Activity
My Gingerbread House poem: Days of the week
Practice sequencing the days of the week along with select, cut and paste tech skills!
It’s almost winter break and educators are scrambling for quick and fun activities that do not require prep time. I’ve received a number of requests for more quick tech activities geared for younger students. TSVIs have been asking for additional activities that provided students with opportunities to practice skills that were taught in a previous lesson. So, here you go!
The Gingerbread man: Sequence, copy and paste post includes the popular Scrambled Gingerbread Man activity. After reading the classic Gingerbread Man book, students were given a digital document with scrambled sentences that they had to select, cut and paste in order to put the sentences in the correct sequence. This post included iOS Bluetooth keyboard commands required to complete the activity along with a video tutorial. Use that post as a resource to complete the Scrambled Gingerbread House poem below.
Teacher’s Note: The Bluetooth keyboard has more available commands than gestures or a refreshable braille display for navigating and editing. These Bluetooth keyboard commands directly transition to using a screen reader on a computer.
Make a gingerbread house
Creating gingerbread houses is a fun family activity during the holiday season! Many classes will also create gingerbread houses – out of editable materials or cardboard boxes and tactile materials. There are many gingerbread house kits available. A simple way is to make a gingerbread house out of graham crackers and decorate it with candy pieces.
How to Make a Graham Cracker Gingerbread House video
Flat gingerbread house
Not enough time to make a full gingerbread house? Make a “flat” gingerbread house! A flat house uses a full graham cracker (4 connected blocks). Have an adult use a sharp knife and cut the top to blocks at an angle to make the angled peaked roof of the gingerbread house. Using an extra graham cracker, block, cut the block in half to make the door. Square pretzels can be used to make windows. Use icing to adhere the windows and candy to decorate the gingerbread house. Colorful gum drops and M&Ms work well!
Standing flat gingerbread house
To make a standing flat gingerbread house, follow the directions for the flat gingerbread house. Once the house is made, take another graham cracker block for the base. Carefully attach the standing house to the base (perpendicular) with icing. To support the house in an upright position, place a large marshmallow on the base behind the house – use icing to adhere the marshmallow.
Scrambled Gingerbread House poem
This activity reinforces the days of the week. Ask the student to put the sentences in the correct order according to the days in the week, starting with Monday.
If desired, sing the Seven Days of the Week song first, to review the order of the days in a week.
Scrambled My Gingerbread House
I made a house of gingerbread.
It was so sugary sweet.
It took me all day long to make,
But lasted just a week.
On Monday I ate the ceiling.
On Wednesday I ate the windows.
On Tuesday I ate the door.
On Saturday I ate the lawn.
On Friday I ate all four walls.
On Sunday I licked up all the crumbs.
On Thursday I ate the floor.
My gingerbread house is gone!
If working on reading skills using a braille display, mute the screen reader speech (M Chord) and read the poem on the braille display.
Aligning with national tech skills
When should students learn to cut, copy and paste? According to the Common Core State Standards K-12 Technology Skills Scope and Sequence chart, highlight, cut, copy and paste are optional in 1st grade, Introduced in 2nd grade, Reviewed in 3rd grade and Mastered in 4th grade. The associated AT Scope and Sequence Chart (for iPad VoiceOver users), has document navigation (navigating to start/end of document, navigating by lines, navigating to start/end of a sentence, etc.) all Introduced in 1st grade, Reviewed in 2nd Grade and Mastered by 3rd grade.
Resources
- Download Scrambled My Gingerbread House poem
- Download My Gingerbread House poem
- Gingerbread man: Sequence, copy and paste activities post (includes video tutorial and Bluetooth keyboard commands)
- Five Little . . . repetitive text for emerging readers and beyond post
By Diane Brauner
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