Hello Red Room Families,

This week in the Red Room, we continued getting into the holiday spirit as we began our gingerbread theme. We started by reading The Gingerbread Man by Eric A. Kimmel. The children loved this story, especially because it encouraged them to predict a different ending than the traditional version they were familiar with. Many kiddos enjoyed the repetitive language, particularly the growing list of characters the Gingerbread Man had escaped from: “I’ve run away from an old woman, an old man, a cow, and a horse—and I can run away from you, too!”

Our next story was How to Catch a Gingerbread Man. This book allowed us to think like problem-solvers. As a group, we analyzed why certain traps didn’t work, discussed new ways to catch a Gingerbread Man, and even designed our own traps using blocks, boxes, and craft materials.

We wrapped up the unit with a fun discussion about how we would decorate our own gingerbread men. Some children said they would happily eat theirs, while others decided they wouldn’t. It was a wonderful week filled with imagination, prediction, and creative thinking!

ART

 For art this week, the Red Roomers created their very own unique gingerbread men. We began by giving each child a gingerbread cutout to paint brown. After letting them dry overnight, the children decorated their gingerbread men using googly eyes, peppermint cutouts, buttons, and acrylic pens.

Their next project was designing gingerbread houses. For this activity, the children used dot markers around the paper and added festive decorations such as candy cane cutouts, gingerbread figures, pom-poms, and sequins.

Overall, the Red Roomers were very proud of their creative work!