Students at Alden Road Exceptional Student Center celebrated the holidays by creating and designing their own gingerbread house community, which resembled the area where their school is located.
Sonia Huffman, a teacher at Alden Road, had her students create the gingerbread project because it incorporates many subject areas of learning, including math, science and social studies, and even basic life skills, such as cooking, building, decorating and addressing safety issues.
"Not only was this a seasonal project that students could enjoy, it was also very functional," said Huffman. "Students worked with shapes, numbers and measurements, as well as learned about team building and patience."
The students had to make the map, name and draw the streets, build the buildings and include focal points of interest. They also discussed safety issues while they made stop signs, railroad crossings and traffic lights.
Huffman had the 41 students in her three classes working on the project. Each class had six buildings to create, which brought the total number of buildings in the village to 18.
Students used gingerbread, crackers, candy, marshmallows and icing to construct their buildings. Trees were made with coconut and green food coloring.
The entire project was on display for all to see in the gymnasium. Parents and other students who stopped by to visit were able to watch a recorded step-by-step analysis of the project, giving them a glimpse into the students’ hard work.
"This is an amazing structure and our students were taught wonderful lessons during its development," said Principal Linda Leonard.
Students Ashley M. and Jameson D., who worked together to build a gas station, said the building was fun to create and that they look forward to eating their creation.
As the final part of the project, all the students will be eating the gingerbread community before they leave for winter break.
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