The Gingerbread Man Escapes Again
by Lucas Oswald, BPS101 Communications Department intern
Right before winter break, the lunchroom at Louise White Elementary School was bustling with activity, but it wasn’t about lunch. All three kindergarten classes filed into the sizable space, which was transformed into a workshop. In groups of two or three, students sat at the long lunchroom tables, materials in hand and excitement in the air.
LWS kindergarten teachers, Missy Beier, Cassandra Ideran, and Erin Kohlhagen, prepared the work space for a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) holiday activity.
Prior to this activity, the kindergarten teachers had been reading aloud several different takes on the story of “The Gingerbread Man,” including one in which the Gingerbread Man meets an untimely demise at the hands—or jaws—of an alligator while attempting to cross a river.
With this failed river-crossing in mind, the students were instructed to come up with a way to safely transport the gingerbread man across the river in the form of a boat or a bridge. Using straws, tape, egg cartons, paper cups, plates, and paper towel rolls as raw materials; a gingerbread cookie as the Gingerbread Man; and a storage bin filled with water as the river, the kindergartners eagerly went about their task.
Several BPS101 staff members, including Superintendent Dr. Lisa Hichens, LWS Principal Dr. Kevin Skomer, LWS Music Teacher Walt Zimmer, and LRC Director Donna Hanrahan joined the activity to help the next generation of problem solvers use STEM skills to transport their Gingerbread Man across the river without taking on water.
The young minds rose to the challenge, each group developing some form of boat or bridge to carry their cookie across the treacherous chasm. Surprisingly, and fortunately for the sacrificial gingerbread cookies, the vast majority of their solutions successfully aided the Gingerbread Man in his escape. It would seem that a bright future in STEM is possible for more than a few of these young engineers!
