You can't hide these pryin' eyes

So the theme this month in K is folktales, and the kids are hearing all sorts of versions of various stories, from the traditional to the twisted (like Lane Smith's Stinky Cheese Man version of the Gingerbread Man). The other day, we baked a real gingerbread man in the school oven, but he "got away" (my assistant pulled him out of the oven while we were working in class, and left a trail of crumbs along the kitchen floor). Later, she took a photo of him, printed it on card stock, and cut it out.

Then I sent the cutout home with all my kids in a sealed envelope addressed to the parents. I included instructions to place the cutout around their houses doing funny things and to take photos and email them to me, so it would look like the runaway gingerbread man had been at everyone's house, interacting with their belongings. Yes, it's sort of messing with the kids' minds, but they were astonished at the runaway gingerbread man and really get a kick out of the whole project.

I've got back a few cool photos, but today I got an email from the mother of D (the "artistic, clever boy" of this post) saying that D had opened and resealed the envelope on the way home from school, so he already knew the whole thing was a sham.

I'm outraged. What kind of a cynical little six-year-old sneak would open a taped-up envelope addressed to his parents and then reseal it? Doesn't he trust us adults? Does he think we're all engaged in elaborate subterfuges that he must uncover?

I've going to read him the USPS Privacy Policy when we get back to class on Tuesday. That'll learn him.