OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

This lesson is a great one to do right before Thanksgiving. Students will read or listen to the book Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. After completing the book students are challenged to create a balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Students will attach their balloon to a Sphero robot that they will code to follow a parade route.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Reading/Language Arts, Technology, Engineering
• Grade Level : 3-5
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Computing Systems, Algorithms and Programming
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Fostering an Inclusive Computing Culture, Collaborating Around Computing, Developing and Using Abstractions, Creating Computational Artifacts
• Materials:
  • Sphero
• Considerations:
  • If you do have a Sphero robot you can also use other robots like Bee Bots or Dash. If you are using Sphero or Dash ensure that you have an application on your I-pads that lets your students code the robots. If you would like to use a green screen for the parade you can use I-Movie or the Do Ink application to edit the video or images.

Lesson Plan

Overview

This lesson is a great one to do right before Thanksgiving. Students will read or listen to the book Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. After completing the book students are challenged to create a balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Students will attach their balloon to a Sphero robot that they will code to follow a parade route.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

It is almost time for the Thanksgiving parade! Can you help design a balloon for the parade? How will you create a device that will keep your balloon floating in the air? How many steps will you need to code for your Sphero robot to follow the parade path?

OBJECTIVES

Students will use critical thinking and creativity to design a balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Students will construct a device to keep the balloon in the air as if it had helium in it. Students will use an I-Pad to code a Sphero robot that will hold their balloon and drive their balloon during the parade.

CATCH/HOOK

Ask students if they have ever watched or been to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. After having a quick discussing about the parade show students a video of the parade on YouTube. Then read the book ‘Balloons Over Broadway’ by Melissa Sweet. This book tells the true story of how Tony Sarg made the first parade balloons. As a child, Tony loved making things move and discovering new ways of doing things. He began making marionettes until Macy’s asked him to design a puppet display for their windows.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

Read the challenge to students: It is almost time for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade! Your challenge is to design a balloon for the parade and create a device to keep your balloon floating in the air. You will hold on to one end of your device and attach the other end to the balloon. Your device must keep the balloon in the air and upright. Challenge yourself to get your balloon as high up in the air as possible. When you have finished building, you will test your design and present it to the class in a classroom parade.

Have students use the engineering design process below to complete this challenge. As a class discuss the ask. Then individually have students imagine. After they have had time to imagine on their own, put them with a partner or in groups. Once they are with their group give them ten minutes to create their plan. Once the ten minutes is up you can call students up group by group to get their supplies and start working. Give them 45 minutes to create their balloon and the device that will hold their balloon up.

Engineering Design Process Ask: What is the problem that you are trying to solve? Imagine: Imagine the best way to solve the problem on your own. Sketch out your design and brainstorm a list of ideas. Think about: How will you use your materials? How will your design keep the balloon floating in the air? What possible problems could come up during construction? Plan: With your partner/group, sketch out your plan to solve the problem. Create: Build your prototype Experiment: Test your design. Take notes. Improve: What could you do to improve your design?

Once the timer has gone off have students get their Sphero robot and an I-Pad. Challenge them to code their Sphero robot to drive their balloon through the parade route. This can be straight down the hall or you can have them turn a corner and then go straight down a hall or in your classroom. They will also need to figure out how to attach their balloon to their robot so that it stands while the robot is moving. Have students place a solo cup on top of the Sphero robot and then attach their balloon’s holding device to the cup. Give students 10-20 minutes to complete this step.

Supplements

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REVIEW

Once all teams are ready you can prepare for the parade. Assign students a parade order and have them start. You can also use a green screen and record the parade. You can then teach students how to edit the video and make the background an image of downtown New York!

After the activity is over you can have a discussion with students about what they liked about this activity and what they learned.

STANDARDS