Kindergarten Continues Gingerbread Man Tradition
Graduates who started Hawken in kindergarten may remember reading The Gingerbread Man, and then participating in an exciting hunt for cookies that escaped during the night.
The tradition began at Hawken more than 20 years ago.
After reading the famous fabel, kindergarten classes baked their own men, leaving them to dry and be decorated the next morning.
When students arrived the next morning they discovered that all of their gingerbread men had escaped! Their baking sheets were empty, with only crumbs and clues left in their place. Students followed the clues through various places on the Lyndhurst Campus and then found out that the three dough boys had left for the Gates Mills Campus. Would that be the end of the chase? No! A bus was arranged to take the students to Gates Mills where the students found their gingerbread men in Head of School Scott Looney's office.
In addition to the satisfaction of following the many clues to a successful end, the kindergartners were then treated to a reading by Mr. Looney of The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School.
Through all the excitement, the gingerbread man hunt touches on literacy, math (baking measurements), problem solving and dramatic play.
"Kindergartner's are at a perfect age for this," notes Kindergartner Teacher Gail Holtz. "Developmentally, they can relate to both the fantasy and reality of the hunt.
"And it's a day the children will remember for a long time," says Kindergarten Teacher Emma Ferek.
When students arrived the next morning they discovered that all of their gingerbread men had escaped! Their baking sheets were empty, with only crumbs and clues left in their place. Students followed the clues through various places on the Lyndhurst Campus and then found out that the three dough boys had left for the Gates Mills Campus. Would that be the end of the chase? No! A bus was arranged to take the students to Gates Mills where the students found their gingerbread men in Head of School Scott Looney's office.
In addition to the satisfaction of following the many clues to a successful end, the kindergartners were then treated to a reading by Mr. Looney of The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School.
Through all the excitement, the gingerbread man hunt touches on literacy, math (baking measurements), problem solving and dramatic play.
"Kindergartner's are at a perfect age for this," notes Kindergartner Teacher Gail Holtz. "Developmentally, they can relate to both the fantasy and reality of the hunt.
"And it's a day the children will remember for a long time," says Kindergarten Teacher Emma Ferek.
An independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school, toddler through grade 12
Early Childhood, Lower, and Middle Schools, 5000 Clubside Rd, Lyndhurst, OH 44124
Birchwood School of Hawken, 4400 West 140th Street, Cleveland, OH 44135
Upper School, PO Box 8002 (12465 County Line Rd), Gates Mills, OH 44040
Mastery School of Hawken, 11025 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Gries Center, 10823 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Early Childhood, Lower, and Middle Schools, 5000 Clubside Rd, Lyndhurst, OH 44124
Birchwood School of Hawken, 4400 West 140th Street, Cleveland, OH 44135
Upper School, PO Box 8002 (12465 County Line Rd), Gates Mills, OH 44040
Mastery School of Hawken, 11025 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Gries Center, 10823 Magnolia Dr, Cleveland, OH 44106
Directions | Log in | 440-423-4446