Objective:
The students will time how long it takes an object to travel a distance.  (This lesson may also be combined with the Science Lesson.)

Materials

• Gingerbread boys cut from paper (1 per student), use the Gingerbread Cut-Outs.

• Straws

• A clock with a second hand or stop watches

• Masking tape

• Rulers or Unifix Cubes

• Gingerbread Run Worksheet

Procedure

1. Have a discussion on how to measure the length of an event using time.  Starting a stop watch, looking at a clock, or counting need to be done right when an event begins.  Stopping a stop watch, looking at a clock again, or stopping counting need to be done at the end of an event.  Have the students think of things that can be timed, such as races, car rides, the length of a school day, etc.

2. Put the students in pairs.  Pass out the Gingerbread Boys, the straws, the rulers or the unifix cubes, and the masking tape.  Each pair of students should find a place in the classroom to set up a Gingerbread Running area.  They should decide how long they want their race to be then tape a "start line" and a "finish line" on the floor by measuring it.  You may want to give guidelines on how far apart the start and finish lines should be.

3. The students should then time each other blowing their gingerbread man to make him "run" from the start to the finish line.  They will do this by aiming the straw at the paper gingerbread boy and blow air onto him to make him move.  They may time each other by using stop watches, looking at the clock, or counting "one hippopotamus, two hippopotamus, etc."  

4. Have the students record their distance and their times on the Gingerbread Run Worksheet.  (This worksheet has been formatted to be cut in half.)  If this lesson is being combined with the Science Lesson, you may want to have the students complete the Gingerbread Run on Different Surfaces Worksheet only.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Graph the students' favorite way to eat gingerbread - gingerbread man cookies, gingerbread house, or gingerbread cake.

2. Give every student a gingerbread man cut-out.  Have the class work together to calculate how many gingerbread feet, arms, buttons, etc. their are in the class.  This is good practice for counting by 2's.