A Gingerbread House in the Classroom

 

I was laughing before I was even through the door of my classroom this morning. This is the sight that greeted me as I arrived:

 The class was turned into a gingerbread house in my absence yesterday! They had permission from me to do so, so it wasn't a surprise. But I WAS wondering what they'd done - they are highly creative, after all. And their senses of humor shine right through their creativity.

 There's a sign warning Hansel and Gretel to beware. ("Do Not Eat! Caution: Hansel and Gretel. Do not come in!")

More evidence of their humor was found by the windows. Two stuffed gingerbread dolls complete with signs stating, "This is what Hansel and Gretel look like if cooked. That's the last time THEY ate candy!"

And, in case you were going into candy overload as you wandered through the gingerbread house that used to be my classroom, JM had attached this sign to the back of his chair:

 "Eat this chair for fiber and vitamin C. You have had enough sugar." (Sounds like he's heard something along those lines from his parents!)

I was curious to see what they'd done to my desk area. When they'd turned the classroom into the zones of the ocean in September, I'd told the children that my desk was off limits. Well, they got around that by decorating every inch AROUND it as a snack shack, including a beach umbrella that shaded me while I worked (which I loved) and a BBQ grill! My guess was that they'd figure out yet again how to decorate my desk without actually putting anything on it.

I was right. I'll admit, though, that my eyebrows went up when I saw the witch's hat and a sign saying, "Blame the witch" that were obviously meant for me.

They'd moved an empty student desk next to mine and put those things on top of it. I was surprised because they are really kind children and this bit of humor was farther than they usually go.

But then as I walked around their handiwork to my desk, I saw the OTHER side of their sign.

"Not really Mrs. I.   P.S. You rock!

Now, that's more like the kids I know! 

I then looked a little closer at that desk they'd decorated, and I realized they had made a near exact replica of the witch's oven from the opera Hansel and Gretel, parts of which we'd watched last week.

 There are flames in the oven, a couple of gingerbread people baking, and the doughy smiley face the witch painted on the glass door of the oven just before she tried to cook Hansel (and then met her untimely demise at his hands.) This oven actually is my favorite decoration in the room, and it was done by the same group of 5th grade boys who did the beach snack shack by my desk this fall. (Hmmm, they seem to be thinking about food again. Boys will be boys, I guess!)

When the kids arrived for the day, they were so excited to tell me about their decorations that I ended up giving every child a moment to show me something they'd been part of making. They pointed out things I hadn't even noticed yet.

In the spring we are going to become doctors as we study the human body and turn the classroom into a medical clinic. Should be interesting to see what they come up with for that! I wonder if my desk will be the doctors' lounge or the hospital cafeteria??