It's the most wonderful time of the year! The holiday season is my absolute favorite time of the year in an elementary classroom. The joy in the children's eyes is a daily reminder of why I became a teacher in the first place.
One of my favorite holiday activities during this time of the year is participating in a gingerbread man exchange with other classrooms from all over the United States. This year I am excited to be hosting a gingerbread man exchange.
What's a gingerbread man exchange you ask? During the month of November, your class will create fifteen gingerbread men and decorate them in any way you would like. No later than December 2nd, you will mail 15 gingerbread men to other classrooms across the United States. You will also need to include in the envelope a brief letter from your class telling about your school, the area you live in, etc. This can be a letter that you write together with your students and simply make a copy to send with each gingerbread man. Then, sit back and wait for the gingerbread friends to arrive at your school.
 |
| Picture Courtesy of Growing in Pre-K via Pinterest |
The kids can't wait to find out where each gingerbread man and letter is from and to read a little bit about the kids who sent it. I like to display the gingerbread men and the letter with a map so that the kids can get a better idea of where each gingerbread man came from.
In past years, I have opened the gingerbread letters and shared with the class on the day that they arrived. This year, I am planning to save all the letters and open them during a special Gingerbread Celebration. We can snack on gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate while we open all the special letters to our class.
Due to the postage expense, participating classrooms must be in the United States. The gingerbread man exchange is also limited to kindergarten through fourth grade classes. By signing up, you are agreeing to have your class create fifteen gingerbread men and mailing them on or before Tuesday, December 2nd so that they will arrive at their destinations in time to be enjoyed before the Christmas holiday breaks. If you would like for your class to be part of this year's gingerbread man exchange, you can sign up by clicking on the image below.
The sign-ups will only be open for the next couple of days or until the maximum number of participants have signed up. Once the sign-up period has closed, I will send out an email with more details to the participants.
I love being able to "give" during the holiday season! I am excited to be joining up with an amazing group of bloggers for this spectacular giveaway! You will definitely want to take a moment to enter the giveaway below. You will have a chance to win over twenty products for your classroom and $170 Amazon gift card....that could translate into some serious Christmas shopping!
I am so excited to check out the other posts that are part of the Holidays Around the Blog Linky. There are so many fabulous ideas to be discovered! If you have a fun holiday tradition in your classroom, we would love for you to link up below and share it with us!
