The Kindergarteners Caught The Gingerbread Man and A Few Other Favorite Book Characters!

This year the related arts teachers planned a big unit together for the holidays.  We focused on different topics that tied into the classroom curriculum and plans for each grade level.  

In kindergarten, they are looking at different "Holidays and Celebrations" like Kwanzaa, Hanukah, and Christmas.  The kindergarten also starts a gingerbread unti in December and continues it through January.  

The art and music teachers, and myself, decided together that we were going to focus on the gingerbread part a little more, while tying in the holiday themes.  In the music room they were going to be singing songs about baking and cookies.  In the art room they were going to be designing their own gingerbread man and creating a Christmas tree ornament.  

And in the library....We were going to let the Gingerbread Man loose and try to find him with the help of a few book characters, QR codes, iPads, and several very excited kindergarteners from Van Meter.  

As I created the QR Code Scavenger Hunt for the Gingerbread Man, I wanted to tie in Laura Murray's wonderful and sweet book The Gingerbread Man Loose In The School.  
             
This book has become one of my favorites to share with our students at Van Meter.  Last year I shared it at the beginning of the school year and we did a QR Code Scavenger Hunt to find teachers we hadn't really met yet within our district.  (You can read about it in this blog post)  It was so much fun and the little ones met new people, worked with their classmates, and learned about QR codes and using the iPads.

This year after reading the book and showing the adorable little book trailer, I wanted to do something different.  I decided to take a look at the kindergarteners classroom in the Google Doc I created for collaboration entitled "What's Going On In your Classrooms in 2012-13?"

Every month they include an author or illustrator within their classroom.  I focus on these in the library as well.  By including these authors and the characters from their books, I would be enforcing this part of their curriculum as well as giving them another fun experience with them too.

So by using the QR code creator Kaywa, I found pictures online and created 12 QR codes for the scavenger hunt.  I found pictures of Dr. Seuss, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and of course Curious George....who is actually the book series they are focusing on this month in kindergarten.    

                                     

As you look through these pictures, you just have to understand the excitement that was in this room. The students loved finding the book characters and authors they are focusing on in the classroom and within the library.  They even found different symbols of the three different holiday celebrations within the QR code scavenger hunt.

Tomorrow the Gingerbread Boy visits the other kindergarten class....I sure hope they find him too.