Hoover Elementary School’s gym was transformed Thursday into a gingerbread house factory.
About 85 fifth-graders and many of their parents spent the afternoon building traditional and not-so-traditional gingerbread houses.
For Hannah Thomas, Thursday’s work represented a second chance – she was determined to build a gingerbread with an A-frame-style roof that wouldn’t topple.
“I made one earlier at my mom’s work and it collapsed,” Hannah said. “So I wanted to try making one again.”
Hannah was all smiles at the end of the school day as she showed off her sturdy-looking gingerbread house.
The key to success, she said: More frosting.
“I always warn students about being too risky,” said Hoover fifth-grade teacher Matthew Criscione. “But every year there’s students who pull things off.”
This year marked the 14th year that Criscione’s classes have built gingerbread houses. Last year, Hoover’s two other fifth-grade classes joined in on the fun.
And this year, the trio of teachers – Criscione, Justin Barron and Emily Carver – decided that their classes should work together in the gym.
“We thought it would be fun to have all the students and parents together,” Criscione said. “It really made it a lot more festive.”
There was an added benefit for Criscione: He got to help his daughter, Francesca, build her gingerbread house this year. She’s in Carver’s class.
Josh Reese was assisted by his father, Douglas, in building a two-story tower-like gingerbread house. Josh said that he wanted to build something that would be a challenge. His father didn’t mind his son’s approach.
“I’m supportive of anything he wanted to do,” Douglas Reese said. “Originally he wanted to make it three stories. But he settled on this. It turned out well.”
The gingerbread house building project consisted of three parts. Tuesday, students created and drew plans for their gingerbread houses. On Wednesday, they cut graham cracker pieces and assembled the frames.
They used staples such as peppermint candies, gumdrops and red twists to decorate their houses. For more exotic touches, students could use items such as chocolate gummy bears, fruit roll-ups and peppermint patties.
Many of the more creative ideas by the students revolved around the landscaping outside the houses.
For example, one student used blue fruit roll-ups and gumdrops to make a pond. Another made trees out of marshmallows. Mailboxes also were a popular addition this year.
Min Jee Kang used MMs and candy canes to decorate her gingerbread house with outlines of hearts. The project was a bittersweet one for Min Jee. She and her family are moving next week to Korea.
“I’m happy that this was my last project here,” she said. “It was a lot of fun building this.”
Today is the last day of school before the holiday break for Corvallis School District students and most other Benton County students.
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