“Balloons Over Blauvelt”
George W. Miller Elementary second graders created their very own virtual end-of-year parade: “Balloons Over Blauvelt!” MaryRose Palumbo’s STEM students spent a month using their design and coding skills to create robot-powered balloons to be featured in this now annual event, inspired by a lesson idea from Carly and Adam STEM and Melissa Sweet’s book “Balloons over Broadway.”
“The story is about grit and perseverance, something the students showed through this project,” says Palumbo. “They also practiced collaboration working in teams of two.”
Following the steps of engineering process, students begin by drawing up their designs on paper. Rabbits, aliens, cats, and dogs would be featured in this parade, each crafted on a blue balloon attached to a Bee-Bot, a small programmable robot.
The young engineers are responsible for coding Bee-Bot to follow the parade route laid out by Palumbo (shown in the photo below).
Once completed, the Bee-Bots “take flight,” and are filmed in front of a green screen by Palumbo’s daughter Emma, who put together the video footage for the “Balloons Over Blauvelt” parade.
Click to watch the final video of “Balloons Over Blauvelt” (the street that the school is on).
Contact Information
| Name | MaryRose Palumbo |
| Position | K–2 STEM Teacher/Math Support |
| School | George W Miller Elementary School |
| Location | Nanuet, NY |
| mpalumbo@nanuetsd.org | |
| https://www.instagram.com/nanuetschools | |
| Website | https://miller.nanuetsd.org |
| Tags | Bee-Bot, New York, Early Learning, STEM/STEAM |
| Age | Grade 2 students |