Gingerbread house math

Word on the streets is that if you’re assigned to Mrs. Watson’s third grade, you’re gonna get to make a gingerbread house in December. Most of my class has been driving me crazy about anticipating this event since August. Today was The Day.

Measuring the perimeter of the houses to determine how many marshmallows are needed
(1 per centimeter).

Discussing how many Skittles to take
(5 colors x 4 of each color=20, with 1/5 red, 1/5 green, and so on).

Dividing chocolate chips into 4 equal groups (and eating the remainder!)

A finished product!
Notice the “window” with an area of 12 (using any array: 2×6, 3×4, etc.)

To preserve my sanity, our last day before break will be FAR more low-key. However, the gingerbread houses were totally worth the extra stress and headache. I try to do at least one super fun project with the kids each quarter so later they’ll have some memories of school that don’t involve test prep. I especially love doing something special for the holidays: so many of the kids suffer traumatic or disheartening events in the two weeks they’re not in school, and I like knowing that they’ve experienced at least one positive holiday-related activity with people who love and care about them.

What do you like doing with your students for the holidays?