I get that so many of you do not have the ability or even the desire to make this time of year all about Santa and reindeer.  There really are tons and tons of fun and engaging activities that embrace the Christmas theme, but let’s face it, you really are walking a tightrope.  What if you have students that don’t celebrate Christmas?  What then?  At the beginning of the year, when I send out my Inventory Survey,

I generally try to gather that information.  If If all my parents indicate they celebrate Christmas, then we can do those fun Christmas-y themes.  But if there is anyone that indicates that is not their family’s tradition, then you have to come up with another alternative . . . enter the Gingerbread Man.

There are a TON and I mean a TON of great ideas for gingerbread activities on the internet like this sweet craft from First Grade Blue Skies.  I love Jennifer’s crafts and she has a great Close Read Ginger Bread Activity too.  (I’ll talk about that later this week.)

and even more on Pinterest.  I have a board devoted to gingerbread activities ideas below if you want to take a gander.

Follow Marsha McGuire (Differentiated Kindergarten)’s board Gingerbread Activities on Pinterest.

I also understand, though, that we can’t just play the entire month of December, so I thought I would  spend a couple of days and introduce a few of my favorite CCSS aligned activities that might help you plan for your own gingerbread themed month.  One of my favorite ways to add a little ginger spice to my Daily 5 Stations is with I-Spy Ginger Activities.  I love these activities because they are so engaging,  I mean who doesn’t love using a magnifying glass for goodness sakes?

But mostly, I love them because they are predictable and differentiated.  For my students still working on letter/sound recognition and fluency, there are three different I-Spy mats and recording sheets in the I Spy Ginger Letter and Sounds Pack.  They can search for letters and record what they find by circling either the capital or lowercase and then writing the letter . . .

search, sort and write the letters they find either under a capital or lowercase heading . . .

or search and match the letter to the picture with the beginning letter sound.

If my students have moved beyond letters, they don’t get to miss out on the fun.  They have their own set of I Spy mats according to the level of sight words they are currently mastering.

There are 11 levels of words so I’m sure to be able to challenging all my students at their readiness level.

These are absolutely one of the most popular stations at my Word Work station.  But, because it’s nearly the holidays, and I want everyone to have some kind of ginger activity that’s differentiated for your kinders, make sure you click on the picture below so you can grab my Roll, Say Keep Freebie for your plans.  It’s easy to set up, so much fun and, once your kinders play it once, they will be completely independent.  I actually have included two versions here.  You can grab the sight word version here by clicking on the picture below . . .

or grab the CVC, CCVC, and Letter one by clicking the picture below.

Enjoy!