxes with illustrations on each page.  I like this layout.  I love that each page isn't in the same format, some pages have three illustrations, some have only one and the timing of each set lets you ask your readers to predict what they think will happen next.

My favorite thing about this book is all the opportunity there is to have open ended discussion with your readers.  There are also many crafts and activities you can do around this book and gingerbread men in general.  Let me dive into sharing some discussion questions I used while reading this book.

Pre-Reading...Before you even open the book here are some questions to get the mind working and predicting:

What do you think will happen in this book?  This is a question that you can ask before reading any book.  Look at the cover, what clues does it give you for what this book is about?  What does the title say about what might happen or who might be in this book?  

Who is the author?  Illustrator?  This allows you to teach the kids what an author does and what the illustrator's job is.

Where do you think a gingerbread man would have the most fun at school?  I loved asking this question and listening to the different responses.  Don't be afraid to ask the kids Why they chose the room they did.  My oldest daughter answered with, "A gingerbread man would have the most fun in the gym and art room. Because they are my favorite places. He'd make a mess and play with the stuff and create portraits and paper-mache" While my youngest chose the playground because he'd have fun playing there.  Let you're child's imagination run wild here.  For teachers you can turn this into a writing assignment for older kids.  Not only where would he have the most fun but describe what the gingerbread man would do.

While Reading Questions:  As I said earlier the layout of the book offers many areas not only areas to ask "What will happen next" questions but many chances for other discussion as well. These questions you can choose some to ask during the reading of the book or save other to ask when you've finished reading and go back to the page you're referring to if you want.

What other ingredients might you need to make gingerbread cookies?     What would you use to decorate a gingerbread man?

The Gingerbread Man broke his toe!  Have you ever broken a bone?  Where can he go to get his toe fixed?  Who could help him?  How will the nurse fix his toe?

Is using the handrail as a slide safe?  What could happen to the gingerbread man by sliding down the handrail?  In my online group I asked the adults to admit to having done this, I never had the guts to and when I read the book to preschoolers I remind them that it's not safe and if Miss Fawn were to try it I'd probably fall and get hurt, but since this is a cookie and he's in a book he can try it and anything can happen.

When he lands in the lunch bag you can ask Do you like cookies with your lunch?  What is your favorite type of cookie?

Post-Reading-Questions: 

Which gingerbread man story did you like better, the original where the fox eats the gingerbread man, or the school one where he becomes part of the class?

What would you do if your gingerbread man came to life?  This was a favorite question of mine to ask because it's completely open ended with no wrong answer.  Asking this in a group setting was interesting to see how many different answers there were.


How would you feel if your gingerbread man ran away?

What was your favorite part of the book?  Why?

What did you think of the illustrations?  This is a good question to ask for any book because you're showing them that they can have their own artist style.

Would you recommend this book to other people?  Why or Why not?

There are a lot of directions in the book, are you good with finding your way around new places?

For comprehension:

Who did the gingerbread man meet?

What happened in the book?  Go over the sequence of events.

Activities!!  

Be your own illustrator!  Create your own gingerbread man.  As the adult you can decide what materials you want used or let your kids decide how they want to make their gingerbread man.

Baking!  Obviously the book opens with cooking and is a clear activity to go along with the book.  Break out the aprons, dust off that gingerbread cookie recipe and create your own man or girl.  You don't have to stick with gingerbread, have your kids help bake their favorite cookie.

Rhyme Time!  The book is full of rhyming words.  I took a poster-board and wrote down several different rhyming sequence that were in the book then had kids match up the rhyming words.  You could ask further this by having them write their own rhyming word to go on the board or list.

Two different games I designed were for preschool and kindergarten and you can customize this to fit your own grade level.  I did numbers for preschool and had kids take turns rolling a die and coloring in the number they rolled.  They had to count the number of dots on the die and find the corresponding number on their picture and color that in.  In small groups they took turns and helped each other.  For kindergarten I used sight words and flash cards.  You can draw up your own outline and do multiplication, addition, or whatever you want to practice with your kids.  If you want some that are already done I'd recommend the lovely Pinterest.

