Gingerbread Week with a Freebie!

Gingerbread Week!!  It's always such a fun week! Or maybe you don't have a whole week, but just a few days, or maybe just a whole day dedicated to Gingerbread!

These are some of my favorite books - You can download the PDF which has clickable links for the books HERE or you can just search on Amazon HERE


Some of my favorite activities to do throughout the week....

Of course, a craft. This one though, we START the week with it because we use it to do our LOST writing. I do a non-tracer version, and they all come out so different, and I LOVE them. I got this ideas YEARS ago...I don't remember from who though. I think Deanna Jump, though? 


They they use their craft for their writing. They plan out a description, with my guidance of what I want. And honestly, it just depends on the skills we've learned if we're doing compound sentences, listing a series, certain words/grammar skills, etc. 





But afterwards, I hang up all the gingerbread people and I read the writings out loud to see if we can find the matches. 


And of course - we HAVE to eat. I love adding food whenever I can! 




These are what we usually do, but you can do whatever you like!



Some other activities I incorporate are ornament making - My husband actually owns a laser business, so he cut out a cookie cutter shaped like the Tough Cookie, and we made our ornaments from them. They're SO CUTE. 


I also love doing these selfie Google Slide Writings


And I will always be using my OLD Scholastic News articles...until they come out with a new one. 


Check out a lot of the activities we do in my Gingerbread Mini-Unit on TpT!





OH... and another thing I love doing (I usually put it in the writing center for the week) is the Gingerbread Man Preposition Book. I have a few of these for throughout the year. You don't HAVE to make it a preposition book, but that's what I always do to review prepositions.  Grab it for free HERE.  


17

Window Cling Crafts

Out with the old....


And in with the new....


I just love these monthly window clings I have the kids do. It gives such a pretty window decoration! I have them do it one Monday morning as they walk in the room. I know it's the one day of the week where they don't owe any work to get started on and it's "mindless" so it gives their brain time to wake up before it really gets used. ha! 

After a few times of cutting paper...I finally got smart and started buying precut tissue paper. I know - it's not hard to cut tissue paper if you have a paper cutter...or even scissors. But sometimes, time is worth my money, and I like to work smarter not harder.... and all the other sayings. 

I started buying them on Amazon - HERE. This one is the Fall set - but it also works for Christmas/holiday season!  Then I just go looking for another pack that has winter in it, later. But this pretty much works for Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, rainbows (although maybe you want a darker blue, like in the winter pack?)... just depends. But anyway. Thought I'd share my little tip I learned along the way. 


Here's how we put them together - I just trace (or have a volunteer trace) and cut out the center of a shape. Normally, I'm all for letting the kids do ALL the work... but these need about a 1 inch "frame" and I know some kids would have a hard time with that. Plus, it's just supposed to be a fun activity for them to do in the morning. 



They place the frame on the contact paper (this can be tricky...it's pretty sticky! lol) and then they just lay the squares randomly along the paper. 



I will trim up the contact paper and then put it on the windows. I LOVE how they turn out - like stained glass window decorations! 










296

October Adult Book Review



I've got quite the variety of books for you! Something from every genre almost...except one of my favorites; psychological thrillers. I just love a good page turner that stumps me at the end. But this month, I didn't get to one of those.

I've been in quite a book slump before this, having read a few duds (to me), but I'm happy to report I gave all of these 4 stars and one of them was my 1st 5 star of the year! 



It was a story about 2 women who accidently cross paths - but then find out that they are connected in some ways. It took place in 3 different times of the girls' life, all stemming from one event in a summer long ago. You would think this would be a light chick lit, judging a book by it's cover...and author. I've read a few of her books now - but this one is a little deeper than that. I liked it! I gave it 4 stars. 


Oh Boy. This one tugged at my heart. It takes place in 1942, during the war in Europe. The characters are Russian Refugees. It talk about life during the war, life in camps in Poland, surviving that life, and the life after. I was so emotionally involved with the characters I had a hard time stopping. SUCH a good book - my first 5 stars of the year!!



Whew! I went from the intense book to this lighthearted book. I needed an emotional break. ha! This one definitely made me thing of the royal family we know today - Kate, Meghan, Harry, William... it's from the perspective of the American girl who is going through life with her twin (two totally different girls) and gets intertwined with the royal family. It was cute! 



Oh, boy. Matthew McConaughey. How I could listen to you talk all. day. long. He is SUCH a great storyteller. You HAVE to do this one as an audiobook. There is no other way to enjoy this book as it is meant to be. It was such a good book.



I actually no idea what this book was about. It was a free one on KindleUnlimited. Turns out, it was actually translated into English, so there was a lot of German words and European references throughout the book, which I thought made it more interesting. It starts off with two characters, living two different lives, but their lives will cross, while Johnathon is following the planner he finds, to live his perfect life. 


Well, that's it for this this month's books! I'll be back next month with more.

Happy Reading! 



8

Pumpkin Books and Ideas

OH, there are SO many Pumpkin Books out there! But here are just some that I use throughout the week - either as a fun reading/writing/craft activity, a listening/reading response station, or a nonfiction connection. 




Click the pictures to find them Amazon, or click HERE to see even more! 



I'll be back tomorrow sharing all kinds of ideas! But you can take a look at these posts from the past!



















Also - check out one of my favorite things to do during Pumpkin Week HERE










6
Back to Top