Gingerbread Houses...or Factories

The wondeful Praireland teachers had extra gingerbread house materials and they asked me if I knew any kids who would like to use them. I couldn't say "YES" fast enough! Seeing the wonderful creations was neat, but it was more amazing to hear the stories each child told as they carefully chose each and every piece that they added.

"I need lots of these for the fence, like at my house."

"It's not a house, it's really a factory."

"This one is the bad guy and he's trying to sneak in the roof."

"I need to stack the snowballs over here by the garage."

These kids can make such wonderful connections from their lives to what we are learning, and then to the world around them. This is a great skill to build now so that they are better readers in the coming years. When they make connections between what they read and themselves and/or the real world, reading is more meaningful and comprehension is greater!