Jasmine J.
First Grade Frenchies
Okay people, it’s time to rally. December is TOUGH, there are a few weeks left before the winter holidays and it shows!!! Students are borderline out of control with the zoomies and now more than ever, we gotta reel them in with some fun engaging lessons and activities.
My current school that I’m at has a very diverse student body, and this is the first year where a majority of my class does not in fact celebrate Christmas. This got my wheels turning, as I want to ensure that I am respecting and being mindful while I navigate the holiday season.
Immediately, the idea of a French gingerbread-themed week came to mind! I mean, it’s fun, festive, not necessarily Christmas related and there is sooo much you can do with this theme!
So if you’re in the same boat as me and are trying to avoid the Santa Claus & presents topics this year, or are simply looking to spice things up (pun intended!) keep reading to get ideas on how to plan your upcoming Gingerbread Man week or day in French!
Before we get into some fun ideas and activities to host a gingerbread theme week, I want to throw out the disclaimer that a lot of the ideas & activities mentioned come directly from resources in my own TPT store. Many of these activities can be easily recreated on your own if it is not within your budget to purchase the ready-made lessons. I want this blog post to be helpful above anything else, so feel free to DM me on Instagram if you have questions or want to bounce ideas around. I’d love to help!
Let’s get into some great French Gingerbread Man themed activities!
Considering that the gingerbread man story fable has been around for centuries, there are naturally lots of “spin-offs” or re-invented versions of the original fable. This means that there are so many amazing literacy activities you can do during your French literacy blocks with this story. A fabulous idea would be to do a story comparison. Have students read (or watch a video) of the original gingerbread man fable. Next, you can read/watch another version or two. From there, you can do a bunch of retelling, comparison, and literacy activities in order to note the differences and similarities between the stories.
The story I enjoy reading is “Cours, petit bonhomme, cours!” from the éditions Scholastic collection that I purchased through amazon, however there are sooo many other options. I suggest browsing the leslibraires website, as I was able to find a lot of different Gingerbread man stories in French over there. I will definitely be ordering from them in the future, as I see lots of great stuff!
In addition to a story comparison, you can of course have your students retell and sequence the events of whatever story you decide to use. I love having my students play around with the sequencing cards and use whatever French vocabulary they have to explain the events.
The flipbooks are helpful as well, since you can really see if they understand how to summarize the beginning, middle and end of the story. You may choose to co-create some sentence stems together or depending on what grade you teach, students can write the sentences themselves!
If you were unable to find a gingerbread man story in time for your theme week, there are some great video options you can watch as a class on Youtube!
Here are some videos that I recommend:
Not sure about your class, but mine is obsessed with directed drawings this year (like every year, right?). If your class is a fan of these, you could always put a directed drawing video on during an art period for an easy no-prep yet highly engaging activity!
Here are some videos I found. Although in English, I still plan to use some during my gingerbread week!
As an added art activity that I plan on doing at a centre rotation during our theme week is a “roll a gingerbread man” centre. It’s so easy to prep and can keep students busy and engaged for a long time!
If you want students be able to make many different versions without wasting paper, I recommend them try out this activity on personal whiteboards instead! It’s a fun way to do the activity over and over again with different variations.
If you want to sprinkle in a little science into your theme day or week, you can try doing the classic activity where you dunk a gingerbread cookie into water or milk for a given amount of time and have students record their hypothesis and then their observations.
This is actually a great activity to do after reading a gingerbread story, because you could have students make predictions about WHY the gingerbread man needed the fox’s help to cross the river. What happens when they get wet? Allow students to make (or even write) predictions beforehand for added excitement!
I loveee doing simple French plays with my students. Not only does this give me assessment information for drama, which I have to teach in French, but it helps with French reading and oral skills too!
They’re a ton of fun to really get into the roles, practice scripts and put on a little performance! Fun fact: even while we were virtual learning a couple of years ago, we did reader’s theatre plays via Google Meet. While not conventional, it’s safe to saf my students still really enjoyed them!
