September 2019

Students at the District’s Early Childhood Center recently conducted a search of a savory sort.  Children took to the school’s halls on a hunt for the Gingerbread Man, and teachers managed to work in a little learning during the journey.

Each class had its own Gingerbread Man to hunt, and the students began by seeking out clues to his whereabouts.  A clue in the hallway led to the school library, and further clues took the students on visits to the clinic, the school office, the cafeteria, and other important locations.

According to ECC Principal Jenny Martinez, the activity was designed with practical and instructional goals in mind.  The search helped familiarize the students---most of whom are new to a large educational setting---with areas of the campus they will soon visit regularly.

“Students also compared and contrasted The Gingerbread Man story with other modern gingerbread stories,” Martinez said.  “One class ate a gingerbread cookie and graphed a pictograph of their first bite of the cookie. They discussed things such as most/greatest, least/fewest bitten and added the results to see the total number of bites.”

Speaking of bites, students were surprised to learn that The Gingerbread Man had been hiding in their classrooms all along.  They celebrated the end of the search by eating a tasty Gingerbread treat that may or may not have once been attached to the subject of their search!