Fill the gingerbread man with descriptive words. This gets kids working on their vocabulary, and is a fun way to introduce adjectives to the class.  Even with kids who haven't learned what an adjective is or are unsure what "descriptive words" are I found you can coach the kids with asking them to tell me what their gingerbread man would look like, or how the cookie taste.  While doing this with a group add your own words as an adult. I had fun doing this activity in my literacy group and sharing the answers of kids and getting various parents and teachers comments their own descriptions.  Doing this and putting all the words together for everyone to see and hear gets creativity flowing and leads to more thoughtful answers.  So while at first we had words like hot, sweet, amazing, yummy, soft we then started to dig deeper and then words like spunky, animated, fancy, sassy, and squishy were added to the list.  Getting adults to participate in activities like this enhances learning for kids because they see the excitement of adding another word and their vocabulary grows as well.  This could also lead to a deeper discussion: What about the word "gullible" Would you say the gingerbread man in the original story was gullible to believe the fox was going to help him?

One last activity I did with the kid's book club and online was:

I love word games! Boggle has long been a favorite of mine and it's great for kids to have fun spelling and changing letters around without the pressure of a test or grading.

Do you want more activities?  Laura Murray has a wonderful website where she shares some more activities and teaching tools you can use to go with her book and check out all the other adventures her gingerbread man goes on!

Want some other gingerbread books?  Check out these:

Stay warm, have fun, and as always enjoy a good book!

When I Grow Up

How many times over the years have you been asked that question?  It's format changes over the years the really it's the same question.  "What are your plans after graduation?" "All the kids are in school now what are you going to do with your day?"

I love asking my kids each year what they want to be when they grow up.  Why?  Because their answer changes almost each year.  Hey throughout my adult life my answers have changed several times as well, and that's okay!  It shows that you keep trying on new shoes until you find one that fits, and as you grow as a person you might outgrow that one shoe.  It's so much fun to look back on their responses over the years and your own as well.

One book that really brings this point of always growing and doing more than just one job is:
When I Grow Up


Written by Al Yankovic
Illustrated by Wes Hargis


I love the imagination in this book!
This little boy Billy is bursting at the seams to tell the class what he wants to be when he grows up.  He gets up and rattles off the best speech about becoming a world renowned chef!  Now that one passage is great but when the teacher calls the next kid, Billy quickly lets her know he's not even close to done.  He proceeds to list off several other creative jobs from gorilla masseuse to TV repairman to snail trainer.  As you can imagine not all the jobs on there are "real" jobs, and the teacher is getting tired of his list so she finally ask him to pick one.  His response to her is simply brilliant!   He tells how many jobs his great-grandfather had and still doesn't know what he wants to be, and then goes on to say that if he leaves his options open, he could do all of those crazy things and more.  On the very last page Billy pictures himself as a teacher.

There is so much to love in this book!  The story-line is fantastic and really makes you question why do we say you can only become one thing?  It lets you know not to put weight on your child when they say they want to become a famous football player, that can change several times, maybe they will become that but let them explore all that interest them.
Al Yankovic has an imagination that is up there with Dr. Seuss!  I love how creative and out of the ordinary the jobs were.  I love that he made the mundane sound fun.  The rich vocabulary in this makes it a book that several grade levels should be reading to enhance their English Language Arts class.  Look at this sentence which is a paragraph:

"Or else maybe I'll be the lathe operator who makes the hydraulic torque wrench calibrator which fine-tunes the wrench that's specifically made to retighten the nuts on the lateral blade that's directly beneath the main radial sockets inside cooling systems on X-14 rockets - and since this profession's as cool as can be, well, who would be better to do it than me?"

Wow!  Take a moment to look at all the vocab words that can be gone over:

• lathe
• hydraulic
• torque
• calibrator
• specifically 
• lateral
• radial
• sockets

This is just off of one page!  Those are some big words for a book that's aimed for 4-8 year olds!  Please go ask a 13 year old to tell you what a hydraulic is and to explain a cooling system.  Now looking at the parts of a sentence I'm sure my 7th grade grammar teacher would have loved to have us diagram this.  