I highly recommend the Gingerbread Man French Reader’s theatre resource by Ms. Joanne on TPT. I have several of her plays and enjoy them all.
A super fun team-building activity you could do is have students split off into groups to create a boat, raft or basically anything that will help the Gingerbread Man cross the river without needing the fox’s help!
I love how open-ended this activity can be. It truly allows for a ton of creativity and fun! Simply lay out a bunch of materials and let students go to town!
I recommend asking parents and guardians to donate any recyclable materials that they may have lying around the home (e.g., cardboard boxes, plastic straws, etc), so that you don’t need to provide everything out of pocket.
This is possibly what I’m most excited to do with my students this year! I have never tried a disguise a gingerbread activity, so I’m curious to see what my second graders come up with!
This project works best if you use a LOT of enthusiasm. Explain to your students that the Gingerbread Man has tasked them with a special mission. It is up to them to save hundreds of gingerbread people from being eaten by mean creatures while on walks and runs.
Students need to be creative in developing the perfect disguise so that gingerbread people can safely walk around without being caught.
I recommend showing students some creative examples first so that they can start thinking about all the possibilities. I created this resource along with slides so that I can properly execute this task-based project!
I will also be sending home a letter that explains the project so that families can be part of all the fun! I am very careful to explain that this is strictly a FUN activity, which of course will not be marked. I make sure that is known, because I do not want any students to feel bad if they’re unable to complete this task at home, due to a lack of materials or simply a lack of support at home.
We will then bring the disguised gingerbread men back to school and do a gallery walk. I created a simple oral presentation script that students can follow if you’d like to add some French-speaking to this task!
Pro-tip: give each student TWO gingerbread people templates. Just trust me on this one. You don’t need a student coming back to school crying and explaining that they ripped or lost their only template. Make sure to print the blank gingerbread person on cardstock or construction paper for durability.
In addition to my previous activity, you may opt to simple have students decorate a gingerbread person instead. This is definitely something that is easier to do at school or at home, and requires fewer materials.
I found these foam gingerbread cutouts at Dollarama that would be perfect to decorate. You could also use loose parts and make a simple centre station using these.
Depending on your school board, you may or may not be allowed to bring in treats to have your students decorate.
If you are allowed, this would be an extremely fun (and tasty) option to do near the end of your theme week or day! I purchased these gingerbread decorating kits from Fortinos (a local grocery store) which come with 8 cookies per box.
I have seen teachers use graham crackers as a more cost-effective activity. You could also simply cut out cardboard paper and have students build and decorate a paper version, if you cannot bring in treats to school!
Either way, giving students some “free-time” to decorate and have fun will really spark joy! These are the moments they’ll remember the most during this theme day or week!
Before I started teaching, I did not understand the power of a crown on a theme day haha. Tell me why students go bonkers over these? Students feel so special rocking their crowns around the school on a special day.
I know even my 2nd graders will enjoy making and wearing them, even if sarcastically. It’s a nice added touch to a theme day or week, as they can take them home and be reminded to share with their families all about the fun they had at school!
If interested, you can grab this free Gingerbread Man Crown template in my TPT shop.
Hopefully this blog post gave you some ideas on how to plan a French Gingerbread themed day or week! I have also rounded up some favourite freebies I’ve found on TPT. Most of these are in English, however, some parts can still be used.
For example, this awesome scoot math activity has addition task cards. Even though the recording sheet has English on it, the task cards don’t. So I plan to use the cards and have students record their answers on a plain sheet of paper!
You can definitely get creative with some of these English freebies, so don’t write them off right away!
Have the best theme week (or day) and please tag me on Instagram (@firstgradfrenchies) if you share any fun pictures from your day! I’d really love to see what your class gets up to! Don’t forget that I have an entire BUNDLE of French Gingerbread Man activities to help you save time if you’re looking to plan a similar unit!
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