Golden Apple: Baxter Elementary Hosts Annual Gingerbread House Decorating Event

Baxter Elementary School held its annual gingerbread house decorating event last week. Looking to spread some holiday cheer, the staff provides kindergarten students with a day dedicated to designing and building their own edible homes and gives their parents an opportunity to join in as well.

“I think that at Baxter Elementary, one of our goals has always been to invite community members in, especially our parents, and welcome them,” said teacher Amy Foley. “And I think it’s kind of a nice gift to give parents this time of year and children an opportunity to spend an hour or two working together and building a house.”

For Foley, who has participated in the event with her own three kids, the best part about the decorating is the quality time spent between families.

“Conversations spark off of that. It’s really important that parents – and we even have some grandparents come in – they learn about their children’s friends,” said Foley. “We sort of build that sense of community and continue building that throughout the whole year. So kind of a special moment for us as teachers, too, because we get to see children and parents interact and get to have those positive relationship moments.”

Baxter Elementary ensures its kindergartners have the opportunity to get in the holiday spirit with their families. And on top of that, the school also finds a way to incorporate the curriculum into the festivities.

“Part of this goes along with a curriculum unit that we do, comparing and contrasting gingerbread stories. We talk about character and setting and comprehension questions with them,” explained Foley.

Foley also said the school utilizes gingerbread houses as an introduction to STEM. Students put together blueprints for their personalized abodes and are encouraged to think like architects at a young age.

“It just builds on the positive experience that we hope all children have, especially in kindergarten. It’s their first year,” said Foley. “And I know I can speak for my whole kindergarten team, we spend a lot of time focusing on giving kids a good start and a positive start to school and making those good, positive memories.”

Baxter Elementary also lets parents accompany their kids throughout the week leading up to the decorating and see firsthand how the kindergartners are progressing in the classroom.