Best part is the eating

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REALLY TOUGH WORK – Braden Cummings, left, and Nicholas Clough put all their might into rolling the gingerbread dough. (photo by Abby Shanor)

"My favorite part of making cookies is eating them!" exclaimed Oxford Hills preschooler Nicholas Clough.

On December 16, The Early Childhood Education program (ECE) expanded its normal classroom boundaries into the larger school. The excited children and their teachers took a walking field trip down to the Culinary Arts kitchen, to make gingerbread cookies.

This is an ECE/Culinary tradition that has been going on for years. It's one of the few occasions where two Technical Programs at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School work together. The ECE room is just like any other preschool, complete with their own kitchen, play areas, and bathroom, so they normally have no need to leave that area. This made the children even more excited, because they got to explore new parts of the building.

Before heading to Culinary, the eager children gathered for their circle time, where they discussed rules and directions, but they were far too excited to pay any attention.

"Culinary always enjoys working with the kids in making cookies," said Culinary teacher Frank Maccarrone.

The Culinary students prepared gingerbread dough, so when the children arrived they could start right in on cookie cutting. The ECE instructors, Deb LaFrance and Genivieve Ricard, supplied the children with various sprinkles, raisins, and gumdrops for the children to decorate their cookies.

When finished, the children returned to their preschool and continued their day with play time and lunch, as they

waited for the Culinary students to return their baked cookies, and the children got to take the ones they made home.

Preschooler Kate Belanger shared that her favorite part was "decorating the gingerbread people to make them look like my family."

Photo: Abby Shanor

MAKING MEN – Lucas Hutchinson, back, and Gavin Reynolds, foreground, get ready to make gingerbread men.