News RSS Feed

By Becky Phelps Published: Nov. 23, 2021 at 10:26 PM CST CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Third grade teachers at St. Matthew Catholic School read “Balloons Over Broadway” by Melissa Sweet to their classes, then designed a project for students to make, inspired by the famous balloons themselves. Dozens of students designed their own Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons on paper and cut them out, turning the hallway into New York, lined with pictures of each student connected by string to their work of art- holding the balloon they made. Shelly Adams and Trudy Smith are third grade teachers at St. Matthews. They tied art, math, and persuasive writing into the project. “They had to write a letter, and they had to think about ways that they would convince somebody to let their balloon be in the parade,” says Adams.” All the letters were stamped with approval and hung up on the wall next to the row of balloons. “It was fun, the kids enjoyed it and they had to really work hard on their persuasive writing, which has been one of our goals,” says Smith. “It was fun to watch the kids get excited about things that normally would be hard work.” Copyright 2021 KCRG. All rights reserved.