Move over, Macy’s.

With handmade “floats” depicting animals real and imaginary, makeshift musical instruments and many a fancy hat, Wareham Elementary School students paraded through the halls in celebration of Thanksgiving on Wednesday, Nov. 23. Throngs of applauding spectators came to meet them.

When the parade had passed by, and the students were back in their classrooms, STEAM teacher Elizabeth Hayes lifted her hands in triumph and said “We did it!” 

“They did this all on their own,” Hayes said about her students. “I just gave them the foundation, and from there they built it. We want them to be proud of their work.” 

The second grade has done a Thanksgiving parade in previous years, but this was the first time the whole school got involved.

The idea came from “Balloons over Broadway,” a children’s book about the origins of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As part of the STEAM discipline, which teaches Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics, students learned about how the floats were made, then built their own out of cardboard boxes and construction paper.

“I wanted to make a dolphin because that’s my favorite animal,” said second grader Lila Canney.

The dolphin’s fins were made of paper cups. 

“I like dolphins because they swim,” she said.

“You did a good job,” STEAM teacher Teri Filippo told the kids. “You look tired, though. Pep up, pep up!”

DeFilippo’s students made musical instruments out of Pringles cans and paper towel rolls. They learned engineering principles from designing and redesigning their instruments, and how sound waves create music. 

“I think it was successful,” she said. “The floats are amazing, the kids did a really good job. [Principal] Chandler’s downstairs saying we really upped our game.”