Small Floats, Big Creativity as Manor Students Simulate Storied Parade

Their floats may not take over a city street, but fifth graders at Seaford Manor Elementary School showed lots of creativity and ingenuity as they prepared for their own Thanksgiving parade.  

The annual tradition is based upon the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Students first read “Balloons Over Broadway,” then watched a video before getting to work on their own creations. Just like real engineers, students first sketched out their ideas, and identified the materials they would need to build, which they mostly brought in from home. 

Fifth grade teachers said this year’s parade floats were very creative and showed outside-of-the-box thinking. Students could pick any theme they wanted, and popular choices were children’s books, holiday scenes, movies and sports. 

Vivian Scannello built the house from the movie “Up” and used wooden dowels to make it appear slanted. Ryan Kalina’s float features Santa coming out of chimney and he even added lights. Alice Pennisi’s “Rapunzel” scene featured a tower made from a paper towel roll and a Barbie doll with long hair coming out of the top.