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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons! 

First and second grade students were given a big STEM challenge this year! They had to design a balloon and a device that would hold their balloon up in the air for people to see. Second graders were given the challenge of working in partners to design a Saint balloon based on a Saint from the Shining Dolls website. First graders were given a chance to design a balloon of their choice on their own. At the introduction of the challenge, they read a book called Balloons Over Broadway, which gave a history as to how the Macy's Day Parade came to be and how the balloons were created. They also watched some video clips and looked at pictures of balloons featured previously in the Macy's Day Parade. Students were then given time to brainstorm and think about what materials they might use to design their balloons and lifting devices. On the day of the parade, students were given one full hour to build. It was a very intense hour, but they rose to the challenge and paraded through the halls of the school! This challenge was not as easy as it might have seemed at first. The key with STEM is to remember we learn from the issues we face within the challenge, and we all learned a lot!