Polson Middle School teacher Tammy Morrison’s students made gingerbread houses to share with the kindergarten and first grade students at Cherry Valley Elementary last week.

But these gingerbread houses weren’t to nibble on. They were kid-sized, three-dimensional cardboard houses with real roofs, windows and doors that opened and closed. The creations were so inviting that three kindergarteners in Mrs. Harris’s room cozied up inside one to read books.

The middle schoolers and their construction projects arrived on a school bus last Tuesday afternoon to make the last week of school before the holiday break even more fun. They dispersed to different rooms and started taping the houses together and installing roofs.

One group of engineers arrived in Mrs. Hupka’s Fin-tastic first grade classroom with a gingerbread house with Swedish fish on the roof, red, white and green shingles, and a peppermint door handle. The students were at recess, and returned to a fanciful surprise.

Other classrooms had houses with porthole windows, more candy-colored roofs, doors with doorknobs, and lots of peppermint stick and candy cane trim for fun.

One youngster said he “really liked” the peppermint doorknob, while Lyal, a kindergartner, was excited that kids could go inside. All the students were eager to check out every inch of the gingerbread creations, exploring the trim with inquisitive fingers, entering and exiting and peering through the windows.

Mrs. Hupka proposed collecting all the gingerbread houses after a couple of days and making a Cherry Valley suburb. Maybe they can call it Gingerbread Villas.

    Mrs. Hupkas Fin-Tastic first graders are excited to have a kid-sized gingerbread in their classroom. The structure was ade by Polson Middle School students. (Berl Tiskus//Leader)