If you are a teacher and asking your class "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I would suggest using this book one day that week and having an "crazy jobs" and encourage your children to think outside the box, what type of crazy job would they want?  When my family went to an amusement park this summer we had fun asking what job they thought was the best or they'd want to have if they worked there.  My oldest got really excited over maybe when she turns 16 she could get a summer job there.  She thought cooking the food would be the best.

Adults, this gives you a chance to talk about all the different jobs you've had since childhood.  Share them with your kids, share your dreams and goals.  If you're still figuring out what you want to be, that's perfectly fine!  There are many of us who are still figuring that out or want to be so many things.  Are you ever just one thing?  I know I'm not.  I'm a full time Mom, full time teacher to my one daughter who is doing cyber school now, and an aspiring writer.  I'm also suppose to be a part time substitute teacher but still trying to figure out how to fit that in and I'm not sure I can.

Go read this wonderful book.  Laugh, Think, Dream, and Talk!


Another book I love and recently bought is Girls A-Z


Written by Eve Bunting
Illustrated by Suzanne Bloom

As stated in the title, this book is only about girls.  It's a very powerful, early feminist book that shows how women can do whatever they can dream up.  I think it's a wonderful book for any daughter and that's why I bought it and put it in my collection for my girls.

With the question we've been asking this post, this book dives into not only "girl" jobs, but all jobs that girls can dream of.  Sure there's a ballerina (which this year is what my youngest wants to be) but there's also an engineer, and race car driver.  Our jobs are not segregated by sex, and we shouldn't tell our kids that just because they are a boy or girl that they can't do a job.  My oldest wants to be a tattoo artist (this is not listed in the book) but my point is that that use to be a male dominated field, there are many talented women tattoo artist today.  I think that would be amazing to see her to aspire to be the next Kat Von D.  Go check out this article about Ten extraordinary women in male dominated fields

As you can gather from the title it is one of the books that walk you through the alphabet.  What I love about this is how Eve Bunting found not only a unique girls name for each letter but a profession for each as well.  Personally I love that stay at home mom was included in the list of professions because this is often over looked, or dismissed when really it's a full time job that we don't get a break from.

Aside from all the jobs what really makes this book great (for me) are Suzanne Bloom's colorful illustrations.  I love how she didn't make the illustrations adults doing these jobs, but she drew these little girls doing the things they are interested in.  It's so cute and relateable for kids.  The dentist for the letter D, this little girl has her stuffed animal in a high chair with his mouth open and toothbrush in hand.  This is how children act out jobs they find interesting.  My tattoo artist, not only draws on paper but loves to use washable markers to give "real" tattoos!  I think the imagination and spirit of these girls are captured in Suzanne Bloom's illustrations.  They are contagious!  Each child looks like they are having so much fun and their personality shines through.  Look at the images and see if you can see your child in any of them.


The last book I have for you is aimed more at the preschool group but I love how this book was composed.
Think Big


Written by Liz Garton Scanlon
Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton

While reading this you have to not only read the words but make sure you and your child study the pictures because unlike the other two books I shared with you this one doesn't outright say what the job is.  You see children painting, dancing, playing instruments, and sewing, and the only words that go with it are simple "Thick paint" "Spin, twirl".   It's not until the end that this story really comes together and you see what all these kids have been working on is a performance of what they want to be when they grow up.  It's really cute.  The art work is fun, colorful and entertaining.

I love how you can ask children what they are doing and have them describe what they see.  Then use this to have them tell you what they like to do and what they can do with that skill.  "I like to color, I can become an illustrator!"  Or after you finish the book go back and talk about what each skill they are showing can be applied to jobs.


For some fun at home, or in the classroom check out these kits and supplies to help your child pretend and imagine doing their dream job.

Kindergarten Here We Come!

My youngest is off to Kindergarten next week!  And I have been in denial most of the summer, I can't believe it's here already.  So While I've been putting off back to school shopping, and telling myself I have more time with her at home, the days have been flying by and we are in the home stretch.  Books have been helping to get her excited about "big kid school" and I wanted to share with you some books about the first day of school and starting Kindergarten.

K is for Kindergarten


Written by Erin Dealey
Illustrated by Joseph Cowman

As you can gather from the title this is a book that goes through the alphabet with words starting with each letter about how fun kindergarten is.  You can find this book in the non fiction section.  While you can read just the story part to your child about how "D is for following directions," and "J is for jitters," this book also offers some great activities on the side panel of each page.  These activities offer many conversation starters so you can get your little one to open up and ask any question and have the whole family talk about their first day at school.  Other activities offer crafts and ways to have your child prepared for kindergarten.

