This week we read the Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth, which is the traditional story of the Gingerbread Man, when he jumps out of the oven and runs away from the husband, wife, and various animals before being eaten by the fox. On Friday we read Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup. In this version a boy makes cookies to leave out for Santa, and they come alive once he falls asleep. The pirate captain tries to rescue his sailors from jail (the cookie jar), and eventually Santa gives them a ship at the end of the story. We talked about how the author of Gingerbread Pirates created her own characters based on the gingerbread man. Then we used that idea to create our own characters. Some students chose traditional gingerbread girls and boys, but we also had a gingerbread bride, a gingerbread soldier, gingerbread zombies and gingerbread angels.
