Balloons Over Broadway

I am reading at least one RI Children's Book Award nominee to all of the students in grades 3-6. We started with Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet, which is about Tony Sarg, the inventor of the huge balloons that float through the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Then we worked on different activities with the different grades.

See some of the balloons through the decades.

• Grades 3 and 4: This packet of activities includes a maze and a template for drawing your own balloon.

• Grade 5: We discussed the concept of apprenticeship. Tony's apprentice was Bil Baird, who did the Lonely Goatherd marionnettes for "The Sound of Music." Bil's apprentice was none other than Jim Henson, inventor of the Muppets!

• Grade 6: When I asked students what they noticed about today's balloons v. ones from the past, they totally picked up on the fact that modern parades use them as advertising. So many of the characters floating down the streets are corporate mascots ... how many mascots do YOU recognize? We explored persuasive tactics in the following weeks.