Fiction or Non-fiction?

For the past 8 years, I have made a gingerbread man with my students only to have it "run away" each year. Today, I led my 2009-2010 class in making and decorating a large gingerbread boy that we had hoped to eat for snack.

After reading a version of The Gingerbread Man to my class this morning and announcing that we would be making a cookie of our own later in the day, some of the students voiced their concern that our cookie would escape from the oven just like the one in the story. I assured them that I would be checking often on the cookie as it baked in the oven, and I would do my best to keep it from leaving its cookie sheet. One of my students smartly added, "Anyways, this story is fiction. It couldn't REALLY happen."

Yet our cookie did escape from the oven! As we followed notes left behind by the cookie through the school, one of the students exclaimed, "I guess it wasn't fiction!" When we returned to the classroom to find a final note informing us that our cookie had left the building and was going to travel the world, the students all ran to the windows and searched the school grounds for him. Some of them insisted that they saw him! They were so convinced that he was outside that I had no choice but to take them outside so that we could continue our search on the playground. The children swore that they found crumbs, and even suspected that nearby squirrels had nibbled the cookie! Once we went back inside, the children set to work on traps and signs (I fully plan on knocking a trap or two down and pouring sprinkles on/near the blocks that were used!).

Children LOVE to believe in the gingerbread man. There were one or two children that suspected that I had taken the cookie out of the oven, but even those children played along with our hunt!

All of my students took home a letter that explains what happened today. Attached to that letter is a second message that their parents can forward on to friends or family members in other locations. Soon, I hope to begin receiving postcards and letters from those claiming to have seen the gingerbread man. It's always great fun to see where he's been and what he's been up to! Past classes have received postcards, ornaments, candy, and cookies from around the world! Gingerbread men of the past have gone surfing, ice-skating, shopping, horseback riding, and more! One of the cookies was even spotted riding in the back of a police cruiser!

I'll keep you posted on any of the interesting locations to which the gingerbread man travels or the activities in which he participates. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for an 8-inch tall gingerbread man decorated with candy and sprinkles!