Social Distancing in the Classroom (Posters and a Gingerbread Man Game)

Hello Friends,

2020 has indeed been a very unusual year. From our health, to social justice, to quarantine, life has not been normal.

At the writing of this unit, plans for re-opening schools have not been finalized in most districts in the United States. As teachers, we want so much to do what is best and safe for our students. And right now, at this point in history, it is hard to know what that is!

In my kindergarten class, we have done the gingerbread man lose in the school on the first day for many years. This year, though, we realized that we cannot walk through the school halls on the first day. There are so many safety/health rules that our students must learn first, such as wearing masks, social distancing, hand washing, individual supplies, and protecting ourselves and each other. Yikes - how can we do anything before we teach these skills? And how can we still make the first day of school fun and not scary for our little ones?

Well, where there is a will there is a way… We chose 6 safety rules that we felt were important to teach the first few days of school and tweaked it to incorporate life in the days of COVID. We created a guessing game based on these 5 safety rules. We are still reading “The Gingerbread Man”, but instead of chasing him through the school, he gives us a game with clues. The kids remain in their spaces while the teacher reads the clues. The teacher decides how students answer while social distancing.

Here is how the game works....

Super hero masks - We wear masks to keep ourselves and others safe.
Doctor hands - Doctors wash their hands to protect themselves and others from germs. We do, too!
Airplane Arms - Stretch your arms out to the side like airplane wings. Airplanes do not touch each other. We do not touch each other or things when we are with other people.
Bubble Spaces - Bubbles break when they are touched. Pretend like we are surrounded by invisible bubbles. Do not break your bubble or the bubble of someone else.
Mummy Walk - Stretch your arms in front of you. Do not touch anyone or anything when you are walking in a line.
Treasure Box Supplies - Your supplies are important and special. Protect your supplies like a pirate protects the treasure. (We put this in because it sounds like students will not be sharing supplies like we have done in the past. We want to encourage care of supplies early in the year!

I plan to read the traditional "The Gingerbread Man", but any gingerbread story will work. Instead of the kids chasing the gingerbread man around the school, they are listening to clues that will take them to rules or habits that will keep them safe during the coronavirus epidemic. Ahead of time, I plan to tape this to the back of my gingerbread book. The rest of the clues will be projected upon my interactive whiteboard. (I have a smart board.)

The clue in the back of the book says that the gingerbread kids told the teacher the rules of the game. This gives the teacher a chance to talk to the kids about how the game will work. I plan to use my Smart board in which to project the clues. The gingerbread house is clickable and takes the kids from clue to answer.

At the end of the game, the gingerbread kids return and then we will make a traditional gingerbread man paper craft with a face mask.

Optional: The pages can be printed and bound into a book that can be used as a teacher read-aloud.

I also created posters with the five rules. It is our hope that connecting the rules with something concrete will help them remember how to stay safe in the classroom.

My friends..... You have my permission to create these posters and/or game for your own classroom. If you would like to have them already made, though, you can click the images below to take you to my TPT store.