Schools

First Graders at Antietam Elementary School Craft Gingerbread Houses for Christmas

Graham cracker walls, an ice cream cone chimney, and a marshmallow satellite dish on the roof spells home sweet home.

Yesterday, the first grade classes at Antietam Elementary were elbow deep in frosting and licorice twists, M&M's and pretzel rods as they busily iced together graham cracker walls around empty milk cartons to create their own edible gingerbread houses.

"Curse this frosting!" one first grader said, as a few Red Hots refused to stick to the roof of her house despite several icing attempts.

The project is part of a curriculum that Antietam incorporates for their first graders to help them learn about the different holiday celebrations cultures around the world recognize. Getting the kids involved in making gingerbread houses serves as the representation for learning about Christmas.

Find out what's happening in Lake Ridge-Occoquanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"For Christmas, a big tradition is baking," first grade teacher Beth Flescher said. "Gingerbread is a big part of that. We maybe don't follow the traditional route for gingerbread houses, but it's a representation."

"The kids have been looking forward to this," Antietam Elementary principal Linda Moniuszko said.

Find out what's happening in Lake Ridge-Occoquanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Parent and family volunteers supervised the gingerbread house constructions, getting covered in icing themselves as they helped glue on candy pieces and fix cracked graham cracker walls.

"This year, Bloom grocery (in Dillingham Square) donated some of the materials, like the candy, for us to use" Flesher said.

"It's a fun project, but this is also learning," Moniuszko said. "In doing projects like this, the students learn coordination and expand creativity which is important."

The kids proudly displayed their creations, with one first grader making sure her house contained an ice cream cone chimney (for Santa) and another assembling a TV satellite dish out of marshmallows carefully icing glued to the roof of his house. Because naturally every home, even a gingerbread one, needs plenty of TV channels.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Lake Ridge-Occoquan