Some Lowther North Intermediate School students returned to elementary school Friday morning, not as students, but as helpers for second-grade students at Walnut School.
Together, the children designed, assembled, and decorated their own versions of gingerbread houses.
The project was one in a continuing partnership that pairs sixth-grade buddies in Sara Schwerdtfeger’s class with second-graders in Kay Schmidt’s classroom.
“We’ve been buddies for several years, and we’ve had several years of activities,” Schmidt said.
Sometimes, the elementary children go to Lowther for buddy projects; other times, as on Friday, the reverse is true.
The activities give sixth-graders a chance to help younger children and give second-graders an opportunity to take part in something with older children and see what it’s like to move on to a higher grade level.
“I think the big kids enjoy it as much as the little kids,” Schmidt said. “They love to help.”
The help wasn’t limited to construction and decorations, she said. After the buildings were completed, the sixth-graders helped their buddies with a sequencing lesson that accompanied the fun. Schmidt asked the second-graders to write sentences about what they had done on the project, and the order in which they had done it. The sixth-graders led the children through the exercise by questioning and helping them with the verbiage to show the proper sequence.
Ingredients for the gingerbread houses, actually made from graham crackers, were brought from home by students. Schmidt asked for donations of crackers, and all sorts of candies and cereals that could serve as decorations. The response was a bit overwhelming.
“I think we had like 15 Walmart sacks,” Schmidt said. “They didn’t have any arguments; we just shared everything.”
Students used small milk cartons as frames — just the right shape for a bungalow with a roof — and spread on frosting to get the crackers to stick to the frame. Then they went to work, adding sparkles, candy canes, string licorice, Fruit Loops, marshmallow stars, M&Ms, Nerds, gummy bears, and other colorful candies.
The houses on display Friday afternoon were as unique as the youngsters who’d made them with what appeared to be meticulous care for 7-year-old fingers.
Gabe Buckbee placed a miniature gingerbread man outside his house, then stuck Dum-Dum suckers on two opposing ends to provide television reception.
“It goes up in space and it goes back down, and it tells you what channel it’s on,” Gabe said.
It was his own version of a combination satellite and antenna.
As proud as they were of their creations, many of the second-graders saw two major highlights of the hour and a half spent with the sixth graders. First and foremost, they enjoyed seeing their buddies again and getting to work with them. They also enjoyed eating some candy afterwards.
“I thought you’d say the best thing was not having to do any work this morning,” Schmidt said to the class, then quickly amended the comment when she remembered they’d had a test after the sixth-graders had gone.
The older kids had stayed long enough to get in a little playtime with the second graders before leaving.
“Right at the end, they got to run off a little sugar,” Schmidt said.
The run might not have been quite enough. After lunch, about 1 o’clock, she had the students put their heads down on the desk for a little quiet time before they prepared for another test and, if time allowed, a movie.
Schmidt praised the students for waiting until the houses were completed before digging into the candy. Consumption was limited, which left a table laden with leftover candies and crackers the children will be able to enjoy for days.
“We’re going to dole them out a cup at a time — until Christmas,” Schmidt said.