Robots On Parade At Wantagh Elementary

WANTAGH, NY. — Wantagh Elementary School hosted its very own march of the robots this week, as first-graders assembled hand-drawn floats for a parade to reinforce lessons about algorithms, input and sequencing.

Under the guidance of STEAM teacher Kaitlin Humphrey, students watched a video on the making of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats. Once they’d watched the video, students were tasked with designing their own floats, cutting the floats out and taping them to wooden sticks. Once taped, the floats were attached to Ozobots, a coding and STEM education tool that moves and responds to different colors, much like a robot.

In addition to the floats, district officials said students used magna-tiles to construct buildings along their parade route. Thanks to Ozobots’ color-responsiveness, students were able to place them on a black line and let them circle past the newly-constructed parade route.

The parade project was part of a school-wide initiative at Wantagh Elementary School to instruct students on coding, robotics and programming.