If your little one isn't going to kindergarten this year, I'd suggest getting this book to read throughout this year to start getting them excited and preparing them for what school will be like.  Another great program you should look into near you is Head Start and the local library and see if they offer a pre-K story time or a Cruise into Kindergarten program.

Back to the book.  Moms you will love letters Q and R both for different reasons.  The activity for Q is to see if you can play the Quiet Game, set a timer and see if you can read a book or do something without talking for 5 minutes!  R talks about the restroom and washing your hands after.

The illustrations are almost magical which helps little ones get excited about this new place they will be off to without their adult with them.  I love the colors and diversity that is shown throughout the book.  Joseph Cowman did a wonderful job showing all the different types of kids that will be at school, tall, short, glasses, all different races, and I love that he included a child in a wheelchair and leg braces.  This is another great talking point.  If your child has something that makes them feel different this is a great way to show them that they aren't alone, there are other kids like that and maybe they will find a new friend at school that is like them.  It's also a way for parents to talk about different handicaps and explain how children are different and how to treat others.


David Goes to School


by David Shannon

We all know the book No, David, this is David going to school with the same issues.  I picked this book because it gives you an opportunity to talk about how you behave in school.  "Wait your turn, David!" This is a wonderful way to show children how they need to behave.  The illustrations show how the line could be long and how other kids feel if you cut.  I love the way David Shannon put the text you read on the beginner writers paper you know the one with the dotted line in the middle.  Kids who are learning to write on the same type of paper are going to recognize it and say, "I use that paper, see what I can write!"  As much as you don't want to laugh and show your children misbehavior, it's something all kids struggle with.  All children are full of energy and won't want to come back inside after recess or might have trouble being quiet at the right times.  Think of yourself on a beautiful day and you go out for lunch and the day is just so pretty you don't want to go back inside to work, or how when there's a meeting starting but you and a friend are in a really good conversation that's IMPORTANT (by important I mean the latest gossip) and all of a sudden you realize everyone else is quiet except you.  These are all thing that children deal with as well but they are still learning control and how to behave.  I think this is a great book to show them how they should behave, by using David and his classmates.  This book really wouldn't work without the illustrations showing how his behavior is affecting the other students.
The wonderful thing about David Goes to School, is that it can be referenced throughout the year and in other grades as well.  It's not just a first day of school book.

The Night Before Kindergarten


written by Natasha Wing
art by Julie Durrell

Natasha Wing is known for her Night Before series, where she takes the well known Night Before Christmas and twist it for any occasion.  This time she beautifully tells about getting ready for kindergarten and that first day.

 "Erasers and crayons and pencils galore were stuffed in their backpacks and set by the door.  Outfits were hung in the closets with care, knowing that kindergarten soon would be there."

I think she's a brilliant in her way of taking the traditional and ordinary and blending them together to write something amazing.  She captures all the feelings of the night and first day of school and makes it feel like Christmas which kinda makes it hard to not be excited for!  Not to give the ending away but when the children are dropped off at school and the parents cry, I know that's going to be me!  My baby is leaving me for school where she'll be for six hours!  Yup, I'm already teary eyed.

Do you and your kids a favor and read this on the night before kindergarten!  It's a wonderful book for this special milestone!


Now if you're like me and don't have the erasers, crayons, and pencils galore (or any other school shopping) yet, all I can say is I'm happy Amazon has 2 day shipping for Prime members!  If you are unsure what is needed check out Good Housekeeping's Back to School Supplies for Kindergarten to College.  And I have some quick links here for you as well of things that have been commonly requested on my oldest over the last 4 years.

I hope all of you parents enjoy your last days home with your little ones as much as you can, and that all kids have wonderful first days of school!

my oldest on her first day of Kindergarten

Good By Summer, Hello School year

And if you are a teacher, or have a friend who is a teacher don't forget to let them know we understand that kids and parents aren't the only ones stressing over the first day of school.  Here are some gifts for them: