The gingerbread man runs away from everyone in the story, and by Friday your students should be able to tell you exactly who he ran from, in order, and what happened at the river. That is the whole goal of this week: a child who can put four events in order — or eight, if they are ready — and retell the story in their own words. Everything else serves that goal. The puppets, the pocket chart cards, the chant, the story map and the journal are all ways of getting the sequence into a child's head before the child is asked to write it down.
This guide lays out a five-day plan for PreK through 1st grade, built around a 24-page sequencing journal with two levels. The story is printed inside the resource as a two-part read-aloud, so you do not need a specific book edition. The Gingerbread Man Sequencing Journal carries the week: the story, the chant poster, two-level journal pages, picture sheets, puppets, pocket chart cards, a story map, two levels of retell writing, a compare chart and a class graph.
Day One: Hear the Story
Day one is listening, and listening only. Read the first part of the story aloud, slowly, with the pictures visible. The story is printed in two illustrated parts inside the resource, and the pictures match the text you read — that matters, because young students follow a story through its pictures, and a picture that does not match the words is a distraction. Hold the page so the class can see the illustration while you read the words. Pause at the refrain and let the class say it with you. The refrain is the part students will remember first, and it is the hook that pulls them through the rest of the week.
Read the second part on day one as well, or save it for day two if the class is young. Either way, read the whole story once through before asking students to do anything with it — a child who has heard the whole story can follow the sequence, and a child who has only heard half of it will guess. After the read-aloud, ask one question only: who did the gingerbread man run away from? Let them name the characters — the old woman, the old man, the cow, the pig, the horse, the fox — and write the names on the board in the order they remember them. Do not correct the order yet. The order is the work of the week.
End day one with the "Chant It!" refrain poster: put it on the board and chant the refrain together, twice. The chant is not a break from the lesson — it is the lesson in a form young students can hold. The refrain repeats the same words every time, and repetition is how a sequence gets into memory. Students who can chant the refrain can remember the story's rhythm, and the rhythm carries the order of events.
Day Two: Map the Story
Day two starts with the same read-aloud, and the second hearing is where the learning starts. Students who hear a story twice notice things they missed the first time — and the thing to notice on day two is the order. As you read, pause after each event and ask, "What happened first? What happened next?" Point at the board where yesterday's character names are still written, and let students rearrange them. The old woman comes before the old man. The cow comes after the old man. The fox comes last, at the river. Do not hand out the sequencing pages yet. The story map comes first.
The story map asks for four things: characters, setting, problem and ending. Do it as a class on the board, before anyone touches a worksheet. Characters: the old woman, the old man, the gingerbread man, the cow, the pig, the horse, the fox. Setting: the kitchen, then the road, then the river. Problem: the gingerbread man runs away and will not stop. Ending: the fox eats him at the river. The "Was the gingerbread man eaten?" question on each journal page is worth asking out loud on day two, because students disagree about it, and the disagreement is a real discussion.
Now hand out the journal pages — but only the drawing part. Each journal page has a box to draw the setting, and drawing it is the right task for day two, because a child who draws the kitchen or the river has to decide where the story happens, and deciding where it happens is comprehension. Walk the room and ask each child where their picture happens. A child who can say "this is the river" has understood the setting; a child who draws a gingerbread man with no background has not, and "Where is he running?" fixes it.
Day Three: Sequence It
Day three is the sequencing day, and it is the heart of the week. The cut-and-glue picture sheets are the tool: Level 1 has three sets of four pictures, and Level 2 has two sets of eight pictures. Choose the level by the student, not by the grade. A PreK student gets Level 1. A 1st grader who is ready gets Level 2. A kindergartner who is confident can try Level 2, and a 1st grader who is still building confidence can start at Level 1 and move up. The levels are tools, not labels, and moving between them is the point.
Teach the sequencing before you hand out the scissors. Put four pictures on the board in the wrong order and ask the class to fix them. Start with the easiest question: which picture comes first? The gingerbread man coming out of the oven is first, and every student knows it, because the story starts in the kitchen. Then ask which comes last: the fox at the river. Then fill in the middle. Four pictures, three questions, and the class has sequenced the story out loud before they touch a page. That out-loud sequencing is the lesson; the gluing is just the record.
Now hand out the journal pages and the picture sheets. Level 1 students glue four pictures in order — First, Next, Then, Last. Level 2 students glue eight pictures in order, numbered 1 to 8, from the oven to the fox at the river. The numbering matters: a student who writes 1 to 8 has to commit to an order, and a committed order can be checked. Walk the room and ask the question that catches the most common mistake: "Is the horse before the pig, or after?" The cow, the pig and the horse are the three events students mix up most, because they all happen on the road. A student who can say the order out loud — cow, then pig, then horse — can glue it correctly. Check the work against the answer key, which covers both levels.
Day Four: Retell It Out Loud
Day four is the retelling day, and it is the day the puppets earn their place. Retelling out loud comes before writing, because a child who can say the story can write it, and a child who writes it without saying it first will write less than they know. The nine story puppets — seven characters plus a river and an oven — are the cast. The six gingerbread puppets for craft sticks are the chorus. Hand them out and let the class act the story.
Run the retell as a class first. Assign the characters, hold up the river and the oven at the right moments, and let the gingerbread man puppet run from one character to the next while the class chants the refrain. The first run will be ragged; the second will be better. By the third, the class will be correcting each other — "No, the pig comes before the horse!" — and that correction is the learning. Students who correct each other's sequencing have internalized the order, and internalized order is the goal of the whole week.
Then set up the pocket chart center. The eight retell cards each have a picture and a sentence, and a student who puts them in order is sequencing without a worksheet. Two students, eight cards, one pocket chart, and the rule that the cards must be in story order before the retelling starts. Let pairs work at the pocket chart while the rest of the class finishes their journals, and rotate — every student should get a turn, because the pocket chart is the version of sequencing that feels like a game.
End day four with the compare-two-versions chart and the "Was He Eaten?" class graph. The chart asks students to compare two versions of the story — and the any-version journal page, with blank Title and By lines, a setting box and six draw-it boxes, works with any gingerbread book the class has read. Read a second version aloud if you have one, and ask what is the same and what is different. The graph is simpler: ask every student whether the gingerbread man was eaten, and mark their answer. The class will split, and the split is the discussion.
Day Five: Write It and Take It Home
Day five is the writing day, and it runs at two levels like everything else in the week. Level 1 retell writing uses sentence starters and tracing: students trace "gingerbread man" and finish sentences about the story. Level 2 uses a word bank and three-line paper: students write a full First, Next, Then, Last retell in their own words. Choose the level by the student, and let a student who finished Level 1 early try a Level 2 sentence. The two levels are not a ceiling. They are a starting point.
Model one sentence on the board: "First, the gingerbread man ran away from the old woman." Four parts — First, the character, the action, who he ran from — and every student can write their own version by changing the character: "Next, the gingerbread man ran away from the cow." The frame stays the same and the story provides the content. A student who writes four framed sentences has retold the story; a student who writes four sentences without the frame has retold it better, and the word bank is there for the student ready to try.
The journals go home on day five, and that matters. A finished journal is a keepsake families can read together, and a parent who reads it at home will ask the child to retell the story — the homework that matters most this week. The 5-day retell plan lays out the week day by day, and the teacher notes with level guidance say which level fits which student. Follow the plan, and the journals will be ready to go home on Friday.
What Usually Goes Wrong
The first thing that goes wrong is the order of the middle animals. The cow, the pig and the horse all happen on the road, and students mix them up. The fix is the out-loud sequencing on day three: put the pictures on the board in the wrong order, ask the class to fix them, and ask "Is the horse before the pig, or after?" until the class can say the order — cow, then pig, then horse — without looking. Do not hand out the scissors until they can say it.
The second thing that goes wrong is handing out the journal pages too early. A student who gets the gluing page before hearing the story twice will glue the pictures in the order they look nice, not the order the story goes. The fix is the pacing: two hearings before any sequencing, a story map before any gluing, and an out-loud sequence before the scissors come out. The first two days are listening; the sequencing does not start until day three.
The third thing that goes wrong is the Level 2 jump. A teacher hands Level 2 to a whole class because the class is 1st grade, and half the class stalls on eight pictures. The fix is to choose the level by the student: Level 1 for four events, Level 2 for eight, and a student who finishes Level 1 can try Level 2. A student who sequences four events correctly has learned sequencing. A student who sequences eight events incorrectly has learned that sequencing is hard, which is not the lesson.
The fourth thing that goes wrong is the puppets becoming a toy instead of a tool. Nine puppets in a PreK classroom will be played with, and that is fine for five minutes — but the retelling needs a structure, or the puppets just run around. The fix is the class retell first: assign the characters, run the story once as a class, then let pairs use the puppets at the center. A puppet with a line to say is a retelling tool; a puppet with no line is a toy.
The fifth thing that goes wrong is the writing day. A teacher hands out the Level 2 word bank paper to a student who has not yet retold the story out loud, and the student stares at the blank lines. The fix is the order: retell out loud on day four, write on day five. A child who has acted the story with puppets and sequenced the pocket chart cards already knows what to write — the writing is just the record.
Differentiation Across PreK–1
A week that spans PreK to 1st grade needs a plan for the spread, and the two levels are the main tool. But the levels are not the only tool. The drawing box on each journal page is a level of its own: a PreK student who draws the setting has done comprehension work, even without writing a word. The "Was the gingerbread man eaten?" yes-or-no question is another level: a student who can answer yes or no and say why has done reasoning work, even without sequencing eight events.
For students who need support, the chant and the puppets are the entry points. A student who cannot yet sequence four pictures can still chant the refrain and hold the gingerbread man puppet while the class retells the story — real participation that builds the memory the sequencing will need later. For students who need a stretch, the any-version journal page is the answer: a 1st grader who reads a second gingerbread book and fills in the blank Title and By lines, the setting box and six draw-it boxes has done comparison work the packet does not require.
For English learners, the story is unusually friendly, because the refrain repeats and the pictures carry the meaning. Teach the refrain first, before the story, and let students chant it until they can say it without the poster. The words that matter are few — first, next, then, last, run, away, fox, river — and they can be taught with gestures before the week starts. Put the words on the board with a picture beside each one, and the whole class can follow the retelling. The Gingerbread Man Sequencing Journal is built for this kind of week: the same story, two levels, and retelling tools that let every student in the room work at the right challenge.
Centers, Listening and the Rest of the Week
The pocket chart center runs itself, but it is not the only center the week supports. The puppet center runs beside it: two students, the nine story puppets, and the rule that the retelling has to follow the story order. The listening center is the third: the printed two-part story, read aloud on a recording if you have one, with the picture sheets beside it for students to sequence while they listen. A student who sequences while listening is doing two things at once, and both of them are the lesson.
The story map works as a morning routine all week: characters on Monday, setting on Tuesday, problem on Wednesday, ending on Thursday. A story map that grows across the week is one students watched being built, and a student who watched it being built can build one on their own.
The class graph — "Was He Eaten?" — works as a math moment. Count the yes answers, count the no answers, and ask which side has more. A PreK student who counts the marks on a graph has done data work, and a 1st grader who can say "seven said yes and five said no, so yes has more" has done comparison work. The graph is not a decoration; it is a lesson.
Frequently Asked Questions
What grades is the gingerbread man sequencing week for?
PreK through 1st grade. Level 1 sequencing (4 events) fits PreK and kindergarten, and Level 2 (8 events) stretches 1st graders. Choose the level by the student, not by the grade.
Do I need a specific gingerbread man book?
No. The story is printed inside the resource as a two-part read-aloud, and an any-version journal page with blank Title and By lines works with any gingerbread book the class reads.
How many events do students sequence?
Four at Level 1 (First, Next, Then, Last) and eight at Level 2, numbered 1–8, from the oven to the fox at the river. The three middle animals — cow, pig, horse — are the ones students mix up most often.
What retell tools are included?
Nine story puppets (seven characters plus a river and an oven), six gingerbread puppets for craft sticks, and eight pocket chart retell cards with a picture and a sentence on each.
How long does the week take?
Five days, with a 5-day retell plan and teacher notes in the packet: listening, story map, sequencing, retelling out loud, then writing and taking the journals home.
Can I use it with a different gingerbread version?
Yes. The any-version journal page has blank Title and By lines, a setting box and six draw-it boxes, and the compare-two-versions chart is built for exactly that. Read a second version aloud and ask the class what is the same and what is different.
Do the journals go home?
Yes. Finished journals go home on day five as keepsakes families can read together, and a parent who reads the journal at home will ask the child to retell the story — the best homework of the week.
